The Lost Cabin by TheHiddenAngels 

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I can't figure out what was going through my mind. I mean, joining a Facebook hiking group was probably my first mistake. Then I actually read the posts of people hiking the Ha Ling Trail and taking those beautiful sunset pictures that make them look like Instagram influencers. Then I checked my schedule for a free day, and my fingers somehow tapped out a post. Then there were the replies, all confirming their attendance, which led to me standing in the parking lot at the trailhead waiting for people to show up. Only one person did. I should have known.

My feet are a little chilly inside my hiking boots, and I reflexively do my jacket up as the biting wind threatens to worm its way inside. The guy standing next to me is looking around the parking lot and checking his phone, his hand wrapped loosely around the leash of a big black dog. I want to do the same, but I know they are not coming after an hour of waiting. We decided against a dawn hike and picked a sunset hike. As we enter March, sunset is in the early evening, and as I see the sun sinking lower, I know that this will be our only shot.

"Shall we, errr, get going then?" I nod towards the trailhead and then look at my new hiking companion. He does one last scan of the parking lot before admitting defeat.

"Sure." He says and gives a small smile. He's taller than me by at least a foot, and I can see little locks of blond hair peeking out from under his navy blue hat.

"I'm Alice, by the way. I tried to organise this." I say as we start towards the trailhead keeping a brisk pace.

"Henry. And this is Buddy." He says, indicating the dog lolloping along beside us. We fall awkwardly silent again. I do a brief check of my AllTrails app and see that it will take roughly an hour or two to get to the top. It's five o clock now, so I reckon we should get to the top before sunset if we keep this pace.

"Do you do much hiking?" I ask Henry. From the brand new look of his shoes and the fact that I can still see the tag on his jacket, I'm going to guess no.

"Not really. This is my first time." He says, looking nervously around the forest. "There aren't any bears out there, are there?"

"Probably not, it's early March. There is still a lot of snow on the ground." I say, looking around at the white patches that still dominate the path. We carry on for a few more minutes, but I still sense that Henry is looking around for bears.

"Do you do a lot of hiking then?" He asks me as we enter the thicker part of the forest.

"A fair bit. Not usually this early in the season but the city was starting to suffocate me and I wanted to be in the mountains again." I say and wonder if I have said too much. I've only just met this guy.

"I know the feeling." He says as we watch Buddy start sniffing in the snow. "My work took on a new project, and it's been a lot of long hours. This is the first time I have been in the fresh air in a while." I catch a sideways glance at him. He moves a little stiffly as if he can't quite relax.

"Where do you work?" I ask him before the silence threatens to overwhelm us again.

"An architecture firm. We build houses and things. We took on the development that's at the south of the city. It's been crazy." He says, his voice almost sad. I wait and wonder if there's more. "I tried to design a net-zero house. It had solar panels, great insulation, an excellent method of storing energy. Then my company said it was too expensive for us to build and make the profits they wanted." He falls silent again.

"That sucks. I would love to be able to live in a netzero house." I say, thinking about my crappy apartment with roommates who have no concept of an energy bill.

"Yeah." He says as we start the incline up the hill. Despite knowing it's his first time hiking, he keeps a pretty solid pace. I wonder if he goes to the gym a lot if he can't leave the office much. We fall back into silence as the hill steepens. I am trying not to breathe through my ears, especially as I am supposed to be the more seasoned hiker of the pair of us. I tighten the straps of my backpack slightly as it jiggles around.

Since the last snowfall, the path has been relatively untouched, and our footprints are easily visible behind us. The snow still clings to the trees giving it a very Narnian feel, and there is almost no noise at all. I am a lot warmer now that we have been walking for half an hour and even more so since the hill. I can see the crest of the hill just a hundred meters ahead of us. I turn to check on Henry, whose pale face is now red in the cheeks. His hands still grip the leash of Buddy, who is trying to pull him up the hill.

