Chapter one.

With a, strong wind a snow flake blew on Noras face. She quickly closed the window. As she was already shivering with the very sudden cold winter in near summer time. " I hope these two girls come on time. For this visit to these chalet in the mountains. Great where do i get such plans aftee seeimg some holiday ad in a, magazine " Nora said. She was a bit plump attractive young woman who had invited her friends Janie and Tisha for the three day weekend. Her boyfriend Jeremy was also supposed to join them there. He was a dj in a famous discotheque. So saying this shw turned. Away from the window and was mulling on this topic. That Janie a, red haired was a wild one. ' Hope she doesnt do any thing rash on this trip. While Tisha blonde one was always cautious about everything. But one thing not sitting comfortable with her was this that her personal psychic had told her not to go on this trip. She firesaw some misadventure and something but Jennie had responded to this information of Noras by saying that this readers are mostly wrong all the time. So here atlast Nora had decided to take on this trip.

And so she did some light packing. Jeremy thought this was a great idea. Tisha had said " on this trip we will do something scary and unconventional. " To which Nora had replied " its supposed to be a calm weekend dont think of doing anything weird okay. " So they were on their way in Noras car driving through the mountain side. With a, chill breeze blowing. Tisha who was sitting in the backside said " i can hear the wolves howl from here this far. " " I really do hope that you do encounter the wolf. " Nora who was driving. Suddenly halted the car. " What happened why did you stop " Jenny said. " Its the fog i cant see clearly and the cliff on the right side is steep " Nora said. " Here come om let me do the driving, you scare too easy " Tisha, said. " And you are too daring ok. No way you are driving on this narrow road " Jenny told Tisha. " So are we going to sit here for the fog to clear up or are we going ahead " Tisha, said. " Okay i will drive slowly then because we have to reach that chalet before night as on this roads there aee no lights " Nora told and started her blue silvery car. Late evening became and the moon was rising up from the tall trees. " Exactly where is the lodge or chalet whatever its almost becoming night now and we are still in this lonely wild " Jenny said bit angrily. " Here it is you see that mountain cliff there, behind it the chalet is " Nora said pointing in front. " This is so exciting i cant wait to go " Tisha exclaimed. " It looks kind of gloomy to me nothing is, around here except this, trees and maybe there are wild, anals, around here " Jenny said. " And the caretaker whose he have you met him " Jenny asked. " I talked with him on the phone he is reliable. So here we are atlast " Nora parked her car in front of a one one storeyed house which was, almost hidden by shrubs. But it looked kind of palatial. They got out of the car. And slowly walked towards the house. Nora ringed the door bell. A man came he was smoking a cigar from behind them suddenly. This gave them bit of a jolt. He said " i am the caretaker my name is, Stoodge and you are the people who wanted to stay here for the weekend. Come inside with your bags " he said removing a key from his pocket and opened the door. Inside it looked like a movie set of some movie. With a, deer stuffed face on the wall and some sofa and all regular stuff. A fire too was going on the corner. But what really caught their attention was a two big swords above the fireplace. " A bit different it is but quite fine for a place to stay in the cold mountains i think " Jenny said. The caretaker asked them if they wanted anything special for dinner to which they replied " anything will do. " Nora said " did you people observed one thing about that man. His face looked like it had been done with some plastic surgery on. I mean stitches. " " Maybe he had a fight with some wild wolf here " Tisha laughed. Nora didnt found it funny. Soon he came with dinner for them and before going said " dont open the doors at night if someone knocks or anything as such. " Ofcourse we wont open to strangers but why you telling us this " Tisha asked him. " Last time a, two people who stayed here said that some one was knocking the door at midnight and when they opened the door there was no one outside thats why " he said. But Nora had a doubt that there was more to this story. " We will not open the door even if you knock really " Nora said to him. He went away. Laughing at this sentence of Nora.

Later in the night. A knock came on the door. Nora went to open it.

She looked through the peephole but no one was there. Tisha too got up and followed her and asked whose it that is knocking this late at night at the door. " Its no one that i can see. He told us not to open this, door no matter what remember " Nora whispered. " This is freaky but on our first day such a thing happening " Tisha said. Jenny too got up and said " i will go out and see once and for all who this is. "

Nora, stopped her. " You cant go outside its, 2 am in the night ! " Again the knock came. " Lets just ignore it and go back to sleep " Nora, suggested.

