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Prologue: This is another story that was conceived during my sister time. The first was called The Selfie. We were having fun hiking when nature called. Afterwards, we started joking about what would happen if two of us went and when we came back, two were gone. The story grew from there. I hope you enjoy this little story birthed from the 4-L’s. My best stories are when they are thought up from 4 beautiful minds.

Jill, Joni, Julie, and Janeen were the closest of friends; they were also sisters. When “it” happened, their ages were 49, 47, 45, and 41 and they have never been the same.  It all started when they decided to go on a trip together. They all lived in the same town, so it wasn’t like they didn’t get to see each other whenever they wanted; they just thought it would be fun to get away from life for a few days, let their husbands have alone time, and they could enjoy sister time. Living in the Midwest offered some easy, low strenuous hiking places, which is what they were in the mood for. They settled for an area in the upper section of Illinois, close to the Wisconsin border.  They figured they could enjoy the lush greenery of the forests, the carpet-like grass of the state parks, and the small towns along the route as they drove from their small town in Indiana.  They settled for the end of May, when the weather would start getting nicer.

“I think we are all packed in” Julie said to her three sisters. “It looks like we have enough for 2 weeks instead of 4 days” answered Janeen.  They all discussed their route and planned out some back roads so they could enjoy the small rural areas along their journey.  They left on a Thursday and didn’t have an itinerary to follow, other than they wanted to be at the hiking site Saturday. That gave them all day to sightsee, stop wherever they wanted, find a hotel whenever they wanted to stop, and be back on the road Friday morning. They found a cabin to stay in Friday and Saturday that was really close to a new hiking area.  Technically, it was some sort of addition on the border of a State Park.  The brochure Joni received in the mail, boasted fun and adventurous trails without being strenuous.  Once hikers enjoyed the State Park trails, they would find themselves at the entrance to Cingo adventure trails.  The trails had different themes to them that you could choose. The fee was only $15.00 per person, and it consisted of a water bottle, a map to the various trails with an explanation of each, and a shirt that read “I survived Cingo”.

Janeen offered to drive so Jill and Joni took turns reading about the various trails at Cingo.  One of them offered work out stations along the way, the other offered historical monuments and history lessons of the area, another boasted a haunted path, and still another promised to see wild animals.  “How are you going to see wild animals in Illinois, I call BS” said Jill.  They all agreed that work out stations was a big fat “no” and historical monuments sounded boring.  As they were discussing the other two options, they concluded that the wild animals were probably people in costumes, so they chose the haunted path.  “This will probably be some lame haunted-house type of deal” said Jill but Joni jumped in and replied “Yes, but we’ll all be together, and we always have fun no matter what”. They all agreed in unison.

The drive through rural Indiana and Illinois was fun; they stopped at various small shops, ate at a small Mom and Pop diner, and stopped in a few small shops along the way.  They lived in Southern Indiana and the driving time only showed 5 hours and 27 minutes via back roads, so they took advantage of the time and stopped whenever they felt like it.   They were making such good time, they decided to go all the way to their destination and see if they could get the cabin a night early.  It had taken some sweet talking, but the manager let them in early.  As they got settled in, they decided to drive by Cingo. The manager at the cabin rental office had never heard of it.  They had the brochure to show her, but she couldn’t recall ever hearing of it or talking to anyone that had been there.

The 4 sisters unpacked, brought in all their munchies, their adult beverages, and some marshmallows for the fire they were going to build later.  They explored around the grounds of the cabins and settled in for a night by the fire, ghost stories, and music. Of course, there was bound to be laughter; there always was.

The next morning, they settled by the remaining heat of the embers at the fire pit.  Julie pulled out the tiny Coleman stove she packed and fired it up for coffee.  Jill grabbed the fruit, Joni grabbed the granola bars, and Janeen sat staring at the fire trying to wake up.  “Hey, we are in no hurry today since we are already here,” said Jill.  They all agreed that they would have their coffee and go to the shower house up the road to wash the smoky smell from their bodies before heading into town to get some more fruit and cheese to load in their cooler.  They figured they would throw a bottle or two of wine in there too and have a drink and a snack after their hike today.  They had decided they would do the State Forest today and see how late it was. If it wasn’t too late in the afternoon, they would check out that Cingo place a day early since they didn’t have reservations.  They had called the number on the brochure, the nice lady told them that they were working on a website, but their web designer quit, at the last minute. Since they were such a new, family-owned, business, they were hoping for word-of-mouth advertising until they could get their website up and running.  The lady, who identified herself as Tamara, said they could come any time and not worry about reservations. She told them that business was picking up, but not so much that the girls couldn’t get in. They asked about the name and whether it was a family name. Tamara responded with “Oh, that is part of the fun, and you will get to figure that out once you start hiking. As I said, no reservations are needed, but we do require a 2-hour notice in advance before you arrive. Once you get to the South portion of the park, you will see a sign that reads Private Property, just head up the hill about 1/8 of a mile, and you will be at the entrance”. Tamara let them know as they were hanging up.