"The crest is just up there, and then it is flat for a while until we break through the trees." I say, pointing at them, and he nods and keeps going. We carry on in silence for a while. I wonder what made Henry come out hiking on a Friday afternoon. My roommates are getting ready to go to a club. Henry doesn't seem like the type of guy to spend his evenings at a bar. He's too... I stare at the lanky guy who holds himself stiffly—almost hunched over like he's trying to make himself smaller. I try to picture him playing pool and hitting on women, but it doesn't fit. He's too awkward. He would look more at home in a library or perhaps in a cafe.

"What do you do?" He asks when we both have our breath back and take a water break at the crest.

"I work in a grocery store." I say, and I hope my voice doesn't sound too miserable. "I graduated with a degree in English and there wasn't much hiring for that so retail." I try to explain. He doesn't sneer, though or give me that disappointed look that so many guys on dating apps give me when I tell them what I do. Instead, he gives a small smile.

"I worked in a certain well-known store during university. It takes a certain strength to get through one of those shifts." He says with a grimace.

"Tell me about it." I say, rolling my eyes before taking on a whiny voice. "Why don't you have exactly what I'm looking for when I can't even describe it myself?" I mimic, and Henry laughs. He then takes on his own high pitched, irritating voice.

"Can't you go check in the back even though you've told me there isn't any in the back?" We both start laughing at that and continue the hike, bonding over our combined hatred of customer service. It takes another hour before we finally break through the trees and walk out onto the ridgeline. The sky is pink above us now, and I know sunset is nearly here. The pink streaks of light shimmer off the snow-tipped trees, casting an almost fairy tale glow. I can see, in the distance, a herd of deer galloping across a field. You can see everything all around. Part of me thinks that if I squint, I might see the city in the distance. I turn to face Henry, who is staring around his mouth open slightly.

"Quite a picture, huh." I say, smiling at him.

"Yeah. Looks different from up here. I can see why people like hiking so much if this is the view at the top." He says, turning to see the other side of the mountain, which looks out to other mountains in the distance. Something has caught my eye to where he is staring, though. A tremendous thick grey cloud, hidden previously by the mountain, is heading towards us. I try not to look alarmed as Henry clearly doesn't know what this means. Henry turns to look out at the sun dipping lower and lower in the sky. It really is beautiful. I put the grey cloud out of my mind. It could just be passing over the top of us and not mean what I fear it means.

Henry sits down on a rock to take in the view. Buddy is sniffing around his ankles, and I sit down on a rock nearby, wondering if I can ask Henry to take a picture of me in the sunset. I know I shouldn't be focused on this stuff, but I can't help but want a photo of me doing something worthwhile. I resist the urge, though and continue watching Buddy.

It's funny how quickly a relaxing moment can switch to terrifying at the drop of a hat. I mean this quite literally. I watch as Henry takes off his woolly hat and runs his hands through his hair. The shifting of his position means the hat falls off his leg and down onto the ground. He lets go off the leash at the same time that the wind blows past us. Buddy lifts his nose up to sniff the air and bolts. Henry is too slow to react, and both of us watch in terror as Buddy makes a beeline for the forest.

"BUDDY!" I hear Henry shout as he grapples with his backpack to go after him. I shoot after him, but that dog is super fast.

"He must have caught the sent of the deer!" I shout as we both tear into the forest after him.

"He doesn't come back when I call him. That's why I had him on a leash!" Henry says, sounding desperate as we run further into the forest, trying to keep our feet out of the snowiest parts. We end up stopping in a clearing while Henry shouts for Buddy. A few snowflakes are starting to come down now, and I realise that the grey cloud is what I thought it was.

We hear the sound of twigs cracking, and we both simultaneously run in that direction. We run further and further into the forest through the trees and do not follow any path. Finally, I hear Henry catch up to Buddy and grab the leash. Buddy appears to have sprinted through several bushes and not caught whatever it was that he was chasing.

