Prolog

"Mom? Mom where are you?" Maddie screamed into the night while trying to tread water. The storm had come upon them to fast for their boat to make it back to San Juan Island. Now the wind, rain, and waves all buffeted Maddie as she desperately searched the black water for her mother. Hearing the frantic ringing of a bell, Maddie swam quickly towards the sound. Unable to see much around her in the dark night, Maddie didn't know to brace herself when a wave picked her up, slamming her into the side of a large ocean buoy.

The impact knocked the breath from her and, disoriented from the crash, Maddie fell back into the churning water. Gasping and coughing, Maddie pulled herself up and onto the platform. She wrapped her arms and legs around the rough freezing metal, holding on to the beams for all she was worth. When a large wave struck her from the side causing the buoy to tip at a dangerous angle, Maddie tightened her hold on her metal lifeline. Too numb to feel the time roughened metal or sharp barnacles cutting into her. Back and forth, up and down; the waves tossed her buoy around with violent force.

The storm seemed to grow more intense as time went on. At one point a receding wave dropped the buoy down causing the following wave to swallow her; the force of it slamming the side of her head into the metal beam. Maddie cried out in pain; tears and seawater mixing with blood to pour down her face. She heard a sound in the distance but with the constant ringing of the buoys' bell and what was surely a concussion, Maddie didn't trust the hope that flared in her heart. Slowly the adrenalin gave way to exhaustion and, numb from the cold, she didn't feel seaweed wrap around her, anchoring her more firmly to her lifeline. There she sat all alone in the dark ocean with the storm raging around her; the ever-present bell ringing out a desperate call for help.

Ding-ding

Ding-ding

Ding-ding

Chapter 1

"So going camping?"

The question from the cashier brought Maddie out of the dark ocean and back to the checkout line of the sporting goods store she was actually in. The constant beeping of the cash register had sent her back to that horrible night and now the cashier was giving her weird look. This whole situation needed to end quickly but to be fair she did have two carts full purchases and had been zoning out for God knows how long so maybe he was right to look at her like she was crazy. Looking around the sporting goods store Madison figured she had taken a good chunk of their stock. "So, this is everything on your list….how long did you say you were going camping for?"

The teenage boy said trying to break the silence due to the awkwardly long check out process they were both in. Looking down at the shopping list on the counter then over to her packed shopping carts full of bags, Maddie moved a lock of ash blond hair absentmindedly behind her ear before answering.

"Three months is the plan, but only if the weather where I'm going stays nice. My family has a cabin in the Wenatchee National forest area. A couple of miles away from a campground, its old but after a couple of months of updating; it at least is leak free and has running water."

"Well then shit I think you're over packed." The boy laughed holding up the two-person tent he just rang up. "If you're not going to be sleeping outside then why would you need a tent and a tarp? And if you don't mind me asking, three months is a long time for one person to be alone in the woods."

Liking this better than the awkward silence she laughed and explained. "I'm a nature photographer and have been dying to go out there for a while so I may be overpacking a little." She laughed again as he held up a six-pack of thermal gloves. "I would rather have way too much than not enough."

"That's good thinking when you're going to a new place by yourself." He said while ringing up the last item on the counter. "Whelp that's everything I hope you have a big trunk."

After paying for enough supplies that a family of four could camp for the three months, she flashed him a big smile and pushed the overloaded carts through the store's main doors and navigated her way to her rented silver SUV. Packing it all in was a little like Tetris but after moving her three bags of luggage to the passenger seat she was able to cram everything in.

'Thank God for the folding down back row, ok Madison let's get this show on the road.'

She thought to herself while pulling out of the store parking lot. She was just merging onto the highway when Carry on My Wayward Son by Kansas started playing from her cell phone, smiling at the song she answered happily.

"Hey dad, I'm still in Bellingham but I just finished making my bank account cry, here's hoping the sporting goods store I just left will have a shipment coming in soon. I think I just about cleaned out Costco as well."

A man's deep laugh sounded on the other end. "I did the same thing when I was repairing that place over the summer. I did some major work on it so you shouldn't have too much trouble when you get there but I kept having this feeling you were going to need help so I put my satellite phone and charger in your bag last night before you left for the airport. Call me when you get to the cabin, it's been empty for a couple of months now and I want to know how everything is holding up." Looking up at the ceiling she silently gave thanks to her father for thinking about the phone. Being able to contact him for help if something major happened to her or her SUV, should have been a bigger priority.

"Will do but it will take me a good three hours to get to the cabin so if you don't hear anything from me by around four feel free to give the sat phone a ring, I'll plug it in when I stop for gas." Unzipping a side pocket in one of the bags next to her, Maddie reached a hand into search blindly for the large phone and its car charger.

"Alright Maddie, drive safe and please be careful out there, I still don't like that you're going to be there for three months alone."

