Storm Shelter

Chapter 1- Unexpected

March 2014

"Mark!" Comes the bellow. "It's your turn!"

Mark groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore his brother and fall back to sleep. Who's idea had it been to have a wood stove anyway?

Never mind that it would have been ungodly expensive to not have one where they lived, but why did he have to stoke it when he had school in four hours?

"Mark!" Came the growl again.

"I'm going Matt! Go back to sleep." Mark rolled grudgingly out of bed and shuffled out the door and down the hall.

"Ow." He grunted as he smashed he left knee into a kitchen stool. He blindly made his way across the linoleum to the back door. Shoving his feet into his boots and grabbing his Carhart jacket from the hook where it hung.

The rain hit him with a icy jolt as he continued to plod along the twenty yards to the wood stove shelter across the yard.

He was still sleepy so he took his time but the rain was quickly soaking him so he picked up his pace and finally made it to the stove

He opened both the outer and inner iron doors in dismay to see the fire reduced to only a few bright embers.

Now he would have to stock the large stove and then wait for it to thoroughly catch fire before he went back to sleep. To make sure the wood didn't smother the few hot coals.

Grumbling he turned away and walked into the small shelter and started throwing logs into the open stove. A few minutes later the stove was full and Mark was sweating from the effort.

Do I go back to bed or wait? The fire should be fine if I go.

He knew he should wait, but he was so tired. He had almost made up his kind to risk it when he heard a noise coming from the azure barn twenty yards away.

Then he heard Cliff nicker and stomp his large hooves. It was an unmistakable sound.

Mark shrugged and turned back towards the farm house, then paused in thought.

What the hey? I'll go give Cliff a treat and then on my way back I'll check the stove again.

Making up his mind Mark reeled and jogged towards the barn. As he pulled open the side door and shook his brown hair to displace the water crystals, he heard a soft voice.

" don't know how I got into this mess. I'm thousands of miles from home. There is practically a hurricane outside. My baby decides it needs to come right now, and to top it all off I'm talking to a horse!" The soft voice belonged to a girl! Scratch that: a woman. A very PREGNANT woman.

She was leaning against Cliff's stall and squatting slightly, breathing heavily in and out. Cliff was leaning out of his stall and trying to nibble on her blonde hair.

"Would you stop that? I'm in bad enough shape without you slobbering all over me." She swatted at Cliff but there was laughter in her thin voice.

Suddenly she groaned harshly and threw her head up. Cliff jerked back but then nickered to her again and blew into her hair.

Mark finally snapped out of his daze and hesitantly stepped forward.

"Who are you?" He asked the woman.

A/N: Photo of Mark