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Rain Galloway hoisted the box higher, trying to keep it from slipping through her sweaty fingers. She staggered forward, navigating around the weeds and roots that punched out of the driveway and headed toward the house. She balanced the box on one hip, opened the door with the free hand, and placed the box down, just a few feet left of the door. She heard the moving truck leave, clanging and banging as it struggled over the rocky, dirt road and into the forest, eager to leave.

Her new home was a huge Victorian mansion, complete with three stories of bedrooms and baths, more windows than she could count, and a sea of grass reaching out all around her. Compared to the mansion, her possessions amounted to a measly pile of ten boxes, a couple bags and some assorted furniture. The mansion had more bathrooms than she had luggage. Oh well, it just meant less to unpack.

Rain stepped into the foyer, a wide expanse of space as large as her last apartment. The ceiling seemed to be miles above and occasionally rained dust down on her. Cleaning that was going to be tricky. Scratch that, it was going to be nigh impossible. In fact cleaning this whole place and making it buyer-friendly was going to require some major handiwork. But hey, for the money she was getting, it was worth. Well almost.

She decided she was going to set up camp in the foyer. No way was she going upstairs without some way to make sure the floor wouldn’t give under her. With these old houses, you could never be too careful.

Rain lugged three of the boxes over to the center of the foyer. Her essentials. Clothing, toiletries, sleeping bag, some instant food, and a couple other creature comforts. When you moved around as much as she did, lived in as many houses as she had, you learned to do without. She had been hoping for an apartment nearby, but some employers wanted her to stay on site as she remodeled the house. Or in this case, the mansion.

Within a few minutes, she had a mini stove set up and set some soup to cook. She swept the floor, trying to get rid off what seemed to be a permanent layer of dust, and laid out a blanket. On this she put her sleeping bag, a small raised table, the kind used in Japan , battery powered lamp and a shelf.

By the time she had assembled everything, the soup was ready and night had fallen. Rain ate quickly, eager to take a look at the schematics of the house and plan her next move.

She unfolded the first sheet on the table and aimed the lamp at it. The first floor consisted of the foyer, a parlor, a library, and a central kitchen and behind all the rooms, a huge, huge ballroom, which made up the rest of the floor. Very typical of a Victorian mansion.

Her first task for tomorrow would to be to survey the first floor and get a professional cleaning crew to work their magic on this place. But for now she would have to get some sleep. Rain folded the schematics carefully, trying not to tear or damage any part. Until she could get a better copy, this was the lifeline of her job. She turned the lamp off and slid into the sleeping bag. As she drifted off to sleep, she remembered she had forgotten to lock the door. But hey, she was out in the middle nowhere and who was going to come knocking? The boogieman? She giggled at the thought and with that she was out like a light.

Rain felt the warmth of the sunlight hit her face, and it dragged her out of her slumber. With a groan, she launched herself out of the sleeping bag and prepared to meet the day.

Within twenty minutes, she had a pot of Quaker oatmeal going and was clean and fresh. Outside, around the back she had found an ancient, crumbling well that still had water in it, after who knows how many years of disuse. Surreptitiously, she stripped and steeled herself for the plunge. Being in the middle of nowhere tended to make you crazy enough to do things that wouldn’t even cross your mind otherwise. Bathing in an open field, using frigid water out of a muddy well was one of those things. And with that she tossed the first bucketful over her head. Thank God she wasn’t one for long baths.

***

It was scared for its babies, the motherly instinct a gone haywire. Something loud and terrible had come crashing through the forest and destroyed their home. This huge cave looked appealing. With one cub in her mouth, and the other by her side, the mother entered the space.

***

After a breakfast of oatmeal and raisin, she began to make calls. Before she even began, she had to ditch that idea since she barely had any juice in her cell phone. Rain had a meeting with the owner of the mansion later that day to discuss what he wanted done with the place, so maybe then she could talk about getting her phone charged in his car. Till then, she wanted to save the remaining juice just in case.

Her next order of business would be a tour of the first floor. She went outside and hunted around for a stick. A nice long sturdy stick to tap the floor with. If the floor didn’t give way when it was wacked with the stick, then it was probably safe to walk on. She had once fallen through a rotten floorboard from the second floor. That had put her out of commission and in bed for six months. No way was she repeating that mistake.

