Into the Cold

“I think I hear a plane,” Amelia said, dropping the rabbit she’d been skinning and running through the trees towards the lake.

“It’s not due for another two weeks,” Caleb called after her, sadness filling his heart.

From the sound, he knew she was right, it was a plane.

Caleb ran up to her, turning her to look at him.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist trying to pull her back to the cover of pine trees.

“It’s not up to you,” Amelia said, tears welling in her eyes as she pulled away from him. “I have a life out there Caleb. I have a fiance, friends… I can’t stay here, and you can’t make me.”

“Amelia,” Caleb said, pulling her back into his arms, kissing her face frantically. “Amelia, please don’t go. No one out there knows you survived the crash. We can stay here forever, just you and me. Go hide in the woods, the pilot will never know. I’ll go with him to sell our pelts and crafts, then come back. I’ll be gone for two days tops.”

Struggling to escape his iron embrace, Amelia sobbed.

“No,” she said harshly, shaking his hands off, running towards the lake. “No Caleb, please don’t. I am going home!”

Hearing the plane touchdown on the water, Caleb knew it was too late, the pilot had seen her.

“Amelia,” he cried, tears in his eyes. “I love you.”

“I’m sorry,” she replied, turning back to him. “I need to go.”

Without another word she ran for the lake, her arms waving frantically in the air.

Caleb watched her run away from him, his heart breaking as she got further and further away. Though he’d known the plane was due soon, he’d been praying that it would never arrive.

Any time he let himself think of Amelia leaving, he couldn’t imagine his life going back to the way it was. He’d be alone again, which a few months ago wouldn’t have bothered him, but now it seemed like a death sentence.

The bright Alaskan sun shone through the window as Amelia packed the rest of her things back in her duffel bag.

She’d separated out the stuff Caleb had lent her, not wanting to take anything he might need. She lovingly rubbed the fur mittens he’d help her make from one of the rabbits she’d helped trap. Putting them aside in Caleb’s pile of things, she closed the flap and pulled the zipper closed.

“The pilot is ready to go,” Caleb said, standing at the door, wanting nothing more than to lock it closed and keep Amelia from leaving. “We just loaded the last of my things.”

Seeing she was done packing, he stepped in, reaching around her and picked up her bag.

“Caleb,” she said, touching his arm. “Please understand. If I didn’t have a life to go back to I would love to stay here with you, but I do have a life. A fiance. Hell a company to go back to.”

“I know,” he said, sadness choking his voice. “Come on, the pilot wants to take off before it gets too late.”

Looking around the room, she saw nothing else that was hers. She reached out a hand, reverently touching the caribou hide on the bed remembering the nights she had spent under it with Caleb. The feel of his body as they explored each others body’s.

Steeling herself, Amelia straightened her shoulders and walked back into her life, closing not only the cabin door, but also the door on her heart.

As the plane touched down in Anchorage, Amelia released her death-grip on Caleb’s hand and thanked God they’d made it safely. On the flight the pilot couldn’t stop talking excitedly about what a hero he was going to be.

He explained that a massive search was launched when her plane was reported missing, but they’d been looking over a hundred miles north of where it had actually gone down.

“Wow,” she breathed. “Any word about my fiance? Dale Hamilton?”

“Oh him?” the pilot replied over the sound of the engine. “He was paying every bush pilot he could find double, sometimes at triple their usual rate to fly him out there so he could look for you.”

“He did?” she asked, not surprised to hear he’d kept the search going.

“Yeah,” the pilot confirmed. “He didn’t want to give up, but after a while even the greediest pilots started telling him it was hopeless. He finally went back to Texas after two months, a broken man.”

“Oh Dale,” Amelia sighed, looking out the window at the approaching city-scape.

Caleb reached out slowly, making sure the pilot didn’t notice, his hand searching for hers.

“Don’t,” she hissed, pulling hers’ out of reach.

When they landed Amelia was immediately surrounded by reporters, camera crews, and state troopers, the questions coming hard and fast. As the crowd pressed in she lost sight of Caleb as she was herded towards the terminal.

Over and over she told the story of her survival in the wilderness with the help of Caleb. At the mention of his name, the reporters doing the interview paused and looked at each other.

“Do you mean Caleb Dulac?” one of them asked.

“Yes,” Amelia affirmed. “His last name is Dulac.”

“I thought he was dead,” the reporter said. “Of course, if anyone could survive out there it would be him.”

“Well,” the other concluded, “I think we have everything we need.”

As the mob dispersed Amelia looked for Caleb and saw him moving his bundles of furs and leathers from the plane into the back of a very beat up truck. As she tried to move towards him, she was intercepted by a state trooper.

“If you have a moment, ma’am,” he said, stepping in front of her. “We have a few questions to ask you about the crash.”

“Can it wait?” she asked, trying to step around him. “I just need a second to talk to Caleb.”

“Caleb?” he asked, turning to see who she was talking about.

“Dulac!!” he yelled, waving his arm. “Son of a bitch! It that you?”

“Hey Glen,” Caleb called, a smile flashing on his face as he closed the tailgate.

The two men crossed the short distance, clasping hands and embracing.

Though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, Amelia was sure they were talking about old times.

Soon they were joined by other troopers, and Caleb was once again lost to her.

“Ma’am,” she heard someone say behind her. “I can take your statement.”

Amelia turned to see a younger trooper standing behind her.

“Aren’t you going to join the reunion?” she asked motioning to the crowd around Caleb.

“I will ma’am,” the young man replied. “I just thought you might like to get this part over so you can get out of here.”

“Thank you,” she said with a heavy sigh, glad to finally see the end of this nightmare.

When she was done giving her statement, the trooper closed his notebook and looked over at the group still circling around Caleb.

“We’ve contacted your fiance,” he said absently, wanting to join the conversation. “He sent a message that his secretary made reservations for you at the Hotel Captain Hook, and that he was going to catch the first flight out.”

“Can I call him?” Amelia asked.

“He said he would call you at the hotel when he reached his first layover,” the trooper explained.

“Okay,” Amelia sighed, deflated.

“There’s a car waiting to drive you to your hotel now if you like,” he said, indicating a town car parked next to a nearby hangar.

“Thank you,” Amelia said taking one more look towards Caleb.

Knowing that a clean break was better, if not less painful, she shook the troopers hand and reached for her bag.