Intro. The snowstorm had taken Sarah by surprise. What had started as harmless flakes in the afternoon had become an impenetrable white curtain within an hour. Despite her thirty years and years of driving experience, she had lost control of her car – a sharp turn, a snowdrift, and the car was already in the ditch.
Sarah took a deep breath and carefully felt her body. No pain, no injuries – she had been lucky. But the engine was dead, the cell phone without reception, and the snowstorm raged mercilessly around their stranded vehicle. As she peered through the fogged-up windshield, she saw a faint, yellowish glow of light in the distance between the snow-covered fir trees.
A hut.
With a pounding heart, she fought her way through the deep snow towards the light until she finally stood in front of a rustic wooden hut. With trembling fingers she pressed the bell.