A Family on the Run Hides in a Cabin—Until Someone Starts Watching

 A Family on the Run Hides in a Cabin—Until Someone Starts Watching VIDEO

So everything is going to be all right. He promises.

I want to believe him.

I look at Sam, who is now playing with the edge of his jersey, hooking and unhooking the thread with his fingers. He doesn’t lift his head, but I know he’s watching me out of the corner of his eye. He’s used to being alone with his mother. A new man must be strange to him.

“Are you hungry?” Emma asks, breaking the silence. “I’ve got some food in the car. Bread, cheese, fruit. Nothing hot, but it’ll do.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat. You don’t know when we’ll be able to again.”

She stands and goes out onto the porch. I hear her open the car door, move bags around. Sam stays seated on the sofa, looking at me.

“Do you have a car?” he asks.

“Yes, out there. The gray one.”

“Mine is blue. Mom says it’s small, but I like it.”

“The gray one is small too.”

“But the blue one has a dog sticker on the window. Mom put it there.”

I smile despite myself.

“Do you like dogs?”

“Yes. But we don’t have one. Mom says we can’t because we move a lot.”

My stomach tightens. Move a lot. Hide. That’s what they’ve been doing these years, while I remembered nothing.

Emma comes back with a cloth bag. She sets it on the table and takes out a round loaf of bread, a piece of cheese wrapped in paper, and two apples.

“Sit down, Jack. Eat something.”

I sit at the table. She cuts the cheese with a small knife she takes from her pocket. She offers me a piece.

“Here.”

I take it and chew. The cheese is salty, firm. It smells like the countryside.

“And the smuggler in Duluth?” I ask. “What’s his name?”

“Frank. Frank Morrison. You used to do business with him years ago. He moved goods across Lake Superior. Smuggling, but nothing violent. Small stuff.”

“Do you trust him to help me?”

“You saved his life once. A deal went bad and you stayed behind to cover for him. He always said he owed you one.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll want to take the risk now.”

“Maybe not. But he’s our only option.”

I finish the cheese. I take an apple and bite into it. Juice runs down my chin.

“How long does it take to get to Duluth from here?”

“Six hours by road, if there are no checkpoints. But we’ll have to avoid the main routes. Maybe eight or nine.”

“And then cross into Canada.”

“Frank knows a crossing. A forest road north of the city. It leads straight to a secondary road in Ontario. From there, it’s another two days to the house.”

“And the house? Is it ready?”

“It has supplies. Well water, solar panels, a fireplace. We can live there for months without leaving.”

“Who else knows it exists?”

“No one. You bought it with cash, through a front man. Not even Valeria knows.”

I bite the apple again. Sam has climbed down from the sofa and comes over to the table. He looks at the food with curiosity.

“Do you want a piece of apple, Sam?” I ask.

He nods.

I cut a small piece with the knife Emma left on the table and offer it to him. He takes it with both hands and puts it in his mouth.

“Thank you, Dad.”

The word goes straight through my chest.

I hold his gaze for a moment, then look away. I don’t want him to see me cry.

Emma notices. She places her hand over mine.

“You’ll get used to it.”

“I’m not sure I want to get used to it. I’m not sure I deserve this.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Sam finishes the apple and wipes his hands on his jersey.

“Mom, I’m sleepy.”

“Come on, sweetheart. I’ll put my jacket down as a pillow and you can sleep on the sofa for a while.”

“And Dad?”

“Dad stays here. He’s not going anywhere.”

Sam looks at me, as if searching for confirmation.

“I’m not leaving,” I say. “I’m staying.”

He nods and lets Emma lead him away. She spreads a jacket over the sofa, lies him down, and covers him with another one. Sam closes his eyes almost at once.

Emma comes back to the table. She sits across from me.

“He’s sleeping deeply. Like you.”

“I’m glad.”

A long silence settles between us. Outside, the lake keeps lapping softly. The sky has cleared a little, and a beam of sunlight comes through the window, lighting the dust drifting in the air.

“What are you going to do when we cross?” she asks.

“I don’t know. Hide. Try to remember.”

