Imogen

I was in a rut. More than just a rut. I'd been passed over for the third time for a promotion in my all male office. I was great at my job, did more work than half the people there and busted my ass, but every single time, a man got the job instead. Seniority hadn't mattered, my resume hadn't mattered. All that mattered was that I was a woman in an all male office.

Not only that, but when I tried to tell my boyfriend how unfair it was, he told me I sounded like a feminazi and broke up with me. He wasn't into feminists and next I'd stop shaving my pits and legs and start going to rally's.

I was stunned. It wasn't like that at all! I had truly been more qualified than every man who had gotten promoted over me and way more qualified than the newer guy who'd just been promoted.

Three days after Sam broke up with me, I got an eviction notice. The two bedroom apartments were for couples only.

Not only had he broken up with me, he had gone to the office and TOLD them he had moved out. I went down and asked if they had any single bedrooms available and they hadn't.

Glumly, I walked down to my favorite bistro on the corner, needing something to cheer me up. "Is this all a sign that I need to move on to another journey in my life?" I asked no one, not really serious.

The man walking towards me tapping on his phone suddenly lunged and snatched my purse, then took off at a sprint.

"STOP! Help, he just stole my purse!" I yelled, looking around as the man turned the corner. No one even looked my direction. "That's just fucking great!" I yelled, storming back to my apartment building. I went straight to the office and told them my purse had been stolen and I needed new keys.

"We change the locks when you move so don't think you'll be able to keep a second set and get back in," the woman scowled up at me.

"Aren't you going to change the locks right now? A man has my keys and my address!"

"No point, we'll be changing them as soon as you leave anyway, why bother changing them for a couple weeks?"

"I have a month!"

Eviction was backdated to the first, when Sam Mason moved out."

"But he JUST moved out, it wasn't that long ago!"

"He said it was," the woman shrugged. "Be out by the first."

That was that. The last sign I needed that the universe was demanding I move on. I packed up my things that night and called my Aunt in South Carolina.

"Hey Aunty Claire!"

"Gen? It's not Sunday, is it?" she asked teasingly.

"No, sorry. I'm in a bit of a mess," I told her, then explained everything that was happening.

"Well then it's no longer a debate, is it? You move down here to your folks old cabin, close enough to me to visit and have family close. You KNOW it's what your mama would've wanted!"

"I know," I sighed. "I just... feel like I failed."

"You didn't fail, Imogen, don't ever think that. Them assholes are gonna find out what a good thing they had when they lose ya! You are worth ten of any of them! And I never liked that Sam either. Always whinin' and complainin' and unmotivated. He's aimless and no good. So tired of livin in your shadow he'd rather live with his mama."

"He wasn't living in my shadow!"

"He was! He was and he knew it! He went after one single thing and when it failed, he just gave up and acted like the world was against him. You thrived and you were the breadwinner. He resented you for that!"

"If his video game had just managed to get a little funding..." I began.

"If it was good enough, it would have. I've seen some shit ass games they put out, my grandkids download them, play them for three minutes and then delete them. They look like shit and play like shit, they say so. If his game had been even remotely viable, he would've had someone pick it up!"

I sighed, not wanting to go into this with her again. "So, do you have the keys to the cabin?" I asked.

"I do! I'll go clean it out for ya and get it ready!"

"You don't need to do that!" I told her quickly. "I sort of want to do it myself. No one's been in it since that last summer before... you know. I want to go in myself and kind of soak it all in, then clean it up. Get my head back in the game before I go job hunting down there."

"It's up to you of course, Gen," she told me, and I could hear the relief in her voice.

Aunt Claire had four grandchildren and she had custody of all of them. Her daughter had gone a little wild, then fell in with some bad people and became an addict. Every time she had a baby, she dropped it off with Claire and took off again.

"I'll call when I'm on my way," I told her softly, looking around again. Hanging up, I tried to hold back tears.

This sucked! I'd always dreamed of living in New York as a kid, being in the huge city, being a part of the huge cog that seemed to run the country. The bustle of the city that never slept, the excitement of it. Making it here meant I could make it anywhere.

I guess I couldn't make it anywhere.

