Dare To Enter (Part 1)

“Boo!”

The sleeping, blonde woman jumped up from her car seat and hit her head in the ceiling, which woke her up instantly.

“You fucking idiots!” she cursed loudly and rubbed the swelling that already started to form on her head.

In the backseat, her friends were laughing so hard that all of them were bending over and gasped for air. The driver of the car also burst into laughter while he tried to keep the van on the road.

“I said to Emppu that he didn't dare to do it! Oh Anette, you should have seen your face!” Jukka continued to laugh while Anette turned around and shoot a death glare at the guys. But soon she couldn't hold it and laughed as well.

The road had turned from an asphalt one to a dirt road and Tuomas, the driver, seemed to hit all the big rocks and caused the car to wobble a great deal.

While the guys calmed down in the back, Anette turned around and faced the car door window. Fir and birch trees were growing along the road. Once in a while, a lake showed up with the summer sun being reflected in the peaceful water.

“We’re almost there” Tuomas said and immediately all the guys started clapping and cheering. It seemed like they had been driving for hours, and by now they were all getting tired and hungry.

While the swelling on Anette’s head started to subside, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. She thought about the weekend and how she would spend it with her four university friends. She had asked her female friends if they wanted to go, but the thought of camping seemed to scare them away. But their reluctance didn't matter to Anette; she had always enjoyed the company of guys more anyway.

“Break open the beer cans, now we have arrived!”

Marco’s voice tore her out of her musings. Anette’s eyes fell on a rather small cabin. Next to it was a big boat house and a pier, which stretched a long way out in the lake. Tuomas started to slow down the car while he looked at the three rowing boats that were moored along the pier.

Before the car had stopped fully, Emppu opened the door on his side and jumped out.

“Freedom!” he shouted while his body crashed on to the grass-filled ground. 

Jukka and Marco joined him while Anette put her hand up to cover her mouth.

“They’re crazy!” she said with a slight amazement in her voice.

The group started to unload the van and put their bags in front of the house they were going to live in. Tuomas searched his pockets for the key and pulled it out after a while. After unlocking the door, Marco stepped up and started to throw all of the bags in, except for the one containing the food.

“Screw the bags, this man needs his dinner!”

All of the guys agreed while Anette rolled her eyes.

Tuomas and Jukka took the lead and walked towards the fireplace. On one of the tree-trunks, surrounding the fireplace, sat a white duck. The animal stared at them while it started to flap its wings and quack at the same time.  

“So what do we have here? Shoo, shoo!”

The duck spread its wings and started to fly towards Jukka, who thought it was going to hit his head. But in the last moment the duck headed for the lake instead and placed itself on the shore.

Jukka raised his hands in triumph while the others just laughed at him.

“Nice one, you scared of a defenseless duck. We bow to your bravery.” Marco said with the most sarcastic voice he could think of. Faced with the fact that he hadn't saved the day, Jukka sat down and started to get the fire ready.

While the guys settled down, Anette went back to the cabin.

The color had started to chip off from both the door and the rest of the cabin. Anette grabbed the door handle and pushed open the door. There was a small entrance hall with the usual coat hangers and shoe rack. At her right were two doors. Anette opened the one closest to her, after she had grabbed the bag Marco so carelessly threw in, and saw that it was a small bedroom. Considering that she was the only girl, she thought the guys wouldn't mind if she called this room her own. After throwing the bag onto her bed, Anette walked past the other door and saw that it was a kitchen with two, really big windows. On the kitchen sink stood a broken hotplate and above it hanged several frying pans.

The room across the kitchen was a living room with pale yellow wallpaper. The only furnitures in the room were four chairs staggered onto one another.

It looked like nobody had been living in the cabin for years and countless spider webs occupied the corner of the ceiling.

Anette’s stomach growled loudly when the smell of hotdogs reached her nostrils. Her sense of adventure quickly subsided as she joined the guys for dinner.

“It’s a lovely place you got here, Tuomas.”

“Well, it’s not entirely mine, my cousin recently died and we found keys and a map leading to this place among his belongings. It’s weird that he never told us about the cabin”

Anette let Tuomas words sink in while she opened another can of beer. The sun was about to go down and the air was getting cold. Anette shivered while a small breeze caressed her naked arms. Emppu seemed to notice her turmoil and put an arm around her shoulders.

“Better?” Emppu asked while Anette giggled.

