Chapter 1

It was late November when I loaded up my truck to head for my family’s cabin in the woods. The weather had turned cold, and the skies grew dark as I drove the fifty miles along the dark road before the turn-off. The local country station, The West 88.7, was playing some classic Garth Brooks tunes, which got my toes tappin’. I was always a sucker for the 90’s new country style, a little less twangy than traditional country, but still had the stories and soul of classic country music. With a break between songs, the DJ interrupted with inane chatter about local politics, world events, and finally, a weather report calling for three days of rain.

‘Great, just great’ I grumbled to myself. I’d been hoping to do some fishing at the nearby lake and gather some supplies before winter. I knew I had enough food stored up for the week, but it might be worthwhile to stop by a store to pick up a few extra things in case I got stuck there for a while. Luckily, there was a small town a few miles up the road before the land became nothing but trees and rocks.

I like the quiet and am a pretty solitary person. Most of the year I’m working construction jobs. Generally, they are loud, noisy worksites with a lot of people moving about. Just constant activity. So it’s nice to get away to this little refuge out in the middle of nowhere. It’s not that I’m completely antisocial, I hang out with some of the guys from the job site, and I’ve been known to charm a lady or two some evenings, but I would rather just be out here in the cabin, far away from most people.

Lights started to appear on the horizon, and I knew I was getting close to the small town of Johnstown. There wasn’t a lot there, to be honest, just a small general store, a gas station with a small diner, and several houses along the road. It was the kind of place you drove past without even looking out your window before it was already gone.

I pulled up to the general store just as the first flash of lightning cracked off in the distance. A few seconds later, the thunderous boom echoed as I entered the store. The old shopkeeper nodded at me as I picked up a basket and gathered some supplies. I mostly gathered some canned food, some bread, and a few other odds and ends before proceeding to the register.

“Looks like a bad storm’s rollin’ in,” the old man says, as he totals up my purchase.

“Yeah, supposed to last for a few days,” I say, making small talk.

“Well, hopefully, you get where you’re goin’ soon, then. Don’t wanna be stuck on the road if it turns nasty,” he replies before giving me my total.

“I’ve only got another 5 miles to go, then with this stuff, I’ll be set for a week,” I replied, handing him some cash, gathering my stuff, and saying goodbye.

I walked outside to another crack of lightning as I opened the passenger door and dropped the bags on the seat. As I moved to the driver’s side, the first drops of rain started to fall. Before I even turned the key, the rain was pouring down at a steady rate. I turned on the wipers, hit the gas, and was back on the road, hoping to make it off the road as quickly as possible.

While it was only 4:00pm, you’d have sworn it was midnight. I had the headlights on, but even then, it was still tough to see clearly on the road. The wipers were clearing the rain off as fast as they could, but it was an endless struggle. The sound of the rain beat down hard on the roof of the truck, almost like the sound of small hailstones, but none could be seen through the windscreen. As the truck rolled along, I saw a strange shape moving on the side of the road. At first, I thought it might be a deer, frozen in fright from the sound of the truck. I slowed down, just in case, but as I approached, it took a more human form.

I pulled off onto the shoulder, and the beams of the headlights illuminated the person standing on the side of the road with a jacket over their head. I waved them towards the truck, and they ran quickly to the door, opening it, and jumping inside.

“Thanks, Mister,” a female voice said. She lowered her jacket once inside, revealing it to be a teenage girl. She had long brown hair that was soaked through, tanned skin, a clean complexion, and carried a backpack.

“What are you doing out in weather like this?” I asked, wondering why she was in the middle of nowhere.

“I was dropped off in that little town back there, but I couldn’t find a ride, so I started walking,” she answered plainly.

“Did friends drop you off?”

“No, just some people passing through. How far up the road are you going?” she inquired, trying to warm herself up.

“Just another mile up the road, I have a cabin off one of the dirt roads. Where are you trying to get to?”

“L.A., I want to be an actress, and I know someone there who’ll put me up for a bit.”

I was stunned. L.A. was a few thousand miles from here. How was she planning on getting there, I thought to myself. “Do you have another ride or a bus to get you there?”

“No, I’m just walking or hitchhiking my way there. I need to get to an Interstate highway to make more progress, but I’ve gotten a few hundred miles the past few days,” she answered, her teeth starting to chatter from the cold.

“Well, do you have a place to stay tonight? The rain isn’t supposed to let up for a few days.”

“Actually, no. Shit, I didn’t expect it to get so cold this quickly,” she replied, rubbing her hands on her arms, her clothes still soaking wet.

