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While everyone told you going out to the abandoned family cabin was a stupid idea, you thought you had just trumped that of Einstein himself. You were desperate to get out of the city, itching at the seams with daydreams of the old cabin you and your older sisters would go to every summer. But that was a while ago, and with time, your family never got the opportunity to go back together.
Now, however, you were determined to escape back to your old safe haven. And restore it back to its former glory - these past two decades had been anything but kind.
It seemed that not only you were desperate to get out of the crowded city and into the wild nature you missed, as your pet dog Bear was just as excited. Or he was just desperate for the bathroom, you both had been driving for a long time. When you got there, the Husky practically jumped out of the car and ran to a patch of grass. Instead of what you had expected of him, he began to roll around on the grassy patch belly up.
You huffed at him, a small smile gracing your face. When you had first rescued Bear, he was a quiet dog that was terrified of everything (you figured it was caused by bad owners) and after four years in your care, he was now the giant hug machine who still believed himself a puppy. Though he also served as your own sort of guard dog, a feat you really loved as the small layer of protection was just what you needed now that you were living alone in the woods.
The cabin was as run down as you expected, perhaps even more. Beams were hanging from the ceiling and crashed into the floor below it, leaving small craters in their wake. The windows were either boarded up or smashed out. And the number of cobwebs and dust - you didn’t particularly want to think about. It also seemed a lot smaller than you remember, though it was a rather comfortable two bedroom, one bathroom sized cabin (not to mention the kitchen, dining and living room) just as you recalled, you ended up chalking it up to not being a small child anymore.
You whistled for Bear, and he trotted over to you, ensuring that pieces of dirt and grass were coating part of your bare legs. Part of you wanted to cringe at it, the other part was just excited you were back in the outdoors where you belonged. “Now, come on bub,” you cooed at him, placing down his food bowl and throwing a bit of kibble into it, “eat up while I start clearing out the trash.”
And trash there was. Boxes and boxes of abandoned items your family had left there, not including all the old family albums and music records and home videos you found on one of the bookshelves. You were glad that you had ample room in the back of your ute, so that you could drive it all back to the local town to dispose of properly, all your belongings barely taking up any space in the back at all.
Once the boxes were gone, and all the grime you could see in your paren- your bedroom, you moved all your items inside of it. You didn’t properly put most of it away yet, just some clothes in the dresser that could use a bit of a varnish (the style of it however was one you thought was too beautiful to be thrown out) and your linens onto the bed. Bear was curled up on the old couch in the living room, snoring his little head off while you did all the work. The sight made you coo at him, and you scratched behind his ear, which caused him to blink up at you before falling right back asleep with his tongue hanging out.
By nightfall, you had managed to remove most of the things you didn’t need and you family didn’t want to keep, and your limbs were screaming out with exhaustion. With some makeshift locks for the cabin doors and a quick flywire fix you did earlier, you crashed onto your bed and fell right asleep. Though it was nowhere near the best-looking place ever, still looking quite abandoned and bare, you finally felt at home for the first time in years.
Bear had snuggled up to you in the middle of the night, only waking up and going to the front door of the cabin to watch a large man with a slightly broken hockey mask watch the cabin in wonder. Never did he bark, the man didn’t come close enough in his opinion, but he continued to watch the man until he eventually walked away.
So, satisfied that he had done a great job protecting you, Bear strolled back to your bed - where you had been snoring quietly the entire time - and jumped back up and curled into a ball.
𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁
After you got rid of all the things you didn’t want, you had made a small trip to the hardware store - collecting lots of tools and materials you would need to fix up the place. As well as some first aid supplies, a true miracle it would be if you didn’t somehow injure yourself with the hammer and drill.
You started with the hanging roof beams, replacing them with new ones (and cleaning the still well intact ones) and ensuring all of them wouldn’t fall any time soon. There were multiple cobwebs, not to mention spiders, on the roof of the cabin - in the bedrooms, bathroom and the main part of it. You had, surprisingly, only screamed twice when the spiders decided to scare the living crap out of you, and with that, you believed you deserved a pat on the back.
A pat on the back being that of a quick swim in the lake you and your sisters would frequent when you’d come here all those years ago. Bear had come with you, of course, immediately jumping into the water to chase a floating stick you had thrown in. You, however, took your time wadding into the water, slipping off your shorts and shirt so that only your swimsuit would get wet. You just felt so sticky before you eventually dived into the lake.
Resurfacing for air, you watched as Bear doggy paddled over you, happily showing off the stick he caught for you, and you cheered him on as he swam to you. “What a good boy! Now drop it,” he hesitantly followed your command, and you threw the stick a tad further than last time while still treading the water, “Now go get it!”
