Note: This is the first installation in a three-part series. I'm working on the second part already and hope to post each new chapter weekly. This is a true ensemble story – some implication of typical tensions and flirtations between Jeff/Annie (mostly as a reprieve from the chaos of the rest of the story), but nothing explicitly romantic. Let me know what you think in the comments!
Summary: When the study group retreats to Pierce's family lake house, someone – or something – is stalking them. Is it restless spirits, meddlesome kids, or (as Abed insists) the game of Jumanji come to life?
Day 1
One Thursday in May 2012, after classes end for the day, the study group troupes the couple hours up to Pierce's cabin on Lake Granby for a long weekend escape. They were nearing the end of their third year at Greendale and wanted to celebrate getting through what had been a dark couple semesters. Our story begins at their arrival.
Britta, Troy, and Abed were already waiting on the front steps when Jeff pulled up in his Lexus with Annie and Pierce. As the newcomers stepped out of the car, Britta tried, too obviously, to hide her blunt. Troy giggled, having clearly partaken as well. Annie pulled a tight frown.
With a wave that doubled as both a hello to his friends and a swatter for the mosquito that had already found him, Jeff stepped around to the trunk and began to unload their luggage.
"Annie," he called. "Did you really need to bring your school books? Wait, what is this bag? Art supplies?"
She bounced to the back of the car. "Our biology final is a diorama about the local ecology of a watershed. I thought maybe I could get a head start! There are bound to be all sorts of interesting animal and plant species around this lake."
"You're insufferable."
Pierce gave a big stretch, hands up to the sky, and a loud, "Ahhhh! This is it, ladies and ladies! The old homestead."
"How long has this place been in your family?" Britta asked. "It's beautiful."
"Oh, 150 years at least," Pierce responded proudly, hands on his stomach and surveying the grounds. The house was a sprawling structure, but clearly built to maintain the traditional log cabin ambiance. It was a single story with a deep, covered front porch and freshly planted gardens all around. Surrounded by woods on three sides, the left wall faced an open field with a winding path down to the lake and a private beach. A small yacht rocked beside the pier. Mountains framed the lake, and cotton-ball clouds reflected in the unseasonably warm Spring water.
"Yep, my great-great grandfather, Cornelius Archibald Hawthorne, was one of the first settlers in Colorado," Pierce continued. "Drove the savages off these lands and right over that ridge there. It was quite the massacre!"
"Ugh!" Britta leapt up from her seat on the front steps. "Our vacation is based on the illegal slaughter of innocent first peoples?"
"Legend has it, when the surviving Indians tried to sail away across the lake, the Hawthornes shot them, sank their canoes, and used the wood to build this cabin!"
"I'm going to be sick," Britta held her hand to her mouth and ran around the side of the house.
"There's still an Indian graveyard on the property!" Pierce shouted after her.
"Lay off her, Pierce," Jeff reprimanded, as he dropped three suitcases on the porch and headed back to the car for more. "There's a zero percent chance any of that is true."
"Bloodshed. Genocide. Revenge." Abed looked excited. "Have there ever been any supernatural events here?"
"There have been plenty of super au-naturale events here, if you know what I mean... "
"Ew, Pierce!" Annie scolded.
"I don't know what you mean," Troy said. "Wait, 'ooooh natural?' So there are ghosts here!"
Abed nodded in agreement. Troy grinned. "Sweeeet." But his wistful look was replaced seconds later with wide eyes and the dawning realization that he could realistically get either possessed or dragged into the gates of hell this weekend.
"There's no such thing as ghosts, Troy." Jeff plopped the last of the bags down. "Annie, if you ever bring this much stuff again, you're no longer allowed to ride with me."
"Hey, where's my bag?" Pierce asked.
"Get it yourself, John Rolfe."
"No. Way!" Troy shouted from the hallway.
He ran into the living room. "Abed! Look what I found in the closet!" Troy held up a dusty board game box that read, "Jumanji."
"This is it," Abed whispered, gingerly tracing the edges of the box.
"I shouldn't ask this but... what's 'it'?" Jeff was already grimacing from his spot on the couch.
"The souls of those slaughtered on Land Hawthorne," Abed gestured all around him. "They're here... trapped within the game."
"I don't know if we should play that... " Annie was sitting on the other end of the couch, legs tucked up and arms crossed.
