Chapter 1
It had been a long time since Mimi had been to the cabin. She and Grey used to take the kids every summer, but it’s been 11 years since then. The last time they went is the last time they ever saw Erica; She was only 10 years old. When they left it, they just never came back. Emily is 23 now and moved to New York to pursue her dreams of performing. Andrew had gotten married when he turned 24 and now, he’s 29 with kids of his own. They don’t visit much, and if they do it isn’t for long. It’s hard when the one bad memory weighs on everyone.
Grey had started smoking even more after Erica had gone missing. She was a daddy’s girl, so it hit him the hardest. He was always so stubborn and refused to quit; He eventually was diagnosed with lung cancer back in 2018. The cancer was aggressive. Mimi was a nurse for 30 years before she retired to take care of him. He refused to get “them useless nurses they call help!” She had to do everything for him, and he still wouldn’t quit tryna smoke. She did everything she could to help Grey fight the battle but unfortunately, he didn’t make it. Once he passed, the house was completely silent.
It’s a big change going from a house full of chaos to hours of sitting in silence. Mimi started filling the house with plants and planting a garden. Nowadays, that’s all she does. She’s been so lost since Grey passed. He may have been hard on everyone else, but with her he melted. Their love was something people dreamt of in movies. She needed a break from the silence, so she finally decided to face her past and take a vacation back to the cabin. At least there she would have the sounds of the woods.
She made sure all of her plants were taken care of for the week and loaded up the car. As she drove, the memories flooded through her mind. The scenery on the way to the cabin was so beautiful, but it had been so long she’d forgotten. The drive seemed like it took forever. The closer she got the more nauseous she began to feel. She remembered the sirens and lights flying down this road that day…
The day Erica went missing was no different than any other. Grey was outside on the back porch smoking his menthol lights, as usual. Mimi was in the kitchen making some sloppy joes and fried taters for lunch, and the kids were in the front. Erica was picking flowers by the lake; She loved to make bouquets and bring them in to set on the table. Emily was lying on her blanket, listening to her iPod and watching the clouds as they changed shapes. Andrew hated that he had to be away from his girlfriend for the summer, and the hill was the only place he had cell signal, so of course he was up there.
Mimi had just turned off the burner for the fried potatoes and looked out the window. She saw the girls and smiled thinking about how much she loved them. Grey walked in the back door, feeling satisfied after his smoke break. He couldn’t wait to eat. She looked back down to turn off the sloppy joes and asked him to tell the kids lunch was ready. He let out a cough to clear his lungs, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and walked out to the front.
Just as Mimi began setting the table, she heard Grey yell. “Honey, come here right now!” She knew something was wrong; Grey’s voice was stern, but shaky as if mixed with fear. She dropped her baking dish holding the potatoes and ran out the door towards his voice. “She’s gone!” She looked around searching the perimeter for Erica, but she didn’t see her. Andrew sprinted down the hill, almost tripping on his way down. Emily took off her headphones because of all the commotion, asking what was wrong. When she realized everyone was looking for Erica she said, “She’s just picking flowers.” and pointed over by the lake. When she looked over where she last saw her sister, she went silent and began to panic as well.
They all began searching for Erica. How could it be possible that she just disappeared? Grey jumped in the lake thinking maybe she had fallen in and gotten injured. Mimi yelled at Andrew to start calling the neighbors and ran around the back to see if maybe she went back there. Emily checked all of her favorite places to sneak away. When they all got back together and realized she was still nowhere to be found, Grey called into the police station. He had explained the whole day and said that Erica was missing. He begged for someone to come out, and they told him they’d come as soon as they could.
For hours, they cased the entire cabin, lake, and land and could not find her anywhere. Grey popped a cigarette in his mouth as tears rolled down his face. The menthol tingled on his lips as he inhaled, trying to calm his racing mind. He was kicking himself for not doing better; Thinking “How could I have been so careless to lose my baby girl?!” The sirens blared as he watched a firetruck, ambulance, and two cop cars fly down the gravel road. Finally, they had help to find her. Unit 98 searched the entire premises while the officers asked every possible detail there was about Erica.
