His Oblivious Mate

Chapter 7 : Snowed in

She stood at the window, looking at the blizzard outside. The wind was howling around the corner of the house, carrying the flakes all over the place. She opened the door, and sighed in dismay. The snow covered up to half of the length of the door. There was no way she could go anywhere today. Closing the door she turned to the fireplace. She hoped the snow melted before she ran out of wood. Lighting the fireplace, she stood in front of it, contemplating her plans for the day. She could either get back into bed and read the whole day, or finish the sculpture. She was tempted by option one, but decided on the latter.

Pulling the sheet off the statue, she admired her handiwork. A much smaller wooden version of the bear from the woods. She whittled away at the wood, creating claws, accentuating the face and sharpening the teeth. When she was done, she got the leaf blower and blew off the fine wooden dust from the sculpture. Then she swept up all the debris and threw it on the fire in the fireplace. She took out varnish and varnished the bear. When she was done, she left the studio door open, hoping the heat from the fireplace would help the varnish to dry faster. She felt satisfied. She loved creating sculptures. And she hoped this one would keep the nightmares away.

It was late afternoon, so she ate a sandwich and soup. Curling up on the couch, she started reading. Her attention was drawn from her book by shuffling noises outside. Opening the door she looked out. Two men were busy shoveling a path to her front door through the snow. She didn't even notice that it stopped snowing earlier.

"Good afternoon gentlemen" she called to them. They stopped working, looking at her. "Good afternoon miss" the taller one answered. "I am Owen, and this is Bert. Duncan asked us to make sure that you are okay. We noticed that you are snowed in. We will have a path cleared for you soon". She smiled. "That is very thoughtful. I really appreciate it" she said, watching them as they resumed shoveling. Owen was a large man, blonde hair peaking out from underneath his beanie. He had grey eyes with a sharp nose. She guessed that he was in his early fourties. Bert was slightly shorter than Owen, but he looked to be just as strong built. He had longish brown hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. He seemed a lot younger than Owen. She would say he was in his late twenties. One thing was certain, they made shoveling the snow away look easy.

When they reached the door she asked "Can I offer you some hot chocolate?". "That would be nice" Bert answered at the same time that Owen declined with a polite "Maybe another time". The two man glared briefly at each other and then Owen relented with a smile. "Thank you miss". "Please call me Cathy" she requested, standing aside to let them enter, wondering what the moment between the men was about. She shrugged it off, closing the door. "Please make yourself at home" she said, walking to the kitchen. Bert sat down on the sofa, Owen went to stand in front of the fireplace. "Do you guys also live in the commune?" she asked as she made the hot chocolate. Bert frowned. "Commune?" he asked. Owen looked at him again. "She thinks the packhouse is a commune. Just roll with it" he shot at Bert through the mind link. "Oh yes, the commune. Yes we do" Bert said. Cathy brought their hot chocolate and sat down on the couch with her own mug. "What made you decide to move to the middle of nowhere Cathy?" Owen asked, turning his back to the fireplace, sipping his hot chocolate. She contemplated her answer, staring into her mug, before looking at Owen. "I never felt at ease in the city. It felt like the tall buildings and the pollution was smothering me. The constant loud noise made me feel like I couldn't hear myself think" she said. Bert nodded. "I can understand how you felt in the city. I don't think I will ever be able to adapt in a city or a town". "Me neither" Owen said.

"Do you have an axe?" Bert suddenly asked. Cathy frowned. "Uhm, why?" she questioned carefully. Owen glanced at him with a frown, linking him "What exactly is wrong with you? Now she thinks we are psychopathic axe murderers" and Bert blushed. "I noticed your firewood is almost finished, and I thought we could chop you some more before we go" he hastily explained, scratching his head. He had such a sincere expression on his face, that Cathy felt stupid for doubting them for a second. "Of course, follow me" she said, placing her mug down and getting up. She walked into the studio and took out an axe from the cupboard where she stored her tools. When she turned around, Bert and Owen was in the studio with her, staring in awe at the statue. "That is magnificent" Owen complimented her. She blushed mumbling a bashful "Thanks". Bert was smiling from ear to ear. "Do you like bears?" he asked. Owen slapped him against the head, making Cathy chuckle. "I do not know much about them, I'm afraid. I ran into one the other day in the woods. It walked away. But I had a nightmare about it and decided to sculpt it. Backwards therapy, if I may call it that" she said.

Bert frowned. He felt guilty that he caused her to have a nightmare, even though he never meant to. "I am sorry" he apologized. Cathy looked at him, questioning "Whatever for?". He looked sheepish. "It felt like the right thing to say" he answered, causing Cathy to chuckle again. "Here you go" she said, handing him the axe. The men turned and went to the door. "We will be right back with your wood" Bert said, pulling the door closed behind Owen and himself. "You better chop plenty of wood, and stop saying stupid things" Owen chided him as they walked into the trees.

She rinsed the mugs, drying it and packing it away. She decided to bake a cake. She hasn't baked in ages. She was sliding the cake pans into the oven when the men returned with huge piles of wood. They packed it neatly beside the fireplace. "Thank you so much, I really apreciate it" Cathy said happily. "It wasn't a bother" Owen replied. "It is getting dark, we need to get back to the erm, commune" Bert said. Cathy walked them to the door, thanking them again. "To think I had to move to backside of the world to meet wonderful people" she thought to herself as she watched them walk away to the treeline. She stood at the door till she couldn't see them anymore, and then closed it. Piling more logs onto the fire, she smiled. "To think I was worried about my wood not lasting just this morning" she thought, glancing at the small mountain of wood against the wall.

Deciding to bake another cake for the two gentleman, she got to work. She mixed all the ingredients for a chocolate cake, and when she took out the first cake, she slid it into the oven. She let the first cake cool down, making the icing sugar. Then she decorated it, piping delicate icing flowers on the sides, finishing off with a dash of sprinkles on top.

Placing it into a cake tin she put it in the fridge. The oven timer dinged, and she pulled the chocolate cake out of the oven. While it cooled, she made chocolate ganache. She decorated the cake, sprinkled chocolate covered shortcake balls on top, then placed it in another tin, and put it in the fridge with the other cake. Glancing at her cellphone she saw that it was already after eleven pm.

She took a long, hot shower, washing and conditioning her hair, shaving and just pampering herself. Wrapping her hair in a towel, she dried herself, applied body cream and then put on pink winter pajamas. After massaging her feet with moisturizing foot cream, she pulled on warm fuzzy socks and padded into her bedroom, removing the towel from her hair. She dried her hair, braiding it, before getting into bed.

Owen sat on the branch. He saw the bedroom light go out, then he took off to circle over the woods and cabin, looking for any sign of danger. He was uneasy ever since the rogue wolf came sniffing around. Rogue wolves were merciless creatures, killing for pleasure. They were werewolves that were no longer part of a pack. The lack of the link to a pack, caused their wolf sides to go feral, taking over and dominating over the human side. They lost touch with the world, losing all sense of right and wrong, becoming mindless killing machines.

Not sensing any movement, and seeing nothing on the ground, he landed on the branch again, tucking his wings tightly against his body to stay warm. His head swiveled in all directions, keeping watch till dawn approached and Athena took over.