Cabin Fever Read Online Free PDF Page A

and one of those wasn’t even completely full. After unloading the car Sarah was left with the vexing question of what to do next. Should she unpack? Should she distribute her things throughout the cabin to signal that this was her place now? That thought made her feel a little uncomfortable, and so instead she performed her usual ritual when checking into a hotel room. She hung her clothes in the closet (which held a strong cedar smell – apparently moths were a problem), she arranged her toothbrush and toothpaste beside the sink, and then she sat down on the couch and tried to get comfortable.  
    That didn’t last long. She’d have to do something about the dust before she could start feeling comfortable in this place. Clearly her father had not hired a cleaning lady to take care of the place, and every surface had a noticeable layer of dust on it. While she was hanging her clothes Sarah had noticed a feather duster on the top closet shelf, and so she returned to the bedroom, took it down, and started attacking the dust wherever she found it. Soon a cloud hung in the air, which made Sarah sneeze, and she felt good about the progress she was making until she wondered what would happen to the dust when it settled again. Was she cleaning, or was she just moving the dust around? Tomorrow she’d need to get in here with a broom or maybe a vacuum cleaner, but for now she only had the energy for making things a little more presentable.
    A television sat on a stand before her, and if Sarah knew her father there was a full cable hookup, too, but after the long drive she didn’t feel like sitting down again to watch something. She was tired, sure, but it was the sort of tired that says, “Get out and stretch your legs, you’ll feel better if you get a little fresh air and exercise.” Grabbing the keys and a black sweatshirt from her bag, she headed out into the night.
    Outside it was dark, much darker than she was used to. The nearest lights were from the next house down the road, which was about fifty yards away, and there were no street lights. Immediately Sarah felt vulnerable out here, without a flashlight or a good sense of her surroundings. She made a mental note not to stray so far that she lost sight of the cabin, and then set off down the road.
    The night air was cool enough to be refreshing but not enough to feel cold. It was hard to notice anything besides the aroma, however. A strong smell of pine filled Sarah’s nostrils and infused every breath that she brought into her lungs. The air felt fresh and clean, and she breathed deeply, as if to cleanse herself from the inside out.  
    It was quiet, too, though if Sarah listened closely she could hear the sounds of living things around her – the hoot of an owl, a rustle that might be a squirrel sneaking through the underbrush, and beneath that the gentle hiss of the wind moving through the branches of the pine forest that surrounded her. Sarah closed her eyes and imagined that this was all that existed in the world. There was no San Francisco, there was no busy, fast-paced world of taxicabs and board meetings, there was only the forest, the creatures that lived there, and Sarah at its heart.  
    She found comfort in that image. She felt that it would be easy, in a way, to live by herself in the forest, out where the only things to worry about would be food and shelter. Within the quiet of a moment that felt like it could stretch for an eternity, that life seemed honest, clean, and simple. But then she took another breath, and with it she opened her eyes and returned to the world. The life she imagined was simple – too simple. It didn’t have Ellie in it, for one thing, or her father, and it didn’t have her career, either. Though that career currently lay in a shambles Sarah would need to fix it, and soon. She hadn’t driven out here to find oblivion or isolation, she had come in search of answers, and now, for the first time, she felt ready to begin