Part Six
Stacy leaned into Quinn and whispered"not now" as Quinn looked in confusion at Sandi. The redhead shook her head in bafflement, and focused on the job at hand. Her memories of her own dad, Jake, lighting a grill involved lots of starter fluid, and sometimes a small explosion, followed by muted profanity, and her mother, Helen, sighing in exasperation and dumping a pitcher of Lemonade on him(of course, with a smirking Daria in the background). Tiffany tore several newspapers into shreds, and Quinn placed them carefully into the bottom of the old stove, with several dry sticks on top of them. Then she carefully scratched the old match against the rough sides of the old barrel, and the three girls held their breath as a spark appeared, and then caught, slowly eating its way up the wood. Not daring to breathe, Quinn touched it into the shredded papers. The flame, dimmed, then caught, the dry papers flaring up, briefly engulfing the sticks, then died down momentarily, before the sticks caught the flame. Stacy nervously passed her the smallest sticks she could find, and Quinn sighed with relief as the flames grew higher. The three teens smiled at each other, holding out their shaking hands to the slight warmth.
While Stacy and Tiffany just soaked up the heat, Quinn glanced at the small stack of wood in the cabin, knowing it probably wouldn't last too long. It would be hard to find wood in the deep snow outside, and what they did find would probably be wet. Surely it wouldn't take that long to be found, and maybe they could get a call out when the weather cleared. Tiffany sighed in relief."Thanks, Quinn, it was so cold," her normal slow speech even slower in her stress.
Sandi slowly moved to the fire, kneeling, her hands stretched out to it. Her face seemed to be almost a mask. She said, "Like, thanks, Quinn, Stacy, Tiffany. You guys are the greatest," before she started shivering badly. Quinn frowned, "Are, you okay, Sandi?"
"I'll be, uh, okay, it's just that I don't seem to be taking the, like, y'know, snow and cold too well right now," Sandi said hoarsely, smiling at her former rival, still shivering. Quinn replied in concern, "You just stay by the fire and dry out. Tiffany, Stacy, please help me pull the benches closer to the fire, so we don't have to sit on the floor." After they had done that, they brushed the dust off the bench, and sat gingerly down on the old wood.
Quinn checked the time on her watch, surprised to see it was already 8 am. Looking at the windows, she saw they didn't have any glass in them, probably from vandals, and that the shutters were nailed closed, She stepped to the door, and suddenly frowned. Why had it been open? And why had there been a lit lantern in front of an obviously long unused cabin?
Opening the door, she peered out. The snow still fell heavily, outside, lashed by the driving wind. The wind was cut by the trees around the cabin, though the snow was still heavy and deep. A gust of wind blew directly in her face, her long red hair blocking her vision. She brushed it back fretfully. Closing the door, she tried her phone again. Only the loss of contact signal answered her.
She crossed over to the benches, and sat down next to Sandi, who smiled wanly at her. The cold stove had heated up the inside of the cabin slightly, but it was still cool, except right next to it. Quinn glanced around. The cabin was dimly lit by firelight, leaking out around the edges of the crudely stove door. Luckily, almost all of the smoke went up the rickety tin stovepipe chimney. The air smelled musty, with a not unpleasant smell of pine smoke from the fire.
Looking up, she could see no ceiling, the room open to the inside of the roof, the bare rafters studded with nails. The walls were rough unfinished lumber. It reminded her of a cabin she had seen during a class field trip she had taken. Other than the furniture they had noticed earlier, there was nothing in the cabin. She saw Stacy walking around, trying to get a signal on her own phone.
The pigtailed brunette shook her head, sighed, and crossed over to Quinn.
"I can't get out either, Quinn,"she said. "Are you sure we'll be okay?"
A cold chill suddenly shook Quinn. She shuddered, then forced a cheerful tone into her voice. "Sure we will, Stacy! We're not that far from the highway. The cars stuck right next to the road, and somebody should be coming along any time now, a snow plow or a policeman, or even a park ranger. Things are just confused, because of this blizzard. But we're warm, we have heat, and our phones. As soon as this storm lifts, we'll just call out. Sure, this cabin is, eww, gross and smelly, and there's nothing to eat! But you know that everybody always puts on calories over Christmas, and this will be good for our figures!"
Stacy stared at her, wide eyed, then smiled and hugged her. "Thanks, I was so worried! But that was just so, I don't know, just so positive!" Sandi and Tiffany seconded her from the bench. "That was great Quinn,' Sandi said weakly, before coughing. "You sounded mu-uch better than Ms. Li does, Quinn, "Tiffany said, "And it makes me feel good too. Maybe you should be a teacher, or even a principal, or a lawyer like your mom." She added, "But you almost sounded like Brittany for a moment, there!"
At the memory of the blonde empty headed cheerleader, who squeaked at the end at each sentence, who had graduated the previous year, Quinn stuck her tongue out. "No way I'll ever be that, ugh, why she passed and her bozo boyfriend Kevin the QB didn't I'll never know!" She opened the door. "Sandi, you don't sound so good, so you stay here. Keep an eye on the fire, and if it looks like it's low, put another piece of wood in it. Tiffany, why don't you come with Stacy and me, and we'll look for some wood outside, and see if anybody has driven by."
Tiffany stood up, slipping on her shoes, and buttoning up her light jacket. The other three girls slipped out the door, leaving Sandi alone in the dimly lit cabin. It was warm next to the stove, but she felt like shivering. She glanced around seeing nothing, but feeling like somebody was staring at her. Her hands clenched together tightly, her teeth chattering. Her slender shoulders shook as she silently sobbed, terrified of being alone, but unable to leave.