Picture perfect storm

There is no sight more beautiful than a winter wonderland, even better to capture in a photo, according to Brian. For that exact reason, Brian, a new and upcoming photographer, paid for a flight from California to Alaska. Brian never was fond of the cold, but this was a special exception. 

“Here you go sir, that’ll be $5.59 for the coffee and chips.” The red-head cashier said with a (probably) fake smile, for Brian couldn't Imagine a person being so happy in such cold weather. He gave a nod in response and a tired wave as he adjusted his beanie and got back into his rental truck. 

His cold hands were numb and nose freezing, but he continued opening the car door and turning on the heater. 

“Ah much better, huh Lucky?” Brain looked over, still rubbing his hands, and smiling at the only thing that made his days less gloomy in Alaska: His dog Lucky. 

Lucky was a medium sized dog, good-looking, well mannered, and with such a personality, Lucky was at the peak of his life and the best friend Brian could ever hope for.  

Lucky winked his right eye, Brian knew it was not on purpose, and that was just a thing dogs do, but it could not help but make Brian chuckle. 

Brian turned the key and set down his coffee in the cup holder and gave Lucky a few chips before returning to the road. 

Lucky enjoyed the cold, unlike Brian, however, Brian could never have guessed that this husky would be absolutely terrified of snow. It made Brain laugh every time he thought about it and it was an enjoyable conversation starter when meeting new people. 

After a few turns, about 30 minutes going straight, and a few more turns, they were almost at the check-in to get his cabin’s key. He had paid for a weekend stay at a small cabin that came with a snow shovel and complementary blankets at the door. 

Lucky was looking out the window, Brian could tell that his dog loved the outdoors, but Lucky’s fear of snow would forever haunt his doggy days. Brian looked out too- just for a second, But all he could notice was the approaching thick cloud cover and the endless tree trunks. 

Brian then glanced over at the thermometer on his dashboard, it had just been -20F only a minute ago, but now dropped down to -36F. This concerned him a bit, Brian had heard stories from his uncles that when the temperature drops, there might be a snowstorm.  

Lucky wagged his tail, almost wagging away Brian’s fears as well and soon Brian began humming along to the radio once more and forgetting his worries.  

Bump bump bump went Lucky’s tail against the car door and bump bump bump went Brian’s fingers on the wheel. 

“It’ll be okay, right Lucky? Besides, you’re my Lucky charm!” Brain the felt a sharp and sudden shiver down his spine, and quickly turned on the butt warmers and warmed his worries away. At the sound of Lucky’s name, he sat up and smiled his toothy and sloppy dog grin, also helping Brian’s fears of being snowed in.  

The two were there now at the check-in, but the snow around the building seemed eerily untouched. Brian stepped out of the truck, Lucky about to exit as well until he looked down at the snow and put his paws back inside the passenger seat. 

Brian continued to approach the check-in building, the old-fashioned hanging sign blowing in the slight chilling breeze and a small icicle falling. He walked in, the door being unlocked and stepped up to the front desk. 

“Hello? I'm here for the small cabin-” he looked down at his phone, however he got only one bar and couldn’t access their website, but luckily he screenshotted his receipt and cabin info and saved it to his gallery. Brain finally found the picture, “The small 2-bedroom cabin around Snowflake Lake?” 

“Hello? Anybody here?” Brian stepped forward towards the desk, noticing a bell and rang it a few times. Still no answer. Brian walked around a few minutes before returning to the main desk, noticing a key on the desk next to a sticky note with Brain’s name and phone number. 

“Well, I suppose I can just take it; besides, I need to get back to Lucky before he gets bitter.” 

As Brian returned from his journey to the building, he could make out Lucky’s happy eyes and elated muffled yips. Brian then parked in the empty parking lot and opened Lucky’s door. Of course, the cowardly dog whined to be picked up, and all the way to their cabin lucky was ecstatically looking around at his new surroundings.  

“oh that’s reassuring,” Grumbled Brian sarcastically as he spied a phone about 15 feet away from the door. It was attached to a small black box with the clear words, “EMERGENCY PHONE” and various phone numbers for fire fighters, police, medics, poison control etc. 

“Ugh, ok Lucky, don’t freak out but I'm going to have to put you down, just for a moment, buddy.” Lucky didn’t understand Brian’s jumble of English words, of course, and only until his paws felt the cold touch of snow did Lucky begin to freak out. 

Scared yips were followed by Lucky awkwardly picking up his paws and jumping onto a fallen tree trunk before sitting down and waiting to go inside the cabin. Brain quickly got the point that his friend wasn’t too pleased about being set down, and hastily unlocked the door. Lucky was glad once more, jumping over the tumbled snow and onto the indoor welcome mat. 

