UNEDITED SHORT STORIES
The Shed
Prelude
A while ago a few friends of mine and I were sitting around an outdoor fire on another beautiful cool Florida evening having a few drinks, enjoying each other’s company. The kids were messing around in the back yard as well and the conversation turned to what each of us were afraid of. Well, my buddy’s girlfriend came out with being afraid of sheds. Terrified, in fact. Snakes live in sheds and I hate snakes she said, quite loud. Get used to it, you live in Florida.
Well, that got me thinking how can I turn her intimidation into a story that would send her cowering in a corner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good friend. But you open yourself up like that and someone is going to take advantage of that, so why not me. A few other stories were told as well that night which helped the wheels turn. Here is the result, I hope it sends shivers up your spine.
Now for the story
It was a crisp Friday afternoon, the smell of late fall hung in the air when Claire moved back into her family home after her parents died both suddenly last week. The dark clouds moved quickly across the deep blue sky as another cold front was moving in dropping the temperature. The leaves spun wildly in small cyclones across the front yard pilling up in front of the garage door. Claire locked her car door carrying in the last of the boxes. In all the days her family lived in this house, no one ever needed to lock the car. In fact, most times the keys were left in the ignition. The town has changed she thought, as she dropped the keys in her coat pocket.
She carefully placed the box marked glasses on kitchen counter, unlocked and stepped out the back door to have a much-needed cigarette. Claire stood on the concrete stoop and surveyed the back yard as she lite up the cigarette. The grass hadn’t been cut in weeks, the limbs of the maple trees looked like skeletons without any leaves on then. Their branches creaked and snapped as the breeze blew through them. A flash of a memory came to her. She and her sister jumping in the large piles of leaves as their father raked them into what seemed to be monstrous size piles before they would burn them. The metal shed stood out in the back yard, she and her dad built now looked old. How long ago was it she thought, must be close to twenty five years; her dad bought it from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. The white paint had long since faded and now was turning to rust. The doors were still bent and she could see the dents where she banged and kick at them from inside. When she and her dad finished building it, he tricked her into going in to check to see if there were any left-over parts inside. When she did, as a joke her dad shut the doors. The doors shut so easily, it seemed like they shut by themselves. Slamming behind her, trapping Claire inside the dark for what seemed to be an eternity. A full ten minutes, she banged on the doors screaming as both her dad and sister tried to get the doors open. But they wouldn’t move. Not until her mother came running out of the house, her Rosary beads in her hand. As her mother got closer to the shed, the doors opened slightly. It wasn’t until her mom was standing in front of the shed screaming “open now” that the doors flung open. Claire ran out crying into her mother’s arms, she never went back in or near the shed since that day.
Claire flicked her cigarette towards the shed and went inside. She was a little hungry and need of a drink. Her dad always had beer in the refrigerator, not that he was an alcoholic he just liked having a beer with his dinner. She walked over to the refrigerator only to find it empty, except for a bottle of wine from her sister. That bitch, she thought had time to leave a bottle of wine but couldn’t find the time to help me move in. The bottle was wrapped with a red ribbon with a note, “Happy moving in day, our parents would be so happy your back home”, was all it read. She ripped the note off and tossed it on the counter. Thinking, well this wouldn’t be the first time she had a liquid dinner. Claire opened the box marked glasses she left on the counter and pulled out a coffee mug. She snickered, it was a gift from her X-husband. Why she kept it all these years was beyond her. This will do, she said to herself as she poured the wine and emptied half the mug in one gulp.
Claire took off her jacket, grab the wine bottle and glass tightly in her hands and went into the living room; which was crammed with most of her moving boxes. She didn’t bring much with her thinking she wouldn’t be staying long. Just long enough to wrap up things up here with her sister, six months at the most. She hated the cold weather and just wanted to get back to Palm Beach home and her job. As a Senior Associate of the firm, she was very lucky that they gave her the time off to deal with this family crisis. She sent a quick email to the two partners of the firm from her phone, saying she made it here OK and that she should be able to start working remotely in the next few days.
