Corinne in the Woods

The sky darkened, the temperature dropping so fast she felt the cold sting her skin right through her sweater…where on earth was she? If she was on earth at all. Wrapping her arms around herself, Corinne started to wonder if she had been abducted by aliens as part of some bizarre experiment, perhaps to see how long it took to drive her crazy.
Well, if that was the case, she’d show them. She’d march right into this place and demand an explanation for a change. This had gone on too long to keep pretending.

And at least it looked like the right century…she was wearing jeans.

What was up with the Bonanza theme though…dead animal heads or part of what had previously been attached to an animal’s head nailed up on the walls and horses peering at her over a fence.
More logs on the inside, but the counters were not what she’d call rustic, and the appliances were modern and looked expensive. Including the expresso maker. Definitely not a cowboy’s rusty coffeepot.
Halfway expecting to look out the back at a barn or a corral full of more horses, instead she found a deck, and a spa, and a man in the spa…a man she recognized. Was this whole strange thing going to loop around?

“Gabe?”
“What are you waiting for?” he asked impatiently. “You said you were cold and wanted to get in the spa. If you’ve changed your mind, I’m going inside.”

“No I don’t want to get in the spa!” Corinne snapped. “I want you to tell me what’s going on!”
He stared at her, then climbed out of the steaming water – for a second she wondered if…but no, he was wearing swim trunks. Sort of.
Gabe stood in front of her, rubbed his neck, his expression careful, speculative. “You didn’t fall down the stairs or get hit over the head anytime recently, did you?”
“I didn’t fall down any stairs and nobody hit me over the head! And I’m tired of whatever this is! Where is this place and what is the deal with the letter?!”
“It’s your place Cori!” Gabe drew a breath, his voice annoyed. “Your uncle left it to you last year – you let me come up here all the time. What’s wrong with you?”
“If someone had given me a cabin like this,” Corinne shouted at him, angry and frustrated, “I would certainly remember it! And furthermore, I’d certainly remember you if I knew you well enough to let you stay in it! And I want to know about the letter!”
Gabe watched her in silence for a couple of seconds, then smiled. “All right. You’re not making any sense at all. You’ve been reading too many fantasy books, or you fell out of bed and don’t remember it. Let’s go inside and talk about the letter if that’s what’s on your mind.”

Corinne pushed past him, shoved open the door and went inside “her” cabin, then watched him stride across that stone floor toward the back of the place. Her cabin indeed.

“I’m getting dressed,” he told her over his shoulder. “Light a fire and calm down.”
She looked at that massive fireplace nervously, wondering how she was supposed to light a fire, but there was a modern lighter lying right next to it. And to her utter relief it worked. Some normal things still functioned.
Gabe strolled out wearing a heavy gray v-necked pullover and jeans, eased down onto the other sofa and asked her, “Comfy now?”
She’d had just about enough of this. And the sweater she was wearing was very low cut, nothing she’d ever bought, although he didn’t appear to be looking. Which was a little insulting. “Yes, thank you, I’m perfectly comfortable sitting on the couch in ‘my’ place. I want to know about this letter everyone keeps talking about.”
He propped one long leg against the arm of the chair, still smiling. “I don’t know what you mean by everyone. I haven’t said anything about it – if you’ve been running around on your own…it would have been better to wait for me to work it. But that’s up to you. And I still don’t understand why you think the reference was to me – reads like someone from Middle Earth wrote the thing, and whoever it is knows too much about you, but I’d assume it’s referring to your boyfriend.”
Corinne almost gasped. “What boyfriend?”
Gabe stood up, laughing. “The guy you’ve been telling me is the man of your dreams – isn’t that the term you used? I saved the email – come on over here and look at it again and tell me it’s not referring to him.”
Stunned, she followed him over to a rickety table in the corner where a laptop perched precariously. Gabe pulled out the chair, commenting good naturedly, “You need to buy a decent desk. Don’t know why you don’t turn that extra bedroom into an office – you’ve got it stacked with junk you don’t use anyway. And I’ve never known you to have guests up here.”
He logged on rapidly, pulled up an email, opened the attachment, sat back and said, “See? It’s strange, I know, but it’s probably a joke. Maybe it’s from the boyfriend you don’t remember anymore.”
Corinne squinted at the screen, but it seemed to blur. She couldn’t make out the words, they didn’t even look like words, just gibberish, and her head spun.
Watching her, Gabe abruptly stood up, took her arm, and told her, “You look as white as a ghost. Come on outside for a minute and get some air before you pass out.”
She staggered out the door and sat down on one of the barstools. The cold air did seem to clear her head a bit, but not much. Gabe went behind the bar and started mixing something. Suspicious, Corinne demanded, “That’s not a delirium you’re making is it?”

Gabe was rummaging around, looking at bottles. “A what? It’s your bar Cori. I didn’t stock it. You’ve got some unusual shit in here, but I’ve never heard of a delirium.”
Well, there was no sign of Morpheus, so it should be safe, although it WAS red. She took a sip. Nothing happened. Sighing, she took another.
The wind was picking up, making a strange rushing noise almost like water or maybe heavy traffic. Corinne looked at Gabe, but he seemed to have moved into the shadows, or the shadows had moved over him. It was so loud…and in the distance…was that a light or just something so bright that she couldn’t look away from it….

anghard....tag, you are IT...<