So next morning. They all woke up to the caretaker who had brought them breakfast. " Well its pancakes and coffee for the ladies. You must be hungry. The mountain air makes one. " " You are right we are " Tisha said. Jemny said to Nora " and you were saying hes kind of spooky yesterday. He seems, nice to me. See how hospitable hes. "

" Well lets have coffee then " Nora said pouring herself a cup.

After that they just sat. A historical movie was playing on the tv channel. Tishasaid" here let me make some cheese popcorns for all of you. " " Why are we even just sitting inside and watching television. We didnt came all the way out here to do this. Lets go out and explore the area. See how nice dewy weather it is " Jenny suggested. " Yes right we should take a, walk around this woods. The atmosphere is too good. Just a, bit of rain and all cool around " Tisha said. " Wait the movie is just ending. After that we will go okay " Nora said. Soon as the movie ended Tisha was at the door standing impatiently waiting for Nora and Jenny to get up. So they switched off the tv. And wore their hiking boots and went. Outside caretaker was sitting smoking on a log. " I see you girls are goimg hiking but be careful there are lots of wild animals out there. Be back before evening " he said. " Dont pay heed to him. Hes just a, superstitious and trying to scare us " Tisha said. " No i think he is may be right. We should really return back quick " Jenny also added. " You two listen quietly do the walking and we will be back before late evening " Nora told them. " Twilight ! What are you saying. I am not going to be in this mountainous forests till that long " Jenny said. " Okay i m returning lets just cancel it " Nora was getting a bit angrier. " All right lets hike and not fight " Tisha interrupted in between and they walked off. The air was wet and birds were making lots of noise. The sound of their feet on the watery grass below was making. Nora removed her phone and tried calling her mother but as the network was weak she wasnt able to connect so she kept it back in her small sling purse. " Here let me check the map you have to know exactly where we are. Didnt the caretaker said there was a small waterfall here. And he told us not to vemture too deep " Jenny said. " Wha map , i dont have any. I thought you had it " Tisha said to Nora. " Not me. I told you to carry it. It was on the table. I knew you would forget it im your impatience " Nora said irritably. " Now we are lost. What do we do " Jenny started panicking. " Nora stopped walking and sat down on a flowery branch of a tree and said " first lets take some rest. For the last half an hour we are hiking. I can hear the waterfall from here. Its somewhere nearby here. We will go there then return back. We go straight. Because i think we didnt took any turns. That would be enough to help us return to the chalet " Nora said. So after taking a break of ten minutes they got up and went ahead. The waterfall came in view. It was picturusque wit wild flowers growing all around on its side. " I am in the mood to get drenched in it " Tisha said excitedly. " Dont remove your clothes wait what if some black jaguar is, around here " Jenny said. " Why suddenly you dweeb thinking of jaguar now when such a beautiful sight is in front " Tisha said while removing her jacket and jumping in the watee splashing water on Nora and Jenny. " Stop it will you im getting all wet. And so you know let me tell you while coming here i saw a horizontal black shadow dwart through the trees once thats why i told you " Jenny said a bit frightened. Nora was stunned for a moment to hear this and said " do jaguars swim too what if it came here. There is no hiding place here. " " You two fools stop that jaguar talk and come and have fun in the water. Its so cold see. And by the way Nora your green blazer is camouflaging you with the trees. So the panther or jaguar whatever will have a hard time finding you " Tisha laughed. " Really we shouldn't have brought you along on this trip " Nora said and joinef her in the waters. While Jenny just sat on the green grass watching them. " Come on Jenny dont behave like this " Tisha shouted. Her voice coming low because of the sound of the water fall. ' You wild one enjoy there while i keep a watch here for any wild animals " Jenny said and removed a magazine from her small bag to flip through. " Hurry up will you people its getting late. I dont want to be lost here in this woods with some predator on the loose " Jenny was getting worried. " Okay calm down here we are lets go back. We had never seen such cool waters before till now " Nora said drying herself with a napkin. There was a rustle among the back tres. " Its just the wind now hurry up " Tisha said putting on her boots.

As soon as they got up. To go a animal sound could be heard. " What was that dont tell me its se wolf or such " Jenny said. " I told you there was something here but you wouldn't hear now lets go hurry up " Jenny added. " Oh no its some animal. Black in colour and huge. Its a panthere there see. Now what do we do " Nora shouted.