At Least It's Not a Gazebo

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

I wasn't surprised, really, not at first. It's not that far a walk from here to the spine of the Appalachian Trail, so there's many a hiker passing through stop here instead of at the campsites. Most of us are on this trail to get away from humans, so why would we want to cluster together every night? And sometimes those way stations get too close for comfort, and someone's gonna snore too loud, and the floor's hard, and someone's elbow is gonna dig you in the ribs. Yeah, I speak from experience.

So it's worth the extra mile's hike to get away from all that, while getting away from everything else. Nice and....very, very quiet.

Well, it looks like I was sharing the place tonight.

I politely knocked on the door before going in, introducing myself as a fellow traveler. The door creaked like it was a warning from beyond the grave-

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

I should have listened, but no. I stepped inside-

AAHHHHHhhhhh wheeeEEEEeeeeEEEEoooooh

The room was empty. Well, almost empty. Over in the corner was a shapeless lump that I could barely see in the weak candlelight. There wasn't snoring, but there was rather heavy breathing, the kind that starts with AAHHHHHhhhhh and then kinda goes wheeeEEEEeeeeEEEEoooooh. More than a little creepy, especially after the creaking door hinge. Which the person seems to have slept through.

Well. I'm not going to wake them up to introduce myself, am I? I found another corner, on the opposite side of the room, ate a trail bar, and when I opened my bag-

WHOOOOOOSH!!!

My sleeping bag decided to pop out of its straps and leap at me! I wrestled it into submission, and spread it on the floor. I just hoped I could get some sleep, and maybe get out before the other person woke up and discovered they weren't alone, right? So I quietly slid under the covers-

BAM!!!

Something slammed against the window! I jumped, but I didn't go to check on it. I'd had enough for one night! I just wanted to sleep!

Then the candle went out. Suddenly.

Through it all, the other guy was sleeping away: AAHHHHHhhhhh wheeeEEEEeeeeEEEEoooooh

I closed my eyes.

WHISSSSSHHHHHHHH. WWWHHHHHIIIIIIIIISSSSSSHHHHHH. That was the wind in the trees.

Clatter Clatter CLATTER. That was a tree branch against the roof.

Muffled SQUEAK. SQUEEEEEKKKKKK. That was a mouse under the cabin.

SCRITCH SCRITCH RATTLE RATTLE CLANK. Wait, what was that?

SCRITCH SCRIIIIIITCH RATTLE RATTLE CLANK!!!

My eyes popped open. There, in the middle of the room, was a ghost, coming for me with chains!

I never took my boots off. I was out of that cabin so fast I left my pack and sleeping bag behind! I ran into the woods. I know I missed the trail, I didn't care, I kept running till I hit the creek bank. I looked back - nothing was chasing me, so I curled up aside of a fallen tree and decided to wait till morning to get my stuff back.

I was not quiet in those woods.

HOO HUH-WHOO. Okay, that was an owl, so not so bad-

OW-OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOO!!! Um, okay, we don't have wolves out thisaway, I hope that was a coyote or a lost dog!

Then, there was this-

Wait a minute. Do you hear that scratching? Sounds like it's coming from-

RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!

Oh. I didn't know you could get poison ivy there. Didn't know scratching could sound that loud when I'm telling a story. Anyway, where was I?

The log at the creek. Owl, coyote, right-

Then, there was this HUUUUURRRRRR HAH-HRUMPH, and a crashing in the brush, and something BIG and HAIRY went galloping off. Luckily it wasn't paying attention to me, but still!

I almost climbed a tree to get some safe rest, but I decided to stay small and quiet and wait for dawn.

It took a long, loooong time-

Wait. Do you hear that? It sounds like low growling, from those bushes-

ARE THOSE EYES STARING AT US FROM THE DARK???

I thought this place was supposed to be safer than my story! I'm getting a bit rattled here.

Where'd it go?

So, anyway - finally, it started to get light. I knew where I was at the creek, I figured it out in that long, long night time, and worked my way back to the cabin.

The door was still open. I could still hear AAHHHHHhhhhh wheeeEEEEeeeeEEEEoooooh from the sleeping lump. He slept through all that?

The ghost was still there, staring at the door. The sun came up behind me, and the rays lit up the cabin. It glared at me, rattled its chains, and vanished!

I breathed a sigh of relief, but I still didn't want to go in there. But, my pack was there, and my sleeping bag, and I needed them for the rest of the hike. Well, go on, I said to myself, go in there, and get them, and get out-

SNORT. SNARRRRGH. Oh, I guess the sleeper was waking up. Well, I went inside, scooped up pack and bag, and turned around to say hello to the other camper.

IT. WAS. A. BEAR!!!!

I screamed, it grunted sleepily, and I took off down the trail I could finally see to get here, to the hiking shelter, to let everyone know. Don't go to the cabin, even if you know where it is! It's a bear den, and there's a ghost trying to chain people up!

Fine, whatever, don't believe me. At least I let the ranger know this morning, and he's going to deal with the bear.

Tomorrow morning, I'm out of here.

************

At least I got some sleep! I may have lost a day of trail time, but better safe than sorry. You can't afford to be exhausted on the trail, you'll make mistakes, and that can lead to bad things.

Beautiful sunny day, the trail's clear, I should make some good time.

************

Ah, evening. I should be coming up on the next hostel any moment now-

I stepped into the clearing, and just as the sun set, I could see the old abandoned cabin in the woods. A candle burned at the window.

AAHHHHHhhhhh wheeeEEEEeeeeEEEEoooooh.....

SCRITCH SCRITCH RATTLE RATTLE CLANK...

Uh oh.....