Cold Man

Chapter 2

April had wanted to do something like this all her life. When her friend, Drew, had offered to let her borrow his family’s cabin for the full month of her long vacation she was thrilled….and nervous. She accepted his offer, but as she stared at the wooded scene currently serving as her screensaver—a photo she had once taken on a day hike– she wondered if she might end up regretting her decision. April gathered her belongings and left the University’s Computer Services department, already planning her upcoming trip on the walk home.

Sometimes even your smallest dreams can seem intimidating, even impractical, when realized.

She had been teased by excerpts from Walden, or by dreamy day-hikes through the hilly woods just outside of the city. She even relished the peace and solitude which the small wooded lot behind her garage apartment seemed to exude.

They left her wanting more.

When she was a young child, she would spend hours planning an escape into the wilderness to live wild and free—no rules, only independence and self reliance. Perhaps she would be adopted by wolves like Mowgli. With great pleasure, she would naively imagine constructing a bed out of pine straw under the tall trees and foraging for berries and other wild fruits which would sustain her in the wild.

As she grew older, she still harbored fantasies of one day exploring nature during a long and solitary escape from the modern world. People did such things, she had read about it. Her desire was not so different from that of many others. She imagined that one day she would get a point where she could spend several years alone and far from the civilized world, leaving her communion with nature only for brief periods to gather supplies. She would write about her experience and perhaps learn more about herself in the process. She stringently avoided the phrase, ‘finding herself’, which she considered absurd.

Her desires were not so difficult to understand. Which of us has not stood listening to the muted sounds of the forest, heard the birds call to one another from across the forest canopy, and felt the impulse to melt away into the trees, escaping into a simpler, more natural existence?

But when her friend made the offer for several weeks cabin usage, April realized that her dreams of a peaceful and enlightening communion with the natural world were a tad naïve. Her worries, insecurities and inhibitions would follow her to that perfect world as would her ever present nervous energy. You cannot escape yourself so easy.

As uneasy as the thought of spending such a short period of time alone made her, she wondered at how it was possible that she ever believed that she would be able to live alone in such a place for a year or two. So this would have to do, she decided, and it was more than most do.

Thus, April went. She left for the cabin intending to stay for few weeks, may be a full month. She would read, write, meditate, and spend quiet hours in the evening listening to the hum of the insects on the front porch, or lying in bed staring at the fading patches of light on the ceiling. She realized that she would likely not experience a spiritual awakening or epiphany through communing with the natural world. She may not return altered in the least, only perhaps a little more relaxed and with one less naïve childhood dream in her head. In the least, her understanding of her favorite excerpts from Walden might be improved by a small fraction.

One thing was for certain, she was not about to miss the chance to enjoy a taste of a simpler, more natural life that was fast disappearing.

On the drive from the city, April counted the miles as the excitement of embarking a new adventure and escaping the familiar overtook her. She sang along with the songs on the radio and rolled down her window, letting it tangle her long brown hair. But as she drew closer to her destination, a nervous energy began to settle in the pit of her belly. She felt foolish. Why was she traveling hours away from her home to spend time, unprotected and alone, in a cabin where her nearest neighbors were miles away? What if she fell and hurt herself? Or, was bitten by a snake? Would anyone find her? Or worse, perhaps the wrong type of person would find her there and she would become their victim. Violent scenes from slasher movies filtered through her mind. After brooding over these thoughts, suddenly the radio had become too noisy and the breeze from the window no longer seemed pleasant. She spent remainder of the journey in uneasy silence.

Despite her misgivings, she was determined to continue.

She took a few wrong turns before finding the correct road leading to the cabin. She had never been great with directions and had only been to the cabin once before with Drew and a few other friends. The gravel crackled under her tires as she drove slowly down the rocky drive.

When April arrived at the cabin, she took a few minutes to close her eyes and breathe in the fresh, pine scented air before walking inside. She was far from the city now and the fresher air made her feel a bit better. The cabin was built on tall stilts, due to flood plain or security, April was not certain, and contained a kitchen/living area, a semi-modern bathroom and a small, separate bathroom. She climbed the creaking wooden steps carefully under the weight of her bag, clumsily fishing for the key in her pocket.