Letting out a small sound of weariness she rubbed her forehead feeling a headache coming on. "Dad we talked about this and even my Doctor said it would be a great idea to get away from everything. I'll be fine, I think the most I have to worry about is being snowed in and both the cabin and I have plenty of fuel if that happens."

"Doctor Abernathy said to get off the Island and away from the ocean for a little bit, not to go into the woods by yourself for three months." Her eyes started to burn and she blinked quickly to stop from tearing up at the memories of what drove her from her home on San Juan Island. That horrible night was the worst thing that had ever happened to Madison. Even after a year of therapy both physical and mental she still had terrible nightmares and anxiety attacks when something would remind her of that night. Unwanted memories came back to her; the biggest wave she had ever seen, the sound if screaming and the icy water.

"Sweetie? Are you still there?" The question jarred Maddie away from the deep dark ocean.

"Sorry dad, ya I'm still here. What were you saying?" He let out a sad sigh before stating again.

"All I was saying is that I'm worried about you, you've been through so much recently. Plus…well what if someone sees what you can do." Letting his words hang in the air Maddie felt the enormous weight of her constant worry. She rubbed at the spot just under her collarbone seeking comfort from a man who she only knew as a name. The name James Buchanan Barnes may look like a masculine handwritten tattoo, however, bold black letters were actually the name of her soulmate. Sitting just under her collarbone was the name of the one man made just for her.

Known as a Soul Mark; it was the name of the one person that could complete you, your other half. Appearing during a person's teenage years; legends say that the marks were meant as a gift to help people find their soulmates. Some people treasure it, looking forward to someday meeting that person, while others saw it as a curse. But the one thing everyone can agree on is that when it appears it hurts like a bitch.

The pain caught Maddie by surprise one morning when she was sixteen. The sudden sharp sting of it had taken her to her knees; it was like a bee was trapped in her collar. She pulled down the collar of her sweater thinking to release the upset insect but was shocked to watch as black letters wrote themselves on her skin. For a second Maddie thought a ghost was writing their name on her but then it dawned on her. She knew what this was, what those letters meant and she was overjoyed.

Maddie tried to be patient but growing up in a small town on San Juan Island, while nice, was still a small town. By the time her mark had shown up, she knew just about everyone in town. Then after nine years of searching for him, Maddie figured her soulmate just wasn't on that island, which was another reason to get away for a while.

'Maybe I need these three months to get my head on straight but after that who knows I might just take a road trip and see what or who I could find.'

Laughing to herself over the thought of finding her soulmate while on a road trip she replied. "Dad I need this just as much as you needed that month-long fishing voyage after mom was declared dead. You loved the ocean and needed to get out there and find yourself again while I, well I need to not see it for a while."

"I understand honey; I just wish you would have taken one of your friends with you."

This caused another laugh from her. "Dad, could you see Callie or Kim going out in the woods with me on a 'finding myself' mission? No, will maybe Kim if there was alcohol and a hot tub available but then again I don't think you're supposed to bring a friend when you're trying to find yourself."

They joked around trying to lighten the mood tell she pulled over for gas a half hour later. Telling her dad she would call him when she got to the cabin they said their goodbyes and she filled up the SUV. It did indeed take two hours to get to the cabin and she counted herself lucky that the dirt road her dad had made over the summer going back and forth to get new stuff for the cabin was still visible and the rental handled the dirt road like a champ. Driving up Maddie's first impression of the cabin and its small outbuilding was a little underwhelming.

"When dad said it was a 'Cabin in the Woods' type situation he wasn't kidding." She said while getting out of the SUV. It was literally a simple one-story log cabin and a small shed for the generator surrounded by miles of tall evergreen trees. It was like whoever had built the cabin also made the clearing by cutting down the trees for the said cabin. However, the look of the log cabin against the gloomy forest would make a beautiful picture.

She could tell her dad had done some major repairs when he was here, the old wooden roof had new black shingles with a small solar panel and a rebuilt chimney. The front porch looked new as well and there was a nice sturdy front door with three heavy duty locks.

Maddie figured finding the generator was her first priority, being here in the cold and dark by herself was not something she wanted to experience for her first night. Walking towards the small shed, she smiled as she saw the big cables going into the ground. Following their assumed destination, she was happy to see they connected to the cabins breaker box. The shed door opened with a loud creak and led into a small room that had enough space for the large generator and a small table. Turning on the large electric lantern that sat on the table she saw a laminated piece of paper that read 'How to use generator'. Chuckling Maddie went about learning how to use the said machine.

"All right," she said to the generator when it came to life, "I only need you to work with me for three months so don't make any trouble and there won't be any trouble." Setting it to turn off at midnight and back on at 7 am, she locked the shed back up and made her way inside. "Now let's see what I have to work with."

Authors Note

Hi,

Thank you for reading my story. This is my first fanfiction so please be nice if you leave a comment.