While they were hiking in the state park, Joni pulled out her bag of Starbursts to share with the sisters.  “Joni, you have such a sweet tooth, I swear your teeth should be rotted out” Julie teased.  “Hey, do you want any or not?  I’m willing to share, just don’t give me your wrappers back, my pocket is full”. Joni teased back.  The girls continued in the State Park, admiring Mother Nature.  Janeen had called the number for Cingo as they were driving to the State Park. She told Tamara that it might be longer than 2 hours, but not by much.  Tamara assured her that it would be fine, and they would be waiting at the gate for their arrival. “Boy, they must be some small operation to be able to wait for you”, said Janeen upon disconnecting from the call.  As they made their way to the South part of the park, Jill said she felt kind of weird, that something didn’t feel right. “What if this hike takes too long and it starts getting dark? It’s already close to12:00 o’clock, it will be 2 before we get there”.  “We’ll ask how long the hike is, if it’s too long, we’ll come back tomorrow” responded Julie.  They walked on another 10 minutes before seeing the Private Property sign.  It looked old and beat up, as if it had been there for many years.

The 4 sisters arrived at an old metal gate where, as promised, there was a lady waiting for them.  She introduced herself as Tamara, took their money; cash only as stated in the brochure, and told them to follow her. They asked about the length of the trails, which Tamara told them is up to each party, based on how long they spend on the trail, but generally they would be done in 2 hours. She told them they could shuttle to the State Park parking lot on one of their golf carts, if needed.  They arrived at some lockers where they were told they should lock up their belongings for safety reasons, including cell phones, since pictures weren’t allowed in portions of the park.  A little reluctantly, they locked their belongings up and were given the keys to their lockers.  Joni opted to keep her hoodie with the bag of Starburst and snuck her phone into it when Tamara wasn’t looking, she was definitely going to sneak some pictures of the place. Jill refused to leave her ball cap in the locker and put it on her head. “This is my good luck charm” Jill told her sisters.  Tamara had an old instant camera and told them all to smile.  She took several pictures and told them the photos would be given to them when they were done with the hike, along with the goodies listed in the brochure.

They were led by Tamara to another area, where the woods began again, and were told they could start their walk and there would be signs to lead them along the path. Tamara let them know that they would end up back here, where they started.  The 4 sisters started their walk, wondering what made it so haunted anyway. “You just know someone is going to jump out as us,” said Julie.  As they walked, there wasn’t much to see, so they began talking about what they would do when they got back to the cabin. “I’m drinking wine” stated Jill.  “Shhhh, I heard something,” said Joni.  They all stopped to listen but didn’t hear anything. “Probably a squirrel” Joni concluded. Janeen reached into her long side pocket of her hiking pants and pulled out a flask. “Who wants a sip”?  All three sisters laughed and raised their hands.  They took turns sipping the whisky that Janeen snuck in.  To their right, they saw a skull hanging from a tree, they all 4 gasped at the same time and went over to look at it.  “It looks so real,” said Joni. Underneath the tree, they saw a t-shirt that was torn up and bloody looking. “I guess that’s why they call this the haunted trail; they want to creep us out” Joni continued.  “I have to pee,” said Janeen. “Me too,” said Joni.  Jill and Julie confirmed that they were good and would be on watch patrol in case anyone came by, or any ghosts floated over.  Janeen and Joni spotted an old out-house looking building and decided to go on the other side of it to relieve themselves.  “We’ll wait here,” said Julie.

Janeen and Joni finished squatting at the same time and walked back over the trail. “Hey girls, not funny, where are you” yelled Joni. “Yes, hahaha, not funny, let’s get back on to our walking” chimed in Janeen.  They waited for a minute, but Jill and Julie didn’t come out, so they started looking behind the trees.  They didn’t see anything, so they yelled out that they were going ahead, and the girls could join them or not. They figured that would get the two to come out of their hiding place.  They walked about 100 yards and turned around, but no sisters followed. “This really isn’t funny; we don’t have a ton of time to mess around,” said Janeen.  They heard a twig snap and turned to see a shadow in the distance retreating.  They started to follow it, thinking it was their sisters, but Joni stopped short and pulled Janeen’s arm.  “Look, that’s Jill’s ball cap, she would not leave that on the ground if it dropped, not even to play a trick on us”.  “Oh, crap, now I am scared,” said Janeen.  “Maybe it’s part of the haunted trail and they asked Jill and Julie to be part of it,” said Jill.  They started walking towards the tree where they saw the shadow but didn’t see anyone. They looked down and saw blood on a pile of leaves.  Jill thought she was going to throw up, but Janeen still thought maybe that was part of it.  “Just in case, let’s go back the way we came and see if Tamara can shed some light on this, just in case they are hurt and got turned around,” said Joni.  “Let’s just go off the trail a bit and see if we can spot them” Janeen persuaded. 

