Chapter 2 - DARKNESS IN THE MOUNTAINSTwo days passed in absolute peace.
I didn't answer calls from my mother. When Steven texted me a casual meme about a football game on Monday night, I left it on "Read." For the first time in my adult life, my phone felt like a communication device rather an emergency dispatch radio.
On Tuesday evening, the first tremor hit.
It wasn't my mother who broke the silence first; it was Mason. His call came through at 7:45 PM while I was halfway through making a pot of garlic shrimp pasta. His name flashed across the screen with a frantic, pulsing ringtone.
I wiped my hands on a dish towel, picked up the phone, and tapped speaker.
"Kinsley? What the hell is going on?" Mason’s voice was high, tight, and underscored by the hollow echo of a large, empty room.
"Hello, Mason. Happy holidays," I said evenly, leaning against the kitchen counter.
"Don't give me that holiday bullshit," he barked, his breathing shallow. "I’m up at the cabin with Sarah and a couple of friends. We drove up for a mid-week snow trip. We just walked in, and the place is a deep freezer. The pipes are going to burst if we don't get the heat running. I tried to log into the power company app to crank up the thermostat, and it says the account is locked and payment is required immediately."
"That sounds inconvenient," I replied, my voice dangerously calm.
"Inconvenient? It's freezing! It's twenty degrees inside! Put your credit card into the portal right now, Kinsley. My app is timing out. Hurry up, Sarah is already shivering in her parka."
I took a slow sip of water. "I can't do that, Mason."
A sharp silence stretched across the line, broken only by the whistling of mountain wind in the background of his call.
"What do you mean, you can't?" Mason asked, dropping his voice into a dangerous, disbelieving register. "Just type in the digits. You have the app memorized. Come on, we have people over. Stop playing games."
"I'm not playing games," I said, looking out the kitchen window at the quiet, dark street. "I canceled the account."
"You... what?"
"I canceled the account. And while we're talking about it, I also removed myself from the property tax escrow and the maintenance registry. If you want heat, Mason, you’re going to have to call the utility company yourself, set up an account in your own name, pay the past-due balance, and put down a deposit."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Mason roared, the sound echoing off the cabin's timber walls. "You can't just cut off the heat! We have guests! Who do you think you are?!"
"I'm the person who has been paying your heating bills for the last seven years," I said coldly. "Looks like you're going to have to rely on the family now. Isn't that what Mom keeps preaching?"
May you like
Before he could scream another profanity, I tapped the red button and hung up.
I set the phone face down on the counter. My pasta was getting cold, but my appetite had never been better.
