His Happy Place
By Zakiya Dalila Harris, first published in Amazon Original Stories
A woman visits a remote cabin owned by her new boyfriend. However, she begins to hallucinate images of his ex wife, who tells her to run.
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Plot Summary
Ama covers a cabin in gasoline. She takes one last look inside, and remembers the screams from last night. The body inside is still unmoving. She sets the cabin on fire and runs away. Two days earlier, she recalls, Ama and Nathan had both arrived at the cabin and she was horrified by its outhouse-like appearance, and hadn't expected to truly rough it out in nature. Her friend had told her she thought Nathan was extremely boring. But Ama liked his safeness, the fact that he made six figures. At the cabin, Nathan confesses to Ama he used to be married. This assures her because she had thought he seemed too selfless or even obsessive before. In the middle of the night at the cabin, Ama gets up to go to the bathroom. She is trying to find her way back when she runs into a pool of blood. The light comes on, and there is no blood. She tells herself not to hallucinate. She is drawn to the photos on the wall, and sees that unlike before, his ex-wife Laura is now in the photos, and she is screaming. Ama hears a voice that says, save yourself. The next morning, Ama is reassured by Nathan's kindness, and him telling her he loves her. She says she's feeling odd and he expresses worry about her. At night, Ama is woken by a scream. She feels blood on the floor again. She sees Nathan's machete covered in blood. Nathan wakes up to ask her what is wrong. She tells him about the flickering fire and eerie music she keeps hearing. He groans and says Laura used to see his dead father in the cabin and calls her crazy. He gives Ama sleeping pills. In the morning, he isn't as friendly. He bristles when Ama asks him about how his father passed. He says a freak accident. Ama goes to the lake and tries to contact her friend, but can't. She googles Laura and sees that she's been missing. She understands what will happen to her if she doesn't do something. A voice tells her to go to the shed. She finds a jerrycan of gasoline.