“Does she have any birthmarks, scars, or piercings?”
“When’s the last time you saw her”
"Are there any places she likes going?"
“What was her mood today?”
“What was she wearing?”
“Does she know how to swim?”
“Have you seen anyone else around here?”
They collected every piece of information they could and released some of it to the public. The town was small, but maybe someone saw something. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and blue jean shorts, a small heart locket necklace Grey gave her, and had a small pack on her back. The search team searched for hours; They did all they could but eventually, they had to leave. It was too dark to continue searching, so they gathered their stuff. The chief told Mimi & Grey that they would send another crew out in the morning to continue the search and headed back to the town.
For the entire week crews searched, and there were no leads. In just a 3–5-minute window, Erica was gone. Eventually the summer was over; Mimi and Grey thought it would be best to get the kids back on routine. Andrew was finishing his last year of high school, and they had already lost Erica, they didn’t want to lose Emily and Andrew too. They packed up their things and headed home. As time passed, the case went cold. Grey started chain smoking, and Mimi started keeping herself as busy as possible.
She could feel the gravel crushing under the tires as she pulled into the cabin. It looked just like it did when they left. The cold air breezed as she stepped out of the car. She grabbed her bags from the back seat and walked towards the cabin. All of the brush and wildflowers by the lake were overgrown. The water looked so still. The wood creaked as she stepped on the porch. She had asked Grey to fix that step at least 4 times, but he never did. She unlocked the door and stepped inside.
She flipped the light switch and set her bags down. She knew there were other things like that step that needed to be fixed, so she decided to get to work. As she began cleaning up, it seemed as if she had just walked into a memory. The yellow throw blanket Erica loved to lay with was sprawled across the couch. She folded it up and laid it nicely on the ottoman. Her favorite baking dish, that broke the day Erica went missing, was sitting on the counter. Oh, how much she missed her girl. She carefully picked the pieces up and put them in the trash.
She heard a slight whistle as a cold breeze blew on her. It was freezing. She checked the thermostat, but it was set to 80. She walked around until she found the crack in the wall that the breeze was coming from. She needed to fix that asap, because she was not going to sit and be cold for her whole trip. “His toolbox has to be in here somewhere!” Mimi searched the hall closet for the tools she needed. She was going to patch up the crack in the wood and figured she might as well fix the porch step too. Grey kept a green tackle box with his tools in it. She scrummaged through the bottom of the closet until she found it in the corner under a box of Christmas ornaments. Immediately standing out to her inside the box, was a photo of the whole family from their 2013 summer trip.
She smiled as she examined it, remembering that day. The kids had been saying they were bored and hungry all day. She didn’t feel like making a big meal or turning on the stove with how hot it was, so she surprised the kids with a picnic. They all sat there by the wildflowers talking and munching down the sandwiches. Everyone was so happy that day. She set the photo back down to grab some nails and the hammer and went to fix that step.
Her hair was loosely blowing around her face as she hammered the nails into the step. When she looked up, the sun was setting over the lake. She stopped to watch as it slowly lowered, and the lake water turned orange. That view has always been so breathtaking. The golden light danced across the ripples, casting shadows that seemed to whisper of the bittersweet years gone by. She would sit and watch the sun set with the kids every other night each summer before Erica went missing. It was getting much colder, she shivered as she hurried to place the last nail and ran back inside.
After fixing the step, Mimi figured she should eat some lunch. Her stomach was grumbling as if she hadn’t eaten in years. She heated up some hamburger stew that she brought from home and took a seat on the couch. The wind began howling against the cabin as she picked up the remote to switch on the TV. She scrolled through channels until she reached TBS. ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was playing, and she absolutely loved watching Sheldon Cooper and his quirkiness. The stew was just what she needed. She finished her whole bowl and got up to rinse it. She set it down in the sink and took one last look out at the lake through the window. Being back at the cabin is bittersweet; All the memories are painful but also comforting. At least they are ones that she can cherish. She walked back over to the couch, and covered up with the yellow blanket, drifting off to sleep amongst the sounds of the wind.
