The old inn was spooky in the darkness. I had gone to the old place for a weekend of skiing and solitude, my yearly "weekend away from it all". I had arrived early enough in the afternoon to get a couple hours of skiing in before soaking in a hot bath and dressing casually for the informal dinner that evening. The first flakes were beginning to fall as I was coming off the slopes, and the snow soon increased to whiteout conditions for miles around. The lights went out a couple of hours after the blizzard had started, right after dinner. By some fluke both the inn's generators had broken down, so there would be no power until after the snow stopped, leaving oil lamps and candles the only light. What had seemed an warm, inviting place that afternoon had now taken on an eerie, spectral feeling. The flickering lights cast strange shadows on the walls and ceilings, mocking me in my uneasiness.
The caretaker had built up a nice blaze in the fireplace in my room, which lit everything with a yellow-orange glow. It was only around nine o'clock, and I was not really tired, but I did not want to stay in the dining room with the other guests. Several of them had been complaining about the turn of events, and I did not want to listen to them drone on and on about it.
I put the oil lamp on the bedside table and got undressed. I was going to crawl into the big four poster bed and snuggle down under the thick quilt, but instead I felt drawn to the crackling fire. I walked over and sat in down front of the fire, watching it burn. I could feel the heat reaching out, caressing my body with warmth, despite only being clad in my panties and bra. I was sitting with my arms wrapped around my knees, becoming hypnotized by the dancing flames, when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickling.
I looked around the room quickly, but there was no one there, no one lurking in the corner or hiding under the bed. My imagination was getting the best of me, I decided. It would be better if I went to sleep. Maybe the snow would stop during the night and we could get plowed out first thing in the morning.
I crawled under the covers and turned the oil lamp off. With its yellow glow extinguished, I watched the fire from my bed. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up again, and I could feel goose bumps on my arms. As I sat up and looked around the room once more I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Not really a something, more like a shadow, but when I turned there was nothing. I settled nervously back onto my pillow and told myself there was no one there, it was only the power outage making my imagination run wild. The fire had made the room warm, and the bed was cozy, so eventually my eyes began to close.
