Book To Read
22
It started with a dimming of the interior lights, and the headlights. Then the car started losing power as if I was out of gas. Next thing I knew, it was completely dead. I barely had enough time to pull to the side of the road.
“What’s happening?” Natalie asked nervously. In answer, I turned the key in the ignition. There was a clicking noise, but then nothing.
“Oh shit.” I said. I looked at Natalie.
“Oh no.” She said back.
We waited silently in car for a few minutes, which was rapidly cooling inside. I turned the key again. Nothing.
“What do you think is wrong?” Natalie asked me.
“I don’t know. Battery maybe, or maybe the alternator. Either way, I don’t think we’re getting out of here without a tow truck.”
“But there’s no cell reception.”
“I know. I’m thinking.”
“What are you thinking?”
“That right about now is when the axe murderer comes out of the trees and gets us.”
“Daddy! Don’t say shit like that you’re going to totally freak me out.”
“Sorry, baby.” I said. “Let me look under the hood.”
I fished around in the glove compartment, and luckily there was a small flashlight inside, along with a road map. I grabbed my wool coat, popped the hood and opened my door.
Immediately I was blasted by cold air and slush. It was really coming down and my coat was soaked through in seconds. The slush was hitting so fast that it felt like it was cutting my skin. I looked at the engine for only a few minutes, but my hands started to go numb in that time.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
I jumped back in the car, dripping wet. Natalie looked scared.
“What did it look like?”
I wrapped my arms tight around myself. “Just like an engine, I’m afraid. Holy Christ, it’s freezing out there.”
“What do we do?”
“Well… I can’t fix the car. I don’t know what’s wrong with it and I don’t have tools or replacement parts anyway. We have no cell reception, and it is way too cold to try to sleep in here. I think our best bet is to see what’s up that little driveway we turned around in. Hopefully its a house with a phone.”
“We can’t do that! We don’t even know them, they’ll probably shoot us.”
“I am open to any suggestions you have.”
Natalie thought a minute while I shivered and waited.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “I got nothing.”
“You can wait here and stay dry if you want. I’ll come back for you.”
“No way! Especially not after that axe murderer crack. I’m coming with you.”
Natalie grabbed her coat, which was also wool, and armed with only the little flashlight from the car, we set out onto the road.
It was maybe a mile back to the driveway. By the time we made it we were soaked to the bone and freezing cold. I held my arm around my daughter for a little while, but it really wasn’t doing anything to warm either of us, and just slowed us down.
The gate blocking the driveway was meant for cars, not foot traffic, and we easily walked around it and up the tree lined driveway. I had to keep the flashlight beam practically on our feet. Beyond its beam, we couldn’t see anything at all. But at least the trees were breaking the onslaught of the rain a bit.
We were both holding our arms around ourselves and shivering by the time we reached the cabin. It was a decent sized house, probably two thousand square feet, but we nearly walked into it before we saw it. There were no lights on inside, and no cars or trucks parked in front.
“Doesn’t look like anyone is home.” I said.
“Hello?” Natalie called out loudly.
“Let’s go knock.” I suggested, as hope for a phone rapidly dimmed. “It’s past midnight. Maybe they’re asleep.”
We made our way around to a spacious but barren deck, and a door with several glass panels. I pounded on the door, but the house remained dark.
“I’m freezing.” Natalie said. “I can’t even feel my toes.”
“I know, angel.” I said.
“What do we do now? I’m starting to get scared.”
No father can hear those words and not be willing to take drastic action.
“Look away from the glass.” I said. She did, and I wrapped my hand in my coat sleeve and punched one of the panels out.
“We’re breaking in?”
“I think it’s a summer cabin or something.” I said, as I reached through the panel and unlocked the door. “We need to get warm and dry and find a land line. I don’t think the owners are coming home tonight, but if they do I’ll talk to them.”
Natalie just nodded her head as I opened the door. There really wasn’t any choice.
The cabin was sparsely furnished. There was a kitchen table and chairs, a living room with a couple of couches and even a flat screen TV, but the power was out and it didn’t look like anyone had been here recently.
“Dad, look.” Natalie said. I turned the flashlight beam her way, and saw that she’d found a woodstove. “But there isn’t any wood.” I looked around the house a bit. There was a phone in the living room, but it was dead, probably due to the storm. There was also a kitchen, and it had some jarred and canned foods and a gas stove that lit when I tried it.
“The propane system is working.” I said. Natalie rushed to the small blue flame and tried to warm her hands by it. I tried the sink, but nothing came out of the faucet.
“Why doesn’t the water work?” Natalie asked.
“I don’t know. They might just shut it off when they aren’t here.”
I left Natalie by the stove while I went outside and tried to locate a woodshed, but in the dark and rain I didn’t find anything.