Into the Night
We long for that which we cannot keep
There was never any doubt in Theo's mind as he stepped out into the night air. This was just something he did now, every night. He told himself it was the polite thing to do but that might have been canceled out by his annoyance the first few times it happened. He had no room for doubts amongst the racing thoughts. If he let his mind go there, he would turn around and retreat back into the warmth of the cabin but nothing came from sitting next to a fireplace for hours at a time.
“Time for you to go home.” Theo looked expectantly at the dog curled on the stack of hay. He didn’t own a dog but that didn’t seem to matter much to the one who now spent most evenings by his cabin door.
She only moved when Theo stepped off the porch, motivated solely by the prospect of adventure.
For Theo, the adventure was down the path lined with evergreens and just to the left of the old wooden ruins where the barn owls roost. The pup found her adventure snuffling around in the snow. The walk wasn't far, just minutes when he timed it on his watch. However, over the months it had grown much colder and the distance grew with it.
“You gotta start staying at home. It’s too cold out here and I can’t keep walking you home every night.” He’d lost his mind. Talking to a dog like it was a person, he half expected her to answer when she tilted her head.
Maybe the isolation had caused him to crack.
Theo had moved to the middle of the wilderness in hopes to find solitude and maybe himself. Perhaps he'd hit his midlife crisis at thirty years old.
The air chilled his nose and turned it red. He tugged his wool hat down over his ears and took another step. He’d learned over time it was best to bring a lantern and not rely on his phone for the flashlight. A phone was great until the battery died on the walk back at three in the morning. It was too easy to get lost and cell service simply didn’t exist in his woods.
He wasn’t sure when he started thinking of the cabin and the land around it as his but maybe it was around the time Willa moved in. Theo had met his neighbor while on a morning run when there wasn’t any snow on the ground. He’d seen her before around the town on his trips for essentials but never talked to her. His plan to keep it that way had been ruined by the dog at his side.
Time moved differently for him. It was no longer rushing to and from work. It wasn’t days of the week passing by, cramming things into twenty-four hours or the names of the months blurring together to become another year of the same old life. It became moments and weather patterns, long periods of silence, and a sense of calm that nestled deep in his bones.
It was freeing to be left alone in the woods. Disconnecting from a reality he’d been force fed his entire life had been a challenge but necessary. When a person loses everything, they do drastic things. The solitude was nice.
Until he wasn’t so alone anymore. Instead of the silence he was used to - it consisted of breezes and animals rustling about - he had to deal with a barking dog that always found its way to his porch and a nosy neighbor who apologized too much for the barking dog.
Willa had changed the atmosphere. At first, it was unsettling to see another person outside of the small town just over the mountain. He’d successfully shut himself away, only venturing to town when needed. But now here he was trekking through the woods after sundown to return her dog.
Being alone didn’t bother him. He liked it. He actually preferred it and even enjoyed the rumors that drifted around town about him. None of them were true. He wasn’t some guy who killed his family. He didn’t have anything to hide. He wasn’t in trouble with the law. In fact, he didn’t even have a single traffic ticket. That didn’t seem to matter in a small town, they all talked and most of them avoided him which suited him just fine.
Maybe that’s just what happened when a stranger came to live in a cabin in the woods.
But Willa was an adventure to his starved soul. She was another busted human with a heart beating wildly out of tune like his own. She had curious golden eyes and freckles splattered across her face. One night he’d spent an hour trying to map patterns between them and didn’t listen to a word she’d said. She’d called him rude. He was.
By the time he made it past the dilapidated structure just to the right of the cottage, Theo was freezing. The jacket and hat didn’t do much to keep him insulated. Last night he’d shown up outside her door without a hat and then she made one out of some string before she let him leave.
He could have left. He just didn’t. How she turned string into a hat, he’ll never know but it was relaxing to watch her hands move while she chattered about Mrs. Grendal. He didn’t know who that was but Willa seemed fond of her.
The fact he wore the hat tonight was irrelevant.
“This is home. You belong here.” Theo looked at the dog and pointed at the snow covered cottage just as the door cracked open.
“Maisy! We talked about this.” Willa huffed but smiled as the dog slinked inside. “I’m sorry, Theo, I think she just likes you.”
He wasn’t upset. He’d stopped being angry or annoyed about it awhile ago. Probably around the time she started inviting him inside for a hot chocolate with a hint of whiskey. She held the door open for him and Theo stepped in.
The dog’s adventure was over for the night but his was just beginning. It would inevitably end. She wouldn't stay in the woods forever, the dog wouldn't always come to his porch, and he'd go back to being alone. He tried to pretend that was fine.
About the Creator
Ashley Varner
Creative mind and soul with a passion for words
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.