If you go down to the woods today...

‘Brrr! It’s bloody freezing out here. Can’t you walk faster? My hands are freezing, in fact, everything is starting to get numb.’ Mark protested.

‘Not everything I hope!’ Jenna said cheekily with a sexy smile.

‘Jenna, can you think of anything else except, well, you know what. No, that part of my body is not numb... yet. But if we stay out here much longer and we don’t get to the cabin, it’ll seize up like the rest of my body is starting to, so would you get a move on please,’ was Mark’s reply.

‘You know how this weather makes me, Mark. I just can’t help it. You make me really hot, and I just really want to...’

‘We all know what you really want to do Jenna. But we’re outside babe. It’s freezing, and all you can think of is a bit of bunky bunky?  And I am not taking my clothes off in these sub-zero temperatures. There might be a grizzly bear out in these woods, and I don’t want to be eaten naked, or to freeze my nuts off, literally.

‘Mark, you’re just a big spoilsport but I love you. I’ll hurry back to the cabin, and we’ll do it there.’

‘Jenna!!’

‘Only kidding babe. Hurry up, there’ll be a log fire waiting for you and I’ll be in front of it.’

Jenna went on her way to the cabin she had booked for them. She would prepare a fire, get herself ready for him, and then she’ll be his. But she couldn’t let him that though, it would ruin her delicious plans.

It had literally not stopped snowing for the past 12 hours. The Snow Angel Woods were living up to their name now, but there was too much for his liking. Everything was covered – it was a winter wonderland, the trees full of thick 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?!! He did hear the early morning forecast, but it was sunny then. No way the weather could change just like that, could it? He hoped not, because he had still had a quite a way to go to the cabin. The snow was getting heavier, the daylight was gradually fading. He couldn’t even see the cabin from where he was right now, how the heck did Jenna get there that quickly, that is if she was.

Jenna was always the cool kid at school, that is when she was there. She liked school at the start, but became bored of it. She made out that she went to school, but she ended up taking train trips to see friends, random days out, seeing how far she could get before getting caught by ticket inspectors. Inevitably, this didn’t last long, as she didn’t have any money. So, she waited until her friend’s parents were out and stayed round their houses all day, on rotation. All of Jenna’s schoolfriends parents worked, as did hers, so she was always home before they were.

Jenna’s parents had bought a quaint little cabin when they were together. Jenna always remembered coming out to The Snow Angel woods when she was younger, having a great time playing in the snow with her younger sister, having snowball fights, making snowmen, building makeshift playhouses in the trees. However, mostly she liked to come here by herself without the constant naggings and distractions of her parents and sister. She didn’t know how she was going to get there, but she was determined to.

Before Jenna’s parents passed away after short illnesses, her mum asked her if she wanted the cabin. After thinking about it, and mulling over her options, which included having sleepovers and the normal things young people in their early twenties like to do without their parents, she decided she would take it.

‘You can have it on one condition,’ Mary, Jenna’s Mum said, pausing for a bit to catch her breath, and giving Jenna a chance to say something.

‘What?’ was all that came out when she did finally say something.

‘I want you to be responsible for the cabin. Be a grown up about it.’

‘Yes, Mum,’ Jenna groaned.

‘Jenna, I’m being serious. Your dad and I are leaving you this cabin to do with as you wish. You’re 22, you still act like a spoilt brat, but I trust you now, so please don’t betray that trust.

‘Mum, I won’t let you down,’ were Jenna’s last words as she exited her parents bedroom.

A whole cabin to myself, what shall I do with it?’Jenna had endless for parties, bringing boys for dirty weekends, having freedom for once in her life.

Mark had had a few girlfriends, but none quite like Jenna. She was kind, considerate, helpful, generous, loving and hot, the best looking girlfriend he has had – Mark was quite surprised that he could get a date with a hottie like her. She was tall, leggy, blonde with shoulder-length hair, full of personality and charm, blue eyes so piercingly striking that he couldn’t help being attracted to, curvaceous, she had a smile that would light up any room. She did love herself a bit too much, a trait that Mark admired, but it could be too much sometimes.

 Jenna decided to take him to the cabin. It was love at first sight. They spent their time having parties with friends, Jenna brought Mark on dirty weekends when she was feeling frisky. When all the friends went, they held hands, made love, and just made the most of it. The more and more he came here, the more he liked it. It felt like their own little slice of happiness away from their everyday lives. They would come up here and kiss, cuddle and take long romantic walks in the woods. That is, until she started putting her plan into action...