“Oh come on, you just wanted the rest of my beer since you’re too lazy to get your own!”

“Well…maybe…” Emppu mumbled while he grabbed the can in Anette’s hand and gulped the last drops down. He felt her snuggle up to him and Emppu’s heart started beating faster in his chest. Just as he was about to start caressing her arm, Marco burped loudly and stood up.

“So kids, should we check out the pier before we get too drunk?”

Anette stood up and caused Emppu’s arm to slip off her shoulders.

“Are you coming or what?”

Emppu looked into her wonderful blue green eyes and tried not to get caught in them.

“I’m just going to stay here, so the fire won’t go out.”

“Okay then, see you later!”

Anette flashed one of her warm smiles at him before she joined the others.

Emppu took one of the sticks they had gathered earlier and started poking around in the fireplace. He could feel his heartbeat slowing down while the memory of Anette’s smile slowly started to leave his mind.

“One…two…three!” Jukka and Marco shouted while Tuomas flew through the air and landed in the nearly ice cold water. Anette had already started to run towards dry land, afraid that they would throw her in next. The planks underneath her made a cracking noise as she ran. In the corner of her eye, she saw the white duck they had been chasing away earlier, sitting in one of the boats in the boathouse. It looked straight at her. Anette stopped and looked at it for a while and could see something blue on its feathers and head. Just as she was about to step closer to the animal, she heard and felt the guys running past her. The duck suddenly forgotten, she tried to catch up with them.

When her eyes landed on the soaking wet Tuomas she laughed so hard her stomach started to hurt.

“I’m freezing my ass off and you ruined my favorite pair of jeans! Get me some beer or else!” Tuomas held his hand up in anger, but the others didn't take him too seriously.

After Tuomas had changed clothes, the group settled down by the fire place again. Soon sixteen beers and a bottle of vodka were consumed and moods started to shift. But Anette remained calm and composed. Someone had to stay sane so the guys wouldn't wander off into the woods.  

After a while they called it a night and headed for bed.

After some nagging about why they should let Anette have the lone bedroom, the woman finally won and said her goodnights.

She folded out her sleeping bag on the quite hard mattress and started to undress. With her jogging pants and t-shirt on she slipped into the sleeping bag and closed her eyes. For a while she listened to the guys settling down in the living room, but she soon fell asleep, exhausted from the long and exciting day.

A large bang woke her up. Anette sat up and rubbed her eyes. It sounded like it came from outside, near the boathouse. Curious about what it could be, she got up from the mattress and put on her shoes and a zip-hoodie.

Anette opened the door to her room as silent as she could. The thought of investigating the banging noise still lingered in her mind. She peeked into the living room and saw that Jukka and Marco were still awake. Anette saw their surprised faces while she entered the room.

“ Didn't you guys hear that?”

“Heard what?” both of them said in unison.

“That!”

The banging started again, and this time it seemed much louder. The guys looked at Anette in confusion, but then Jukka smiled.

“So you’re afraid and wanted us to go and check it out?”

“No I’m not afraid; I just wanted to ask if someone wanted to join me!”

Marco and Jukka looked at each other, and then Jukka rose from the ground.

“I shall help you, fair lady, for no harm shall be done to you as long as I’m by your side!”

Anette rolled her eyes and looked around and saw that they had woken up Emppu and Tuomas.

“What the hell are you doing? It’s the middle of the night; can’t a man get some sleep?”

“Anette is taking Jukka out on a little adventure” Marco said.

“Okay, but don’t moan too loud and remember to use protection.”

Anette’s face turned bright red while the guys laughed, except for Emppu who tried very hard to push away all the images that appeared in his head after Tuomas not so amusing comment.  

“You were right all along.”

After a lot of hesitating, they now stood in front of the boathouse and watched the doors slam against the door frames. Jukka stepped up and was about to close them, when something appeared. The white duck came wobbling out from the house and stood right in front of them. It was now wearing a blue sailor suit and a red bow tie.

“What the…”

Suddenly the duck grew.to the size of a man. Huge razor sharp teeth started to form while the tip of the wings reminded of feathered, human fingers.

“Oh Phooey!” the duck suddenly said.

Anette put up her hand to cover her mouth while the duck’s eyes turned red.

“Run!” Jukka screamed while he grabbed Anette’a arm.

The duck began quacking while it started chasing after them.