103 - Cabin Snowstorm
Riker POV
Me and Ross had gone up to the cabin together today and the rest of our family are supposed to join us tomorrow. But there's supposed to be a snowstorm tonight so I'm not sure if that's actually going to happen.
It started snowing an hour ago and it was coming down really hard now. Ross and I were watching a movie when the lights went out.
We sat there for a minute, waiting to see if they'd come back on, but they didn't.
"Well that's not good," Ross said.
I turned on the flashlight on my phone and walked over to the windows, seeing if I could see anyone that still had power. But everything was pitch black.
"Ok. We should make a fire. It's going to get really cold really fast. And we don't want the pipes to freeze and then burst," I said, walking over to our wood stove.
I knelt down on the floor and just sort of stared at everything. I've seen dad do this a million times but I've never really done it before by myself.
"Can you hold the flashlight?" I asked, handing him my phone.
"Yeah."
He sat down on the floor beside me. I built what I thought would make a fire and then took a match and tried to light it. It burned for a few seconds and then went out again.
So I tried again, lit it, and it died.
"Dad does this in like 30 seconds. Why can't I get it going?" I asked, frustrated.
"Because you've never done it before. Not to be like, you don't know what you're doing, but you don't."
I took a deep breath and tried again.
And again. And again. And it still went out.
"Why can't I do this!?"
"Let me try."
We swapped places. Ross tried a bunch of times while I held the flashlight, but he couldn't get it to light either.
When he gave up, we both just sat there in silence for a minute.
"I don't even have service to call and ask dad what to do," I mumbled.
"Don't you usually get reception down at the lake?"
"Yeah, like 1 bar. Sometimes. If I'm lucky."
"Do you want to go down there and try to get service?"
"Not particularly... It's snowstorming."
"Then do you want to try again?"
"Yeah."
I handed the flashlight back to him and I tried again. And again. And again. And finally it caught.
I started panicking and trying to add things to it to keep it burning.
"Do we have any actual fire wood?" I asked, looking around.
"Outside, I think."
"Ok. Make sure it doesn't die."
I quickly got my snow boots and coat on. And I went outside to look for the fire wood.
When I went outside, I was immediately hit with icy air. It was super windy and it was blowing the snow right in my face. I tried to make my way down the steps, but I slipped since I couldn't actually see the steps and went flying into a snow drift at the bottom of the stairs.
I brushed the snow off my face and stood up, shivering now. I made my way over to the stack of fire wood and grabbed some. And then carefully went back up the stairs and went back inside.
"Why are you covered in snow?" Ross asked, pointing his flashlight at me.
"I slipped on the stairs. I couldn't really see them under the snow," I said, kneeling down beside him again.
"Are you ok?"
"I think so."
I added one of the logs to the fire, and it caught. I closed the stove and just sat there, letting the panic fade.
"We're ok. Relax," Ross said, putting his arm around me.
"It's not even us I'm worried about. I don't want a pipe to burst and flood the cabin. We'd be screwed. Nobody can help us during the storm and I can't call dad for help either."
"We just have to make sure the fire doesn't go out."
"Yeah. I think I might set my alarm for every hour just to make sure it doesn't die."
"Do you want to sleep down here tonight?"
"Yeah."
Ross got us some blankets and we curled up next to each other by the fire.
"You don't need to be so stressed out all the time. The responsibility isn't completely on you. I can help too," Ross said.
"Thanks," I said, smiling.
