Bitter Snow

“The forecast for today is for blizzard conditions, with temperatures falling well below freezing. To add to that, black ice will form overnight so the morning rush hour will be treacherous. The advice is to stay indoors, wrap up warm, and don’t travel. Talking about travel, over to Tom for the traffic news. Tom, what have you got for us?”

It had started snowing as he headed to Winterfell. He had come up here for the weekend to get away from it all. Three days of peace! He couldn’t wait.

The fields round Winterfell, The Snowfall Expanse, were living up to their name now. What started as a light snowfall earlier, when he was driving up here, soon became quite a covering. Everything was covered – it was a winter wonderland, the trees full of ever-thickening snow, and the sky looked like it was going to deposit a lot more any minute. Mark had remembered hearing the weather forecast say there may be a blizzard, but what do they know?!! There is no way the weather could change just like that, could it? He hoped not.

There was something magical about staying in a remote cabin in the woods in the middle of winter, Mark told himself. There was also something very spooky, he thought for a fleeting moment. Stop it Mark, you’ve seen too many horror movies! Nothing is going to happen to me. But he couldn’t help but think it.

“Honey, I’m home” Mark called out in jest.

He knew no-one would answer, but it was his little joke. He’d heard that said thousands of times before in movies. Chuckling to himself, he shut the front door.

Winterfell was just how he pictured it. He got a whiff of that lovely cabin smell; however, it was joined by another smell, which he couldn’t make out. As far as he knew, cabins don’t give off a heavenly scent like that! As soon as he smelled it, it was gone. How strange, he thought, as he continued to explore the different rooms.

There was a log fire in the front room and an enormous sofa on which to curl up and watch some television. He decided that he would see if he could get some more logs in the woods before it got dark. He planned to have a roaring fire tonight, roasting marshmallows, which he always loved to do in his childhood. It was freezing cold outside, and, despite having a very warm, woolly jumper on together with a thermal vest, it wasn’t that much warmer in here.

It was an hour until it got dark, but he put a light on in the corner of the room, to give the feel and look of some warmth.

Stepping into the kitchen, he made himself a nice hot cup of tea with the tea bags that he had brought up with him. He really enjoyed tea, but as it was so cold outside, he savoured it even more.

Even though he was going walking, he decided to leave the light on, as it would be dark by the time he got back.

Just as he was about to go out and get some logs from the woods, the heavenly scent came back. It smelled so lovely, but where was it coming from? Was it real or was he imagining it? He even started questioning his own sanity. As he went to step out on to the porch, he told himself that he was just being paranoid.

He hardly saw any logs in The Snowfall Expanse. He didn’t know if the snowfall had covered them up, or if there was any there in the first place. He wished he had some cutting equipment so he could use the tree branches, but he didn’t have any.

Having decided against going for a longer walk, he turned to back to the cabin. He was deep into the woods now, so he had to hurry if he wanted to get back before complete darkness. It turned out the weatherman was correct after all; the snow was at its heaviest and was turning into a blizzard.

He was just about to walk up the steps to get to the porch, when he heard something, a cracking sound. It sounded like someone had walked on a twig and it had come apart. Or it could be the trees going back and forth in the wind, swaying and creaking in the wind. He wasn’t normally frightened at these things, but even he got a little spooked. Once again, he told himself he was being crazy and opened the door.

Not knowing why he was doing it so slowly, he tentatively opened the door. It was almost as if he was expecting someone else to be there. Even though there wasn’t anyone, the cabin looked different in the dark, as if it had a life of its own.

Walking into the living room, he could have sworn that he had left the light on in the corner. He would not get spooked, so without thinking of an explanation, he went over to turn it back on.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Nothing.

That’s weird, he thought, as he wandered into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. Only this time, the kettle wouldn’t work. This was getting weirder and weirder. One by one, he went through all the rooms to check to see if the lights were working. None of them were! How about the television in the living room? No. What the heck was going on? He can’t be imagining all this, can he?

Out of the corner of his eye, while he was standing in the living room, he thought he saw the light come on again. Only this time it went off again after a split second, as if it was flickering. I left the light on? He questioned again.

Reaching for his coat to get his torch out, he walked back into the kitchen to make himself something to eat. He was just about to prepare his food when he smelled that smell again – or so he thought. But it wasn’t heavenly this time, it was a burning smell. He hadn’t made toast, so where was it coming from?

He looked out the kitchen window. Through the darkness, all he could see was snow, thick snow, blizzard-like snow. It looked like it was set in for the night.

Not having a mobile signal, and there being no phone in the cabin. If he got stuck in, would anyone rescue him?

He decided to investigate what happened to the electrics. Nothing was amiss, not that he could see, anyway. On closer inspection, he saw. Someone had cut the wire.