A Frame of Avarice

We drove up the snowy, winding road towards the cozy A-frame cabin. My eyes were glued to the twisting path in front of me, but my mind was a hundred miles away. I felt my wife gently put a hand on my thigh, and I turned to her. She was giving me a knowing look, one that I had seen many, many times before.

“You’re doing it again, love.”

“Her voice could still a raging sea.” I thought and for a fleeting moment the turmoil within me eased.

“Doing what?” I asked, feigning ignorance. I never just came clean with what was bothering me. Instead, I let her pry it out of me.

I know my behavior is not emotionally healthy, but my wife’s persistence shows me that her concern is genuine.

“Replaying it all in your head and pretending you aren’t.”

I sighed, “Yeah, Janie, but if I had just”

“No,” she said calmly but firmly, “if you keep doing this you’ll find a thousand things you could’ve said or done differently. Rumination is a path to madness. What’s done is done, Kevin, and honestly, the absolute best thing you” she stopped for a moment, “that we can do is move forward and focus on what is ahead of us.”

She was right, and although she meant it figuratively, as I gave my attention back to the niveous highway, a deer jumped down off the bank right in front of our truck.

The thing was so close that all I really saw was a set of antlers rising above the hood.

My first instinct was to slam the brakes, but seeing as we were driving uphill on snow-covered roads, that choice would have had dire consequences.

The ensuing ‘thump-thump’ was the last sound I wanted to hear.

“Are you just going to keep driving!?” Janie shrieked.

I looked in my mirror to see the buck drag itself over the embankment.

“The snow hasn’t stopped since we left home, we need to get to the cabin.”

“So you’re going to leave it to freeze to death? Or even worse, let it be eaten alive by God-knows-what? Who knows what lives in these woods.”

I sighed, “I’ll walk back down with a flashlight but if we don’t get to the cabin soon we might find ourselves stranded on the side of this mountain.”

***

Night fell just as the cabin came into view. “Turn your headlights on, Kevin, it’s getting dark. I don’t know how you can see anything.”

“It’s because they aren’t working. I bet they got knocked out by that stupid deer!” I barked. “Well we’re here. Let’s go inside and get settled in, I’ll worry about the headlights in the morning.”

The cabin was enormous, its A-frame style reaching well over two stories tall. Inside, the living room stretched all the way to the peak, while an open loft-style bedroom sat above the kitchen and bathroom. It was quite rustic, with bear-skin rugs, hard-wood floors, rough cut timber beams and a chandelier composed of deer antlers.

“Your dad would be in Heaven.” I joked and my laughter was cut short as the lights went out.

“What now?” sighed Lanie.

“Ugh” I moaned and pulled out my phone.

“Hey Bill, it’s Kevin. Listen, the electricity just went out, do have a number to the power company or a repairman?”

“Well, I’m gonna ask you one question but I think I already know the answer. Did you read your pre-arrival booklet we sent you in the mail?”

“Yeah. I read it. Well, glanced through it.”

“I thought as much. Listen, all guests are asked to bring a five-gallon gas jug with them in case they need to use the generator. It’s listed on the checklist included in the packet. With a storm like this nobody is going to be able to get to you. Try throwing the main breaker and if that doesn’t work, there’s firewood in the shed. You do know how to use a fireplace, don’t you?”

“I can start a fire.” I said begrudgingly, “Well, I’m going to jump off here, I hit a deer on the way up and I’m going to walk down and check it out before the snow gets too bad.”

“A deer?”

“Yeah a buck, a pretty big one at that.”

“Did you see it?”

“Well, yeah I saw it.”

“You actually saw it?”

“I might be a ‘city slicker’ but I know a deer when I see one.”

“Leave it. Trust me, Kevin, it’s not worth the risk in this snow.”

“Ok.” and that was the end of our conversation.

The lights flickered then came back on just as I was preparing to head to the shed for wood. “Alright hun, I’m going to walk back down and check for that deer. It’s barely a half mile so I should be ok.”

