The last thing I wanted to do during summer vacation was wake up at six in the morning to walk to a cottage in the Swiss Alps, carrying suitcases, breathing fresh air, and without a single outlet to charge my tablet. Yet here I was, on the adventure of a lifetime.
The dark wooden cabin looked like something out of a Christmas card… if only cards included the detail that you were miles from civilization and surrounded by knee-deep snow. The small house was wedged into the side of a steep hill, as if the architect who built this monstrosity had accidentally dropped it and then said, "Enough."
The roof was sloping, covered, of course, with a thick layer of snow so shiny it hurt to look at it with the sun shining directly in front of it. There was everything one could need for an expedition in the middle of nowhere: a smoking chimney half-buried in snow, and an arrow pointing in the direction of the house, in case it wasn't clear.
~Roberts Bram Dave
Guardian~
Cottage—Edelweiss Refuge
The Alps, Switzerland
(800) 002-0987
"You seem nervous." Ivy's voice sounded uneasy throughout the cold weather. Her long coat and black boots didn't seem to prepare her for the brutal conditions in Central Europe, "This is just for a week, and we'll be back in a big, cozy five-star hotel room in London."
She wasn't that thrilled about this either, but she hid it well. What really concerned me wasn't the comfort or anything as silly as that. Here, in the mountains, no one could help us if something unexpected were to happen, and sincerely, I doubted that many people would choose to live here instead of the classic and warm cities. My mind raced through different possibilities, including being devoured by a bear, buried by an avalanche, and attacked by a saber-toothed tiger.
Neither of those thoughts were a bit comforting.
We stopped in front of the cottage, leaving a trail of footsteps on the surface. The guide, a middle-aged man named Mr. Robbinson, wiped the sweat from his face and put on his best smile. "Well, guys, here's your cottage. Enjoy your summer—and good luck,"
The man didn't wait for an answer before running down the slope, and before Rex could even ask for the keys, he had already disappeared into the snow.
Rex turned to me, his face pale. "This is a joke, right? He'll come back in a minute with the keys and a camera crew, right?"
The silence that followed was the only answer. "Well," I sighed, kicking a small snowdrift. "At least we have the address of this monstrosity. We'll be able to send the rescue team our mail."
Amid all the details, one thing was clear: we were totally alone.
Didn't I introduce myself? My name is Miles, and I'm 15 years old. A little over a week ago, my friends came up with the brilliant idea of planning an exciting summer vacation trip, so we ended up in an unfamiliar country with the real possibility of being eaten by a bear at any moment.
I have to say, the trip wasn't my idea; in fact, it was my friend Rex's suggestion, and everyone was happy to go along with it. Rex is the guy who always comes up with ideas that sound great in theory but usually end in catastrophe, so it wouldn't be surprising to expect this trip to end in disaster.
Ivy, on the other hand, is the kind of person who's always thinking five steps ahead, but not even she could have gotten us out of this situation. And June? She's an artist—more interested in the frost on the window than the fact that we might freeze to death.
At that moment, the four of us were standing in front of an abandoned cottage, with nothing but a couple of suitcases and no house key. A brilliant start for our exciting vacations!
Rex looked at me. "What do we do now?"
"I guess we could camp in the snow until a bear decides to adopt us," I said, directing my gaze beyond the cabin, straight into the pine woods.
Ivy exclaimed, "There are no wild bears in Switzerland, idiot."
Rex stepped forward with a determined look. "Well, I'm not going to stay here. I'm going to look for a way in. Maybe there's a broken window, or we could climb up and get in through the chimney…"
"Nothing better for a 'Christmas break' than breaking into a cottage in the middle of the mountains," June suggested. I nodded in agreement.
"This is a bad idea," Ivy crossed her arms, looking around with paranoia. "We could get arrested. I'm not spending this holiday behind bars in a strange country."
"There's no one out here to arrest us," I shot back. "We're in the middle of nowhere, with no signal or phones. The nearest station is, um, like, eight kilometers away, on the other side of the mountain."
Even in the terrible situation we found ourselves in, I must admit that the landscape was incredible. The kind you see on Instagram and assume was edited by an elf with magical Photoshop. Everything was bathed in a soft golden hue, because the sun, which was about to hide behind the mountains (or appear, no one could tell), was casting its last rays.
The hills in the distance blurred in layers, one after another, until they merged with the sky, which alternated between pink and pale blue. Beyond the cottage, surrounding the hill, were all kinds of trees—I think they were mostly pines, though you couldn't tell from all the glittering frost that made them look like they'd been sprinkled with sugar.
