The Cottage
A novel in twelve chapters
Four friends drive to a lake cottage on the first warm day of junior year. A grocery run splits the group. By the time the car comes back, the lane is under lockdown - a fisherman is dead - and five days will pass before any of them can reach what's on the other side of the barricade. When the perimeter lifts, they reunite, whole, and try to pretend the dark outside is only the dark. It is not. And the man who comes through the door has been standing in the trees the whole time.
A novel in twelve short chapters, told by the only voice that doesn't get to leave.
Contents
- 01Golden HourJunior year, and the road ahead was all ours.
- 02The Long Way ThereWhat we leave at the side of the road, and what we carry in.
- 03LockdownComing back to a place that is no longer the place you left.
- 04Five DaysThe shape of waiting, when waiting might be all there is.
- 05ReunionThe door opens. What walks back in is not what walked out.
- 06The Shape Past the TreesSomething moves where nothing should be moving.
- 07Skin and SmokeThe night narrows to two, and two is not enough.
- 08Black Mask, Blue JeansThe door opens from the inside.
- 09FourThe number the night ends on.
- 10AfterThe world keeps its appointment.
- 11The Same BlueWhat was always there, if I had looked.
- 12The Bench Is Still ThereWhat remains of a golden day.