Joni and Janeen walked a short distance and saw an abandoned cabin, they began walking quickly towards it.  As they got closer, they could see an old shed that had axes hanging inside. The axes didn’t look very old. “That’s weird,” said Joni.  They snuck up to the cabin, looked in the window, and gasped.  They saw old wire beds with ropes on the end of the posts, they saw buckets at the end of the bed, and they saw backpacks piled up in a corner. On the wall written in what looked like blood, read ‘Come in never get out with instant photos of people hanging on the wall.  “Oh my gosh, let’s get out of here and call for help. CINGO means come in never get out. I don’t know if we are being tricked or not, but I am afraid enough not to take my chances,” said Janeen. “Oh, how could I forget, I have my cell phone” Jill exclaimed. She pulled out her phone but didn’t have signal, so they agreed to get back on the trail and head back to the entrance of the park. They ran as fast as they could when they finally saw the entrance.

When they got out of the clearing, they stopped. There in front of them was a sign that read “North entrance”, there weren’t any lockers, and the metal gate was gone.  “There is no way we got that turned around,” said Janeen. “We must have; this can’t be where we entered,” said Joni.  They were flustered, afraid, and not sure what to do.  Suddenly, Joni pointed to a spot on the ground. “Look! It’s a Starburst wrapper,” said Joni.  “Joni, do you know what this means? It means they deconstructed everything as soon as we got into the woods to deliberately confuse us. They don’t expect us to go anywhere. We must get out of here, even if it means without Julie and Jill. We must get the police,” said Janeen. “I have signal; I’m calling 911,” said Joni.  Just as she pressed the numbers, they heard something. Joni put the phone behind her as Tamara came out of the woods. “Are you girls having fun yet”? Tamara asked.  “What have you done with our sisters” they both cried out simultaneously. “What on earth are you talking about. You two came alone, here I have the picture to prove it,” said Tamara.  She showed them a picture of just the two of them by the lockers. Unsure of when she snapped it, it was obvious it was somehow photo shopped, but it looked like an instant photo. “That’s not possible,” said Janeen. Both Janeen and Joni started to run towards the State Park. They jumped over barbed wire that was put in place and ran as fast as they could. They heard yelling and footsteps behind them. They gained ground and made it to some bushes and hid underneath, making sure no one was behind them.  They were both crying and trying to be quiet. They stayed there for what felt like hours as they heard footsteps moving around. They heard men’s voices calling out “here kitty kitty, if you want to see your sissies, you better come out”.  They held hands and looked at each other nodding their heads to communicate “no, we aren’t going out”.  What seemed like an eternity later, they heard the footsteps retreating and mumbling about getting the dogs to hunt them out. 

When they were sure the footsteps were gone, they jumped out of the bushes, turned to start running, and ran straight into someone. They both started screaming before they realized it was a Park Ranger and two policemen.  The policeman quickly put his hands over their mouths and told them to stop screaming and tell him what was going on.  They both started talking at the same time, trying to explain what happened; they were shaking and crying but finally managed to get the story out.  The policemen looked at each other as if they were silently communicating something.  “Can you show us the brochure?”  “No, we locked everything up in our lockers, as she instructed us to” replied Joni.  “Listen, carefully, you two need to go back with the Ranger and let us look for your sisters. We think these people make pop-up fake sites to lure in unsuspecting women. There have been several missing persons from around the Mid-West and East Coast over the past year, and only a couple that have escaped and told similar stories, “explained the first officer who introduced himself as officer Thomas, and the other was officer Andrews.  “We can’t leave our sister’s behind; we don’t know what they could do to them. We heard the men saying they were going to get dogs to search for us,” cried Janeen.  “Did you get a look at them at all?” asked Officer Andrews.  “I did, but just a little”, said Joni. “There were two of them; one of them had long dark hair in a ponytail and the other had a shaved head, I saw a tattoo on the side of his neck, but I couldn’t tell what it was, maybe a snake or a sword”.  There was that look exchanged between the two officers again. “Okay, go on and hurry, we need to get inside. We are calling for backup” replied officer Thomas.