Brian let out a soft sigh.  

“well, you are going to need to use the restroom somehow Lucky, so you better get over your fears or you’ll never be using puppy pads ugh.” Oh, how Brian hated letting Lucky use the puppy pads, he would need to clean it up himself verses the dog going outside in nature. 

He went back to his truck and unloaded his things, slowly bringing each luggage bag into the cabin one by one. When he was finished, he looked in the fridge and stored the water he had bought beforehand and Lucky’s canned dog food. 

Brian had been so exhausted from carrying Lucky and the being in cold that he crashed down on the sofa. Lucky was soon to come over and curl up on top of Brian’s stomach, making Brian uncomfortable but it didn’t bother him much. Soon, Brian gave into the weightlessness of sleep, cuddling next to Lucky. 

* * *  

Brian woke up with a sudden jolt, Lucky already alert and staring at the cause of their disrupted sleep: Brian’s phone. Brian had already concluded the lack of power outlets, only those needed were installed in the cabin and cell service was a trouble up here. 

Brian’s phone was blaring, not from a call, notification, or warning, but just his alarm. Nothing to worry about after all, yet it did still startle him and Lucky quite efficiently.  

Without his alarm going off, Brian would not have noticed the windy sounds coming from outside, a sound that Lucky was already aware of. 

Lucky’s cried were made audible, for Lucky was also scared of high winds, along with thunder and lightning. Quite frankly Lucky was a cowardly dog.  

Brian sat up, gave a short stretch, and walked over to one of the only windows and peered out at the sight. The sky was dark, Brian couldn’t tell which direction he was looking into, the snow had obscured his vision of the outside. 

The snow was halfway covering the small window now, Brian was barely able to see the fierce winds and snow aggressively being flailed around, multiple directions, in pure chaos. 

Lucky was scared, but not of the high winds this time, but of a sudden and loud bang coming from the front door. It made Brian jump was well, but he soon calmed down due to the fact this was just a small blizzard and he will be able to dig himself out in a few hours. 

“Few hours?” Brian asked himself, it was less than a question and more of a thought as he put his hand to his chin in thought. Lucky, of course, won't last that long without being able to use the bathroom, which will be devastating for me. But what if we must stay in place for longer than that? 

Lucky had now scurried away underneath Brian’s bed in the other room, leaving Brian to ponder what to do. He reached for his phone, at once he was cursing his luck with no bars and started moving up the stairs to the loft to see if he could get a better signal. 

Brian walked up the carpeted stairs carefully and focused on his phone, holding it up and moving it around. 

“heck, I am not even sure if this is what you do, I’ve only seen this in movies!” Brian was quickly becoming more frustrating by the second.  

Without much success, He was leaning over the staircase’s railing for just one more try to get a signal. Suddenly there was a bar and Brian gave a big gasp. 

“Yes, yes, yes! Just a little more to the-” before he could finish his self-talk, his phone plummeted towards the tile and shattered. Brian’s mouth hung open, hands still hanging over the railing and eyes glued to the broken phone below him. 

Brian soon became angry, balling up his fists and racing down to the final resting place of his phone, picking it up and desperately trying to turn it on. Between curses, Brian threw his phone to the ground and stomped on it with a quick motion of his foot. He only then regrated it once he’d cooled off. 

I can’t waste any more time, thought Brian to himself. He was getting increasingly paranoid, feeling as the small cabin’s walls were closing in around him and his thoughts became slow. Brian rushed clumsily towards a closet door where he’d put one of his bags and remembered that there was a shovel. 

He could not stand being trapped in the little cabin much longer. Brian had come into this situation with high hopes and pushed away his anxious thoughts, but there was little he could do now to keep his spirits high. 

“Lucky! Come here,” despite Lucky’s scared state, He ran obediently to Brian, if they couldn’t get out at least Brian would have Lucky to keep company while they wait right? The feeling of soft fur against Brian’s hands were comforting for them both. 

“Perhaps we could reach the phone?” Brian asked aloud, “No, we might get hypothermia or get stuck out there.” None of Brian’s words made any sense to Lucky, but he still wagged his tail at his owner’s voice.  

Brian sighed once again, this time a sigh of defeat. He would now just wait till the blizzard had ended and go through a window from the loft. That would be the most logical thing to do in this situation, thought Brian. And so, Brian waited. 

And waited and waited and waited until boredom clawed its way into Brian’s mind. Before drifting off to sleep again, Brian set out multiple puppy pads for Lucky and filled up a food and water bowl so he would not need to be disturbed while he slept the day away. Smart of him, however, Lucky would just be sleeping next to Brian while they both waited out the storm.  

And after the storm, Brian would take marvelous pictures and never come back to the traumatizing Alaska ever again.