"Buddy, how could you do that?" I hear him yell at the dog, who looks at him with a guilty look. I wonder if he thinks that Buddy is going to answer him. Now that the panic is over, I can see the snowflakes falling faster, and a different type of fear starts to overtake me.

"So how do we get back?" Henry says to me as he walks back towards me, a death grip on Buddy's leash. I look around the forest and feel my heart slip into my stomach. I can't tell which direction we came from. It all looks the same, and as we were running in circles after Buddy, our footprints blended, so I can't even use them to get back. I cast a horrorstruck look to Henry, whose face drops as the realisation dawns on him. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out his phone.

"There's no service up here. We can't use the map to get back." I say, checking my phone and seeing the lack of bars on the screen. Henry looks at me, his looking terrified.

"What do you mean no service? This is the twenty-first century!" He says, and I think his voice has risen a couple of octaves.

"Canadian cell service in the mountains." I say, taking a few deep breaths and getting my problem-solving mind working again. Henry is starting to pace, looking more scared as Buddy starts to jump at him. I can still hear him muttering at making a complaint to his cell company under his breath. I look around the forest and think about what was on the map nearby when I was looking at it earlier. I can picture it in my mind's eye. I know we ran in the opposite direction as the trailhead, so we were heading East. On the Eastern side of the trail was a campground used for backcountry camping in summer. The blue Facebook logo flashes in my mind again, and I remember a post. Someone took a picture of the basic-looking cabins there and suggested it as a place to go backcountry camping for those who are not ready to take tents.

"How are we going to get out of here?" I can hear Henry closer to me now, and when I open my eyes, I can see he is almost in a full state of panic. I turn away from him and try to remember where they were. The compass in my phone relies on an internet connection, so that won't be helpful. The snow is now falling fast, coating my hat in a wet layer of white. I slowly track towards what I think maybe a clearing in the trees. Henry follows my lead, clinging onto Buddy, whose nose is again on the ground. I try not to let Henry know that I am hoping that Buddy might be able to take us towards them. He seems to know where he is going. I follow the dog slowly through the trees, my heart in my mouth as the snow blanks out the forest behind us.

"Is that... is that a shed?" I hear Henry say behind me as we enter a small clearing with three of four cabins in it.

"I think so. It's a backcountry campground I think." I say. If any signs indicate it is, they are covered by the snow.

"Backcountry camping?" Henry says as we head towards the closest one.

"Campgrounds not able to be accessed by road." I clarify. The door has a small combination lock on it. I slowly turn the lock in each direction, listening for each click.

"You look like a safe cracker." Henry says, my ear pressed to the lock.

"Shhhh, I'm trying to concentrate," I say, starting again. After a few tense minutes, I manage to get the thing unlocked, and we tug open the frozen door.

The cabin is small, a shed is a better description for it. It contains a tiny bedroom with a bed and a little cabinet. There is a wood burner on the far side of the shed leading out to the chimney on the outside. A small woodpile sits neatly in a pile next to it. The bed is wooden with a small waterproof mattress on top of it. The whole thing is a little dusty, and I'm guessing it shut down in September of last year. I shrug off my backpack and put it down on the far side of the bed. As the sun has gone down, I know that this will be where we will be spending the night. Henry doesn't look as convinced. He is still wearing his backpack and clutching Buddy's leash.

"Are we staying here then?" He asks me, his voice a little quivery. "Only, I have work tomorrow." He adds, trying to look more confident. Seriously? There is a white-out coming, and he wants to go trekking back through the snow with the plummeting temperatures.

"So do I. But people die in these conditions. If you want to go back out there, be my guest but I'm staying here." I say, keeping my voice calm. He's not a natural outdoorsman; I remind myself. I lean over the wood burner, checking to see if there is any already in there. I just need to open the chimney, so we don't smoke ourselves out. The lever easily opens, and I reach down and grab a few logs.

"People die?" He says, and the scared note is back. He looks anxiously out the window. "Like we could die out here?"

