Eli woke to sunlight, a dream fading away at the periphery of thought, feeling surprisingly well rested. It was one of the best nights of sleep he’d had in days. His mind felt clearer. Clear enough to ponder the five and a half beers he’d gotten through before falling asleep, all without dialing or texting anyone. Isolation was the whole point, wasn’t it? That, and a novel. He stirred into a noisy stretch, finally noticing the faint trill of birds outside. He sat up. His sneakers were still arranged neatly as a pair beside the bed. The room was no less of a disaster. He laid back on the springy mattress for a moment before rocking himself up again and pushing his feet down into the shoes. Humming, he dug into his backpack for a toothbrush. His breath was unbearable. 

It wasn’t until he emerged from the bathroom a minute or so later, brushing, that he noticed what was missing. His car. It took a moment for this fact to fully register. His reliable car, black, dented on the front and starting to rust through the damage on the body, his car filled with all his earthly possessions, the car that had carried him all the way out to this godforsaken hovel, was gone. He swore and wrenched the door open. He hardly noticed toothpaste and spit running down his brush and onto his fist.

“No!” More toothpaste and saliva spilled down his chin, which he wiped off with a long grey sleeve of yesterday’s t-shirt. He spit the rest out on the ground and walked to the exact spot where his car should have been.

“No!”

He double checked his pocket for the keys, which were still there, of course. He could always feel them against his thigh. Following the ruts of the trail, or driveway, or whatever it was, he searched the ground pointlessly for any sign of disturbance. He scanned the woods, wondering if someone else lived in the immediate area. Reaching the hard-packed dirt road from which he’d turned in, he peered hopelessly in either direction.

“Hello!” He yelled it for no reason but yelling, and slapped the rusted metal with it’s one legible number. His phone battery was down to 14%. As he trudged back to the cabin, it occurred to him that both of his phone chargers had been in the car. A perfect setup for a horror flick, he thought, swatting wildly at an intrepid insect with his toothbrush. The single bar of service only reappeared when he reached the cabin.

“Ok, ok. Eli, stay calm.”

Easier said. The police, obviously, would have to be called. That was simple enough. A free ride to a police station, but then what? Would they drop him off at a rental place? Idly, he began scrolling through his contacts, trying to gauge just how embarrassing his situation really was. Most people would probably confide in their parents, if no one else came to mind. His were dead. Uncommon enough for a twenty-four year old, except that both had died in a car accident when he was only twelve. The crash, which he’d been a part of, had always been difficult for him to talk about, and there were fewer and fewer occasions to even mention it as he got older. Hardly a fun story at parties. Instead, his contact list was filled out with the elderly grandmother who’d finished raising him, plus other members of his extended family from Indiana, a few former work colleagues, and a single friend he’d made in his brief stint at college. Quickly, the list of people he could talk to contracted, leaving only one. Margret.

Before further contemplating the implications of that, his screen lit up with an incoming call. He recognized the number almost immediately. It was the woman who’d rented out the property to him. What was her name? Nadine, that was it.

“Yeah?” He almost barked the word into the phone, surprising himself. He fought to control his own mounting anxiety. 

“This, hey, this is Nadine. Can you hear me? 

He’d spoken to her exactly twice. Once for the initial inquiry, and the second time to arrange payment. Localized directions had come by email. As it turned out though, these hadn’t been particularly accurate. Take the first right after you see the gated drive. Go straight for half a mile. Take a right fork, then a left, and it’ll be on the right side. Coupled with the undeniably stark difference between the rosy, almost idyllic descriptions online (a finished, cozy summer home in a charming woodland atmosphere…) and the neglected shack he’d discovered, a bad taste was left in his mouth. Obviously, the missing car could hardly be her fault, but he wasn’t ready to take anything off the table. Her voice was that of a relatively young woman, and didn’t reflect the Canadian tinged accent he’d expect from Michigan’s upper peninsula.

“Can you hear me?” she repeated. “Is this Eli?”

“Yeah, it’s Eli. Got to tell you, Nadine, that little description you posted is highly misleading. Almost like a lie. The smell in here, first off. This place is filthy. And you call this fully furnished? Are you kidding me with that? I should feel lucky it even has a functional bed. That’s basically all it has. I also didn’t think electricity and plumbing was something that needed to be spelled out.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? That’s what you have to say? The cabin isn’t even my main problem at the moment. If that was all, I’d be golden.”

“Listen, Mr. Shepard. Eli. I didn’t realize the state of the place, to be honest. Is it really that bad?” 

“Is it—” Eli found himself exasperated beyond words. How could she not know? Was she not the one renting it out?

“I’m so sorry, really, Mr. Shepard. I—”

“On top of wasting my time with coming all the way up here, on top of that, here’s the real kicker— my car! What’s the crime rate up here, anyway? Is it one in a million? Do you have a lot of car theft up here, would you say?”

He paused, hearing, to his amazement, what sounded like gasping inhalation on the other end. He found himself going over what he’d just said, trying to find an explanation for how she should be the one tears. An uneasy pause ensued, along a nagging feeling that, somehow, he’d gone too far.

“Hello?” He used the gentlest tone he could muster. “Hello? It’s just, I’m stranded up here right now. My car is missing.”

“It’s really gone?” She sounded surprised, but collected.

“Yes, last night. It was stolen. I don’t know when exactly. I just wanted to sleep out the night here, and now I’m stuck. No food, no nothing.”

“I’m not that far away from you right now, Eli. I’m up here, on an errand. I can come pick you up in about an hour and a half. Is that ok?”

“That close? Ok.”

“Yeah. I, I’ll explain it when I see you.”

“Ok. Please hurry up. I have to call the police about the car and my phone’s running low.”

“I got it. I’ll see you soon.”