The cabin had been built in the 1950's by a wealthy Boston couple that wanted an excuse to escape the city life without having to leave their beloved Massachusetts. Every summer they would drive their children across the state to visit with nature in the "wild lands" of Western Massachusetts for a few weeks. Massachusetts was their home and they wanted to stay there even in vacation.
The cabin was sold by the couple's children in the 80s when the upkeep became too much and it was bought by a moderately successful investment broker in New York City who couldn't afford to join his colleagues in the Hamptons. He tried to pretend that his cabin in MA made him edgy and adventurous, but it was a poor cover for his failures. During the decade that he owned it his visits only increased as his potential for promotion and drive slowly decreased. He sold it shortly after he lost his job. He was able to get a less stressful job in Texas and ended up settling down with a fairly pretty wife and decently bright kids who, despite a few rough patches, turned out all right.
A struggling, reclusive, but talented writer bought it from him for quite the bargain, but he only lived there for a few years until he realized that being the "reclusive writer" was no longer the image that he wanted to maintain. He moved to Jersey due to its proximity to New York City and cheaper rents, and while he was able to publish a few short stories and a novel that sold decently; he was never able to put aside his desires to be a writer in order to fulfill his talent and write.
He sold it to a couple who wanted to raise their children away from the city and suburbs, but hard times forced them out of the wilderness and into the home of her parents in 1998. This caused an understandable friction in their marriage. She accused him of not working hard enough and he accused her of not being supportive of his struggles. Her parents thought he was a nice boy who couldn't handle the pressures of work and marriage.
He eventually was able to right the ship, and they moved to a small house in the suburbs 15 months later. Their marriage never recovered from those hard times and they divorced in early 2000. They would both privately admit that they had not tried hard enough to save the marriage during those difficult years.
The house struggled in the early 2000's, but was bought in 2004 by lesbian couple who had grown tired of the Texas heat. At first, they had lived there full time, but eventually moved to North Hampton in order to be closer to their work. One taught at Smith while the other owned an erotic boutique that catered to the more adventurous students and housewives in the area. A commute of any sort is Hell during a Massachusetts winter; especially if you are Texan.
That is how the cabin fell into the hands of Cat. Her Aunt, being the young entrepreneur in North Hampton, offered it to her during any long weekends or vacations. Cat had failed to utilize the cabin during her first two years at college, but junior year, on a whim, she invited two of her friends along for spring break. Jackson and Amanda were two of her apartment mates who were not planning on leaving campus for break and they were more than willing to spend a week in the middle of nowhere with her. The details were worked out easily enough and all that remained was to pack.
"It can get pretty chilly up there at night, but my Aunt says that it is generally pretty warm during the day," Cat reminded them as they headed to their rooms to pack.
Jackson and Amanda nodded before heading off to their rooms. Jackson tossed a few clothes into a bag and got ready for bed. He had underwear, layers, jeans, and would bring a jacket or two, so he felt he was fine. He normally didn't stress too much about packing.
It was only eleven and he wasn't quite sure how to entertain himself for the rest of the night. He didn't feel up to reading, and porn, while it would do in a pinch, really didn't hold his interest at this moment. He could hear Amanda talking on the phone in her room. Their rooms shared a paper thin wall and he could often hear her putting around in there.
When they first moved in, Jackson assumed he would be able to listen in on her having sex with her boyfriend on a regular basis, an exciting prospect, but while he did occasionally hear moans and bed squeaks coming from the other side of the wall; it was not nearly as much as he had hoped. Amanda had always been more reserved when it came to sex. Jackson assumed that they were usually very quiet or strategically waited to have sex when no one else, or at least he, was out.
Jackson sat down at his desk that was shoved against the shared wall, turned on his computer, and stared at the ceiling while he waited for the computer to load. The ceiling was made up of those fragile tiles that are so common in office buildings and cheap apartments. On a boredom fueled whim, Jackson climbed up on his desk and pushed up a ceiling tile to explore what lay hidden above his head.
He pushed up the tile and shoved his head through the opening and he was immediately met by the stale musky air. There were a few old pipes, some spider webs, and little else. He thought about thumping the floor of the upstairs apartment to see if he could get them to think it was a ghost, but decided to avoid a puerile and unexciting activity. He was getting ready to give up and look at porn for the evening when he saw a sliver of light coming from Amanda's room. He looked closer and saw he was looking directly into Amanda's room.