She moved several of the boxes out of the way that were in front of the fireplace and open the glass doors. She hoped to God that there was gas in the tank as she and turned the handle and put a lit match to it. The flame roared up as Claire adjusted the gas to high, she wanted to take the chill out of the house. Claire fell into the couch, a little dust waffled up as she landed. Tossing a few pillows on the floor, she put her feet up on the arm rest and laid her head down on the other. She laid there watching the flames flicker in the dark, the fire started to warm the house as she took another drink from her mug. With more than three quarters of the wine gone she laid her head back thinking of what she needed to do tomorrow and nodded off to sleep.
Claire startled herself awake. The living room was dark except for the fireplace as the flames danced around the fake logs, she picked her phone up off of the floor. It was 5:47 AM. Sitting up she found the mug on the floor, the handle was broken off. Well I guess I can now through this away, she chuckled to herself as she picked it up. She sat on the couch for a while watching the fire, thinking back to all of the memories this house held. Some good, but there were a few that she didn’t want to remember.
She shook the cobwebs out of her head, went into the kitchen looking for coffee. Opening the blinds on the kitchen door. The sun was just coming up, she could see that a layer of new fallen snow covered the back yard, I guess I can cross off the fall yard cleanup off the list of what needs to be done.
Claire looked in the cabinet where her mother once kept the coffee. Wonder how old this is, she said out loud. She turned on the small black and white TV that sat on top of the refrigerator to the local news. Another cold front was moving in and that a blizzard advisory for 15 to 20 inches of snow has been issued. She thought the weather man was going start jumping for joy as he read from the teleprompter, this was the earliest foretasted snow let alone a blizzard in the last 100 years. She switched off the TV off. Are you kidding me she said out load, as if expecting someone in the house would hear her. She leaned against the counter. Fantastic, now I’ll be stuck in this hell hole without any food if I don't go out soon. She was sure that the store was going to be crazy as everyone would be in a panic as the first major blizzard was headed there way. She thought for a while, maybe I'll go over my sister’s house at least I won't be alone. She stood there watching the coffee endlessly drip into the coffee pot as she texted her sister.
Claire poured herself a cup of coffee, thru her jacket over her shoulder’s and when out the back door for a smoke. The sun was already up over the horizon, it’s light rays reflected off the snow giving it a sparkling look. Claire could see the storm front moving in from the west, it was about to darken the sun and start snowing. Her breath turned into condensation as she lit up her cigarette. Looking around the back yard, she noticed what looked to be paw prints in the snow, probably a rabbit looking for food early this morning. The shed looked like it got a fresh coat of paint with the snow stuck to it. It also looked like the roof could cave in if any more snow piled on it. It still gave her the shutters whenever she looked at it. Claire’s phone started vibrating in her pocket, she didn’t answer it letting it vibrate. After several minutes, she flicked her burnt out cigarette towards the shed turned and started to open the back door. The snow on the roof of the shed started to slid off. Claire turned her head as she heard the snow hit the ground, she slammed the door behind her. Claire thru off her jacket on to the floor, the thoughts in her head spun around as she just stared out the back door at the shed. The snow was just starting to fall, soon the storm would be in full swing.
Claire broke herself free from the trance, dug the phone out of her jacket pocket and read the text from her sister. Yes, come over don’t need to bring anything, you can shower here too. it’s snowing here now, don’t know how that Florida car of yours drives through snow but you might need a shovel in case you get stuck. Fantastic, she said to herself.
Claire gathered up a few of her things to take over to her sisters, placed them on the kitchen counter and walked out into the garage to look for a shovel. For years her dad worked on “his inventions”, as he called them. He was like the Leonardo da Vinci of their small town. Sometimes he would be working on several projects at once, a few were complete. Some half done, and others just drawings on an old chalk board of projects not yet started. He was always inventing useless stuff, it kept him busy and happy during his retirement. She looked around the garage, it was full of her dad’s projects. This was going to be the hardest part for her and her sister to deal with, cleaning out the garage. Claire made a mental note to tell her sister instead of going through the heartache and torment of throwing what they don’t want away, that they will hire someone to do this.