He swam off instantly, splashing you in the face accidentally with his large tail. You wiped the water from your eyes, blinking a few times until your vision cleared. It was then you noticed the tall bulking man standing in the woods on the opposite side of the lake, staring at your form as you tread the water. You saw that he was wearing a hockey mask, a slightly broken one at that with a piece of it chopped off at the top.
Perhaps you might have preferred to be faced with an actual face, the lack of it and emotions only served to freak you out that much more.
You whistled for Bear, the dog stopping in his trek for the stick with some reluctance as she turned toward you. “Come!” You ordered and he started swimming toward you, as you floated back to shore, not letting yourself turn around from the man and, instead, staring him down as you did so. Bear followed you as you did it.
He continued to stare back (well at least you assumed as his head was not turning away) as you climbed out of the lake, Bear following right behind you. You grabbed your clothes and shoes, turning around to face the man once more, before speed walking your way back to the cabin.
Your next task was fixing all the windows properly, one that took you a lot of time as you weren’t completely adept at fixing windows as opposed to woodworks. But, you still did your best while trying to recall how your father taught you and your sisters his handyman ways. He was always insistent that you all learnt how to properly do things - “so you don’t rely on idiotic men like myself,” he’d mutter around two screws he held in his mouth - and fix items. You chose to add flywire to all the windows, proper ones this time, so as to avoid any bugs entering your home when needing to open the windows.
You were fixing the final window in your bedroom, not having yet started on the other bedroom and bathroom, when the man reappeared in the woods. You nearly dropped your tools on your feet when you noticed him, half-hidden behind a tree, but you did stop your task to watch him right back.
Fuck, you should be scared, trying to ward the man off or driving your way back to the city for safety. This man had been staring at you from the lake and, presumably, followed you to your cabin. What else could he be capable of?
Continuing to stare at the man (perhaps you should think of a name for him?) and whistled for Bear, but the large husky didn’t come. Instead, you found him stalking toward the man, with him staring down at your dog. Your breathing picked up as Bear went closer to the man, and with each step, your fear grew more and more.
It got to Bear was right in front of him and sniffing the man, you knew that Bear did that to all new people he met, for you to run outside and brandishing the first weapon you had found.. That weapon being an old baseball bat you and your sisters would use when playing out in the woods together. You told yourself it was for precautionary reasons, and you kept the bat slightly hidden behind your body just in case.
Bear must’ve heard you go outside, as he turned toward you (something which shocked you as he never turned his back on a new person, or someone he didn’t trust) and happily wagged his tail. His tongue fell sideways from his mouth as his ears cutely folded over and he ran toward you, squeezing his head through your legs and toppling you over.
Before you hit the floor something, someone, grabbed you and stopped it. And you came face to face with the man, but he instead stared down at the bat now out in the open. There was only silence, besides the heavy breathing from him, yourself and the happy huffing of Bear, between you both as he moved to look at you.
The hockey mask was still on his head, and you better look at its details. It was heavily used, dirt and grime aging it more than it actually was - though it was definitely not new by anyone’s standards. On the forehead of it was a slight angle missing, perhaps from being cut, and through it, you could see some pale skin.
He mustn’t have liked the bat, you decided, as he let go of your shoulders and ripped it from your hands, before throwing it behind him and into the trees and grass. “Okay then,” you mumbled taking a step back toward your cabin, the back of your legs meeting the Bear’s fur. “Thanks for helping me not fall, but I’m just gonna head inside.” You did some awkward finger guns and waved as you walked inside and slowly shut the wire door. Bear still sat on the porch of the cabin, moving to lie down and start sleeping despite the clear tension.
You decided to stay in the main room of the cabin as the man stayed there. He bent down, placing an object on the porch and he gave Bear an awkward pat on the head (a sight that made you giggle a bit) before stalking away. When you could tell he was gone, you went out and grabbed the object - a wood carving of a bear.
Running your fingers along the intricate details of the bear, you smiled and raised your head back to the woods. “Thank you!” You called out, hoping he may have heard you, and went back inside. You approached the fireplace, dusting off its mantle again and placed the bear carving atop it in the centre. It was beautifully created.
You never noticed the man standing in the woods, still, only on another side. He admired you through the window as you fiddled around with the positioning of the bear figurine he had made. He was glad to have known you liked it, perhaps the next one he makes for you shall be after that dog you had. While he had heard you refer to him as Bear the day before, inspiring the figurine, maybe you would also like one of the dog himself.
Either way, he was going to be making you another one. And another one after that.