"Early Checkout" by Kellan Standley

Early Checkout

by Kellan Standley

 

“Don’t open the attic door.” For a vacation rental with so few rules emailed to its temporary occupants, the inclusion of this instruction stuck out to Daniel.

One of the main reasons he had picked this place over the others on the short-term rental site was the lack of onerous restrictions placed on its guests. Half the options included paragraphs detailing mandated quiet hours, neighbourhood nuisance ordinances, and noise sensors. None of those would do for a stag weekend. In his duties as best man for his brother Lucas, Daniel had to make sure that wherever they stayed would allow them to hoot and holler into the wee hours of the morning. This house, nearly 20 gravel miles outside of the small city they lived in, fit the bill. Aside from how lax the rules are, the size of the property and the fact that it was the cheapest choice certainly didn’t hurt. 

Now, the brothers sat in two large recliners. The other four groomsmen, seated on a couch and chairs pulled over from the adjoining kitchen, completed a circle around a thick wood coffee table adorned with low glasses and part-full bottles of hard liquor. A deck of cards sat in the middle, though the group had long since given up their poker game in the careless absence of chips to gamble with. 

Turning toward the window beside him, Lucas looked through the rain-streaked glass. Though a porch light illuminated the area, there was enough light inside the house that he had to strain to make out the rain gauge staked just beyond the cover of the roof. 

“Almost two inches so far,” he mused. Noting the percussive roll of drops continuing to break against the glass, Lucas added, “And no signs of stopping.” 

“No chance of getting a fire going tonight, then,” said Noah. 

“Should we head into town and hit up the Buffalo?” Kaden suggested, referring to a dive bar the friends frequented. 

Daniel frowned. “By the time we got there, we’d only have a couple hours until last call. Besides which, even if we weren’t half-cut already, I doubt the van would make it until the road’s had a chance to dry out some.” 

“Okay, well, do you have any suggestions?” Noah asked. The tone of his voice conveyed what Daniel already feared- the party was dying. 

“We could check out the attic.” Considering how infrequently he spoke, the proposal from Will had taken the rest of the group by surprise. 

“That’s, like, one of the only things we’re not allowed to do here,” rebuffed Daniel. “Exactly,” Will said with an air of finality that seemed to galvanize the rest of the group. The groomsman glanced at each other as if waiting for someone to shut the idea down. When no one did after a few seconds, they realized they were now committed to the act. “There’s got to be something up there cool enough to be worth hiding,” Will added. 

Daniel rolled his eyes.

“Probably just the owner’s personal items they need stashed out of the way while it’s rented.” But he made no further effort to dissuade them.

Picking the padlock was simple enough- Kaden considered himself skilled at the art after watching a series of YouTube videos. With the lock no longer securing the metal hasp, the door opened, and the friends looked around to see who would brave the stairs first. 

“Fuck it, I’ll go,” Will offered. 

Wonder quickly gave way to disappointment as they emerged on the top floor. Trailing the other five, Lucas said what they were all thinking, “There’s nothing up here.”

“Not nothing,” corrected Daniel, though there was far more bare floor than anything else.

“That’s weird, right?” Kaden asked. 

While the others perused the unremarkable contents of the handful of cardboard boxes in the space, Will made his way over to the far wall, where a massive chest freezer hummed.

“This must be where all the good TV dinners are,” he snickered, pulling up on the lid.

As soon as he looked down, his eyes widened. “Oh, fuck!” he said. 

The others rushed to join him and shared their own profane reactions to the contents. Inside the freezer, stacked in neat, vacuum-sealed bags, were the remains of what had to include several human bodies. The carefully-cut slabs of muscle could have been mistaken for animal meat, but intermixed with those were no less than five feet, three hands, including one bearing a gold wedding band, and one head sticking partway above from the pile. The bachelors were all sure that if they dug deeper, they would find evidence of even more victims.

“What the fuck do we do?” asked Lucas, struggling to hold it together. 

“We call the cops!” Noah said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Uh . . .” Kaden held up his cell phone, showing the same “No Service” message they had all gotten used to seeing throughout the evening. 

“Do they have a landline?” Remy wondered aloud. 

Noah shook his head. “Not that I’ve seen.” 

“What about a Wi-Fi router?” pressed Remy. 

Daniel shook his head. “No internet.” 

“Then we have to go to town and tell the police,” Remy insisted. “This is . . . I don’t even know, man.” 

Daniel scowled. “You’re right. But I don’t think we can go tonight. I’m worried if we try, we’ll get stuck, or worse.” 

“What’s worse than that?” Kaden asked. 

“Crashing,” offered Will. 

On the edge of hyperventilating, Lucas said, “From the looks of that freezer, I’d say that staying here might be a lot worse than crashing. I’m willing to take my chances.” There was a loud click as the lights shut off. The house went silent. 

“You think that’s from the storm?” whispered Noah. 

Downstairs, there was a faint knocking noise. 

“That sounds like someone on the porch,” Lucas wheezed. 

The boys heard a faint click, then a creak as the front door swung open.