Claire spent a good hour or so rummaging through out the garage, at times she had to remind herself as to why she came out here. She looked through everything, tools, parts, old note books. Claire moved a lot of the projects around looking for a snow shovel, all the while making a pile of what she would like to keep. She looked in every corner, but no shovel. She was so distracted that she didn’t realize how much time she spent in here or how cold she was.
She walked out of the garage and into the kitchen, quickly looked out the back door towards the shed. Dam, it figures that stupid shovel has to be in the shed. She grabbed a cigarette and went out the back door. There had to be four inches of new snow on the ground, Claire lite up the cigarette, it took her several times as the wind just stated to pick up. All the while looking at the shed, trying to build up her confidence to face her fear and go out to the shed. She quickly texted her sister saying the shovel wasn’t in the garage and that she was working up the strength to check in the shed. She finished her cigarette and went back inside with a little more confidence than before.
Claire took off her jacket and hung it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Placing her phone on the kitchen counter, she walked into the living room. The fire was still going, Claire stood in front of it for some time warming up, again working up the inner strength to go into the shed. She knew the fear was just in her mind and that going out to the shed should not be a big deal. After several minutes of warming up, her confidence grew. No more fear of the shed, she knew she wouldn’t be long, run out grab the shovel and run back in. Easy peasy she said to herself.
Claire pulled a flashlight out of the junk drawer and opened the back door, took a deep breath, easy peasy she said to self again. The snow was really coming down hard, she took a few steps and slammed the door shut. Not knowing it locked behind her as she ran out to the shed. The snow was above her calves as she ran across the yard. Claire stopped in front of the shed doors, again she said easy peasy to herself. She pulled the doors open, turned on the flashlight, there in the far corner was the snow shovel. Claire took a deep breath, all she needed to do was to take two steps inside and she could grab the shovel and run back inside. Claire took another deep breath blew it out and took two steps inside just as her hand grabbed the shovel, the doors to the shed shut behind her.
Just when the doors shut, Claire’s phone vibrated “LOL, don’t bother we will leave here in an hour or so and pick you up.”
The End
Prelude
A while ago a few friends of mine and I were sitting around an outdoor fire on another beautiful cool Florida evening having a few drinks, enjoying each other’s company. The kids were messing around in the back yard as well and the conversation turned to what each of us were afraid of. Well, my buddy’s girlfriend came out with being afraid of sheds. Terrified, in fact. Snakes live in sheds and I hate snakes she said, quite loud. Get used to it, you live in Florida.
Well, that got me thinking how can I turn her intimidation into a story that would send her cowering in a corner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good friend. But you open yourself up like that and someone is going to take advantage of that, so why not me. A few other stories were told as well that night which helped the wheels turn. Here is the result, I hope it sends shivers up your spine.
Now for the story
It was a crisp Friday afternoon, the smell of late fall hung in the air when Claire moved back into her family home after her parents died both suddenly last week. The dark clouds moved quickly across the deep blue sky as another cold front was moving in dropping the temperature. The leaves spun wildly in small cyclones across the front yard pilling up in front of the garage door. Claire locked her car door carrying in the last of the boxes. In all the days her family lived in this house, no one ever needed to lock the car. In fact, most times the keys were left in the ignition. The town has changed she thought, as she dropped the keys in her coat pocket.
She carefully placed the box marked glasses on kitchen counter, unlocked and stepped out the back door to have a much-needed cigarette. Claire stood on the concrete stoop and surveyed the back yard as she lite up the cigarette. The grass hadn’t been cut in weeks, the limbs of the maple trees looked like skeletons without any leaves on then. Their branches creaked and snapped as the breeze blew through them. A flash of a memory came to her. She and her sister jumping in the large piles of leaves as their father raked them into what seemed to be monstrous size piles before they would burn them. The metal shed stood out in the back yard, she and her dad built now looked old. How long ago was it she thought, must be close to twenty five years; her dad bought it from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. The white paint had long since faded and now was turning to rust. The doors were still bent and she could see the dents where she banged and kick at them from inside. When she and her dad finished building it, he tricked her into going in to check to see if there were any left-over parts inside. When she did, as a joke her dad shut the doors. The doors shut so easily, it seemed like they shut by themselves. Slamming behind her, trapping Claire inside the dark for what seemed to be an eternity. A full ten minutes, she banged on the doors screaming as both her dad and sister tried to get the doors open. But they wouldn’t move. Not until her mother came running out of the house, her Rosary beads in her hand. As her mother got closer to the shed, the doors opened slightly. It wasn’t until her mom was standing in front of the shed screaming “open now” that the doors flung open. Claire ran out crying into her mother’s arms, she never went back in or near the shed since that day.