"If we go back out there, yes. If we stay in here with a shelter, a heat source and wait for the storm to pass, we will be fine." I say, looking through my backpack for that tiny pack of waterproof matches. It takes me a few tries, but I get a fire going in the wood burner. I estimate it will take another hour for the cabin to be properly warm. I sit down on the bed, rifling through my backpack.

"Okay." Henry starts to copy me, sitting down and taking off his backpack. "Are you some sort of nature survivor?" He asks as I pull out a survival blanket and a small towel. I laugh and shake my head.

"No, I always wanted to run away and live in the woods, though. I watched a lot of survival documentaries when I was younger and certain things stick out. Did you know that most people die in the mountains because they are underprepared for a day hike?" I say, taking a look at what is in my backpack. Henry shakes his head as he unties Buddy's leash.

"No. I didn't bring very much. I never thought I would be stuck out overnight." He says, showing me his backpack. I knew he had never been hiking before, but why on earth did he think that a phone charger and a laptop would help him?

"Most people don't," I say in what I hope is a consoling voice. The fire is starting to properly warm the cabin now, and I shake off my jacket revealing a fleecy top underneath. Henry copies me, and I can barely stop myself laughing.

"Henry," I say between giggles. "Is that a pullover over a button down shirt?" He grins and nods.

"I came straight from the office and forgot to bring a workout shirt from home. I didn't want to be late to meet the group." He says as he hangs his jacket neatly on a peg. I glance down at my own discarded jacket on the floor and quickly hang it up.

I lay the survival blanket out on the bed and lie down on it, leaving space for Henry. He takes the hint and lies down on the blanket, leaving a respectable foot of distance between us. I huff slightly and move closer to him.

"It won't cover us all the way if the gap is too big." I explain as he nods slightly.

"Do you suppose anyone will come looking?" He asks quietly as we warm up. I think back to my life in the city. Maybe my roommates would notice I hadn't come home, but I doubt it. There isn't anyone who would be expecting a call.

"Not for me," I reply and try to keep my voice even, but I know he must have noticed the quiver. Henry props himself up on his elbow to look at me.

"What happened?" He asks, looking into my eyes.

"I was engaged, I thought he was perfect. A couple of months ago, I walked into the house we shared and saw him having sex with my best friend. I miss her more than him." I say, remembering how desperately lonely I was right afterwards.

"He's an asshole." Henry says, sounding sad. "That's a really despicable thing to do."

"They both claimed it was true love. Turns out it had been going on for months. I'm glad to be rid of them now instead of after the wedding." I say, trying a small smile.

"I'm sorry. He sucks. I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to cheat on you." He says, lying down again. He can't imagine anyone cheating on me? I start turning this over in my mind. What did he mean by that?

"You seem like a really great person. He must have been mad." Henry continues, and now he sounds more thoughtful. Like I'm a problem, he can't quite work out.

"He told me that I was lousy in bed. Not adventurous enough." I say, the sting of the insult just as bad as when he had first said it. "Apparently, they had been laughing behind my back."

"He's a disgusting excuse for a human and she isn't any better. I don't think you would be lousy in bed." He says, facing me again.

"How would you know? You have never slept with me?" I say, and a slight fluttery feeling starts to warm my stomach.

"I have a good imagination but we could always find out." He says and then closes the distance between us. His lips are warm and soft on my own, and I feel myself melt into the mattress. I have never been kissed like this before. I find my hands reaching up to wind in his curly blond hair. My whole body arches up as the kiss deepens. This goes on for a few minutes, or it could have been hours before we finally come up for breath.

"You are not a bad kisser," Henry says, sounding breathless. "If you are like that in bed, then I can't imagine what he was complaining about," I feel like my whole body has turned to butter.

"Neither are you." I say, feeling my heart race through my body.

