The absolute silence was only punctuated by the slowly swirling snow, until the single digit powder compressed under Jake's snowshoe. He looked up into the encroaching twilight and shook his head to see the sky already blanketed with points of starlight. Jake knew a crystal clear night was just a precursor to a bitterly cold morning. He guessed it would be well below zero if a storm didn't slide in during the night. Jake refocused on the silhouette of the small cabin before him as he steadily snowshoed to it. Just as the metal teeth of his shoes clicked against the porch, a monstrous shape erupted from the tree line and ran at him full bore. The animal leaped from several feet away, hitting Jake full in the chest, knocking his muscular body to the porch.
"Damn it, Kody! Get off me!"
Jake grabbed the huge Husky by the neck ruff and tugged him to the side. Climbing to his feet, he quickly brushed the powder from his clothes. Pulling off a glove, Jake reached above the door, searching for the key he kept there. Eventually his chilling fingertips found the frigid piece of metal and retrieved it from his hiding spot. Quickly slipping his hand back into the warm glove, he spent several minutes fighting the aging lock before it finally gave way. As Jake pushed the door open, Kody rushed past him into the dark room.
"Crazy dog," muttered Jake as he released his snowshoes and cleared them of snow, leaving them propped against the wall as he closed the door.
Jake made his way to the table on the side of the tiny room and wiggled his arms out of the backpack he was wearing. They had been at the cabin for several days now, Jake had to make the several mile hike to his SUV so he could drive to town and restock supplies. Since he was limited to the amount he could carry, Jake tended to go out several times a week. His civilization-weakened body had complained about the new demands, but the soreness was lessening with each trip.
Leaving his pack on the table, Jake moved to the only heat source for the cabin, a small two-burner wood stove. Opening the stove, Jake reached in with the poker and stirred the coals. He smiled as the small red embers came into view, a faint wisp of smoke curled from the ashes. Reaching into the tinderbox, he pulled out a handful of tinder, and laid it gently on the coals. Leaning in close, he gently blew until the small pile burst into flames. Jake spent the next few minutes carefully feeding the flames pine needles, then gradually larger twigs, until he had a small fire going.
As he carefully laid in the first piece of kindling, he couldn't help but think back over the last five years, and the fact that the pain of losing his husband had never really lessened. Each year as the horrific anniversary came again; Jake left his modest home and escaped to the wilderness for a few weeks. As he fed the hungry fire, he recalled the wonderful times he and Scott had over their decade plus relationship. A slight smile crept across his face as he recalled how he teased Scott about his slightly receding hairline, and how valiantly he tried to hide it, until he had gotten tired of the teasing one summer and had cut off all his hair. What Scott hadn't foreseen was how sexy Jake thought he was with buzzed hair.
A sharp crack from the burning wood brought Jake back to the present. Looking around the tiny room, he saw some of the small tokens of Scott he had brought to the cabin over the years since his death. Only happy memories, Jake had no problem bringing up the horror and soul rending sadness of the accident. His only consolation was the knowledge that, according to the investigator, Scott probably never saw the drunk driver who t-boned his car. The trial that followed was a blur to Jake, the pain of his loss put everything in a haze for him.
His colleagues at the university somehow seemed shocked that he grieved like he did, as if it were somehow less painful because their relationship was between two men. Oddly enough the person who was the most support, was a quiet man that Jake had never really gotten to know that well before, but he had lost his wife years before to breast cancer. He seemed to fully understand that love was love and the pain wasn't a contest to see who hurt the most. Jake had spent many hours with Keith talking about their spouses, and the knowledge that someone else understood did help.
But Jake coped most days now. It was just around the anniversary of Scott's death that he needed a break from life. So this tiny cabin he had built after Scott's death had become the place that kept him sane.
Jake shook his head at himself as he lit the small sliver of kindling he was using as a taper. With flame burning brightly from its tip, he quickly lit a small kerosene lamp beside the bed. Checking to make certain everything was in place, he closed the door to the stove. The small space warmed quickly, and Jake was soon stripping off his layers of clothing. Eventually he was down to his union suit, and lay on the bed to enjoy one of his few acknowledgments to the digital age, his eBook reader. Jake had finally relented and purchased it, not to be one of the in crowd, but because of the weight it saved in his backpack. It could store a week of reading material with very little weight. That, combined with Kody's warm body across his feet, soon had Jake feeling very warm and relaxed.
Kody perked up suddenly, staring in the direction of the door. Jake listened carefully, trying to see or hear what had the dog's attention. Just as he was about to settle back to read, thinking a passing owl or other small animal must have caught Kody's attention, a frantic pounding erupted from his door.
"Oh god! Please! I'm freezing, please let me in."
"Hang on! Hang on! I'm comin'," yelled Jake.
Grabbing his pants he quickly pulled them on and then shuffled across the few feet of floor to reach the door. Yanking it open he found a tall young man standing at his door, shivering and covered with snow. As Jake tried to work out how this youngster had managed to find him, he realized the kid was standing in the driving snow in only a t-shirt, jeans and athletic shoes.
"Come on! Get in here!" said Jake as he frantically beckoned him into the cabin.
Jake tugged the young man into the cabin when he didn't move. Slamming the door shut, he turned to see that the kid had slumped onto the bed. His body was wracked with shivers as he sat on the bed, his lips blue from the cold. Jake grabbed his hands and started rubbing them, realizing that they are almost frostbitten. The young man was incoherent except for the whimpers of pain as feeling returned to his hands. Jake pressed a hand against his chest and laid him on the bed.
Jake cracked the ice from the kid's shoes, finally getting them off. Minutes crept by as he fought to get the socks off his wet, frozen feet. Finally managing to peel them away, he saw gray-white flesh, a sure sign of frostbite. Jake was becoming frantic as he realized the severity of the exposure. Even in what felt like a warm room to Jake, the kid was shivering violently, his speech incoherent. Jake only knew one way to get his body temperature back to normal, but he wasn't really sure he could handle that kind of intimate contact with another man. Letting out a long sigh, he decided there wasn't really a choice, if he didn't warm this young man up he wasn't going to survive.
Lifting the kid's slender frame, Jake quickly undressed him, trying to be as clinical and quick as he could. Soon his ice-coated clothing was draped around the room. As the kid lay curled on the bed, his slender body and pale, smooth skin made him look even younger than Jake's initial impression. Putting his misgivings behind him, Jake banked the stove then tugged the blankets over the kid. But watching for a few moments Jake could see he was still shivering violently. With a deep sigh, Jake stripped quickly and crawled into the bed behind the freezing young man. Quickly pulling the multiple layers of blankets and quilts over them, Jake braced himself and spooned his naked body against the nude kid now sharing his bed.
Raising his head, he saw Kody watching them closely with an inquisitive look on his face. "Come on, Kody. Climb on top and help me get him warm." The large Husky moved to the side of the bed, looked to Jake for confirmation, then climbed on their feet and lay down.