“This is a terrible idea.” I thought, but I knew if I didn’t go then I would never hear the end of it.

***

The icy tendrils of the north winds grasped at me, looking for anywhere to penetrate, seeking to chill my soul. I made the treacherous trek back to down to where I hit the deer, but I wasn’t able find it

My shadow jumped, dancing in the trees as a light appeared behind me. I was so caught off guard that I nearly fell over the hill.

I turned to find an old woman with a large stovepipe hat resting atop her head and a patchwork cloak pulled tightly around her. She was holding a lantern that cast an eerie shadow across her withered face.

“Not a good night to be wandering about.” she said.

“No, it’s definitely not.” I replied, “I’m Kevin, by the way. We’re staying just up the hill in the A-frame.”

“Pleased to meet you Kevin. I’m Stsimaki. Now, please, tell me what on earth are you doing out in a blizzard in the middle of the night?”

“We hit a deer on our way in. I couldn’t stop, just saw its antlers above the hood before I hit it. My wife insisted I come back and make sure it was dead and not suffering.”

“And you saw this deer?”

“Yeah, do you folks get people up here that don’t know a deer when they see one?” I retorted, perhaps a little too aggressively.

“Well you just don’t know people, do you? You think you can trust someone but if you wait long enough they’ll show you their true colors, am I right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I said. She was starting to creep me out.

“Now, run along dear, before the snow gets too bad. I’ll track the deer and take care of it. Go on! Don’t you let my appearance fool you, I’m not as old as I look!” She laughed.

***

“Did you find it?” asked Janie over her shoulder as she was preparing dinner. I had just walked in and was still unlacing my boots.

“No,” I grunted, “but I ran into a local native. She said she would track the deer and take care of it.”

“Like, nurse it back to health or…” she ran her thumb along her neck, rolled her eyes back in her head and stuck out her tongue.

“Janie! That’s pretty macabre for an animal activist.”

“I’m not an activist.” she teased, “I just think that we should treat animals decently, even if we are going to eat them. And sometimes that means putting them out of their misery.”

“Fair enough.”

We had enjoyed our dinner and were deep in conversation when suddenly there was a rap at the door. Janie looked at me with wide eyes and I shrugged. “This is turning out to be quite the weekend.” I said, faking a laugh and smile.

I opened the door and the old woman from earlier entered, along with a younger man. He wore a stovepipe hat very similar to Stsimaki’s, but was garbed in stained jeans and a thick coat. One arm was pinned close to his chest in a sling, causing one sleeve of the jacket to hang limply. Cuts and bruises riddled his face and he carried a look that proclaimed loudly that he was not pleased to be here. The two of them knocked the snow off their boots and dusted their cloaks.

“Janie, this is Stsimaki, the lady I was just telling you about.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” said Janie nervously.

“Pleasure to meet you Janie, this is my friend Gaa-binagwiiyaas, but we mostly just call him Bin.”

“Pleasure to meet you both, please come in and make yourselves at home.” said Janie welcomingly.

“Thank you.” smiled Stsimaki.

The old woman looked around. “What a beautiful cabin. All my years up here and I’ve never been inside.” She dropped her eyes to let them rest on me, “When it comes to architecture, the frame is the most important part, second perhaps only to the foundation.” She began to walk around again admiring the beams and construction of the cottage. “The same could be said of people. The frame of a man tells a lot about the contents of his heart.”

She stopped walking and stood with her back to me. The man she brought with her was staring, eyes full of repugnance and rage, searing a hole straight into my soul.

“Good men build their foundations first, laying solid stone on which to construct a frame. But you, Kevin, your stone is cracked and crumbling but you’ve patched it so well that not many can tell.”

She turned to face me once more. “I don’t know all the facets, that’s not how my gift works, but I do know you are hiding yourself from your wife. I know a man in disguise when I see one.”

She took one step forward and all color seemed to drain from her eyes. Once brown, they were now as stones of jet set in bone jewelry. “Wicked man!” she shouted, causing Janie to stumble back in fear, “You are a frame of avarice built on infirm footing!”

