(Photo by ChrisF)

Of all the times to have car troubles, it had to happen in the middle of the night during a winter storm. It was also in the middle of nowhere.

“Well, we’re not going anywhere any time soon,” Ben said as the glow of the headlights faded away.

“Guess you should have gotten the alternator replaced after all, huh?” Gary stated with a healthy amount of ‘I told you so’ thrown in.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Ben grumbled. “Nothing I can do about that now.”

“Do you have any blankets in your trunk?” Gary asked.

“What do you need a blanket for?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Gary replied, ticking each point off on his raised fingers, “the car’s dead, and it’s supposed to get below freezing tonight. I don’t expect anyone to be coming this way tonight so we should probably make sure we don’t freeze to death.”

“Look, I’ll just call a tow truck,” Ben said, pulling out his phone.

Gary waited, knowing what would happen as Ben tried to make a call. After a couple of failed attempts, Gary spoke up.

“Got any signal way out here?”

Ben scowled and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“Thought so,” Gary said and began climbing into the back seat.

“What are you doing?” Ben asked.

“Looking for a blanket,” Gary replied as he pressed the button that released the back seat and let it fold down, revealing the interior of the trunk.

Inside were a few tools, a spare tire, and a bunch of dirt.

“Not even a first aid kit?” Gary muttered.

“Seriously, Gary, how often do people actually need that kind of stuff in their trunk? It’s just a waste of space.”

“A waste of space I bet you’ll be wishing you had in a couple hours when it starts getting really cold. Do you even have jumper cables?”

Ben didn’t respond to that and just sat in his seat, arms crossed and glaring at the rain that was turning into sleet.

“Alright, little brother,” Gary said, knowing how much Ben hated being referred to that way, “Better climb on back here with me so we can keep each other warm.”

“I am not cuddling with you.”

“You know mom’ll kill me if I let you freeze to death.”

“I’m not going to freeze! I’ve got my jacket. I’ll be fine.”

Gary had his own winter coat on so he wasn’t too worried about himself but Ben, being his usual stubborn self, only ever wore a light jacket. He claimed to be immune to the cold but Gary knew that was more bravado than anything else. Sure enough, after a very long half hour, the windows were covered in frost on the inside of the car and both their breaths were coming out in dense plumes of fog. Ben was shivering but still refused to relent.

The sleet turned into snow and a good inch had accumulated on the car by the time Ben broke the silence.

“Y-you kno-ow what-t?” he said.

“You’re cold and ready to come join me back here?” Gary replied.

“No,” Ben said through clenched teeth. “Th-there’s a h-house over th-there.”

He pointed towards across the road where a lightly wooded hill rose above them. Gary scraped at his window until he could see out. Sure enough, he could just make out a dim glow coming from a porch light. The house itself was difficult to make out but if the porch light was on then someone was likely to be home.

“Let’s go knock on their door then. Maybe they’ll let us stay the night, or at least lend us some blankets.”

He didn’t need to persuade Ben at all and had to hurry out of the back seat to follow his brother who was making a bee line for the house. There wasn’t an obvious driveway leading up to the house that either one of them could see so they had to cut through the trees and undergrowth. By the time they reached the house their shoes and pants were soaked all the way up to their knees.

“Someone better be home,” Gary muttered. “Otherwise we’ll be back to shivering in the car, only this time without our pants, socks, or shoes on.”

If he’d known just how wet they’d get he would have insisted on going around until they found the driveway but it was too late now.

Ben pounded on the door and Gary winced at how aggressive it sounded.

“Calm down,” Gary urged him. “You don’t them to think we’re here to rob them.”

Ben cursed under his breath and at first Gary thought Ben was cursing him out, but then he realized Ben was looking at a faded and crinkled piece of paper on the door that neither had noticed at first.

It was one of those notices that got tacked onto condemned buildings. The print was so faded and water damaged that it had to be at least a year old, if not older.

Ben tried the doorknob and it turned without too much resistance.

“Not locked,” he said with a glimmer of hope.

Gary put a hand on Ben’s shoulder before he could open the door and go in.

“Let’s be careful,” he said, nodding to the dim porch light. “We might not be the only ones looking for shelter here tonight.”

“What, you think there might be squatters in there or something?”

“I don’t know,” Gary shrugged, “but condemned buildings don’t usually have their power on.”

Ben nodded and then stepped back from the door.

“After you,” he said.

“Coward,” Gary replied but went ahead and opened the door.