Claire flicked her cigarette towards the shed and went inside. She was a little hungry and need of a drink. Her dad always had beer in the refrigerator, not that he was an alcoholic he just liked having a beer with his dinner. She walked over to the refrigerator only to find it empty, except for a bottle of wine from her sister. That bitch, she thought had time to leave a bottle of wine but couldn’t find the time to help me move in. The bottle was wrapped with a red ribbon with a note, “Happy moving in day, our parents would be so happy your back home”, was all it read. She ripped the note off and tossed it on the counter. Thinking, well this wouldn’t be the first time she had a liquid dinner. Claire opened the box marked glasses she left on the counter and pulled out a coffee mug. She snickered, it was a gift from her X-husband. Why she kept it all these years was beyond her. This will do, she said to herself as she poured the wine and emptied half the mug in one gulp.
Claire took off her jacket, grab the wine bottle and glass tightly in her hands and went into the living room; which was crammed with most of her moving boxes. She didn’t bring much with her thinking she wouldn’t be staying long. Just long enough to wrap up things up here with her sister, six months at the most. She hated the cold weather and just wanted to get back to Palm Beach home and her job. As a Senior Associate of the firm, she was very lucky that they gave her the time off to deal with this family crisis. She sent a quick email to the two partners of the firm from her phone, saying she made it here OK and that she should be able to start working remotely in the next few days.
She moved several of the boxes out of the way that were in front of the fireplace and open the glass doors. She hoped to God that there was gas in the tank as she and turned the handle and put a lit match to it. The flame roared up as Claire adjusted the gas to high, she wanted to take the chill out of the house. Claire fell into the couch, a little dust waffled up as she landed. Tossing a few pillows on the floor, she put her feet up on the arm rest and laid her head down on the other. She laid there watching the flames flicker in the dark, the fire started to warm the house as she took another drink from her mug. With more than three quarters of the wine gone she laid her head back thinking of what she needed to do tomorrow and nodded off to sleep.
Claire startled herself awake. The living room was dark except for the fireplace as the flames danced around the fake logs, she picked her phone up off of the floor. It was 5:47 AM. Sitting up she found the mug on the floor, the handle was broken off. Well I guess I can now through this away, she chuckled to herself as she picked it up. She sat on the couch for a while watching the fire, thinking back to all of the memories this house held. Some good, but there were a few that she didn’t want to remember.
She shook the cobwebs out of her head, went into the kitchen looking for coffee. Opening the blinds on the kitchen door. The sun was just coming up, she could see that a layer of new fallen snow covered the back yard, I guess I can cross off the fall yard cleanup off the list of what needs to be done.
Claire looked in the cabinet where her mother once kept the coffee. Wonder how old this is, she said out loud. She turned on the small black and white TV that sat on top of the refrigerator to the local news. Another cold front was moving in and that a blizzard advisory for 15 to 20 inches of snow has been issued. She thought the weather man was going start jumping for joy as he read from the teleprompter, this was the earliest foretasted snow let alone a blizzard in the last 100 years. She switched off the TV off. Are you kidding me she said out load, as if expecting someone in the house would hear her. She leaned against the counter. Fantastic, now I’ll be stuck in this hell hole without any food if I don't go out soon. She was sure that the store was going to be crazy as everyone would be in a panic as the first major blizzard was headed there way. She thought for a while, maybe I'll go over my sister’s house at least I won't be alone. She stood there watching the coffee endlessly drip into the coffee pot as she texted her sister.