“And if you don’t remember?”

“Then I’ll build something new. With you.”

“And if the organization finds us?”

“They won’t.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I know. But if it happens, I’ll kill them.”

She looks at me steadily.

“That’s what the Jack I knew would say.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

“It’s just what you are. And I love you for it.”

She rests her head on the table, exhausted. I watch her for a while, then stand and go to the window.

The Ford is there, caked in mud. The lake shines under the first rays of sunlight. It looks like a peaceful place. A place where no one would look for us.

But I know we can’t stay.

“We should rest for a few hours,” I say. “Then leave at night.”

“All right.”

“I’ll keep watch first. You sleep.”

“Okay.”

Emma gets up and sits on the floor beside the sofa where Sam is sleeping. She leans her back against the wall and closes her eyes.

I stay standing, watching the door.

The afternoon moves slowly.

The sun sets behind the trees and the cabin fills with shadows.

Against the window, I see my own reflection mixed with the darkening landscape. The shadows stretch inside the cabin and the lake loses its shine. Behind me, I hear Emma’s calm breathing and Sam’s soft sighs in his sleep.

I step away from the window and check the gun I took from the locker days ago. The magazine is full. I slip it back into my waistband.

I walk to the door and open it slowly. The air has changed, colder now that the sun is gone. I step out onto the porch and look around. Only trees, the dirt road, the two cars. No movement.

I go back inside and close the door carefully.

Emma opens her eyes.

“Anything?”

“Nothing. All quiet.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost eight.”

She sits up and rubs her eyes with her palms.

“We should leave soon. In a few hours.”

“We can wait until Sam has slept well.”

“No. The sooner we go, the better. Darkness protects us.”

I sit on the floor in front of her, leaning my back against the opposite wall.

“Is there any secondary route from here to Duluth? Something that isn’t on the maps.”

“There are forest roads. I used them when I came here with my mother. I don’t know if they’re still open.”

“We’ll find them.”

She nods. Sam shifts on the sofa, murmuring something I can’t understand, but he doesn’t wake.

“You should rest a little before you drive,” Emma says.

“I can’t.”

“Try.”

I close my eyes. Not to sleep, just to listen to the silence. The lake, the wind, the two of them breathing. Sounds that should be peaceful.

But the silence doesn’t last.

I open my eyes. Emma is still on the floor, her head tipped against the wall. Sam is breathing with his mouth slightly open.

I don’t know what woke me.

I stand up slowly, without making a sound. The gun at my waist presses against my side. I walk to the window and pull the curtain aside with two fingers.

Outside, everything is dark. The lake is a black smear. The trees are denser shadows. The Ford and the blue car are still there.

But something is moving.

A light. Small. Among the trees, on the other side of the road.

It isn’t a flashlight. It’s dimmer. Like the light from a phone.

I stay still, watching. The light moves a little, then holds steady. Someone is out there. Watching the cabin.

“Emma,” I whisper.

She opens her eyes at once, trained to wake in seconds.

“What is it?”

“There’s someone outside.”

She rises without a sound. Sam keeps sleeping. Emma comes to the window and looks over my shoulder.

“Where?”

“Across the road. Among the trees. A light.”

She narrows her eyes.

“I don’t see anything.”

“It’s gone out.”

We wait. One minute. Two.

Nothing.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“It could be a deer. Or a raccoon.”

“Deer don’t use phones.”

She bites her lip.

“We have to go. Now.”

“What about Sam?”

“I’ll wake him. Stay here.”

She crosses the room and touches the boy’s shoulder.

“Sam. Honey. Wake up.”

The child complains and turns over.

“Sam, we have to go.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I know. But we have to.”

She lifts him into her arms. Sam rubs his eyes, confused.

“Where are we going?”

“For a car ride.”

“In the blue car?”

“Yes, sweetheart. In the blue one.”

Emma looks at me.

“I’m going to get the bags. You watch the door.”

I nod.

She puts the food back into the cloth bag and picks up Sam’s jacket. She sits him on the sofa to put on his shoes.

I don’t take my eyes off the window.

Nothing moves.

But I know they’re there.