I packed everything but my bedding and clothes for the next day, then laid down and stared at the empty dresser. The furniture all came with the apartment, move in ready. It was one of the reasons I'd picked it.

The drive to South Carolina was slow and lonely and I wondered when my office would call to find out why I was late. I was excited to tell them I wasn't coming back, I was quitting, but they didn't call.

I guess they didn't really need me or miss me after all.

Claire was waiting for me on her huge porch, her house one of the old style colonial houses that were popular in the area.

"Imogen! Look at you! You've grown so much, you're a lady now! You look so good! So sleek and professional and lovely!" she cried, running to hug me in her flannel shirt and overalls. "My goodness! Those heals put an extra three inches on you that you don't even need! So tall and slender like your daddy was and pretty as your mama! My goodness! I feel like it's been decades!"

I smiled down at her and let her lead me inside.

"Jake and Maley are at school just now," she told me. "Laken is in his room playing with his racetrack and Lola is taking a nap. She's in the middle of a growth spurt and she's been napping longer'n usual. Sit! Sit down, I'll get you some iced tea!"

I only smiled as I sat. I was used to Claire leading the conversation and talking. She talked for a solid two hours every Sunday during our phone calls, knowing I wasn't much of a smalltalk kind of person.

I let her talk at me and drank my tea, but as soon as I finished, I stood. "Can I get the keys?" I asked quickly. "I need to get out there while it's daylight and before school gets out or I'll be here all night catching up with my cousins. I want to just... decompress, you know?"

"Sure, I understand," Claire smiled, running to get the keys. "Here's the key to the lock on the gate too, put one in when I noticed hunters parking there and hunting on the property. No one's been out there in a long time, I don't know what kind of shape it's in. I only ever just drive by about once a year now."

"I'm sure it will be fine," I told her. "Daddy had it built and that means it was not only done right, but better than the standards."

Not much looked familiar to me as I drove through town and out the other side into the country. The cabin had been built in the middle of nowhere, in the dead center of the property my dad's family had owned. He'd had electricity and water run out to it and even a phone line. I thought I remembered the way well, but nothing looked familiar to me as I looked at junky old trailers, cars, campers and piles of junk at almost every driveway on the way out there. Had it always been this bad and I never noticed? Not a single decent looking house lined the long dirt road, but more than one driveway had a few trailers all bunched together and people outside, watching as my car went by. So many little kids! And the schools weren't even out yet.

I finally made it to the side road that I remembered and was still feeling a little nervous about all the trashy places as I drove by them. Some were no more than lean-to sheds, people sitting outside them on old couches that wouldn't fit inside the shed. I KNOW it hadn't been like this last time I was here, daddy would not have come here every summer if it had been like this.

I tapped the brakes on my thoughts. I was judging these people because of their poverty, because of the way they lived and looked. They could be the nicest people in the entire world and I had no way to know it. It was a bitch move to look at them in disgust the way I had been and I was upset with myself over it. I could have been born into that as easily as anyone. My life could have been different.

I stopped focusing on the houses along the road and watched for my turn. I almost missed it, it was so overgrown. I had to stop and back up to turn onto the road that went deeper into the woods. My daddy had had this road made as well. It wasn't a driveway, but the only place it went was to the driveway. There were three signs at the turn. 'Dead End', 'Private Property' and 'No Trespassing'. From the look of the road, a lot of people ignored the sign. I drove all the way down to the driveway, then I had to get out and unlock the large, swinging bar gate that was chained shut. Someone had gone at the chain with what looked like an axe, and the post that the gate had been chained to looked like someone had tried to pull it out.

I left it open behind me with a sigh, hoping the cabin wasn't going to be completely trashed.

The driveway was two miles long and I had always loved the way the trees covered the driveway, like driving through a fairy tunnel. When the cabin came into view, memories washed over me and so much nostalgia. I had loved it here. Playing outside, exploring the woods, walking the creek.

I steeled myself as I turned the key on the door and pushed in, looking around. It was... clean? Clean and not like I remembered at all. Things were moved, things were gone. There were things I didn't remember being there at all.

I pulled out my phone, looking around quickly. "Aunt Claire?!? Are you sure no one's been out here? Did you come and clean up?"

