It was a dark and stormy night as the sedan headed down the deserted two lane highway. Rain battered down on the car, the only illumination of the road was the weak headlights, barely breaking through the rain ahead. The road, glistened with moisture, barely separating itself from the sight of a running river.
"Why did you have to get off the interstate?" Laura asked, a bit of panic crept into her voice. "Now we're lost."
"We're not lost," James insisted. "I know exactly where we are. We may have lost cell phone signal, but the navigation on my phone said this road goes cuts straight across to the turnpike. We'll save 25 minutes."
"If we get there. I haven't seen a car on this road in half an hour," she insisted. Laura had been quite an attractive woman when they'd graduated high school some years earlier. She wasn't unattractive today, but she had started coloring her hair and she wasn't as fit as she used to be. James loved her all the same.
James didn't need to worry about coloring his hair, as he'd lost much of it, and could stand to lose a lot more in the weight area than his wife.
In the back seat, their two kids were quiet. Probably because one of them was sound asleep and the other had headphones on.
The younger, Cindy, was sound asleep. She was an adorable, overly feminine, doll-loving little girl who annoyed the heck out of her big brother, who teased her...as older brothers often did.
Speaking of the older brother, he was listening to music on his phone. He had been ever since the mobile service had cut out. He knew better than to involve himself in his parent's bickering. He blissfully ignored it until...
A loud noise, then a thumping. James pulled the car off to the side of the road. "Blew a tire," he cursed.
"James, the children," Laura said.
He paused. He probably shouldn't have cursed in front of them, but it was a curseworthy situation. Their phones had been out of service for at least twenty minutes, there was no sign of a gas station, and the last lights he'd seen were a few miles back. "I'll have to walk to find someone with a working phone," he said. "Or a gas station."
"You can't do that...it's pitch black out there. and it is coming down in buckets..." Laura insisted.
"Well, what do YOU suggest we do? Stay here until it lets up."
"Maybe we can take shelter in there?" Laura said, gesturing over.
James peered out the side window to where she was pointing to see the dim form of an old house, a fair distance from the road, barely up visible for the woods around it, which despite being dark, It wouldn't be visible at all except for the headlights reflecting toward it...which wouldn't have happened if he hadn't pulled off the road. "It certainly looks better than spending the night in the car...but an old house like that is probably locked up tighter than Fort Knox."
Laura looked out...and saw a flickering light from one of the upper windows. "I think someone might be home."
"Are you kidding? This place looks like no one's been in that house for years I'd bet. And if anyone is there, they are probably squatting. It isn't safe."
"And it is safe in this car? We're better off in there, if we can get in. There might be a phone, or candles...or a fireplace. We can go get a tow truck in the morning."
James tried to ride the rim of the tire to move the car as close to the house as he could.
Laura got out of the car, getting soaked in a matter of seconds and went around the back seat, gently stirring her daughter. "Come on, sweetie. We need to get out of the rain." The rain started to let up at that moment, which was fortunate, but didn't make the situation any less dire.
Cindy stirred, yawning, and letting her mother pull on her hat. "Are we there yet?"
"No, genius," her older brother said. "We're stuck."
James got out of the car, thankful that it had finally let up. At least something was finally going their way. He led his family up to the large wooden double door that formed the entryway. "This is trespassing, you realize."
Laura looked at him. "I don't see any signs. Besides, there are extenuating circumstances."
"Not if we break anything to get in."
Laura reached for the knob of the door, and tried it, experimentally. To her surprise...it turned.
"How'd you do that?"
"It wasn't locked, sweetheart," Laura said. "I just....I was going to suggest you try to kick it open or something, but..."
They all entered and looked around the large empty room. The room was mostly empty, save a few pieces of furniture covered up with white sheets.
Laura found an old push button light switch and tried it. To her surprise again, the chandelier in the room lit up.
"How are you doing that?" James said.
"Magic, dear...." she said, a bit sarcastically. "It doesn't hurt to try... it has paid off twice now."