I don’t know what possessed me to say it, but before I could think, I just said, “You could stay with me for the night. It isn’t much, but it’ll be warm and dry.”

She looked at me as if sizing me up to see if I was a danger or not. I could see the thoughts in her head tumble around in her mind, but ultimately, she simply nodded yes. I think she realized she didn’t have many better options at that point, as the heavy rain pounded down on the roof. I put the truck into gear and turned back onto the road, heading for the dirt road to my cabin.

There was a deafening silence in the cab of the truck, as neither one of us spoke. There was just the ambient sound of the rain pouring down, the wipers cleaning the windshield, and the noticeable chattering of the girl’s teeth from the cold. I realized I hadn’t asked for her name, but at this point, I figured I’d wait until she started talking or we got to our destination.

After a short while, we approached the turn-off to the cabin. It was just a simple dirt road with a sign warning of private property. I had thought about putting a gate at the entrance but never really bothered. My great-grandpappy bought the land a long time ago from a land prospector who realized too late that no one would ever live out here. He bought several hundred acres for pennies on the dollar, including a large portion of a small lake. Now, the logging rights alone make this land valuable, but I have no interest in selling it.

The cabin was a mile down the road, just on the shore of the lake. The ride was bumpy and rough, but my old truck could handle it easily. Maybe one day I should put down some gravel to smooth it out, but there were always other changes I wanted to make. It seemed like most of my money went to fixing up this place, but it never felt like a waste. This was my private little oasis, and I wanted to keep it in good shape.

The lights of the truck pierced the rain, and the tree-lined road finally broke to reveal the cabin. It wasn’t a large building, but it was a sturdy and well-built structure. The foundation was made of local rocks, and the log-lined walls were from the cleared timber of the property. Each occupant, from my grandpappy to myself, has added things in their time to make it more comfortable. My daddy’s addition was a bathroom running water from the lake and a septic tank. He got really tired of lugging buckets of water from the lake anytime he wanted to do anything and hated the outhouse.

I pulled up close to the front door and turned off the engine. I got out and ran to the front door to unlock it, then gestured for the girl to follow. She seemed reluctant at first but eventually jumped out and ran inside the dark doorway of my cabin. I hit the switch on the side of the door to activate the generator I had installed a few years back, but it didn’t turn over. I hit it again, but nothing happened.

“Cheap foreign-made garbage!” I muttered to myself. “Looks like the power doesn’t work right now, miss. I’ll get a fire going to warm you up, though,” I said to my freezing guest. Grabbed the emergency flashlight that I kept by the door and flashed a beam of light towards the big stone fireplace. I always made sure to keep a large supply of dry wood inside to get a fire going. I took a box of matches, some tinder, and a few small logs and got a small fire started.

The glow illuminated the rest of the main room and the small, old couch in front of the fireplace. The cabin wasn’t much more than a single large room, with the only exception being the bathroom addition, which kind of stuck out from the rest of the original building. On the walls were old pictures of family trips up here dating all the way back to my grandpappy. Photos of us holding up fish we caught each summer and a pair of antlers from a buck my grandpappy killed over seventy years ago hung over the fireplace.

The girl, her teeth still chattering, quickly moved in front of the fire to warm herself up. In the orange light of the fire, I could see she was still completely soaked, and her skin was nearly turning blue. I got a couple of blankets from the bed and draped them over her shoulders as she desperately tried to warm up.

“Thank you, Mister. I don’t know what I’d be doing if I was still on the side of the road.” This was the first time she’d spoken since I picked her up.

“Name’s Pete, miss. Pete Hackett. I’m glad I could help,” I said, as I moved around with the flashlight, checking on the condition of the cabin. Everything seemed to be in order on the inside, just as I left it a month ago.

“I’m Allison. I don’t mean to be a bother, but do you have something to drink?”

“Hello, Allison. Sure, I can get some tea going to help warm you up. Do you have a change of clothes? Those soaked things will just keep you cold.”

“Yeah, let me check my bag,” she said, as she reached over to her backpack and started rifling through her stuff. I noticed it just looked like a large school bag, which made me wonder how prepared for this journey she actually was.

“Shit!” she exclaimed loudly, pulling out everything from her back. “Everything’s soaking wet. What am I going to do?”

“Don’t worry, we can hang some of your spare clothes by the fire to dry. As for your current clothing, I could lend you something to wear to at least cover you up.”

“I guess that’s ok. Thank you, Pete. You’re very kind.”

I walked over to a drawer and pulled out a long flannel wool shirt that I figured would cover her to her thighs. She stood up and shed the blankets, walking over to me to take the shirt I offered. In the warm light of the fire, I finally got a good look at her for the first time.