The door slammed shut, sending a small pile of snow down to the ground below. "Get more wood..." he muttered to himself, still furious. "That's all I wanted... So what if it's cold out here? Kinda stupid to make it cold in there too..." he grumbled, trudging around the shelter to a pile of wood, protected from the biting elements by a humble structure. "Crap, a lot of it's wet..." he sighed, rummaging out the driest-looking pieces and haphazardly throwing the rest back. He turned to return, when he heard a long, low moaning from behind him. He turned swiftly. The cold didn't seem to matter any more. Was it just the wind, howling past some unexplored cave? ".... gotta be the wind..." he muttered, hands shaking against the firewood. He took a couple of steps back, still staring at the forest behind the shelter. "Just the wind..." he tried to convince himself. He failed to convince himself.
The evening passed as most did, with the two of them arguing over an insignificant detail and an eventual sulk to bed. The wind continued to howl through the night, getting stronger as snow started to fall. First in gentle flakes spiralling out of control, then a gentle haze, then enough to obscure vision of more than a few feet away from the hut. She was sleeping - of course - but he was awake. The fire's embers glowed faint as he got up, carefully leaving the bed and walking back to the main room. The door was closed and bolted, but subtly rattled against the wind's onslaught. He took a step on a floorboard and it creaked under his weight, making him cry out in shock and step back. Nothing else happened. "Stupid floor..." he grumbled, walking around the creaking spot. He opened the door to the kitchen and walked in, the cool wood being replaced by cold Lino. Not even proper tiles, he thought to himself as he strode over to the fridge. He threw it open and grabbed a bottle of beer, one of the three remaining, and turned to get the opener.
"Help..." a whispering voice echoed in his ear, making him freeze in terror. The hair on the back of his neck bristled as the window rattled, a rhythmic pattern. Thud... thud... thud... the bottle slipped from his grip and shattered against the floor.
YOU ARE READING
10 Minute Tales
General FictionThe result of a New Year's Resolution, I have decided to write for at least 10 minutes a day. This is the result of that effort! Note that I first uploaded to Tumblr, so while I did start this on Jan 1, the earliest this e-book will show is Jan 19.
