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She shoved those thoughts aside; she’d figure out how to get home, after she rescued Franklin.
There were no lights on in the small cabin, if anyone could call it that. She knew there was a small woodstove, but she didn’t know whether there was anything else. Including food.
In all of her ramblings, Sally hadn’t mentioned whether they’d left food for the couple, only that she’d left some sort of “romantic care package,” whatever that meant. Surely it would be much more romantic for Sally to trap people inside if they weren’t starving to death and tempted to eat each other.
She shivered, thinking of the Donner party.
The snow wasn’t going to be Donner party bad, and she had her phone, if they did get stuck. Except...she froze. She’d been using her phone a good bit as she worked to get everything ready for the dance this evening and...she looked down. Yeah. It was on seven percent. Not good.
Of course, everyone would be cleaning up after the barn dance, and she hated to interrupt them, anyway. Especially since she wasn’t there to help.
She sighed and started walking toward the door again, smiling at the snow, despite her problems that just seemed to keep piling up. She loved snow, even if it was making her night more difficult.
Weeds grew, dead and dry, on both sides of the path, and she was grateful that it was cold. If it were summer, she’d be concerned about snakes and other critters nesting in the house.
But all of those things should be hibernating right now. Along with her, she thought as she moved her tired body to the door. She’d worked nonstop since she’d gotten up that morning, and the last few days had been chaotic and filled to the brim with work, even though it was a labor of love.
Her back hurt, her ankles hurt, and her stomach growled. She should have eaten more at the dance.
Twisting the knob, she stuck her head in and looked around. It was dark, and she couldn’t see much of anything.
“Anyone here?” she said, wondering if she had been the one that had been set up. It did seem a little odd that Sally had slammed the door shut and run away, now that she thought about it. Even though Sally had grown up in an abusive home.
“Back here,” a male voice said, with confidence and command in the tone.
It came from the back corner where she knew there was a small room. Maybe that was the door Sally was talking about.
Back when they were kids, they played in the shed, so she had an idea of what it was like, but her memories were fuzzy. They’d spent more than a few hours hiding in the tall weeds and pretending the cabin was their house.
Good memories.
Although most of her childhood had been spent at the lake, this had been a favorite spot when they were old enough to start riding bikes and could get a little farther away from town.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she hurried over to the door, using her hands to feel to make sure she didn’t run into anything. “I’m sorry that you’re locked in here.”
“You came back?” He sounded confused.
“No. I’m not Sally. I’m...Eleanor. I...spoke to you a little earlier this evening.” She might as well get that out of the way. It would be easier to do before she was face-to-face with him.
“You’re the one who didn’t make any sense?” The man still sounded a little confused, but now there was a bit of humor in his tone as well.
“Yeah. That was me in all my social awkwardness.” She might as well own it. It was the truth.
“Hmm.”
He didn’t say anything more, and she pulled up the bolt on the latch. It was one of those latches that had a horseshoe-type metal piece sticking out and a metal latch that went over it with a rectangular hole for the horseshoe to fit in, and then a bolt went down through to keep the metal piece there.
She couldn’t believe the bolt hadn’t gotten lost over the years. But it fit perfectly and slipped right out as she pulled it. Grabbing the metal latch, she pulled that carefully over the U-shaped metal and then used it to pull on the door.
The door didn’t move.
She yanked a little harder, wrapping her fingers around the latch and getting a better grip.
Still nothing.
“Umm, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but the door’s stuck.”
“No, that’s really not what I want to hear. Also, there is a cat in here, and she’s actually having babies. And I do think she’s having issues.”
