Without any clear knowledge of having made the decision, Natalie had found herself at the foothills of the Rockies and heading up the road that would take her to the cabin. She wanted the time away — she certainly did not want to be at her house for the next few days. She knew if she stayed there that Nathan would try to call, that Steph would come to the door and beg to talk to her… and she just wasn’t emotionally prepared to deal with either one of them for a while.
***
Which brought her back to the present, and the fact that she wasn’t quite sure whether or not this road was the right one to the cabin. Visibility was decreasing by the minute and Natalie knew she couldn’t afford to get lost in a blizzard. Leaning over, she opened the glove box and started shuffling through the maps. Finding the correct one she opened it one-handedly and quickly glanced at the route her parents had highlighted years ago on their first excursion up here. Yes, there it was… she was on the right road and would be turning left in a few miles. She was searching for the road name on the map when movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
She looked up just as the deer sprinted into the middle of the road. As the doe stopped and looked at the oncoming car in a state of frozen terror, Natalie couldn’t think – all she could do was react. She turned the wheel hard to the left, narrowly missing the guard rail at the side of the road. As her car went down a narrow slope, the only thing Natalie could see was the large Evergreen looming up out of the growing darkness. When her head hit the steering wheel a mere three seconds later, she couldn’t see anything at all.
***
“Hey, hey there… it’s okay, you’re safe.” The deep voice filtered in through the fog that seemed to have invaded Natalie’s brain. She opened her eyes slowly and could just make out a blurry but unmistakably concerned face above her. When a large, black head appeared next to the face, she gave up her struggle for consciousness and slipped back down into a mercifully dreamless sleep.
When Natalie opened her eyes the next morning, it was to find herself alone in a cozily warm cabin room. At first glance she thought she had ended up at her parent’s cabin somehow, but on further inspection she realized that nothing in the room belonged to her family. When she sat up the room spun crazily and a wave of nausea passed over her. Her head ached and reaching up, she felt the large swell at the top of her forehead. “The steering wheel…” she murmured to herself. Cautiously she slipped out of the large bed and stood a little unsteadily. Looking down she realized she was dressed only in a man’s oversize shirt. In embarrassment she grabbed the quilt from the bed and wrapped it around herself. Feeling slightly less exposed she opened the door to the bedroom and stepped out.
She found herself in a large living room that also served as a kitchen. It was empty, so she turned around to search the rest of the cabin. All she found was a tiny bathroom, and it too was vacant. She rushed back to the main room of the cabin and looked out the window. The sky was extremely overcast, and the storm had dropped well over two feet of snow. Not seeing anyone in the immediate vicinity and growing increasingly uneasy about being left alone in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere, all she could do was sit on the couch and wait.