It's Not The End Of The World

It was a cold and windy day on our way to Canada from our small apartment in Seattle. I don’t know why mother had to drag my brother and me to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It made no sense to us. She did it every year. Adrian and I never had any fun. There was no electricity or even service. We had to spend a week without talking to anybody. How were we supposed to manage? I can’t talk to my best friend! 

“Mom, why do we have to go to Canada?” Adrian complained while staring out the window of the passenger seat.

“Sometimes we just need to get out of the city. You guys have to figure out that there is much more to see than just Seattle. Plus, your uncle Rob won’t be in his cabin this week. It’s a perfect time for us three to bond.” Mom replied.

“But I can’t talk to my friends for a whole week!” I whined.

“You’ll be just fine. When I was your age, we fourteen-year-olds didn’t have Iphones or Ipads. We found ways to entertain ourselves. At least your brother is being a little more mature than you, Mariam.” Mom said going on her whole ‘when I was your age’ thing. 

The rest of the drive was silent. Adrian and I enjoyed the last bits of phone service before it was all over. Mom turned on the radio and connected to her Spotify. She started playing her horrid music consisting of every artist of the fifties. I didn’t mind Elvis, but everything else was just not my style. Adrian and I were into cool and newer music. 

After about a four or five hour drive, we reached the sad-looking cabin. This is where our nightmares would begin. Our uncle was crazy for living out here. It was about a ten-mile drive to get to town. It was barely even a town! 

“We’re here! Isn’t this so exciting?” Mom said scrambling out of the car and up to the entrance of the cabin.

Adrian grabbed our bags and sluggishly brought them in. We decided not to even try to look enthused. There wasn’t any point. 

“Is there at least heat in here now?” I asked mom.

“Oh yes, honey. Your uncle probably couldn’t survive very well up here without the fireplace.” Mom said opening up the cabinets to put the food we brought inside.

“Wait a minute, where’s the bathroom?” Adrian asked while looking around.

“Outside.” Mom replied.

“Why is it outside?” Adrian said panicking.

“Uncle Rob wasn’t able to get water out here any longer, so he had to make an outhouse.” Mom said casually unpacking the rest of the food.

“But it’s cold outside!” Adrian said, looking at her shocked.

 “You’ll be fine. If uncle Rob can do it, you can do it.” Mom said leaving the tiny kitchen and going into what was supposed to be the living room.

“There are only three rooms in this entire thing, mom! And how are we supposed to get water?” I cried out while walking around.

“I know, dear. And don’t worry, there’s a little creek just nearby.” Mom said and added some wood to the fireplace.

“It’s freezing outside! There are at least ten inches of snow so far and it’s still snowing!. The water is probably frozen by now.” Adrian mentioned.

“You two really don’t know much about nature. The creek shouldn’t totally be frozen. Just the top, but I think it’s kind of funny that you thought we would walk all the way down there in this weather to get a bucket of water.” Mom laughed at us while Adrian and I looked at each other confused.

“So, what are we going to drink?” Adrian asked her.

“The water that Rob has stored in the house. If we run out of water, we can go into town and get more. I don’t think we will need to, though.” She assured us.

The next few days were the absolute worst. It wasn’t until about the fourth day when I started realizing things. I decided to be open-minded about our situation.

“Mom. Can we do something today?’ I asked her.

“What do you suggest we do?” She sipped her coffee careful not to burn her tongue.

“I was thinking maybe we could go exploring outside,” I said.

Her brows raised. She looked really surprised. I was surprised myself too. Adrian walked in when mom answered, “I never thought I would hear you say that.” 

“Say what?” Adrian asked confused and reached for a pop-tart from the top cabinet. 

“Mariam would like to go explore the Canadian wilderness.” Mom said very pleasedly.

Adrian glared at me. He still had his own ideas and didn’t want to try new things. I just thought I would give mom’s plans a chance.

“Mariam, can I talk to you?” Adrian said quickly under his breath and took me into the other room.

“What Adrian?” I asked while being annoyed at him.

“Why did you say that? Like I understand you want to try and cooperate with her plans, but why that? I don’t want to go into the wilderness. It’s cold and there are wild animals that are dangerous.” Adrian sputtered.

“It’ll be fine. And what animals are going to hurt you?” I asked him.

“Bears.. Or even wolves! Haven’t you heard of those stories?” Adrian asked and looked around the corner at mom.

“It’s winter.” I furrowed my brows at him.

“I’m not dumb, Mariam!” He rolled his eyes.

“Well… You mentioned bears. If I was listening to anything about what mom said, it was that. Bears hibernate in winter. We’ll be fine.” I said and turned to leave.

The next day, I got on my coat and all of my clothes to keep me warm in the snow. Adrian had on his winter clothing too. We were ready for exploring.

 “Do we have to?” Adrian whined.

“Adrian, you’re becoming as bad as your sister.” Mom chuckled and opened the door for us.

We started off walking behind the cabin. Mom said that was a good place to start. 

“I remember there used to be a little path through these trees.” She said looking around.

“Can I go inside?” Adrian said shivering.

“There it is! Let’s go!” Mom said completely ignoring what Adrian had to ask.

We followed along the trail into the snowy forest. The snow-covered trees were beautiful. This was definitely a life-changing experience. While I was admiring everything, Adrian was in a horrible mood. I wonder what would make him happy.

Suddenly, we heard noises in the snow. We froze and looked around. Something was watching us. We decided to keep walking. The noises appeared again. Some animal was walking in the snow. It sounded like more than one though. 

“What is that sound?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but can we go back now?” Adrian whined once again.

“Be quiet.” Mom hissed at us while she looked around.

She started to back up near us. She took us into her arms while she just stood there.

“Mom,” Adrian whispered.

“I said be quiet. There’s something out there.” She hissed once more.  

Adrian and I looked at each other when suddenly, a pack of wolves emerged from the forest area. I was terrified.

“..Mom,” Adrian said in a shaky voice.

“Don’t move. Stay still. Show that we mean no harm.” Mom whispered to us.

The wolves started growling. The middle wolf started to inch closer to us.

“Run!” I screamed and darted out from under mom’s arm.

“Mariam!” Mom ran after with Adrian racing behind.

I could hear the growls of the wolves running after us. I wasn’t sure if we could outrun them, but I was going to try. I ran as fast as I could to the cabin. We hadn’t gone very far so it wasn’t a very long way away. I looked behind me and caught the glimpse of mom and Adrian catching up to me. Just down the hill was the cabin. 

“Are they still after us?” I screamed.

“Yes! Don’t stop running!” Mom yelled back at me.

I finally reached the cabin door. I rushed inside and kept the door open for Adrian and mom. The wolves scratched on the door from outside as we all three collapsed on the couch. Adrian started laughing hysterically.

“That was so much fun.” Adrian giggled and gasped for air.

Mom and I smiled as we joined in laughing. I guess maybe it wasn’t so bad. It sure was scary, but we survived. Maybe mom’s plans weren’t so boring after all.