Chapter 1
Gia followed Jason into the abandoned cabin. She looked around and saw that it was smaller than she expected. In fact, it was only one room and a very small bathroom.
There was a stack of wood next to the fireplace. Jason immediately began to work on starting a fire. Gia watched him for a few minutes. Then her eyes fixed on the bed.
"Is something wrong?" Jason asked walking up behind her.
"There… there's only one bed."
"How many do you usually sleep in?"
Gia turned and looked at him. She smiled when she realized that he was joking. Her gaze moved to the floor. "But there are two of us," she said.
Jason realized what she was getting at. "Does that bother you?
"Um… no. Of course not. We're both adults."
He could tell that she was nervous. "Don't worry. I'm not the big bad wolf."
Gia laughed nervously.
Jason walked to the bed and took the pillows off of it and carried them outside the door. Gia watched as he shook the thick coating of dust off of them. He carried them back in and laid them on the floor.
"Sit down," he said settling himself on one of the pillows.
Gia sat down on the other pillow. For several minutes, they sat in silence. The both stared straight ahead, occasionally glancing at each other.
"Are you hungry?" Jason asked, finally breaking the silence.
"A little," Gia said. She looked around the room. "Where are we going to find any food?"
"Leave that to me." Jason got up and walked to the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He walked out the door and disappeared into the snow.
Hours passed and Jason hadn't returned. Gia was beginning to get worried. The snow was falling harder, the wind was stronger and it was beginning to get dark outside. All sorts of horrible thought ran through her mind. "What if he just took off and left me here? What if he got lost in the storm? What if he's hurt?" she asked herself.
Suddenly the door burst open and a dark shape stumbled into the room with the blowing snow. A paper bag dropped to the floor.
"Jason?" Gia asked running to his side.
"Yes," he said moving to the fire to warm up.
"Where have you been? I was getting worried." She went to the bed and pulled the blanket off of it. She shook it a few times then wrapped it around him.
"Th… thanks," he stuttered with his teeth chattering. "I… walked to a small store about 2 miles from here."
"Oh Jason, that wasn't necessary. I didn't need food that badly. You could have died out there."
"It was worth it for you," Jason said with a smile. "The food is in that bag." He walked to an old fashioned wood burning stove which sat in one corner of the room. He started a fire in the stove so Gia could cook dinner for them"
Gia quickly took several cans of soup out of the bag. There were several pans sitting on a shelf next to the stove. Gia took one of the pans and carried it outside. She scooped up a handful of snow and dumped it in the pan. She sat the pan on the stove and waited for the snow to melt. When she had plain water in the pan, she took her hand and scrubbed the dirt out of it. Once the pan was clean, she dumped the water back outside.
Gia walked back to the stove and placed the pan on it. She started at it for a long time.
"What's wrong? Why don't you fix the soup?" Jason asked.
"I can't."
Jason looked at her in amazement. "You can't make canned soup?" he asked. He didn't wait for her to answer. "Look first you find a pan, then you find the stove which is under the pan…"
"Then you find a can opener, which I can't find," she finished for him.
Jason laughed. He took his pocket knife and opened the soup can for her. She poured it in the pan and waited for it to get warm.
Suddenly a strong gust of wind shook the entire cabin. The unexpected noise and shaking startled Gia. She ran straight into Jason's arms. She looked into his eyes and melted on the spot.