Encounter

She never picks berries in the patch behind the cabin. That place makes her skin crawl. The old cabin has been in her family for generations. There is a mystery the elders never discussed. She thinks a young couple living here vanished without a trace a century ago. He’s not sure what he’s hunting. After waking next to the totaled all-terrain vehicle, he doesn’t even remember who he is. A stand of trees on a knoll is drawing him in that direction. Can he find shelter there or will he die in the Alaska bush? It’s stupid, but he’ll make his way to the knoll. Together, two people who’ve never met will have an encounter with the past. "I’ve been in this place in my nightmares, reliving the day I froze and she died. This woman is the one and… yet, not. The cabin is the same, almost. She’s the Minnie, yet not quite. I fear everything is about to happen again. I won’t make the same mistake twice. " "It should scare me to be alone with him, but it doesn’t. The woman he talks of must know how much he loves her. I wish I could tell her he’s safe. We can’t get out of here until the weather clears. My brother will fly in and I’ll help him get home. Until we get out of here, we need to be careful, the fall in the wilderness is no place to be careless. Bears here are getting ready for winter and they eat anything, us included."