"Don't tell me you believe this nonsense." Jeff looked pointedly over at her. "It's Abed. He's trying to give our quiet, relaxing, uneventful weekend a plot."
"I don't know," Britta chimed in, swinging in the indoor hammock and popping Let's potato chips in her mouth. "I'd have a score to settle if some old white guys murdered me for no reason."
"And what if they had a reason?" he responded. "Because I can think of a few."
Britta stuck out her tongue at him.
"I don't really want to battle 200-year-old dead dudes. But I do want to play this game. And if it all goes south... " Troy held a fist up to his mouth and pretended to choke back tears. "I know you guys have got my back."
"I don't have your back," Pierce said, walking into the room. "In a haunting situation, it's either the cute girl or the black guy who gets taken out first. That's just American Cinema 101."
Britta and Annie eyed each other and both mouthed, "You?"
Troy stared at Pierce, deadpan. "Or if it all goes south, we can just give them Pierce."
"Jumanji? Jumanji? Jumanji?" Abed pointed around the room.
"Helllooooo," a warm voice trilled through the cabin as the late arrival shuffled in the front door.
"Shirley!" everyone cheered.
"Shirley, thank God," Jeff dropped his head onto the back of the couch in relief. "Tell me you brought dinner, so we don't get sucked into an Abed adventure."
"Oooh an Abed adventure, that sounds fun. What's happening?"
"Pierce's ancestors murdered a bunch of Indians to build this house and their souls are trapped in this board game," Troy said.
"It's a game that pursues you," Abed continued. "Decode rhyming card messages that could spell disaster."
"Oh that's... . nice." As Andre and her boys walked through the door with bags of groceries and Chinese takeout, Shirley headed into the kitchen muttering, "This is why I don't hang out with you people on the weekends."
An hour later, Andre volunteered to clean up from dinner, Shirley went to put little Ben down for the night, and the other kids, Elijah and Jordan, snuck off to play video games in the back bedroom. The rest of the group retook their seats in the living room.
"I still don't think we should play this," Annie said hesitantly as Troy opened the board game box.
"I agree," Jeff nodded. "Though I'm sure for entirely different reasons."
"If you're worried about rolling the dice, I don't think we're at risk of creating different timelines again," Abed mused. "There are only 7 of us playing, and Jumanji has an 8-sided die."
"Maybe a ghoooost is the eighth player," Britta fluttered her fingers in Abed's direction.
"The ghosts are in the game, idiot," Pierce scoffed.
"Plus, we're already dealing with alternate dimensions here," Abed continued. "Let's not confuse dimensions with timelines. It gets too complicated for the audience."
"OK well, dimensions, timelines. Sounds like we're messing with a lot of complicated stuff, " Annie egged Abed on. "It's probably a bad idea."
"Did someone surgically remove your fun center in utero?" Troy asked.
"Such a buzzkill, right?" Britta looked around. No one even acknowledged her.
"Guys, we've had an insane year," Annie said. "Jeff killed Pierce's dad. We got expelled. The dean was kidnapped, and Chang tried to murder all of us. Can't we just... do something normal?"
"She's got a point," Pierce said.
"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't actively try to call up spirits of the undead," Troy considered.
"All in favor of getting black-out drunk instead?" Jeff raised his beer.
"To being normal!" Britta cheered, and clinked Jeff's bottle, sloshing her already half-empty glass of gin everywhere.
"I don't want no normal," Shirley said, bustling into the room and scooting in between Jeff and Annie on the couch. "Kids are busy, mama's got a free night, let's smite some demons! Or whatever those two were talking about," gesturing at Troy and Abed.
"Great," Abed said eagerly. "Let's begin."
"The rules of the game are simple," Abed commenced. "We each have a rescue die. Depending on what space the player lands on (Danger, Jungle, Rhino, Wait For 5 or 8), we all roll our rescue dice to try and save them. If we fail, we add a doomsday card to the grid. Fill up the doomsday grid, and we all lose. Be the first to reach the game board center, and yell "Jumanji!" And you win."
"Do any of us actually 'win' here?" Jeff took another swig of beer.
"And how exactly do we free the ol' redskins, Ay-bed?" Pierce asked.
"Could you be any more offensive if you tried?" Britta rolled her eyes.
"Three," Jeff said, looking at his watch.
"What? I just want to bring them some peace after all this time... " Pierce looked offended.