There were no lights on inside that he could discern. The bit of light that spilled in from the porch was enough to reveal an empty entryway with a door to either side as well as one at the far end of the entry. All three of the doors were shut so there was nothing else they could really see. What was apparent right away, though, was that the furnace was on and working as warm air greeted them as they stepped into the entryway.

“Hello?” Gary called into the house. “Sorry to just come in, but our car’s broken down and it’s getting pretty cold out there.”

The two brothers waited to see if there would be any response.

“You think they might be asleep?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know,” Gary replied. “Probably should just stay here in the entry. It’s warm enough.”

They were both inside now and Ben closed the door behind them, leaving them in complete darkness. It didn’t take them long to find the floor vent halfway down the entry and they put their wet socks and shoes on the vent to help dry them out faster. Their pant legs would dry out fast enough on their own and both brothers were relieved they wouldn’t need to take them off to avoid hypothermia.

“Hey, Gary,” Ben said right as Gary was about to fall asleep, sitting on the floor beside the floor vent.

“Hm? What?”

“Do you think there’s a working bathroom in here that I could use?”

“You’re old enough to drive,” Gary said. “That means you’re old enough to solve your own bathroom issues without needing me to hold your hand.”

Ben’s phone light winked on, nearly blinding them both momentarily, before he got up and moved over to the left-hand door. Gary watched as Ben opened the door and shone his light into it.

“It’s a closet,” Ben said. “Looks like some blankets on the top shelf.” He reached up and pulled one down and tossed it to Gary, and then turned to the right-hand door and opened it. “Kitchen. Doesn’t look like it’s been used in a long time but there’s still pots and things on the counter. Might have something still edible in the freezer.”

“I thought you were looking for a bathroom?” Gary asked.

“I am.”

Ben went to the third door that stood opposite of the front door and opened it, revealing a long staircase leading up to the second floor.

“Seriously?” Ben whispered.

By now, Gary was wide awake again and looking just as confused as Ben at the layout of the house. He had expected a living room or something like that to be behind at least one of the three doors.

“Wait, I think there was another door in the kitchen,” Ben said and hurried back to look into the kitchen. “Yeah, there is.”

“Shout if you need me,” Gary teased as Ben left to continue his search for a bathroom.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall once more. It had to be getting past midnight by now and he was tired. He didn’t allow himself to drift all the way asleep, though, and he kept listening for any sign of movement nearby. This house was still an enigma but he was thinking more and more that when the house got condemned whoever was supposed to shut off the power had forgotten to do it and so the house had kept on going without anyone noticing. Or maybe they left the power on to keep the house from deteriorating too much faster in the hopes of someday being able to fully restore it. Gary had heard before that houses really fell apart quickly once they stopped having their temperatures regulated by a furnace. The extra moisture would build up or something and speed up any rotting. He didn’t know if that was true or not, but it made some sense. Whatever the reason for the power still being on, he was grateful for it.

“Gary!”

The shout was distant but still easily recognizable as Ben’s voice. There wasn’t fear in the voice, though, just a shout to get his attention.

“What?” he shouted back.

“Come and see this!”

“Just tell me what it is.”

No response.

Grumbling, Gary got up and walked over to the kitchen. He had to use his own phone light to see and hoped it didn’t drain the battery too fast. As Ben had said, it was clear no one had used the kitchen in long while. The dust was thick over everything but all the dishes looked like they’d just been left behind. There was an open door on the other side of the kitchen and as Gary reached it and looked through he found a bizarre room, almost like an extra wide hallway with busts on either side. There were no nameplates to say who these busts represented and some of them had fallen off of their plinths and were broken on the floor.

“Where you at, Ben?” Gary called out, not wanting to have to play a game of hide and seek in this place. “If you just gotta pee, come back and use the kitchen sink or something.”

Again, there was no response.

“I’m serious Ben, where are you?”

Now the silence was starting to worry him. Had Ben been in trouble when he first called out and Gary just didn’t notice it in his voice? Or was Ben just messing with him. Gary knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he found Ben in either case so he pressed on, leaving the busts behind and moving into the next room. Finally he found what looked like it had been the living room at one time, but was now mostly ruined. The ceiling was caved in, revealing a bedroom upstairs as well as a hole in the roof. The debris covered whatever furniture may have been left in here and being exposed to the elements hadn’t helped. A few saplings were growing up out of the wreckage and a fine layer of snow covered everything. It didn’t take long for Gary to find Ben’s barefoot prints in the snow and follow them around the side of the room, avoiding what looked like a sagging floor in the middle of the room as though it were about ready to collapse in the basement.

