Birthday Candle

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The candle burned at its wick, (the string that sticks out of the top). But this wick wasn’t any ordinary wick, but made from an upright, twisted mess of hair.

Within it were little autumn leaves so it resembled a beautiful autumn burning tree.

Brightly it burned as a guide,

A place for hikers to come in and hide.

The flame slowly burned its way down the hairy wick, melting the wax body beneath it, which was the shape and size of a person.

A hiker stood outside the cabin window, observing the burning wax sculpture.

Captivated by the shape and size of the sculpture. Her eyes followed the drips as they traced the outline of the candle’s glowing figure, its elegant feminine shape, the autumn leaves in its hair. The pose felt so emotional, it embodied desperation and despair,

one of its arms reached up into the air.

She looked at the candlewick, then felt her own hair.

Then pulled out a leaf, and put it down right there.

As the flame continued to burn, the beads of hot fluid solidified on their journey down, thickening in clumps here and there, blending the jawline with its thickening neck,

while drips filled the gaps between the fingers on one hand.

Causing the sculpture to appear less bland.

One hand became webbed, while on the other hand the drips descended down off the fingertips forming needle-thin claws.

One drip stood out from the rest as it was the colour red.

One look at this filled the hiker with dread.

She raised her hand and rubbed her head.

The curious hiker cupped a hand above her eyes and pressed her face against the glass to see if anyone else was in the room, to supervise the flaming sculpture. She tilted her gaze down to see the floor of the room, but instead saw the candle’s base embedded in a large area of icing, as if on top of a very large cake, too big for any regular person, several metres in diameter. The icing of the cake was a deep shade of red and had big bits of white chocolate sprinkled all over, bits as big as your arm. All in all, enough calories to kill a person.

The hiker stood back from the window, deciding if she should go and knock to check if anyone was in. Because a large sculpture on fire, unattended inside a house made of wood seemed like a terrible idea.

But it was strange.

It was Odd. Especially the shape of the candle’s bod.

She should definitely walk away now.

But she wanted to know how...

a candle and a cake of such a large proportion...

had not been used to feed anyone a portion.

Ignoring fear and choosing to be brave.

The sight of the cake had caused her a crave.

She walked around the side of the cabin to search for the door only to find a sudden slope. The cabin was embedded within a tilted mound of earth which meant that as she walked down she found windows on the walls half submerged into the earth.

Almost as if the ground had given birth.

Her hesitant steps on the ground caused her to slip and sent her tumbling down the hill.

Crispy autumn leaves cushioned her fall on the way down, littering themselves into her hair.

She thought to herself that life isn’t fair

Then exhaled from her lungs a deep puff of air.

She got up and looked at the new side of the cabin. Finding it to be bizarrely disproportionate, almost as if it was a different cabin, a much bigger structure overall. She walked up to the door and knocked. It made no sound, the wood of the door was so thick & dense, it seemed to not allow any noise. She took a step back and yelled “Anyone home?”.

No one replied.

Then the door swung open.

She walked in, the ceiling was high, the interior was entirely wooden and ahead of her on a high up table, that was level with the window she had looked through earlier was the giant cake and the human shaped candle.

“Hello is anyone in?”

The entire house groaned as heavy footfalls caused creaks down the stairs. The loud deep heavy footsteps stopped as a giant shadow cast itself over her.

In the blink of an eye a large hand grabbed her and everything went black.

She woke up, but didn’t properly because she couldn’t see. Her eyelids were glued shut. She strained them open until eventually a slit of light filled her vision. Everything was out of focus then it wasn’t. She was unable to move her head or any part of her body, so her eyes were all she could use.

At first she thought she was looking at her reflection in front of her, in the mirror, but the thing is that she was paralyzed, while the “other her” was moving.

It took her a moment to realise that it was the same window she once stood at and was seeing herself from the other side doing exactly what she had already done before entering the creepy cabin.

She stared at herself and tried to thrash about and scream for help. But it was no use. The wax was thickening all over her body as the burning heat on top of her head continued to increase. The crusty twisted wick of hair on top of her head, with the autumn leaves still in it from when she fell over outside.

The other version of herself at the window disappeared moving out of the edge of the window frame, repeating the steps she had once made.

She could feel the flame melting the wax on top of her head… and soon the wax wouldn’t be the only thing melting. Her eyes squinted down seeing that the red icing surrounding her feet was definitely not icing, but something made from the means of a blood filled fate. As for what she had originally thought to be white chocolate bits “as big as your arm” , seeing them more closely, she realised they were bones.

The hot wax on her head continued to pour down in a melting fashion, and soon enough the wax wouldn’t be the only thing melting.