Rex's annoyed voice broke the silence: "If there are no other ideas, I'm going to go around. Maybe there's a way to pick the lock. This isn't the first time I've done this."
Ivy looked at him strangely. "And when have you ever picked a lock?"
"I grew up with three brothers. If you didn't learn how to open the pantry without being seen, you had no food."
June looked at all of us. "Have any of you tried opening the door?"
Rex stepped forward, staring in disbelief. "It's impossible for the door to be open. No one would leave their front entry…" His words stopped when a click sounded in the air, echoing through the silence of the mountains.
"I told you so," June said with a smile, while Rex blushed in embarrassment. "Can you imagine if we open the door and a lit fireplace and hot chocolate are waiting for us inside?"
"Can you imagine if we open the door and there's a bear playing chess with a squirrel? Because it's just as likely."
We definitely expected what we found inside. It's not what you may imagine, dear readers. I expected to see cobwebs everywhere, broken chairs, and ladders that squeaked louder than cats. I didn't expect to see the glow of a fireplace, the scent of burning wood, or even cookies on the table.
"This... is cozy," I muttered.
Ivy placed her hand on a nearby table, running her finger through the dust. The cabin was warm compared to the outside. On the nearest shelf, a neatly folded blanket lay, and some glasses with coffee dregs sat on a sofa.
Resting next to the door were a pair of oversized men's boots, and at their sides, a rifle.
"Someone lives here, and not long ago," Ivy declared, her eyes wide open.
"Yeah. From the size of the boots, he could throw me out the window." Rex said. "Whoever lives here could come back at any moment."
"Great," Rex said. "So the logical thing to do is stay here, or maybe you'd prefer to camp outside. June, do you have the tents we ordered from Amazon?"
"Which ones?" she asked, before comprehension dawned on her. "Oh, the yellow ones, right?" Rex nodded. "Well, I think I forgot it at the bus station."
"But that was five hours ago." Rex glared at June. The truth is, she was pretty smart and cunning most of the time, but sometimes (at the most important moments) things like this usually happen. That's why they should trust me with everything.
I decided I was going to explore the house. I mean, the only thing we could do was wait for the owner to return. Camping outside wasn't an option; we won't make it out at night. I could already see the news headlines: "4 teens freeze to death after trusting a stranger."
You might be wondering how four troubled teenagers ended up stranded in a Swiss mountain cottage, miles away from civilization. Honestly, I blame Rex—and maybe a little bit myself, don't tell anyone. It all started off pretty normal: we took a ferry from England to Denmark, spent a few days stuffing ourselves at chain restaurants, and argued about which city to visit next. Then Rex suggested Switzerland. "It'll be an adventure," he promised.
Everything started to go downhill from there.
We expected chalets and chocolate, maybe a little skiing—just not the part where every hotel in Switzerland was booked solid for a summer local festival. That's when I found an ad for a secluded cabin in the Alps. It looked… sketchy. But we were desperate, and at ten euros a night, it sounded too good (and possibly too dangerous) to pass up. My friends, already picturing snow and adventure, didn't need much convincing. Looking back, maybe they should have.
Although we weren't visiting a big city like Zurich or Bern, my friends decided that an adventure in nature was just as good, if not better, than a stay in a city. It was a bad idea, of course.
While they argued about who our mysterious host was, I went to check the refrigerator to see if there was any food.
"It can't be…" I said excitedly.
Ivy lifted her head from the table. "What's wrong? Did you find someone's head inside?"
"Better, much better." I took out several chocolate bars wrapped in gold foil. "Swiss chocolate! And not just any chocolate, this is the brand you can only get if you sell a kidney."
June started emptying the refrigerator while Rex spoke in his usual practical tone. "You're exaggerating. It's chocolate."
Ivy wasn't that interested. "What worries me is that it means someone was here… recently."
"Uh, details," I said. "If the owner gets mad, I'll buy him a piece and that's it."
"Or he'll kill you for the chocolate," June suggested.
I kept two bars in my backpack. "Just in case."
Just as Rex was about to speak, probably to express another irrelevant opinion, Ivy turned to the door and seemed to notice a silhouette through the window.
BOOM. The entire cabin shook, and everyone jumped back. "Who's there—?" SMASH! The door was kicked down with such force that it flew open. A gigantic man stood in the doorway, his gaze fixed on me.
"Who is sleeping in my house?" He said in a deep voice, his gaze examining each of us, "And most importantly… WHO ATE MY CHOCOLATE?"