Claire poured herself a cup of coffee, thru her jacket over her shoulder’s and when out the back door for a smoke. The sun was already up over the horizon, it’s light rays reflected off the snow giving it a sparkling look. Claire could see the storm front moving in from the west, it was about to darken the sun and start snowing. Her breath turned into condensation as she lit up her cigarette. Looking around the back yard, she noticed what looked to be paw prints in the snow, probably a rabbit looking for food early this morning. The shed looked like it got a fresh coat of paint with the snow stuck to it. It also looked like the roof could cave in if any more snow piled on it. It still gave her the shutters whenever she looked at it. Claire’s phone started vibrating in her pocket, she didn’t answer it letting it vibrate. After several minutes, she flicked her burnt out cigarette towards the shed turned and started to open the back door. The snow on the roof of the shed started to slid off. Claire turned her head as she heard the snow hit the ground, she slammed the door behind her. Claire thru off her jacket on to the floor, the thoughts in her head spun around as she just stared out the back door at the shed. The snow was just starting to fall, soon the storm would be in full swing.
Claire broke herself free from the trance, dug the phone out of her jacket pocket and read the text from her sister. Yes, come over don’t need to bring anything, you can shower here too. it’s snowing here now, don’t know how that Florida car of yours drives through snow but you might need a shovel in case you get stuck. Fantastic, she said to herself.
Claire gathered up a few of her things to take over to her sisters, placed them on the kitchen counter and walked out into the garage to look for a shovel. For years her dad worked on “his inventions”, as he called them. He was like the Leonardo da Vinci of their small town. Sometimes he would be working on several projects at once, a few were complete. Some half done, and others just drawings on an old chalk board of projects not yet started. He was always inventing useless stuff, it kept him busy and happy during his retirement. She looked around the garage, it was full of her dad’s projects. This was going to be the hardest part for her and her sister to deal with, cleaning out the garage. Claire made a mental note to tell her sister instead of going through the heartache and torment of throwing what they don’t want away, that they will hire someone to do this.
Claire spent a good hour or so rummaging through out the garage, at times she had to remind herself as to why she came out here. She looked through everything, tools, parts, old note books. Claire moved a lot of the projects around looking for a snow shovel, all the while making a pile of what she would like to keep. She looked in every corner, but no shovel. She was so distracted that she didn’t realize how much time she spent in here or how cold she was.
She walked out of the garage and into the kitchen, quickly looked out the back door towards the shed. Dam, it figures that stupid shovel has to be in the shed. She grabbed a cigarette and went out the back door. There had to be four inches of new snow on the ground, Claire lite up the cigarette, it took her several times as the wind just stated to pick up. All the while looking at the shed, trying to build up her confidence to face her fear and go out to the shed. She quickly texted her sister saying the shovel wasn’t in the garage and that she was working up the strength to check in the shed. She finished her cigarette and went back inside with a little more confidence than before.
Claire took off her jacket and hung it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Placing her phone on the kitchen counter, she walked into the living room. The fire was still going, Claire stood in front of it for some time warming up, again working up the inner strength to go into the shed. She knew the fear was just in her mind and that going out to the shed should not be a big deal. After several minutes of warming up, her confidence grew. No more fear of the shed, she knew she wouldn’t be long, run out grab the shovel and run back in. Easy peasy she said to herself.
Claire pulled a flashlight out of the junk drawer and opened the back door, took a deep breath, easy peasy she said to self again. The snow was really coming down hard, she took a few steps and slammed the door shut. Not knowing it locked behind her as she ran out to the shed. The snow was above her calves as she ran across the yard. Claire stopped in front of the shed doors, again she said easy peasy to herself. She pulled the doors open, turned on the flashlight, there in the far corner was the snow shovel. Claire took a deep breath, all she needed to do was to take two steps inside and she could grab the shovel and run back inside. Claire took another deep breath blew it out and took two steps inside just as her hand grabbed the shovel, the doors to the shed shut behind her.
Just when the doors shut, Claire’s phone vibrated “LOL, don’t bother we will leave here in an hour or so and pick you up.”
The End