Another doorway led him away from the ruined living room and into a bedroom that had two other doors leading out of it.

“Who designed this house?” Gary asked himself.

The layout made no sense to him. Sure, these days most houses were designed with an open floor plan so having so many doors was strange to him, but there didn’t seem to be any logic to how the rooms here were organized. Why would you make a house that forced any visitors to pass through the kitchen and then that weird statue hallway before getting to the living room, and then to go any further into the house you had to go through a bedroom.

“Ben, you okay?” Gary called but didn’t expect to get an answer.

He checked under the bed to make sure Ben wasn’t hiding there and then opened the first of the two other doors.

“I found you a bathroom,” he called out.

Judging from the damp sink he figured Ben had already been here.

The other door led into yet another hallway with three more doors. This was getting ridiculous and Gary’s patience was growing thin. If Ben was just playing a prank on him, he was too tired to find it funny. He picked up his pace, hurrying to the first door and looking inside to find it was a linen closet. Mice and moths had long since ruined everything that used to be stored in there and he shut the door. The second door led into a utility room. The third door led him out into a greenhouse, or sun room. The ceiling and two walls were all glass and there were plants grown wild all around. Surprisingly, none of the panes of glass were broken. The floor was entirely covered in dirt and he could see Ben’s foot prints continuing on towards yet another door.

“Ben, I’m tired. This had better be something amazing you want to show me.”

He passed through another bedroom, then a game room with a billiards table and wet bar. He found another bathroom and even an indoor pool. The size of this house was insane as he continued to find more and more rooms. It certainly hadn’t looked this big from the outside, but then again, it had been very late and dark out when Ben spotted the porch light.

By the fourth bedroom, he was done.

“I give up, Ben. I’m going back to the front door. I’ll see you in the morning I guess.”

It took him almost fifteen minutes to back track his way to the entrance. There, he found Ben curled up on the floor by the floor vent. He jerked awake as soon as Gary sat down beside him.

“There you are,” Ben said.

“Oh, yeah, real cute,” Gary replied. “I just spent the last half hour searching everywhere for you. What was it you wanted to show me anyway?”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked. “I used the bathroom next to the kitchen and then came right back here but you were gone.”

“You mean the bathroom that you have to go through the kitchen, through the living room, and through a bedroom to find?”

“No, I mean the bathroom that’s connected to the kitchen. I didn’t go any further than I had to. This place gives me the creeps.”

“I heard you calling for me.”

“You sure you didn’t just dream it?”

Gary was about to call him out on it, but it was late and he was tired and there wasn’t really much point to it anyway.

“Let’s just get some sleep,” Gary said instead and shifted their shoes to make a little more room for him to get some of the warm air still coming up through the vent. The shoes themselves were nearly dry already.

Thump Thump

“What was that?” Gary asked.

“Sorry, just taking off my shoes,” Ben said.

Gary lay there a moment in the dark, his head near the vent. He moved his hand slowly over to the shoes and counted two pairs of slightly damp shoes. Both his and Ben’s were still there, which meant Ben couldn’t be taking off his shoes since he wasn’t wearing any to begin with. It seemed highly unlikely that Ben would have found and then put on any shoes on his way to the bathroom either.

So then, what was it that he’d heard if not shoes?

Gary felt a chill running down his spine but he felt silly for being so afraid all of a sudden. He was a grown man and he was getting scared in the dark. This had to be some weird prank and maybe Ben was hoping to scare him.

“Hey Ben,” Gary said as he calmed his nerves.

“What’s up?”

“Your shoes are still on the vent.”

Silence.

“I’m tired, Ben. I’m not in the mood for any of your jokes or whatever you’re doing so let’s just get some sleep and hope we can get a tow truck in the morning.”

There was a brief pause before Ben replied and when he spoke there was such a strangeness to his voice that Gary almost wondered whether or not it was Ben at all who was speaking.

“You heard me calling for you and you gave up the search. I told you I was in a bathroom right off the kitchen and you didn’t insist I prove it to you and show you where it is. I told you that the noise you heard was me taking off my shoes even though you know my shoes are already off.”

Was Ben mocking him? Was he trying to save face for none of his supposed pranks working out? Would he refuse to let it go and not let Gary get any sleep? Probably.

“Okay, Ben, you win,” Gary said with heavy sarcasm, sitting up and putting his socks and shoes back on. “You are just sooo scary. I probably won’t get any sleep now so I might as well go sleep in the car. I’m taking the blanket with me. See you in the morning.”

