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water.  “He definitely doesn’t know how to cook.”  Searching the cabinets the scant choice of spices were outdated and clumped inside the bottles. “Ugh,” she groaned closing the cabinets.
    She spotted a bookcase in the corner of the living room.  “Ah, can’t go wrong with a book.”  She picked a suspense book to read. Settling on the couch she cracked open the book.  The rain outside had not eased as thunder shook the walls of the cabin.
    Carla raised her head from the book as the lights dimmed and then brightened again.  A cold shiver ran down her spine.  It just hit her that she was alone, locked in a cabin and none of her family had any idea where she was.  She bit the tip of her fingernail thinking what if the man chasing them was out in the woods somewhere?  What if he had followed Zach to the store and another fight ensued only this time Zach was killed?
    Panic raced through her body causing her shake.  She heard a scratching on the wood at the front door; she started to hyperventilate.  Afraid to move from the couch she swallowed as the scratching got louder and began to sound like a digging.  Whatever was outside was working hard to get inside.
    Carla jumped off the couch and ran to the bedroom, closing the door. She closed herself in the closet hiding behind the clothes. “Ouch!” She cursed grabbing her foot. She didn’t have on shoes and a splinter from the wood floor had embedded in her foot.  Too afraid to move from the confines of the closet to check out her foot, she sat there and waited for whatever was outside trying to get in, to find her.
    *****
    Zach opened the door and smelled the burnt odor of food. “What the heck is that?” He dropped the bags on the table when he saw smoke rolling from under the lid of the pot on the stove. He turned off the stove and put the smoking pot in the sink and ran water in it.
    “Carla!”  He called in an angry voice. “Carla! Are you trying to burn down the place?  You left the pot on the stove.”
    She didn’t answer.
    A chilly silence fell over the cabin.  He removed his gun and continued to look for her. He checked the bathroom; it was empty.  He looked inside his bedroom, and it was empty.  Slowly, he raised his gun before opening the door to her bedroom.  “Carla, where are you?  I need you to come out if you’re hiding.  It’s me, Zach.  You don’t have to be scared I’m back from the store.”
    He looked under the bed, nothing.  Then he saw the doorknob on the closet turn.  He swallowed keeping his finger steady on the trigger.  He didn’t have an itchy trigger finger, but he was fast on the draw.  That’s how he was able to drop both men once he had a gun in his hand.
    Carla limped from the closet with her hands raised. “Don’t shoot me?”
    Zach lowered the gun. “What are you doing in the closet?”
    “Something was trying to get in the front door.  I’m locked in this damn place so I hid in the closet hoping you would come back before they found me.”
    “Stay here,” he ordered.  He went to the living room and unlocked the front door.  There weren’t any muddy human footprints on the porch but prints from a small animal.  He went back inside and saw Carla standing in the middle of the room, shaking. If Patty were present, she’d be yelling at him to offer her comfort.  Thank goodness she wasn’t here.  “Hey, it was a small animal and not a bear.  It must have smelled the food burning on the stove.  You have to be more careful.”
    “I’m sorry, I freaked when I heard the noise at the door.”
    “You were lucky this time, it’s not like a fire department is down the street,” he said going to the kitchen to put the food away.
    “Who or what is down the street, Zach?  I have to know if this is a prank someone is pulling on me.”
    “What?  You seriously believe someone would go to this extreme to pull a prank on you?”
    “I want to believe that this isn’t real!”
    He raised