Chapter 1
The midday sun beat down mercilessly on the weathered wooden porch of the lake house, radiating a dry, dusty heat that matched the rising tension in the air. Leo tugged violently at the brass doorknob once more, his shoulder slamming against the heavy timber with a dull thud. The white notice paper taped squarely over the keyhole fluttered slightly in the mountain breeze, bearing a stark, official seal that none of them recognized. Behind him, the family's rolling suitcases and the red-and-white cooler formed an awkward barricade against the screen door.
"Mom, why can't I open the door?" Leo demanded, his voice cracking with a mix of exhaustion from the drive and sudden, cold dread. He turned his head back, his dark eyes wide and accusing. "It's not working. Are you sure you didn't grab the wrong keys from the rental agency?"
Sarah lowered her smartphone slowly, her fingers trembling against the cracked screen as the automated hold music droned faintly in the background. "I have the digital confirmation right here, Leo. August fifteenth through the twenty-second. Cabin Four-B. I booked it six months ago through the main portal." She stared at her son, her chest rising and falling in shallow, rapid breaths. "There shouldn't be any locks changed. Nobody said a word about maintenance."
"Well, look at the paper, Sarah," Grandpa Arthur said, his voice deep and gravelly as he stepped closer, squinting through his bifocals at the official notice. Grandma Helen clutched the blue rolled-up beach mat tightly to her chest, her knuckles turning white, while eight-year-old Toby hid half behind her grey t-shirt, clutching a blue patterned short hem with nervous fingers.
"Dad, don't touch it," Sarah warned, stepping between her father and the door. "It looks like a municipal stamp. Or something worse."
"It's not working!" Leo shouted, his frustration boiling over as he struck the solid wood with the flat of his hand. The sharp smack echoed across the empty porch and out toward the shimmering, deceptively calm surface of the lake below.
Sarah reacted in shock, dropping her striped tote bag as the reality of their abandonment began to sink in. She threw her hands up in absolute despair, her face flushing a deep crimson.
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"Ah, this is ridiculous!" Sarah yelled, her voice breaking on the edge of hysteria.
Leo kept pulling the locked handle, his muscles straining. Suddenly, the official notice paper peeled slightly in the wind, revealing handwritten text scrawled underneath in bold, frantic red ink: DO NOT ENTER. THEY ARE ALREADY INSIDE.
