Hour Of Darkness

CH 13 - "The Cabin"

13...The Cabin...

Yesterday, as Jonathon had begun to explain the chaos to her, Clarice's life had crossed a line it could never cross back over. A change had taken place that couldn't be changed back. On one hand, it was a terrible, horrifying alteration of life as she knew it. But on another...

She looked at Jonathon as he gazed down the road in front of them. The slight frown to his brow, the distant look in his eyes, told her his mind was miles ahead, mapping out the way for them. Her gaze slid down to his thighs, the strong muscles pressing firmly against the denim.

Her pulse quickened a bit. The memories of the last two nights filled her mind and gave her a strange sense of peace. How could the best and worst moments in a person's life happen simultaneously? How was it even possible?

It was strange how love could find you in the deepest, darkest corner of hell. Nothing could stop it if it took a notion to seek you out.

Love.

She rolled the word around on her tongue. It tasted sweet. It had a power that convinced her she could face the devil himself and overcome.

Jonathon's body was warm against hers as she sat next to him once again in the front seat of the Suburban. Yesterday she had pulled away when he'd began to explain things to her, it had been too much at once, more than she could process. Even now she was still trying to process it all, knowing there was still much to come. But after last night, she knew she wouldn't pull away again, regardless of how horrific the rest of the story became. Jonathon was the only person left in this world that cared if she lived or died. He could be from another world himself and she would still love him and need him.

It seemed the miles flew by, one every microsecond. And it felt like only moments after getting back on the road, that Jonathon was steering them off the main paved road and onto a gravel road that led back into an ocean of towering evergreens.

A half mile up the gravel road, a metal gate blocked their way, locked with a heavy chain and solid padlock. The Chevy stopped and Jonathon got out. “When I open the gate.” He told Clarice. “Drive the truck through.”

She nodded and slid over behind the wheel.

As he walked to the gate, Jonathon reached into his pocket and took out a key. He unlocked the padlock, unraveled the chain and pushed the gate open, holding it while Clarice drove the Suburban through. He reattached the chain and padlock then took his place back behind the wheel and headed them up the mountain.

Thick evergreen trees blocked out most of the morning light, creating a dark tunnel through the trees. Jonathon switched on the headlights as the Chevy's tires crunched and occasionally spun an extra turn on the gravel before catching traction again and moving them forward.

Clarice smiled when the thick trees began to break up and rays of sunlight sifted down between the branches, glittering off the frosted bows. Tiny, crystal clear waterfalls poured down rock embankments, cutting deep paths through the snow. The sun shimmered and sparkled across the surface of the snow.

“It's so beautiful.” Clarice breathed.

Jonathon smiled and looked at her. “Beautiful indeed.”

A little less than an hour after leaving the main road, Jonathon pulled the Chevy to a stop in front of the cabin. Except it actually looked more like a lodge. She sat forward. “This is it?” She looked at Jonathon. “When you said cabin...I thought maybe one room, possibly two, with an outhouse forty feet from the back door.”