He grabbed up the blanket before Ben could pull it away and then hurried over to the front door. He could hear Ben scrambling on the floor, trying to catch up but Gary was moving fast. The door was jammed, possibly one more thing Ben had done, but Gary was so far out of patience that he just took a step back and kicked as hard as he could. The door didn’t normally open outward but the old house was no match for a solid kick and the wood splintered. After that it was easy to grab the doorknob and wrench the door open.

“No! Come back!” Ben shouted desperately but Gary ignored him.

This time, rather than blindly cutting through the trees, he pulled his phone out and shone it’s light around until he found the slightly overgrown driveway. He followed it down to the road and then walked over to where Ben’s car was still parked. He climbed into the back seat, curled up beneath the blanket and went to sleep. Hopefully Ben wouldn’t bother him again tonight and they could get the car fixed and finish their drive across the state.

He didn’t sleep well that night and not just because it was cold. The blanket and his coat helped but his pants, socks and shoes were still slightly damp and he had to take them off halfway through the night. He kept waiting for Ben to come and either join him or apologize and invite him to come back into the house.

When morning did finally arrive, Gary dressed himself and made to go back to the house. As he looked up the hill, however, all he saw were trees. He walked up and down the road but couldn’t find the driveway he’d walked down the night before. Climbing up the hill, having to step through the frozen underbrush yet again, yielded nothing. When he reached the top of the hill he could plainly see that there was no house here.

Did he climb the wrong hill? No, looking around there weren’t any other hills as high as this one and from his vantage point he couldn’t see any other signs of habitation. Just the road winding its way through the trees and hills.

He instinctively pulled out his phone and was surprised when he found he had service. He called the first person he could think of. The phone rang a couple of times before his mom answered.

“Hey honey, how’s the trip going?”

“Mom, I’ve lost Ben,” Gary said as he tried and failed to keep the panic from his voice.

“You’ve lost what?”

“I’ve lost Ben, mom. I don’t know where he is.”

There was a brief pause on the other end before his mom spoke. “Who’s Ben? Did you take a friend with you on your road trip?”

“No, mom, Ben. Your other son, my brother, Benjamin! We had some car trouble and–

“Gary, slow down, you’re not making any sense,” his mom cut in, sounding concerned but for all the wrong reasons in Gary’s opinion. “I think I would know if you had a brother. Did you…have you…been using drugs?”

“What? No, mom, I’d never touch that stuff. You know me. I’m talking about Ben!”

He was almost shouting now as he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could she not know, not remember he other son?

“You’re really worrying me now, Gary,” his mom said. “Where are you now? You said you had some car trouble? Let me call you a tow truck or something. I think your little road trip has gone on long enough.”

He didn’t know what else to say. His mind was both racing and feeling blank at the same time. He told his mom where the car had broken down and she promised him she’d have a tow truck over to him as soon as possible, then hung up.

He could have called for the tow truck himself but it seemed to make his mom calm down knowing that she would be doing something to help him. There didn’t seem to be anything more that he could do than to go back down to the car and wait. It would be at least an hour or two before a tow truck would reach him.

“How could she just forget him?” he asked himself as he sat in the driver’s seat. “There are pictures of him all over the house”

An idea struck him and he pulled his phone back out and began flipping through his pictures, looking for one with Ben in it. There had taken dozens of pictures already during their drive, but as he scrolled through, none of the pictures showed any trace of Ben. The pictures were still framed as though there should have been someone else there, but they were all just of Gary. One even showed him with his arm out as though holding someone by the shoulder, as though he were a mime or something.

“No, no, this,” he tossed his phone to the side and dug into the glove box until he found the registration. “Here we go. It’s his car, registered in…”

The line on the vehicle registration where Ben’s name should have been was blank. How was that even possible? Slowly, he put the registration away and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He couldn’t be the only one who remembered his brother, could he? People weren’t just erased from existence like that. How could that even happen? And yet, here he was with only his own memories to back him up on it. No pictures, no records, no other family who remembered him. So why did he remember Ben? What had happened to Ben in the house, and where had the house gone?

Gary found no answers as he continued to sit there in the car that was apparently registered to no one, watching as the snow continued to fall, lightly now. Could it be that he was wrong? Was it his memory that was faulty? But then how could he explain the registration? Wouldn’t his mom have known if he, Gary, had been imagining a brother named Ben all this time? How could this be a new development?

He didn’t know, and there was nothing, it seemed, that he could do besides sit there in the cold, feeling so alone and afraid.

______________

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