After finding an ideal stick, she made her way back to the house, surveying the land as she went. The lawn was dotted with groves of trees sheltering small gazeboes, picnic tables and swings, a flowering meadow beyond that and a thick forest farther out. Rain couldn’t see where the property ended or if it ended at all. She might build a garden in the back, but the front was perfect, it just needed repairs.

She was climbing up the porch steps, when she first heard the growl. It sent shivers up her spine and her mind a tumble. She darted back into the open field, terrified. Gripping her stick, she tried to calm herself and form a plan. That growl came from a big beastie, big as in Great Dane big. Could have been anything from a bear to a cougar to a wolf. Oh she had no idea. She was an interior designer not a game warden! Another growl sent her scurrying farther into the field. No, she was leaving. Screw the fact all her stuff was in there. Most of it could be replaced. She was going to call for a ride…using her cell…which was in the house. Dammit!

Rain groaned at her own stupidity. The appointment wasn’t until noon and she had just woken up. She was going to have to go into that house, which was the last thing she wanted to do and get her cell. That was her ticket out. She groaned again. She really hated this.

Rain quickly jogged to the back of the house, checking for any back doors. Nope, nothing there. Her only option, besides the front door was to break a window. She didn’t like where this was going, not one bit. She found a nice window, sagging in its spot but not enough to fall out. She stood to the side of the window and swung the stick like a baseball bat. The glass shattered littering the grass with sparkling fragments. She carefully reached around the broken glass, to the ledge on the inside, and hoisted herself into the room.

She was in the library, staring into the foyer and at the beastie. Or more accurately, the cougar. A big nasty one, with claws and teeth. She was never that fond of animals. This just reassured her dislike. She tried to move quickly but quietly to the left out of its view, but her foot snagged on something soft yet firm and she went crashing to the floor. The crash was accompanied by a plaintive yelp that was not hers. The cougar whipped around to face her and charged.

It was all Rain could do to pick her self up, hoist herself back out the window and duck to avoid the angry swipes that were poking out the window. She let out the held breath. This must have been a mother cougar, protecting her cubs, cubs which she had just tripped on. Was this disaster ever going to end?!

Rain snuck back around to the front, certain that momma cat would be occupied with the cubs. Sure enough the foyer was empty, but the door to the library was open, wide enough for the cat to see her should it glance her way. Rain debated for two seconds and quickly made her decision. No way in hell was the library door going to contain the cougar, but the main doors might. So it was get in, get out, and close the door behind you. Simple really. She hoped it would stay that way.

Rain spied her phone on the top of her shelf. She crept silently, surreptitiously across the foyer, eager not to draw any attention. She made it to the bookshelf, grabbed her phone and made a dart for the door. At this point it didn’t matter if the cat saw her, she was almost out.

Lady Luck must have really hated her, because less than ten seconds later, she heard that awful growl and thudding behind her. With a yelp she put on a last burst of speed and made it out the door and kept running. The cat was smack on her tale, turning around would be deadly. Rain headed back around the house to the well, thinking she might drown the cat. Drown that big beastie?! What was she thinking?! The hole was big enough for a small adult, but not that huge kitty on her tale. Wait a sec…big enough for a small person aye?

Rain kept running, knowing she was almost there. The well rose up as she drew near, the wall around it her next goal. The wall was high enough to let her in but keep the cat out. Darn it she had to stop calling it a cat. That was like a cat on steroids or Catzilla!!!

In her thinking Rain nearly missed the well. She sped up, preparing to jump into the well. Hey tiny frame tensed up and leapt, kicking Catzilla in the nose. She landed in a pool of frigid, shoulder high water. She peered up and saw Catzilla peering in. No way was she getting in. Mu ha ha ha, she had thwarted Catzilla and avoided becoming his lunch. She punched the air and did a little victory dance.

The cell phone slid out of her hand and into the water. Rain gasped and dove after it. She smacked her head on her knee, and straightened up trying to clear the hazy, pain induced fog in her mind. Oh god, oh god, oh god. Now she was well and truly stuck. The bottom was too murky to see and her feet too numb to feel for it. By now, it was probably dead anyway. The Fates must have been really bored today.

Rain hauled herself out of well and managed to make her way to the road by the side of the house, where the owner would be coming from. She huddled under a tree and eventually fell asleep. She awoke to the sound of a car struggling over the dirt road. The car stooped and the driver got out to stare at her in all her wet, shivering glory. Boy did she have a lot of explaining to do. Better get it over with ASAP. Oh and for next time, note to self, no more jobs in wild country.