Frost Bite

By: Melissa Zeigler

Darkness. The deafening wail of wind.

A few faint coughs and a tepid finger shock Margot awake from her light sleep. Bridgette kneels inches away, shivering violently. Tears line her cheeks. “Annie’s missing,” she whispers to Margot.

Margot surveys the dimly lit cabin. To their left, The Hiker, his gear stacked neatly next to him, struggles to find a comfortable position amongst his newspaper and cardboard bed. Directly across from the girls, The Married Couple; they pack a cast iron pot with snow and place the pot over an almost dead fire. To their right, a disheveled bed, the only bed in the room, no one inside.  “Where’s Emmitt,” Margot asks. “No one’s seen him or Annie since we went to bed last night,” answers Bridgette. “I just woke up and she was gone.”

Margot lurches to her feet. Her body bobbles from the sudden elevation change; Bridgette steadies her. “That doesn’t make any sense. Emmitt warned us not to go out in weather like this.” “It makes a lot of sense if Annie didn’t have a choice. You’ve seen how that pervert looks at her. He hasn’t taken his eyes off of her since he rescued us from the woods.”

Margot rushes to the window. Outside, everything is blanketed in white. There’s no horizon, total white out conditions. She bites her bottom lip in an attempt to quell the stream of tears welling up in her eyes.

A figure darkens the window. The door whips open, caught in a gust of wind. A shadowy figure enters. Something bulges over the figure’s shoulders. “One of you girls get that door,” huffs Emmitt. Bridgette cautiously creeps behind him and closes the door. Emmitt allows a deer carcass to collapse off of his shoulders. A look of pride fills his face. “Looks like we’ll be having dinner tonight,” he states to no one in particular.

The reception he receives is as frigid as the weather. “You’d think a fella’d at least get a thank you.” Bridgette cowers behind Margot. “What’s the matter with you two,” he asks the girl directly. Margot and Bridgette eye the rifle in Emmitt’s hand. Blood covers his clothing.

Emmitt looks to The Hiker and to The Married Couple, they stare back at him judgingly. “Somebody better start explaining what the hell’s going on,” he demands.

“Where’s Annie,” asks The Hiker. “I don’t know, ain’t she with you guys,” responds Emmitt. “No she ain’t with us,” seethes Margot. “What the hell did you do to her you bastard!?” “I didn’t do nothin’ to your sister. I take offense to the fact that you even think I would,” he gets in Margot’s face. “I rescue you, take you in, feed you and you act like I’m some kind of monster. Get out. I want both of you out, now!”

“You can’t throw them out in this weather, they’ll die,” pleads The Wife.  “Be reasonable,” begs The Husband. “Reasonable? They’d a died a month ago if I hadn’t found them. Now they’re making me out to be some murderer. I want them out now.”

He grabs Bridgette by her ponytail and forces her towards the door. Margot jumps on his back, she punches at him hard. Emmitt throws Bridgette to the floor knocking the wind out of her. He peels Margot off of his back like a sticker and throws her to the ground. He’s on her in an instant, he chokes her. “You ungrateful Bitch,” he fumes over and over again. The Hiker and The Couple try to pull him off of Margot but can’t. Bridgette, regaining her breath, stumbles to the table. She lifts the rifle. Between her tears she steadies her aim and shoots.

Emmitt’s hit. His grip on Margot loosens, his body collapses to the floor between Margot and the deer. Bridgette drops the still smoking rifle and runs to Margot.

Emmitt, struggling to breathe, reaches out and touches Bridgette’s arm. He lifts his head, tries numerous times, unsuccessfully, to say something. With his final breathe his head relaxes back to the floor.

The Hiker and The Couple huddle around Margot and Bridgette.

“He didn’t leave you any choice Bridgette.” – The Hiker

“The bastard deserved what he got,”-The Wife

“I’m sorry about Annie.” – The Husband

Suddenly a gust of air fills the cabin.  The Hiker turns to close the door.

Annie’s in the doorway, an armful of branches and twigs in tow, a smile on her face.

“I got a little lost but made it back thanks to Emmitt’s footprints.”