Thirty minutes before it got dark.

He was trying to remember the quickest way that Jenna told him to get to the cabin. His memory was sharp but when he really needed to remember the directions, he was failing miserably. The snow was now falling in heavier bursts. When it did get lighter, and Mark thought that he had some relief, it started again. It was getting deeper and deeper, and Mark couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he didn’t get to the cabin. No-one would hear his cries for help. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and carried on in the general direction of the cabin. He had to conserve energy, not least to keep himself warm. He was really hoping that he got there before it got really dark and all he could see was a wall of darkness. The sky was so heavy with snow that there were no stars to comfort him.

Jenna would be sending a search party out soon if he wasn’t at the cabin before dark, which was anytime now? Even though they had found a way to make up, they had had a few disagreements since they first started going out, but nothing serious yet. He did find it odd that, if he ever got lost on the way to the cabin, she hadn’t given him directions. Maybe she didn’t tell him because he had been there before and she automatically assumed he had stored it in his virtual sat-nav. But there was a difference between walking to the cabin in the daylight and walking to the cabin just before it got dark. He couldn’t help but ask himself what would happen if he couldn’t find the cabin before dark? He would have no option but to survive the night in the freezing weather. He had to get that thought out of his mind and dismiss it. In the way he lived his life he was taught to always block negative thoughts, and this time was no different.

Twenty minutes before it got dark.

 The start of the woods seemed a long way off. Mark carried on going, hoping he would get to the cabin before darkness descended completely. As he was walking he noticed something rather alarming – there was only one set of footprints in the snow. After pondering for a few minutes over how that was possible, Mark walked on. The lack of footprints from Jenna was making him feel a bit nervous and scared. Was she some sort of paranormal being? There was nothing out of the ordinary about her, not that he noticed anyway. Don’t think negative thoughts. Leave them at the door (or in this the case, leave them in the woods.) he muttered. He was starting to feel a bit freaked out by all of this. He tried to come up with reasons why there weren’t any footprints, but he couldn’t come up with any. None of it made sense!

Mark yelled at the top of his voice, with a sense of urgency, ‘IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?’ But there was no one, nothing. He couldn’t hear a thing, not even birds tweeting or the sound of snow falling. It must have stopped for a moment. He hoped it would have stopped for the evening, or at least until he got to the cabin, hopefully in one piece!

In the little light that was left, he saw something next to him tied to a tree. Had that been there before? Had he been hallucinating and was starting to invent things that were not there, or let his imagination run wild? Or had the cold made him envision strange things? If he was seeing things, he would try the trick of closing his eyes for ten seconds and seeing if the item in question was still there.

 ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Ready or not, I’m coming,’ he joked out loud, as he remembered the games of hide and seek he used to play with his brothers when they were children.

He opened his eyes quite slowly, as if he was going to see something scary. But all he saw was what was there before, a few pieces of rope swinging from a tree. Who would leave that in the middle of a wood?

Maybe it was the cold that made him ask the same questions over and over. Why did he not see that rope before, if it was even there? Was he seeing things?

He knew he had to keep going but the cold was gradually seeping into every part of his body.

Maybe Jenna had brought some rope out here to play some sort of weird game? Maybe she was insane? Maybe the rope had been there forever? Maybe I’m just overthinking things?

All those questions were going round like a washing machine on a never-ending cycle in his head. But the more and more he thought about them, the more ridiculous he sounded. Or am I being ridiculous?

Stop it Mark. You’re winding yourself up. Everything will be fine. But would it?

Ten minutes before it got dark.

A thought occurred to him. When Jenna and Mark first met, she had told him that her and her sister used to like playing in the woods that were known as Snow Angel Woods. Maybe they used the pieces of rope as a swing, but if they did, why not have more things to play with?

That was the only explanation Mark could come up with for a lack of footprints for Jenna - she used the rope swing to somehow magically swing herself all the way to the cabin. If she did, maybe it would work for him as well.

‘I might as well see if it does the trick,’ Mark said out loud, as if talking to someone.  He hesitantly climbed the rope...

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Jenna was already at the cabin, waiting for him....