"Two."
"Aww," Annie and Shirley chimed.
"One."
"You know, I'm offended you think I'm racist against Native Americans just because of my family history. My fourth wife was 1/4 Navajo."
Britta looked a little ashamed.
"Of course, she was also 3/4 regular hoe... "
"There it is," Jeff relaxed back onto the couch and put his feet up.
"The person who suggests the game goes first," Abed refocused the conversation. "That's Troy."
Troy palmed the die and then looked at Abed. "You sure this is a good idea?"
"It's a great idea."
30 minutes of game play and four arguments later…
"Are you OK, Brit-ta?" Shirley asked, as Britta rubbed her neck and looked at the window behind her for the third time that night.
"What? Yeah. I just keep getting this feeling that we're being watched."
"We aaaare," Abed mirrored Britta's flutter fingers from earlier.
"Shut up, Abed. I'm serious."
"It's your roll Annie," Troy passed her the die.
She rolled a 1 and moved her pawn.
"A blank space! Jungle dangers threaten you." Abed said, handing her a danger card from the drawpile. "Put it under the decoder, and tell us what symbol you got."
"It's an open door," Annie said.
"Guys!" Britta threw her hands up in the air. "Nobody heard that?"
"Sorry, that was me," Pierce chuckled, embarrassed. "Chinese food makes me gassy."
Troy grimaced.
"I didn't hear anything," Shirley said sweetly.
"Was it a Native American war cry?"Jeff joked.
"This feels like Abed's Halloween story from last year. It must be an escaped mental patient coming to kill us all!" Annie exclaimed dramatically. "Where's the radio?"
Troy started humming Daybreak, "Mm mm mm mm mmmm mm. Mm mm mm mm mm."
They all joined in, "Mm mm mm mm mmmm mm. Mm mm mm mmm mmmmm."
Jeff snorted into his drink. He and Annie leaned around Shirley to grin at each other. Shirley glared at both of them.
"There!" Britta shouted, and jumped up to look out the window. "You must have heard that one."
"Actually, yeah," Troy got serious fast. "I did hear that."
"I told you! There's someone out there!"
"It's happening," Abed spoke with an air of both awe and authority. "Annie, get your gun. The rest of us will make bows and arrows out of firewood. But remember, we don't shoot first. This is the time for peace negotiations, people! We want to save their souls, not damn ourselves."
CRASH! The house shook, and everyone jumped to their feet with a shout.
Troy danced around, shaking his arms and whimpering. Abed – his grin replaced with wide-eyed shock – grabbed the game instruction manual and started speed reading.
"Ohh looord, what have we dooone?" Shirley crossed herself frantically.
"I'm too young to die!" Pierce cried out.
"That's debatable." Jeff couldn't resist the throwaway jab.
They heard scuffling around the corner of the house.
"JEFF!" Annie implored. "Do something!"
He grabbed a lamp off the side table and threw open the front door, running onto the porch with Pierce on his tail. Silence. Jeff stepped down onto the grass, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and turned on the flash light. There looked like some kind of figure hurrying away into the trees, but he couldn't make it out.
"I'm right behind you!" Pierce called, still on the porch with no intention of moving.
Peeking around the corner, Jeff saw the trash cans uncovered and laying on their sides, one leaning against the outer wall of the house. Propping them upright again, he shined the light on the ground around the area. The dirt looked disturbed, but there weren't any paw prints or... wait. A few feet away, he knelt on the ground to get a closer look. A footprint. Shit.
Jeff flashed the light around again toward the woods, the field, and the path to the lake. All was quiet. But the hairs on the back of his neck tingled. Following the sensation, he turned around to see everyone huddled against the window, looking out at him.
He brushed off the eeriness, gave a thumbs up, and headed back into the cabin.
"Something got into the trash cans," Jeff announced, locking the door behind him. "It was probably just a raccoon."
"Or a mountain lion. My aunt always said there are a bunch of those up here."
"It wasn't a mountain lion, Troy. I didn't see any big paw prints." Everyone looked hesitant. "Guys, we're fine."
"That's right, whatever it was, Jeffrey and I scared it off," Pierce said confidently. Jeff scowled.
"I'll tell you what it was. It was Jesus telling me to stop acting foolish and get to bed." Shirley disappeared down the hallway.
