[ WP ] The rusted , mechanical switch sat on the table of the abandoned , run-down log cabin located , deep in the Allegheny Forest . A crude message was carved into the table with an arrow pointing to the switch , `` Do n't '' .

Joanna had strayed off the trail to find some privacy for a pee. She was hiking with two friends and truth be told, need a bit of alone time. They'd been hiking for 3 days and friends or no, she just needed a few minutes to herself. So Joanna put down her big pack and took ten steps into the bush. Just ten steps with nothing but her purse. 
 
 Unfortunately for Joanna, she gets lost easily. Every time she leaves a store, she ends up walking back down the street the way she came. Knowing herself, maybe she should n't have gone off the trail. But she did, and she made a wrong turn. She walked and called out to her friends and walked some more, but she never found the path again. Hours later, the sun was setting and the cold air was turning bitter cold. Joanna was getting desperate. 
 
 What luck then when she came across a log cabin! It was so old that no road led to it, no trail, it looked as though it had grown up out of the forest floor. The front door was open and all she could see inside was shadow. The darkness frightened her but Joanna, knew all too well how cold she would be outside tonight without a sleeping bag or tent. So she pulled out her flashlight and cautiously entered, hoping to make camp for the night. 
 
 Inside there was only one room. It was sparse but looked like a seasoned outdoors-person could live comfortably if they gave it a little love. There was a bed frame in one corner, a counter and sink in another, and two windows overgrown with vines on the outside. Most importantly, there was a fireplace, Joanna checked and the flue opened. She went outside and saw the vines didn ’ t make it all the way up the chimney. She just needed to start a fire. 
 
 Back inside Joanna took a closer look at the large wooden farmhouse table that sat in the center of the room. An over-sized mechanical switch sat bolted to one corner of it. A switch with wires that ran off into a cupboard. Needing fire, and hoping on the off-chance that there were working batteries at the other ends of those wires, Joanna stood as far from the cabinet as possible, hoping nothing creepy crawly jumped out, and pulled open the cabinet. There were, indeed, two car batteries hooked up to the switch inside an otherwise empty cupboard. Joanna unclipped one battery, and brought it over to the fireplace. Touching the leads together gave off a nice spark. Armed with a plan, Joanna walked around outside the house collecting firewood, small kindling twigs, and moss and built a comfortable fire inside the cabin. 
 
 It wasn ’ t until she was nice and warm next to the fire that she was relaxed enough to think about where she was and she started to feel uneasy. Everything in this cabin was old and run down but those batteries had looked brand new. Joanna inspected the switch more closely. It was rusted and covered in dust. It could have been as old as the rest of the cabin. Next to it was one word carved crudely in the table “ Don ’ t ” with an arrow pointing to the switch. 
 
 She went back to the cabinet and looked for wires leaving. She found a pair, headed down into the space below the cabinet. She couldn ’ t follow them further without a crowbar to rip out the boards. She wondered if there was a sub-floor or a basement and looked around for an access panel. The floor was all solid oak floorboards. She walked around and not one budged not even a hair. 
 
 Joanna ’ s attention then turned to the bed frame. It was a wooden bed frame, with a single piece of plywood covering the place where the mattress should go. Strangely, it had a few bolts at each corner that were not rusty and had been painted black. They looked brand new. One corner had a small recess, just big enough to get a hand under the board to lift. Joanna was curious enough to want to know but not brave enough to put her hand into dark places, so she jammed the end of her flashlight in and used it as a lever to lift. No matter how hard she pried it wouldn ’ t budge. 
 
 She shined her light in that little recess and saw a bright reflection, maybe there was a little clasp there. She needed something small and rigid to get at it. She pulled out a pen from her purse and it did the trick. No sooner had she pushed in the little metal clasp than the plywood piece popped open and there was a deafening bang. 
 
 Joanna was off to the side against the wall, out of the way of the blast. The shot had gone straight over the table and buried itself in a large fur hung above the fire. The gun had been inside the bed frame and now hung there dangling from a mount. It was rigidly mounted, precisely aimed, right at where anyone who threw that switch would be standing. 
 
 Without thinking, Joanna went for the gun. Two leather belts held it rigidly to a rod, which she quickly loosened. Joanna knew a little bit about guns, she knew this was a double barrel shotgun, and that meant it should have two shots. She looked for a release and found how to open the barrel and check. Two shells inside, one was spent. If this was a trap, someone would be coming to check on it. And that fire made her a target for miles. She wouldn ’ t be getting any sleep tonight.
