This is my first attempt at an extended piece. It has been broken up into days for ease of reading. As always, comments are welcomed and appreciated.
Day 0
Ben stared contentedly around his emptying classroom as his students walked out. He worked as a high school business teacher at a school in Denver and as all teachers across the world, he couldn't wait for the holidays.
It had been a long and difficult term at the high school that he worked at. They had been inspected, two members of his department had been on long term sick and he himself had been struggling with new course content that he had been required to teach and assess. For the past eight weeks, all his time had been invested into his career.
It had been noticed too. With colleagues being off sick, he had taken it upon himself to fulfil their duties, planning and running exams, contacting parents and carers of students, and ensuring that the business course ran smoothly.
About six weeks ago, the head of the department had called Ben into her office and offered to make some of these duties permanent. There would be increased workload with only a marginal pay increase, but it would help him in the long run, so he agreed. He had no idea how much the job would have taken out of him. Luckily one of his colleagues was to return after the Christmas break, which would help to relieve some of the pressure off him.
As he walked back to the staffroom to collect his things, he looked through the bag that he was carrying that had been left on his desk at lunchtime. It was filled with small gifts and cards from the students. It was one of the most rewarding parts of the job when he saw firsthand how much the students appreciated and respected him, in some cases, even better than when they received exam results.
Within a few minutes he had gathered the rest of his things and was walking towards his car when he was stopped by his head of the department.
"Hi Ben, you finally getting out of here?"
"Hi Sarah, yes I am, finally Christmas holidays. You got any plans for it?"
His boss was always friendly to him. When he first joined the school, he thought that she was flirting with him, masquerading as getting to know him, but he soon found out that she was married with two small children. He always assumed she was in her early forties, but she looked good for it, distinguished.
"Nope, just Christmas with the family. What about you?" She asked him
"Nothing really, tomorrow morning I'm heading up to a cabin up state. I want to get some peace and quiet after this last semester." Ben told her.
"What about your family?" She asked surprised.
"They are visiting relatives in California, they will be back the day after boxing day, we are going to do Christmas then." He replied
"Well that sounds great. I hope you have a good rest; you deserve it. Merry Christmas."
Ben drove the ten minutes back to his city apartment, picking up Chinese takeaway along the way. He was thinking about spending the week alone and felt both excited and slightly apprehensive about it. He knew that the cabin was secluded with only a few hiking routes surrounding it. It would be him alone, resting and relaxing.
He had already prepared for the trip by doing his grocery shopping and packing what few supplies he was taking, mainly clothes, his tablet, and a book to read. The cabin was meant to be fully fitted with everything anyone could need. He wasn't sure what that meant when he read the description, but he assumed he would find out soon enough.
After eating, he showered and got into bed to watch a movie, he knew it was a bad idea after five minutes when he felt himself drifting off. He put the TV on sleep timer and got himself comfy, he didn't last long till he drifted off.
Day 1
Ben woke up just after 10am. He got himself showered and dressed before sitting down to a quick breakfast of English muffins and eggs. It didn't take him long to pack the car with his things and get on the road, he just had two last stops to make on his way out of town.
He stopped at the weed shop after he filled up with gas. He was only going to get a half an ounce of Kush, but he ended up buying a half of Darkmaster as well. It was an expensive purchase, but he didn't care, he deserved the treat after his semester.
It took him just under two hours to get to the cabin in North Colorado. He had beautiful scenery the whole journey filled with mountains and free flowing rivers. The roads were clear as he blasted out his heavy metal playlist filled with Metallica, Iron Maiden, Disturbed and his other favourite bands.
When he arrived, the first thing he did was check his phone to find that it had no reception. He was shocked at first but then realised he wouldn't need it anyway. There was a small town about ten miles south that he was sure would receive reception if it was an emergency. He had more than enough food for two weeks let alone five days.
He retrieved the key from the hiding spot he was told about by the owner letting himself into his new temporary home. As he looked around, he could only use one word to describe it, beautiful. The two storied cabin had high ceilings supported by original beams, it even had that forestry smell that you would expect from it. He looked around the cabin seeing that the description was accurate as it did have everything he could have possibly wanted.
The living room contained a large sofa, a huge wall mounted TV, attached to an Xbox one, and a log fire that he had already decided that he would use very quickly. The kitchen was fully equipped providing a view of the mountains in the distance. There was a small corridor leading from the kitchen which brought him to a small room containing a hot tub and variety of towels, he hadn't seen that in the description.
The second floor was completely open. It only had one bed but there was a sofa in the corner of the room near the doors out to the balcony. As he walked out onto the balcony to take in the breathtaking view, he saw that the sky had become much darker.
He unpacked the car quickly, bringing everything into the living room. As he locked and checked the car over, he went to get a large stack of wood from the shelter by the front door. He didn't want to get high and then must go outside again for more wood. He ended up bringing in over a day's worth to join the already large supply that was by the fire.
He unpacked his things quickly, paying the most attention to his food supplies and arranging them neatly in the correct places in the kitchen. He wasn't a chef or anything to that standard, but he liked to cook and took pride in his abilities.
On the drive here he had been thinking about what he could cook with the food he brought. He had set his heart on making Spaghetti Bolognese for a late lunch after he arrived. He figured it would be enough to last him for the day and then he could relax.
It only took half hour to make his lunch, but by the time he was done, his stomach was rumbling with hunger. As he finished his meal, he saw the first flakes of snow starting to fall. He cleared up his plate and cooking utensils before setting up the fireplace in the living room. When the fire was throwing out a steady stream of heat, he rolled himself a joint of the Kush to smoke out on the balcony.
"Jesus it's cold here." He said to himself lighting his joint. The snow had only started around thirty minutes before, but it was already leaving a clear covering on the surrounding woodland. He wrapped himself up in his coat as he enjoyed his smoke looking at the view around him.
"Maybe I should go hiking tomorrow. I brought my boots with me." He considered to himself. "I really need to stop talking to myself. Shit this stuff is strong."
He finished his joint within five minutes but the snow was already deepening in the forest around him.
He went back downstairs to the living room to get himself settled for the afternoon and evening. He looked around in the cupboards and found a wide selection of Xbox games. He chose to play "Silent Hill", an old horror game he hadn't played since college. Even though the cabin didn't receive cellular reception, it still had Internet connection for Netflix as he saw it come up on the Xbox dashboard.
