Haven Hill

Kate checked her list as she stuffed the last bag into the back of the yellow, 2-door Jeep. She had the awful feeling she was forgetting something, but for the life or her, she couldn’t remember what it was.

Her daughter, Ariel, leaned against the passenger door of the Jeep, face glued to the phone that was perpetually glued to her hand. Kate started to say something but then decided not to. Soon enough they’d reach their destination and there was no phone service there. It would be a self-resolving problem.

“Can you please go and make sure all the doors and windows are locked? It looks like we’re about ready to go,” she asked her daughter.

Ariel pushed her tall, lanky body away from the Jeep, eyes still firmly affixed on the screen of her phone.  She was at that age where she was all long limbs and awkward angles, and somehow moved in a strange mixture of grace and clumsiness.

Kate forced herself to look away so she wouldn’t yell at Ariel to put down the freaking phone and look where she was going. She popped the hood, checked the fluids, and topped up the windshield washer fluid. Just as Ariel returned, she slammed the hood back down and flipped the latches into place.

Ariel hopped into the Jeep, wincing as her bare legs below her cut off jean shorts touched the hot leather of the seat. She directed an impish grin at her mother. “Starbucks? Pretty please with a whole bunch of sugar on top?”

Kate laughed and couldn’t resist. “Don’t you mean a whole lot of sugar in the cup?”

They pulled out of the driveway and got in line at the drive-thru. Once their giant frappuccinos had been secured and placed in the cup holders in the middle of the Jeep, Kate plugged her own phone into the dashboard and selected a playlist entitled, “Loud Road Trip.” Ariel cranked up the volume and they sped down the street to the highway, two flags of dark hair flying out behind them to the sounds of Jim Morrison and The Doors hoarsely urging them to “let it roll, baby, roll.”

Between the loud music and the wind streaming through the topless Jeep, conversation was out of the question. They rode in companionable silence, occasionally bursting into song, especially when Janice Joplin began to bemoan the loss of another little piece of her heart. Kate and Ariel sang loudly, and badly, laughing at how terrible they sounded.

Kate’s heart gave a little squeeze as it did every time she looked at her daughter. It hadn’t been that long ago since she’d nearly lost Ariel forever and she didn’t think she’d ever get past the days of fear –

She cut off the thought abruptly, giving her shoulders a shake as though to physically shirk the horrible thoughts. She was determined to focus on the here and now, and the joy of spending time with her snarky, clever, dear teenager.

After a couple of hours on the road, the frappucincos had made their way through and Kate pulled the yellow Jeep over in a rest area. Ariel hopped out and began to race toward the bathrooms and Kate hurried to catch up. Though they’d both undergone years of therapy to try and undo the damage that had rocked their worlds, she would probably never be truly okay with letting the girl out of her sight again.

Ariel rolled her eyes when she came out of the stall and saw her mother leaning against the counter, waiting for her.

“Mom, I can use the bathroom by myself!”

“I know. I potty trained you,” Kate replied and stuck out her tongue.

Ariel wheedled some money from her mother and grabbed a pack of peanut M&Ms from the vending machine, and they were back on the road again.

“We haven’t been to the cabin since last summer,” Ariel noted. “Do you think everything is okay there?”

“It should be,” Kate furrowed her brow. “We have Mr. Slocum stopping by once a week to check in on things, and he’d tell us if something was wrong.”

“I can’t wait to lay in the hammock and read my book.”

“It’s not all fun and games this trip, Ariel. We have to clean, stock the cabin with supplies, and make sure all of our systems are in good working order.”

Things in the news had been nuts lately, what with the highly contested recent election. Kate wanted to be sure that if they needed to escape the city, they had a safe place to go.

Years ago, when she first got into preparing for the worst, she’d bought the cabin and the wooded acreage surrounding it. She had spent many weekends there, doing the work herself to make it a good location for bugging out if it was ever necessary. Besides Ariel and Mr. Slocum, the only other person who knew she owned the cabin was her ex-boyfriend. He wasn’t in a position to get back there any time soon, and Kate felt the weight of the world beginning to lift from her shoulders as the terrain became more mountainous and the roadsides more wooded.

She always felt safe and at peace at the cabin in the foothills. She’d named her little rural property Haven Hill.

Kate hung a left onto a gravel road and began to make her way through a heavily wooded area with only a few homes.  After a few bumpy minutes, there were no more homes. She turned right onto a barely noticeable dirt trail and drove about 100 yards until she reached a gate. She turned off the music so they could soak in the musical sounds of the forest.

She handed her daughter a key, and Ariel hopped out to unlock the chain that kept the gate closed to uninvited vehicles. Kate drove through, and Ariel locked the gate behind them.

The familiar forest around them was alive with the shades of autumn. Yellows, reds, and olive tones produced a cacophony of warm colors. The smell of the forest enveloped them and they both took a moment to breathe the earthy, mossy scent in deeply. It was significantly cooler up here than it was back in the city, and Kate relished the crisper mountain air.

After a moment, Kate put the Jeep into gear and made the drive down her own private road to the cabin. The peace of the area seemed to take away their powers of speech, as it always did when they locked the world out of their private property. They crossed a small, rustic bridge with room for only one vehicle and the Jeep began the climb up the hill.

Finally, they turned a sharp corner, and the trail flattened out. There was the cabin, right in front of them.  It had originally been more of a shack than a cabin, but over the years, Kate had insulated it, added a propane tank for heat and cooking, installed a woodstove insert in the old stone fireplace, and replaced the windows and doors, one at a time.

Now, it was an eclectic little building with windchimes, brightly painted birdhouses, and perennial plantings surrounding it. It was topped with a cheerful and sturdy green metal roof. The echinacea flowers were still blooming since there hadn’t yet been a frost. The purple petals contrasted against the rustic wooden structure and the vivid pink shutters. This place was solely theirs, designed to produce a rush of dopamine with happy colors, beautiful views, and the music of the rushing creek below them.

Ariel whooped and jumped out of the Jeep.

This place had been a sanctuary for them after the events of the past, and it still enveloped them with a feeling of warmth and safety.

Kate pulled up on the parking brake and took the keys from the ignition. She took a moment to revel in the quirky beauty of the property before she unlocked the front door.