------------------------------Forty Eight Hours Earlier--------------------------------

Felix opened his eyes to the blaring of an alarm clock. His bed was warm, so he didn't get up right away. Instead, he smacked the clock off of the bedside table. It hit the ground with a clatter that broke the early morning ambiance of the room. Felix groaned, but still didn't get out of bed. Several minutes passed, and the clock went off again. With a groan, Felix decided that it was time to get out of bed. When his feet touched the cold floor, he winced from the sudden temperature change, but stood up anyway. He staggered over to his closet and grabbed some clothing and then walked to the bathroom, shaved, showered and dressed. The doorbell rang, and Felix rushed to the door, unlocked it and flung it open.

On the other side of that door, was the most beautiful young woman in the world. By Felix's standards, at least. She was tall, standing at one hundred and ninety centimeters tall, or roughly two dozen centimeters taller than Felix. Her hair was black, shiny and long, roughly shoulder length and neatly brushed. Her skin was the color of caramel, and she was in good shape physically. She wore simple clothing, that being jeans, snow boots, and a heavy coat. She also carried a rolling suitcase with her. This was Myra Rhody, and she was Felix's girlfriend.

"How long are you going to keep staring at me? It's getting embarrassing. And it's cold." Myra asked, looking down as she spoke. Felix blushed instantly, muttered an apology and stepped out of the doorway and back into his apartment. Myra came in and took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack that was next to the door.

"Um, would you like coffee? I was just about to make some." Felix asked while rooting around in his kitchen cabinet. Myra nodded and sat down at the kitchen counter. Felix's apartment was small, with a bedroom, bathroom and conjoined living room and kitchen. The living room was mostly bare, only having a small couch, a beanbag chain, a small coffee table and a seventy eight centimeter wide wall mounted television. The bedroom fared worse, only having the bed, bedside table and desk. Felix kept his clothes in a large footlocker that took up most of his closet's floor space. He only owned three jackets, a blue light jacket, a black semi-heavy jacket, and a grey parka. He now wore the blue jacket, a pair of cargo pants, a black short sleeved shirt and a pair of blue and white sneakers.

With the coffee brewed and poured, Felix sat down next to Myra. While he'd been brewing coffee, she'd pulled out her laptop and pulled up a website for renting cabins. The two had planned a romantic getaway of sorts a few months earlier and were finally getting to go. So it had been quite the unpleasant surprise for the both of them when they got an email from the renting website telling them that their cabin had been given to someone else. The website had made up for it by offering them a free cabin, and the couple had taken it begrudgingly.

Now, they looked at the new cabin they would be getting for free. The website offered half a dozen pictures, each showing a different part of the cabin. None of them were good.

"Huh. Guess it really doesn't look that good." Myra said, noting the faded paint on both the inside and outside of the cabin. Clearly the cabin hadn't been taken care of.

"Well, we did already accept the offer. Who knows, maybe it'll be nicer in person." Felix offered hopefully, smiling sheepishly as he spoke. Myra smiled back at him. She clearly wasn't very happy with the cabin, but she knew how much Felix had been looking forward to the trip.

It might not be so bad after all.

----

They left for the trip early the next morning. Myra had stayed the night

The cabin was just as broken down as it had been in the pictures. Felix and Myra stared at the puny cabin, but the excitement didn't fade from Felix's grin. If anything, it grew.

"Let's go inside. It's pretty cold out here." Felix said as he wrapped an arm around Myra's shoulder. Myra nodded and pulled Felix into a hug. He blushed and muttered something, released her and hurried inside. She giggled to herself and followed.

The inside of the cabin was only slightly warmer than it was outside. Myra grimaced as she and Felix looked around. The cabin's main room was somewhat bare, as it had been in the photo. A small coffee table and couch with a thick red rug underneath it adorned the room. There was a bright red brick fireplace on the back wall that connected to a gray brick chimney. The color contrast was jarring, even if both were faded. A thin layer of dust seemed to cover everything in the cabin. Myra sneezed. Her eyebrow twitched as she began to plan her review when this trip was over.

Felix, on the other hand, joyfully walked around the cabin, dusting things off and muttering to himself happily. Myra managed to catch a few words, most of them about how the cabin was better than he'd expected it to be. Felix was just as disappointed as she was, but was desperately trying not to show it. Unfortunately for him, Myra had figured him out instantly. However, she knew why he was faking. They had both been looking forward to the trip and he was trying to keep the mood up. She chuckled to herself and smiled. Myra decided to play along.

The two of them set about cleaning the house, laughing and making small talk as they worked. As night fell, the house was clean, the bags unpacked and wood was being chopped for a fire as well as for using the stove. Myra was chopping wood. Felix had tried, but after nearly hacking his foot off with a missed swing, Myra had decided to take over. So he sat inside watching her chop wood from the window.

Despite not having a working heating system, the house did have electricity and running water. There was also some cooking wear in one of the cabinets in the kitchen. So, Felix set up for dinner. They had brought enough food to last them through their planned three day trip with a little extra in the form of snacks which had miraculously survived the day.

Felix pawed through the bag and found some cans of meat and vegetables and put them on the counter. A few seconds later, he'd opened them and put them in a set of pots and set them on the stove. Now, all he needed was wood. As if right on cue, Myra came through the door with a stack of six neatly chopped logs in her arms. Felix chuckled, earning a quizzical glance from Myra.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just about to come out and get some wood from you, and then you just show up with it. I think it's a bit ironic, don't you?"

"Felix, that's not ironic."

"Then what is it?"

"It's a coincidence."

"Oh."

Myra shook her head and put the wood under the stove, doused it in lighter fluid and then set it on fire. After a few seconds of making sure the fire was strong, Myra shut the oven door and the stove began to heat up.

A few minutes later, the food was cooked at Felix and Myra ate at the coffee table, chatting idly, laughing and enjoying themselves. The cabin had become warm and cozy as a result of the stove and fireplace, so neither noticed the falling temperature outside. After the meal, Felix was washing the dishes when he noticed something in the window. It looked like a stag.

"Hey Myra, check it out! There's a stag outside!" Felix turned and called to Myra, who came over quickly. Felix turned back to the stag, but it was gone. Myra huffed disappointedly, and went back to the bed. Felix sighed and finished washing dishes. Before going to join Myra, he took another look outside. The snow was falling heavily, large thick white flakes falling fast and soundlessly, piling up and coating the ground.

Felix pulled the curtains over the window, and went to sit with Myra. An hour later, they turned the lights off and fell asleep in each other's arms.

Outside, the wind howled, and snow ripped through the air like razor blades. The stag was back, peering at the house from just behind the tree line. It looked at the window, seeing that the curtains were shut and the lights were off, and ...smiled?!

The 'stag' stood up and stretched it's twig thin arms and legs, the rest of its body morphing into a thin monstrosity. Its eyes changed brown to blue and glowed to life. Felix and Myra slept unaware as eerie blue light stared at them from the forest.

The monster took a step forward. It was hungry, and two delicious meals lay wrapped up inside. A ghastly chuckle escaped the monster's mouth as it stepped out of the trees.

It was time to eat.