Both arrived at the door, panting heavily.
Jonathan rattled at the door and at first it wouldn't open. All this while, the weather didn't let up – it even got worse. Jonathan pushed his slender body against the door to open it. Alexandra did the same to help him.
The door finally opened, but so fast, that Alexandra and Jonathan fell into the cabin headfirst. The wind and the rain roared into the cabin. Jonathan and Alexandra quickly stepped in and pushed heavily against the door to try and close it. They really had to fight against the wind and the rain, but managed to finally close the door. They leaned against the door, panting and coughing, happy about having made it here, happy about being safe. Jonathan looked at Alexandra, squeezed her hand softly and smiled. Both still were gasping for air. Alexandra smiled too and placed a kiss on Jonathan's hand.
Suddenly they heard a loud noise - the small windows of the cabin flew open and now the rain and the wind roared through the windows.
"Shit!", shouted Jonathan and struggled to his feet.
Alexandra did the same, although her ankle hurt. Jonathan jumped to one window to close first the shutters and then the window itself. Alexandra tried to help him.
"No!", Jonathan shouted. "Look for matches or something. We'll need some light, otherwise we'll just be sitting here in the dark!" He paused and looked at her. "Don't worry. I'll handle this here!"
"Okay!", Alexandra started to look around in the cabin looking for matches.
In the meantime, Jonathan tried to close all shutters and windows.
The noise of the storm outside was barely heard now, but all daylight had disappeared from the cabin. But because of the big trees nearby it didn't make a big difference, as there wasn't much daylight in the cabin anyway.
Alexandra found a big matchbox and an old oil lamp. Its small flame got bigger and bigger and little by little the cabin brightened up. Jonathan was sitting on the floor; his upper body leaned against the cabin's wooden wall. Alexandra turned around, holding the oil lamp in her hand. The cabin's furniture was plain. There was a small table with two stools, a hammock tabbed across the room and there was a small oven, a cupboard and a shelf. Jonathan looked at Alexandra and smiled lightly.
"So, are you going to tell me how you knew about this cabin?", Alexandra asked him.
She had never been here before, and she knew this area very well. Jonathan grinned and Alexandra recognized a knavish grin on his face – the first time in all this years.
"This is my secret cabin", he said and his grin became wider. "I bring all the little girls here to seduce them."
"Ha, very funny!", panted Alexandra and limped across to Jonathan to sit down next to him.
She knew he was just kidding, but Jonathan usually wasn't someone who kidded around. This was more her speciality'. Jonathan had more a dry and sarcastic sense of humour. A lot of people had their problems with it, even Alexandra, but sometimes he really could make her laugh. But this joke wasn't really funny, as Jonathan only was one year older than Alexandra.
Jonathan told her about a man named Alec, a deer hunter and the owner of the cabin. He always stayed in the mountain during spring and summer, and then came back to spent the rest of the year in the cabin.
"He's an old odd guy..", Jonathan admitted. „ - just like me."
"Yeah, you're odd – but you're not old.", Alexandra said and tried to change her position as she suddenly felt the pain again in her ankle.
Jonathan's expression darkened. "Looks like you've badly hurt your ankle.. let me see it."
"No, it's okay", Alexandra said.
"No, it's not!", interrupted Jonathan and sat up. "I got to check this...but first we gotta get rid of our clothes."
Alexandra felt her jaw drop. "Err ...you mean – everything?"
"Well, I'm soaked to my skin", explained Jonathan in a calm voice. "and I'm pretty sure you are too.. and besides, I'm getting cold!"
What was Jonathan thinking? Were they going to sit here, naked, in this dark cabin? Jonathan's blue eyes started to sparkle and Alexandra wasn't sure how to interpret his gaze. But he was right. They were really wet, even compared to their condition when they were standing under the roofed bench. Their clothes were covered with mud and the cold had seeped into every limb of their bodies.
"I just can't believe there's not at least some blankets here", said Jonathan in an analytical voice. "And we'll also need a fire to warm up."
As he finished his sentence, Jonathan walked across the room to peer into the corners. He found an additional storage room and there he finally found some dry blankets and towels. Meanwhile Alexandra got on her feet again and tried to fire up the oven with some pieces of wood she'd found next to it. Her ankle throbbed badly but she tried not to show anything. Jonathan returned with the towels and the blankets and told Alexandra about the storage room.
"Do you want to change in there?", he asked and looked at Alexandra. "I'll change here and then I will take care of the fire".