Fiction logo

A Candle to Light the Way

Love and the Dark

By Blake CappsPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
4
A Candle to Light the Way
Photo by David Tomaseti on Unsplash

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The light spilled out sudden and violent, like an eye opening to peer into the dark, after a disturbed slumber. Rachel and Nathan slept peacefully, but their campsite was held in a gaze of pure malevolence.

Nathan woke first. As he slipped outside the tent to relieve himself, the darkness caught him off guard. His body was rested as if he had slept well past dawn, but it must have been the middle of the night. He shrugged and went about his business. After all, a good night’s sleep was why they had come out here in the first place.

He stoked the fire back to life and determined to make the best of the early morning. He packed a small breakfast for them both before waking Rachel.

“Babe, let’s go see the sunrise.”

Rachel rubbed her eyes and oriented herself to the light dancing on the tent walls from the fire outside.

“What time is it” she stretched as she sat up.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Nathan paused before admitting sheepishly “I forgot to bring a watch and my phone must have died on the hike up here.”

“My rugged outdoorsman” she teased him before grabbing her phone from beside the sleeping bag and unplugging it from the external battery. “Huh, that’s weird. Mine’s dead too, but that shouldn’t be possible I charged this thing while we drove out here.”

Nathan laughed “maybe this is mother nature telling us to unplug ourselves from the phones. Come on. If we hurry, we could get up that hill we crossed before we camped.”

Rachel sighed knowing when he got excited about something like this it was best to just accept it and enjoy the show.

They doused the fire and started out into the dark. The flashlight cut a path through the trees and kept their feet sure. Nathan noted the lack of nocturnal noises that usually provided the soundtrack for the woods at night, but figured it wasn’t worth worrying over.

After an hour or so of walking, Nathan broke the silence “we should be getting close right?”

Rachel didn’t respond, but he took the rustle of her passing through the brush behind him as an affirmative. Honestly, he was surprised she had suggested this trip to begin with. Neither of them was the outdoorsy type, but after a few months of dating it was good to try new things together. He was still riding the high of saying they loved each other for the first time a few weeks ago, but in his euphoria, he failed to notice the root sticking out of the ground like a noose waiting to snap a neck.

He was falling. It felt like every branch and stone in the forest tried to stop his descent into the dark, but all they managed to do was bruise and cut him on the way down.

He blinked to stop his head from spinning. “Rachel!” he yelled up the slope he tumbled down. No response. “Rachel! Where are you?” He slapped the flashlight against his palm, but the after a few pitiful sputters, the light refused to brave the dark again.

The forest leaned towards him, and he felt his heart fall through a trap door in his chest, as a panic attack started to sink in. “Rachel, please answer me!”

Something blinked in the dark at him. He started to scream, before he realized it was light of a candle in the window of a cabin. He pushed himself up and half-ran to the door. He raised his fist to knock, but door swung forward creaking on rusted hinges. Rachel was standing by the candle and a figure sat at a table, in the center of the room. Nathan couldn’t move, but he could feel the sweat on his neck as he searched for the right question to make things make sense. The figure at the table shifted its cloak and he noticed its arms moved in a queer fashion. They bent at the elbow and the wrist, but they were too long, and there was a joint between the two that bent the other direction, so they hung from the thing’s torso like two sickles waiting to harvest a field. Bones cracked as its head twisted to regard him.

“Well, well, well, Rachel, what have you brought home?”

Rachel smiled as she regarded him, but her mouth stretched too far, until the corners were almost touching her ears. “Oh momma, isn’t it wonderful? He loves me!”

“Love? Oh my, that sounds delicious. Now let me get a better look at you.”

The candle went out, and Nathan screamed.

Horror
4

About the Creator

Blake Capps

I started writing to cope with my severe anxiety. I’m still anxious, but hey, at least now I’m also a writer.

Reader insights

Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

Add your insights

Comments (1)

Sign in to comment
  • Jill Fisher2 years ago

    Wow!!!! I want to read more of this story!!!

Find us on social media

Miscellaneous links

  • Explore
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Support

© 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.