"No, I told you I wouldn't, you said you didn't want me to. As far as I know no one's been out there. Why? Is someone there?"

"It's just... clean. Like someone's been staying here. Things are all moved and different."

"Maybe you should come back and wait till the Sheriff gets off shift. He can go out with you and look the place over?"

"Maybe... I'm going to look around a bit," I told her, listening for any sound or movement.

I hung up, then slipped through the living room and peeked up the stairs. Going past the bottom of the stairs, I looked in the kitchen. Someone had definitely been here. There were strange dishes in the sink and the trashcan was almost full. Sneaking through, I checked the lock on the back door. The window next to it had been broken in the corner and covered with saran wrap, the back door unlocked. Someone was coming and going through the back door.

I was guessing since it was unlocked right now, they weren't here. They only locked it when they were inside. Still, I snuck upstairs to look around. The bathroom had obviously been used recently, the towel hanging on the rack still wet. My parents room, the bed was mussed like it had been slept in. My room looked the same as it always had and it was the only dusty room in the house. Untouched completely.

I slipped out, then backed my car up until it couldn't be seen from the house, then hurried back in, locking the front door behind me as I tucked my snubnose into the back of my skirt. Going back up to my old room, I pulled up my old desk chair and watched out the back window, waiting. The curtains were sheer, so I didn't have to move them to see and I wasn't worried about whoever it was seeing me. It was light outside and dark in here.

When it started getting dark, I was starting to wonder if this person was going to come back. I wasn't going to sleep here without running whoever it was off.

Finally, when it was almost too dark to see, movement from the edge of the trees caught my eye. A man walking out of the woods with a coney of rabbits. I couldn't see details, just a tall silhouette with broad shoulders. He passed right under me as he walked in the back door.

Moving slowly, I eased to the vent and listened, but I couldn't really hear anything. I imagined he was skinning the rabbits and cutting them up. I laid there for an hour trying to hear anything, but I didn't hear so much as a cough or a sniffle. I had always been able to hear my parents talking when I listened at the vent and they were in the kitchen.

Heavy steps on the stairs made me go cold all over and freeze, then I heard the unmistakable sound of a man pissing with the bathroom door open. A flush and then more footsteps, then silence for a moment. The heavy creak of the old box springs in my parents room, a little squeak of rolling and adjusting, then silence. He'd never even turned a light on upstairs, he'd been living here for a while.

I was incredibly nervous as I lay there. He'd been a huge man! I wasn't normally intimidated by men, standing at just over 6' myself. In heels, I towered over a lot of men. I had never once felt intimidated by a larger man, but just now my little snub nose felt like a paltry little thing compared to a giant.

Quietly, I texted Claire. 'Send police here'.

Seconds later, my phone rang and I quickly turned it off, panting as I turned the sound down. Claire called again and again, lighting up my phone until I turned it off completely. I tried to listen for the man. Had he heard my phone?

Just in case, I pulled my gun out and moved slightly, my gun ready to aim at the door if it opened.

There was no sound at all. No creaking of the bed, nothing. Not even snoring. Was he asleep? Listening?

Inching closer, I put my ear to the door, but heard nothing.

I stayed still, just listening tensely until I saw a flashing blue light come up the driveway outside. Slipping my shoes off, I opened the door slowly and ran downstairs, unlocking the door and throwing it open. The two officers jumped out and I yelled that he was upstairs.

After that, there was a bit of mayhem and loud yelling from the house as they brought the man down. He dwarfed the two normal sized officers and his eyes landed on me in the flashing blue lights.

"I wasn't bothering anyone!" he snarled at me.

"What's going on here, this a domestic dispute?" one of the officers asked.

"No! I came home and this man was here in my house! This is my house and he broke in!"

"I've been living here for six years! I wasn't bothering anyone!"

"It's MY house! My father had this house built when I was four! This is my land! All of it! You are trespassing!"

"Fuck you, cunt! This house has sat empty for a decade! I've lived here, I've taken care of it, fixed it, it's my HOME!"

"It's MY home, you can't just claim it! I own it and this land! I don't have to live in it to own it and just because you trespass and sleep here doesn't mean you have a right to it!"

