An Unexpected guest
It was late one autumn evening, as you packed the car and headed north to retreat to your cozy cottage by the lake. The sky was grey, and clouds formed ever darker on the horizon.
"Just a light sprinkle, for now. Better leave before it gets nasty" you say to yourself.
It was just you now; and the cottage was the one place you never felt alone, even if you were by yourself. At home, you were nothing but evermore lonely.
You set out on the road, there would be little traffic at 2pm on a Thursday. An hour in, however, the rain began to thunder. Flashing lights illuminated the road ahead. A tree had fallen across the road.
Backtracking, you decided tp veer off the main highway to the nearest side road. This added about an hour to your travel, but the route was scenic. You just hoped there wouldn’t be any trees down there either.
To your delight, the rain began to lighten up as you approached the cottage. The roads glistened with shallow puddles, rain still clouded your vision, but the conditions were manageable. The sky was a dark blueish grey with a tinge of green making the time feel much later than it was. Among this you relaxed into the calming sound of rain. You felt, peaceful.
Approaching your destination, you encountered your second fallen tree, this time only a few turns from your cottage.
“That’s too bad” you murmured.
Parking your car on the shoulder, you grabbed your overnight bag and made a run for the cottage. Hardly anyone navigated these roads anyhow, your cottage was one of three.
When you arrived at the cottage, you began to get a strange feeling, you weren’t used to running down the laneway without your car after all. You quickly put your key in the door and unlocked it. You stepped inside.
You heard, music?
“Who the hell is in my house?” you thought, adrenaline piercing your veins.
You then noticed a woman’s voice. She was singing gently to herself.
Your stress levels calmed as you realized she may have been in trouble and come here in the storm. When you went to investigate, you saw that she had indeed, come from outside in the rain. And she was beautiful.