"Yeah, I think I'm done with this game," Britta agreed.
"Wait," Abed all but begged. "If nobody yells 'Jumanji,' the game is incomplete, and we could still get sucked into the jungle while we sleep!"
"JUMANJI!" Pierce shouted.
"I don't think it works like that... " Abed flipped through the manual again.
Annie, Troy, and Britta started putting the game away and cleaning up the living room. Jeff pulled Pierce off to the side.
"Pierce, I saw a foot print by the trash cans. Are there any other cabins around here?"
"Sure, there are plenty of lake houses. Not right here," he added proudly. "We've got quite a bit of land... "
"It could have been some kids messing around then."
"What? You saw someone outside?" He hadn't noticed Annie sidle up on their conversation.
"No, no... " Jeff started. "... Maybe. There was one footprint around the side of the house."
Annie looked at the window, concerned.
"Seriously, don't worry about it. We were out there a lot today, I'm sure it's one of ours."
Abed passed by, "Or... "
"Don't be a villain, Robin Williams."
Jeff had escaped to his room to begin his extensive nighttime skin care routine, while everyone finished cleaning up from the evening.
Pushing thoughts of intruders from his mind and debating whether Annie actually knew how to use her gun, he padded back out of the en-suite bathroom. And stopped short. On the other side of the room was Annie, facing away from him. He caught a glimpse of the porcelain skin on her lower back and waist as she slipped a night shirt over her head. His stomach flipped.
"Annie," he said slowly. "What are you doing?"
She whirled around and sputtered a little. Jeff was barefoot and bare-chested, wearing just a dark pair of sweatpants. He stifled a grin.
"Sorry, I knocked, but you were in the bathroom." She quickly composed herself. "I have to sleep in here tonight, if that's OK... Shirley's kids fell asleep in Britta's and my room. Abed has the couch, and Britta and Troy took the air mattress."
"Britta's sleeping with Troy?" Jeff yanked the door open and peaked out into the living room.
"I'm sure it'll all be sorted out tomorrow. But between staying with Pierce or you, this was kind of the obvious choice."
"Right. Well, you take the bed. I'll just – I can sleep on the deck chair."
"Jeff, no way! You're not sleeping outside when there might be... something out there."
Jeff glanced sideways at the bed. "I'll sleep in my car."
"Again, no. This is fine, really," she said, stepping forward and touching his arm with a soft smile. "Honestly, I'll feel safer if you're here."
They locked eyes for a moment.
Jeff abruptly turned and walked out the door. "I have to get some water."
He hurried into the dim kitchen. Annie could have asked Shirley to move the boys. Or she could have taken the couch instead of Abed. But she was in his room. With the small bed. And the thin pajamas. Jeff drank the water in one gulp and set the glass down on the counter a little harder than he intended to. Abed glared at him over the edge of the couch.
Oops. Get a freaking grip, Winger.
By the time he headed back into the bedroom, the lights were off, and he could just make out Annie's outline under the blankets. He threw a T-shirt on and slid in too, flat on his back, as close to the edge (and as far away from Annie) as he could get. It wasn't far enough. He could still feel her legs fidgeting beside him.
This is fine.
"It was probably just a raccoon, right?"
Annie's back was to him but her voice lilted through the dark, and Jeff turned his head to face her. Her hair flared out on the pillow toward him. He could smell it. Eucalyptus?
Yeah, this is fine.
"Nah, it was definitely restless Native American spirits."
"Jeff!" Her hand flew back to swat him, like she always did. But she could barely reach at this angle, and her fingers instead trailed lightly down his side before pulling away.
Mhmm, yep, all fine.
"You're letting the game get to you. It's just Abed being Abed. You must know that."
"I know that, intellectually. He's looking for an escape. We all are. But stranger things have happened. No one would have thought that illegally breaking into Greendale to rescue the Dean from a deranged Dictator Chang and his army of child soldiers would be real either. But that's become, like, an average Thursday for us."
"Oddly true. Well, as Troy said, if it all goes south, I've got your back. But you have to have mine, too. Sound good?"
He could somehow feel her smile.
"Good night, Jeff."
It kind of was.
Note: Thanks for reading Part I of "Supernatural Ecology"! In Part II – the study group waking up the next morning to their first full day at the lake – the true supernatural mystery begins. Look for the next installment soon! And please drop some comments to let me know what you think so far!