"I have never had any complaints." He says, grinning but pulling me closer to him. We end up talking until the early hours about nothing and everything. He eventually falls off to sleep with the wind beating against the side of the cabin. I try to keep my breathing even as I realise that this is the closest I have been to another human in months and held as if someone wanted to hold me and kissed as if someone wanted to kiss me. I let the wind lull me off to sleep with the fire cracking peacefully in the burner.

The dawn breaks early over the mountains and lights the entire cabin up. I am still curled up into Henry's side, and Buddy is curled around our feet. I feel peaceful for the first time in years, content with where I am. Even in a cabin, I had to pick the lock off with a guy I met just yesterday. I stretch out, feeling my muscles protest against the sudden movement. Henry stirs and wipes the sleep out of his eyes but doesn't push me away.

"Morning," I yawn, turning to face him.

"Morning." He says. We fall silent again as the peaceful happiness slips away to be replaced by another awkward silence. We slowly sit up, and I know that whatever understanding we both had over nighttime survival is slipping away. We pull our outer layers on quickly, and I consult the time on my rapidly dying phone.

"We should be able to find the path a little easier in the day." I push open the door to the crisp white morning. Henry put's buddy on a leash, and with the help of daylight, we see a path marked that will lead us back down to the parking lot. We speed along quickly, the downhill slop allowing us to move far faster in the day. I want to talk to Henry about this kiss, but my throat feels like something is stuck in it. I want to thank him for making me feel less alone, but now I can't help but feel like he is pushing me away.

Even once we reach the parking lot, he practically sprints towards his car and only gives me a brief goodbye. I end up sitting in my car, alone again, with tears streaming down my face as I head back to the city. Last night was the happiest night I've had in a long time, and now I'm alone again.

The following week, I returned to work at the grocery store, not telling anyone about my overnight adventure. As the days slip into weeks, part of me wonders whether I had imagined it. My life is dull enough, and I wouldn't put it past me to dream of a way to escape. Getting lost in the mountains is precisely the sort of thing I would dream up. Perhaps, I am just losing my mind. I can't find the post talking of the campsite anywhere, and I can't see a blond-haired Henry anywhere on there. After talking with a therapist who I can tell thinks I imagined it, I deleted the group. She says I need to focus on finding real-life friends instead of fantasy.

I end up redownloading a dating app, but after two weeks of self-hatred, I delete it again. I hide up in my room away from my roommates, unable to watch them snuggle up with their partners. Each night becomes a reminder of how lonely I am, and the days turn repetitive. Go to work, come home, eat a frozen dinner, watch a survival documentary, get sad at the documentary, fall asleep, repeat. I feel like I'm stuck on a hamster wheel.

I glance up at the clock on the wall, another five minutes until I finish. I barely glance at the items I'm scanning. After a while, the customers blur together like robots on an assembly line.

"Twenty six, fifty. How would you like to pay?" I say automatically to the person in front of me.

"Alice?" I'm shaken suddenly from the stupor my mind has wandered away to. "Alice from hiking?" I take a good look at the customer in front of me. It takes a minute to place him but then I see it. He has curly blond hair and a body that's too tall for the occupant. He is real. I feel my body shake as I realise that he is real.

"Henry?" I ask, feeling a bit shaken. "Is that you?"

"Yes, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I ran away from you that day. I wasn't sure how I was going to ask you out on a date, and then it was awkward, and I kept over thinking it and then I realised I didn't have your number and then I tried to find you on facebook but you weren't there." He explains, his voice coming out in a rush. He tried to find me. Did he want to ask me out? I am standing there dumbstruck, wondering what just happened.

He takes my silence as a need for more explanation. "I was stupid and overthinking everything and then my sister said I was an idiot and that you had good reason to hate me so I wanted to apologise and ask you out on a proper date that doesn't involve getting lost in the woods." He says, all in a rush.

"Yes, yes I will go on a date with you." I say, feeling a smile creep up over my lips.

"This is all great an all, but I am in a bit of a rush." A woman with a cart full of groceries says from behind Henry.