She furrowed her brow and I suspected she was about to become violently ill, “Your stench is so foul I can barely stand to be in the same room as you.”

“I think it’s time you and your friend leave.” I stated.

“Or what?” she seethed.

“Or I call the police.”

She barked a laugh, “Ha! And tell them what? That you did this to him?” she said motioning to her companion.

“I didn’t lay a finger on him!”

She spoke softly, her voice quiet but menacing, “No, you’re right about that. You absolutely did not lay a finger on him but then again, bending the truth is something you are very, very good at.”

“What is she talking about, Kevin?” Janie whimpered. She was shaking and on the verge of tears.

“Oh, don’t just tell her. Tell us all!” Stsimaki bellowed. “The folly of man is to consummate with darkness then beg the light to never leave.”

“I didn’t touch him!” I shouted.

“No, but you ran him over with your big fancy truck while you fled the consequences of your iniquities!” she screamed, spittle flying from her mouth. “You left him to die in the cold! Blessed gods, I can smell you! Greed, lust, envy, deceit, does anyone know who you are?”

Janie’s quivering voice cut the silence that ensued. “Kevin,” she asked, “what is she talking about?”

I hesitated, heart beating in my chest, “I didn’t get fired, I” I stumbled over my words, “I did some things, bad things, and…” I trailed off. “I brought us here with no intent on going back.”

Stsimaki laughed, “That’s a decision you and I have both made for very different reasons.”

“What do you mean we aren’t going back?” Janie breathed, “Kevin, what did you do?”

“He’ll never tell.” said Stsimaki flatly as she removed her hat, “Whatever it was, it was abhorrent enough to lead us right to you.” As her hat came off, it revealed a large set of antlers underneath. Her matted hair rested down her back and saliva began to run down her chin.

“Feed the beast to keep it at bay. It’s what we all do!”

She grinned wickedly, her skin seemed to melt away as a snout protruded from where her nose and mouth had once been. She regarded me with eyes that were now burning red like hell-fire.

“What, what are you?” I shrieked.

She let her cloak fall to the floor revealing a gaunt and decaying mass of gray flesh underneath. A foul stench filled the cabin with every breath as she uttered,

“Hungry.”

I grabbed Janie and pushed her toward Stsimaki as I made a break for the door. Screams filled the cabin, overflowing out into the bitter cold as I jumped in the truck.

I cried as I drove down the road, tears of resentment and anger for my sins. It was dark and could barely make out the road before me. Suddenly, I felt the truck drop as I veered over the bank and crashed violently into a tree.

I don’t know how long I was out. It could’ve been ten minutes, could’ve been two hours, who knows. I woke to the sound of the horn blaring incessantly and steam hissing out from under the hood.

When I opened the door I saw her standing in the dark, cold forest with her eyes fixed on me. I got out and I ran. And that’s it. That’s all I remember, next thing you know I woke up here.”

The officer eyed me suspiciously. “What a story. What do you think, Ted?”

“Oh he’s telling the truth, Abel!” Ted laughed, placing both hands on his utility belt, “We get all kinds of reports of monsters in those woods. It’s a pretty common occurrence.”

I turned away to look out the window and watched the snow fall. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“No, we really do. What I’m concerned with, however, is what you did that was so terrible that you actually attracted the attention of a Wendigo.”

“A what?” I asked.

“A Wendigo.” Abel said nonchalantly, “They feed on fear, greed, etc. So what’s the story, what did you?”

I shook my head.

“Load him up.” Abel said flatly.

The nurse, who had just entered to check my vitals, began to protest. “He’s coming back from hypothermia and has frostbite in his toes. He doesn’t need to go anywhere.”

“Look, ma’am, do you want those things coming down here into town, or do you want them to stay in the woods up on the mountain?”

Abashed, she began to unhook me from all the machines.

“What are you going to do with me?”

He smiled, “Feed the beast to keep it at bay. It’s what we all do.”