Once at the Ranger station, the two sisters sat down with coffee and Kleenex. They were shaking, frightened, and feeling hopeless. They wanted to do something, but there was nothing they could do.  The ranger didn’t want them to take their car just in case the other two managed to escape and go back to it.  He said they were going to put a guard on watch around the vehicle, just in case. He wanted them to go back to the cabin, with an escort that he provided. He took down Joni’s phone number and called his partner to pick them up and take them to the cabin.

Once back at the cabin, Joni and Janeen built a fire and sat staring at it, numb from the day, but filled with useless adrenaline. It was only 4:30, just 2-1/2 hours from when they started their journey into that hellhole.  Neither of them spoke much, for fear of saying what was on their mind with thoughts of what could have happened to their sisters.  They would learn later that each of them feared their sisters were either dead or sold into some sort of sex slavery. If this had happened before, these people would have connections.  They sat there until 6:00 when the sun just started to give a hint of setting.  “I know neither of us are hungry, but we have to keep our strength up,” said Janeen.  “Okay, let’s just have some cheese, I can’t even think about myself right now” replied Joni. 

At 7:30, they were still sitting by the fire, taking turns getting up and pacing before adding more wood to the fire. They had made some coffee to keep themselves awake; neither wanted to try to sleep tonight. Neither wanted to call their mom; she was 85 and they couldn’t talk to her until they knew more. Each of them called their husbands and asked them to call Julie and Jill’s husbands. After both men called Joni’s phone, they decided to head out to the cabin first thing in the morning, with Joni and Janeen’s husbands.  There wasn’t anything to do right now, but they didn’t want to leave the cabin just in case Jill and Julie escaped and made their way there.

At 7:33 p.m., Joni’s phone rang.  She picked it up and put it on the speaker so Janeen could hear. “Joni, this is officer Smith. Officer Thomas gave me your phone number. We found your sisters.”  Both Janeen and Joni screamed with delight and asked for more details; when, where are they, are they okay, what happened.  “We’d like to send someone out to pick you up. We may have caught one of the suspects and we’d like you to identify them. Your sisters are both okay; they are at the hospital for some minor injuries. They were both running and fell into an underground storage area when the wooden cover cracked.  They are scraped bad, Julie may have a broken ankle and some deep abrasions, Jill has some lacerations across her face but, again, both are going to be okay.

Joni called Julie and Jill’s husbands and waited for the ride to the hospital.  Once they were at the hospital, they were able to see their sisters. From many garbled statements and crying, they learned that two men came out of the woods as soon as Joni and Janeen went to the outhouse to relieve themselves.  The men intended to tie Jill and Julie up, hold them captive, and come back for Joni and Janeen. The two men didn’t account for the fight that Jill and Julie would put up, after they dragged them away.  They didn’t account for the two sisters working together so well to escape, despite being hit, bruised, and bleeding.  When Jill looked down, saw a large branch that had fallen from a tree, picked it up, and swung it at tattoo guy, he fell to the ground. That made the ponytail guy angry, so Julie charged him and kicked him in the privates. After that, they both began running.  They were afraid to make noise screaming, so they tried to get back to where they thought their sisters were.  That is when they both fell into the underground trap.  They were both knocked out temporarily and could tell that many bad things had happened here, from the smell and the dried blood.  The sisters hugged, cried, and told each other how much they loved each other.

1 year later

Jill, Julie, Janeen, and Joni sat around watching their husband’s bond over a beer and hamburgers on the grill.  The guys tried not to talk too much about what could have happened. The girls knew it was by the grace of God that they made it out alive.  They found out that the operation was luring women in with promises of adventure. Once they had their prey, they tied them up, and sold them to sex slavery. Sometimes, they even invited their clients to the pop-up site, calling it pop-up sensual night.  They had been undercover for almost two years, leaving little trace behind until last year.  They targeted their audience by following them, learning their routines, and creating brochures that looked like mass mailing, but it only went to their targets. They had enough people involved that they could erect their site, pull down fake signs, lockers, fences, and anything else they needed to make the place look legitimate.  Thanks to Joni being brave enough to sneak her phone, the police were able to get ahead of this vile operation.

The four sisters talk about that time, they deliberately remember the good parts about it, they thanked God for the escape, and they were thankful for the authorities, and their husbands who supported them.  Their outings look a little different now, and their time together seems a little more special.    They know that all things work together for good.  Joni and Janeen started teaching a self-protection class while Julie and Jill volunteer their time to counsel women, who have been through abuse, at their local church. These days, when the 4 J’s, as they call themselves, get together with wine and music, they remember to play a little Christian mix of music to remember Who is in control.