Oh gosh. I need to get out of my head.
Collecting my spoon and plate, I head into the kitchen and wash the dishes. More heavy snow hits the window, followed by sleet and ice. Then, there’s a boom of lightning. The thunder rattles the entire ranch-style cabin home, making the light come back on for a second before it goes out again.
That same gust of cold wind is back, ghosting my skin, making the hairs on my nape rise. As I shut off the sink water, it feels like someone is watching me from behind. The aura of a shadow lurking somewhere I cannot see.
Frozen from head to toe, I whirl around to check if it’s Gavin.
I can see my breath detailed in a white puff of air swirlingabove my lips as the cold continues to bite me back with no remorse.There’s nobody here.There’s no one in this haunted cabin but me right now.
His living room is so…plain. It needs a warm touch. Isn’t it Christmas time? Where’s the tree? Where are the pops of classic red shades representing the holiday?
If I’m going to be stuck here for a few weeks, I want to keep busy and help around the house, if I can. But most of all, I need to find my cellphone and figure out who’s trying to kill me so I can report it to the police once the storm is over.
I dry the last dish with a hand towel in circular motions. I place the dry, cleaned bowl back where the rest of them are in his cabinets, right above the toaster. Just as I close it, a man covered in blood all over his face reflects in the cabinet glass.
Fear. Hatred. Darkness. All three emotions are written all over his strained face. His eyes are pure black, radiating with vengeance.
I yelp loud and high.
I turn around fast, gripping a kitchen knife in my hand, and hold it in front of me, ready to spear the intruder. When I glance in front of me, the man is gone. There’s no trace of him anywhere as my head dips left and right, searching every corner for his existence.
My chest violently rocks, blood pounds in my ears as my hands shake around the black handle.
“What the hell is going on with this cabin?”
CHAPTER 13
CORALINE
Ihaven’t seen Gavin in three days. He only left that one note, and the feet of snow keep growing by the day. It’s piled up so high against the back door that it almost reaches the roof. The electricity came back on in the middle of the night two nights ago.
An unnerving sensation runs through me.
Today is different. It feels different. The nightmares don’t stop. I wake up every single night, feeling like someone is watching me in every corner of the room. Goosebumps erupt all over my skin as the wind howls angrily through the cracks of the windows.
What if The Sleepy Coldwater Serial Killer is here? What if he knows where I’m staying, and he knows I’m alone since Gavin left me? What if he’s here to finish the job? What if the reason why Gavin’s been gone so long is because my stalker hurt him?
Oh no.
I think the reason why I’m still alive after I survived the car crash is because Gavin found me, scaring off my attempted murderer before he could finish what he started. I’m in his debt.
Slipping on snow boots one by one, I decide to look for him. Merelyn grows more worried by the day since he hasn’t come back from ‘being with the horses’. After I dress in a heavy coat, jeans, and snow boots, I head for the front door. I take a deep breath before I turn the knob.
I’m not sure why I’m already feeling a sense of worry when it comes to him, but I can’t help it. He’s been a sarcastic asshole to me since we met, but I don’t want anything bad happening to him. I’m still shaken from the flashes of people who disappear into thin air, to the empty cabin, and the mystery of the lurking threat. I don’t want to be alone right now. I can’t leave anywhere. I’m stuck in a home full of ghosts. When it comes to choosing between being alone with spirits while a stalker hunts me, or a cowboy who refuses to smile? I’m choosing Gavin.
Who knows what lengths this person will go to kill me? What if he hurts Gavin and Merelyn if this person finds out they’re harboring me?
Trees start to bang against the walls of the house. The lights flicker once again, making me freeze and stare at the withering electricity. I grip the doorknob tighter just as another bang thuds behind me, making me scream.
“Ahh!” I yelp and turn toward the origin of surprise. At the same time, I watch lightning strike a tree right behind Gavin’s house through the living room floor-to-ceiling windows, causing it to fall over in the backyard. Time comes to a stop for me.
“Oh, fuck this.” I shake my head.
I open the door, motivated to find someone with a beating heart. As soon as I do, harsh glacial winds slap me in the face unforgivingly. Its cold breeze is unremorseful, and I instantly regret my choice to leave.
I close the door behind me just as the bells continue to chime. The blizzard is still in full force, so painfully freezing, I feel it in my bones. I start walking, and the sky is a deep shadeof grey. The snow buries my foot when I take my first step. I struggle pulling it out, marching through it, soldiering on as the winds and snow pelt my body.
I look to my left and then my right, trying to see if I can make out a barn full of horses or the crash sight in the distance, but I see nothing but snow flurries circling all around me. I decide to go right. I coil in on myself, my arms wrapped around my biceps to create another barrier of heat. Looking back at the cabin, and then to the tall trees I’m in the middle of, makes anxiety ripple through me. This may have been a dumb decision.