"Come on, man," the officer sighed. "Get in the vehicle."

"You don't even know if she's telling the truth!" the giant raged.

"I went to school with her mom, I've known her since she was a kid," one of them told the giant. "I know who she is and I know her folks own this place. Owned. She owns it now. Sorry about your loss, Gen. I know it's ten years late, but you ain't been around."

"Larry?" I asked, vaguely remembering him.

"Yeah. Tell Claire I said hello. We'll get this man out of your hair."

"This is BULLSHIT! What about all my things? My clothes?"

"I'll pack them and drop them at the station," I told Larry.

"Don't you TOUCH my shit, you BITCH!" the man raged, struggling now.

"Man, I will fucking tase you," the other officer yelled.

"This isn't fucking over," the giant hissed at me.

"Yes it is," I told him, rolling my eyes. "Come near here again and I have a shotgun I'll use instead of my phone."

They left and I sighed, turning on my phone to call Claire. "I'm fine," I told her quickly as soon as she picked up.

"Oh my god I was so afraid, why didn't you answer?"

"Aunt Claire, if someone texts you to call the police, you don't call them to see what's wrong, you call the police. You almost got me caught calling my phone," I snapped irritably.

"Oh my god! What happened?!?"

I told her quickly about the man and that he'd been taken away as I walked to my car and pulled it up to the carport. Going back in, I was too keyed up to sit down, or even consider bed. Instead, I carried my boxes and bags inside and put the bedclothes from my old bed in the washing machine.

I put my things away in my old room, then went to my parents room and started shoving his clothes into the boxes and any of the stuff I didn't recognize. I even packed up the food in the cupboards and the other things that I knew hadn't been at the cabin before. A few books, a tattered old blanket on the lazy boy. As soon as I was done, I shoved it in my car, then put my bedclothes in the dryer and wandered around the house with the lights on.

I hated that someone had come in here and taken my memories from me, changed things. I'd wanted to come in and see things as we'd left them, touch the things that my parents had touched last. Some vagrant had taken that from me.

I felt an inordinate amount of anger well up as I looked around, a rage that had been building for the past week. Screaming wordlessly, I hurled another book I found across the room. Not one of my dads, some stupid western. I guessed I should be glad my fathers books were all still on the shelves. All old scifi books, his favorites that he used to read to me. When I looked over them again, they were out of order. My father had kept them alphabetical by author, always, and they were all just shoved in anywhere now. That asshole had touched my dad's books, probably read them. Asshole. He had no right!

I sat down hard on the old couch and broke down sobbing, hating that even this small homecoming had been ruined. Entitled asshole!

I curled up there on the couch, hugging the old cushion and cried myself to sleep.

Light hit my face and I was immediately disoriented as I opened my eyes and peeked at the sunrise shining in the split in the curtain. How did it manage to find that little split and hit me right in the eyes?!?

I hated the sun.

Sitting up, I looked around grumpily and decided I hated everything today. Not just the sun, but the entire world.

Trudging to the dryer in the mudroom, I pulled my bed clothes out and hauled them upstairs, but didn't make my bed. I just tossed them on the mattress and left them, still irritated.

"Hello? Gen?"

I hurried to the top of the stairs. "Aunt Claire? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you! See if you needed help? You probably shouldn't leave the door unlocked sweetheart."

"Yeah, thanks," I scowled, stomping down the stairs. "I know it's too late to tell you this, but would you please not tell anyone about what happened?"

"Sweetheart, I only told Linda and Fawn. I guess Gina too, she was at the dropoff this morning and she was there. A few others might have been listening? But no one who will say anything!"

I sighed dismally. By now the entire town knew. And if the entire town knew what happened, the entire town knew I was back. And if the entire town knew I was back, that meant... Dewey Smithson.

I sighed again.

I wagered to myself that Dewey would darken my door before noon.

If I was here.

"Aunt Claire, I was going to run some errands. Drop some stuff off and then go to the store, get necessities and groceries and stuff. Cleaning supplies. Get the grime of trespasser out of here. Thanks for coming out, but like I said, I really want to do this myself. Also, I have a phone, you can call."