She found that the air was not so fresh inside the cabin. Upon entering, she could smell the beginnings of decay. Some dead animal…probably a rat, she thought disgustedly, how vile. Will I have to sleep in this? April tossed her bag across the couch and stomped around the house, trying to locate the source of the stench. She finally found it, a rat after all, dead in the bathroom. She spent the rest of her day disposing of the animal and airing out the house, dusting and wiping away the grime that inevitably settled around the infrequently used cabin.

The kitchen had a black and white checkered theme, too tacky to be considered retro. She sat down at the table and stared down at the plastic tablecloth and sighed. This had certainly not how she had planned to spend her first day of her little vacation in the wilderness—cleaning, dusting, and stuck inside. At least the smell was gone. She supposed she should be happy about that. It just seemed such a let down. So much for the escape from the ordinary, she mused, turning on the small TV stuck in the corner and attempting to get a signal by wiggling the rabbit ears.

That night, she curled up under the thin covers of the bed and was lulled to sleep by the pleasant hum of the air conditioning unit. So much for roughing it, she mused, but leaving the windows open made her anxious.

In the middle of the night, a sound on the roof woke her with a start. She sat up in bed and stared out the tall windows in the bedroom which looked out over the forest. The huge windows were lovely in the daytime. One could watch the birds, and enjoy an unobstructed view of the forest surrounding the cabin. Waking up in the middle of the night in front of the large windows was a totally different experience. Looking out into the darkened forest, she could imagine unknown eyes staring back at her from amidst the trees. She felt afraid to move.

There could be animals crouching in the dark, watching me sleep, she thought fearfully, or worse, human eyes…

That thought got her moving quickly. In a panic, she pulled the covers from the bed and grabbed her blanket. Feeling exposed, she darted from the bedroom and deposited herself on the living room couch. There, she was effectively blocked from view by the kitchen area. She settled in to sleep on the cramped couch. Tomorrow, she would have to do something about covering up those windows at night.


The next morning, April sat on the front porch of the cabin, surveying the forest floor below and drinking a warm cup of instant coffee. She was stiff from her night on the uncomfortable couch and laughed at herself for her early morning flight from the bedroom. She had not been afraid before, after all, and there was no reason to be now.

She began to enjoy her stay. Retrieving a blank notepad and pen, she began sketching one of the gnarled pines near the cabin. She spent the rest of her day relaxing, attending to the few menial tasks, sketching a little as her mood took her, and watching the forest around her. Birds flitted to and fro in the trees, and she already recognized several squirrels which seemed to consider the near by trees as territory. Several times, she heard loud rustling deeper in the forest, but no animal - be it deer, opossum, or wild dog - ever emerged. When she would sit quietly, listening, she noticed that there were distinct lulls in the forest sounds. As she sat there in silence, she wondered what animal, or other disruption, was the cause of the sudden quiet. However, always after a few moments, the calls of birds and hum of insects would return and the forest would be filled with noise once again.

One time, however, the forest sounds did not return. April sat on the porch, tense and watchful, the journal she was writing in lay in her lap and the hand holding a pen was still poised above it. This occurred after she had been at the cabin for little more than a week.

Over the course of a few days, April had settled into a kind of relaxed, lazy routine. She would usually wake with the sunrise pouring in through the now sheet-covered windows. She would lie there half awake, listening to the sounds of the forest awakening. Her days had been filled with hours of writing, sketching, and observing the forest around her from the cabin’s porch—a routine only interrupted by meals, a few short walks, and a nap or two. She was relaxed and was feeling increasing more comfortable and relaxed in her surroundings.

This was the case, until that day when the forest was still for far too long. The silence made her feel apprehensive, but she was fairly certain that this feeling would turn out to be as unfounded as had the others.

She was wrong.

She heard the rustling only seconds before she saw him. He was standing at the edge of the tree line to her left, looking as if he had been standing in that spot for a long time, watching her. His shirt was covered in blood.

No one was close enough to hear her scream. She knew this, but could not help it.

The man smiled. It was a cold, feral smile that did not reach his eyes.