Cabin by the Woods

Becky was not a happy camper this year. She had become 10 years old in the spring and it meant that she would be assigned to one of the cabins for the older girls. Well this would normally not be a problem however there were three cabins set aside for girls ages 10 – 12 and the last cabin number 12 stood right at the edge of the woods. Becky was afraid of the woods at night and she prayed that she would not be assigned to number 12.

As luck would have it that was just the cabin they assigned. At that moment Becky fondly looked towards the lake by which stood three cabins meant for the younger girls ages 5 -9 where she had spent many happy summers. Resigned to her fate Becky entered cabin 12 and chose a bed for herself. The only thing which made the situation less stressful was that the other five girls in the cabin were friendly and it looked like they would all have fun together.

That first night after a fun campfire and hot dog roast the girls decided to finish up the evening by telling ghost stories. Now Becky wanted to beg them not to but she didn’t want to confess to her new friends that she was afraid. One by one they told their tales and then it was lights out. At first Becky couldn’t get to sleep and she looked out of the window seeing all sorts of shadows in the dark. There was a bright moon outside and the wind was blowing so it seemed that every moving branch was suspect.

Finally she became drowsy and suddenly she heard against the wall of the cabin thump, thump, thump. At first Becky held her breath but when she heard nothing else she put it down to her imagination and closed her eyes. Thump, thump, thump a bit louder now. Quickly she jumped out of bed and started shaking her friends awake. The girls were sleepy-eyed and confused and looked at her. Becky told them what she had heard and since there was now silence they told Becky that perhaps she has been dreaming. Suddenly quite loudly they all heard thump, thump, thump and the cabin shook.

Wide-eyed the girls looked at one another. They wondered what it could be and if any one of them was brave enough to run out of the cabin straight to the counselor’s cabin. No one wanted to risk it. Thump, thump, thump quite loudly now making the windows rattle. The girls decided that since there were six of them surely they could take on whatever it was and that they should go out and around the cabin to see what was making that awful noise. With hearts pounding, they heard the thumps getting louder by the minute.

So they put on their bathrobes and slippers and were about to open the cabin door when THUMP, THUMP, THUMP was accompanied by a loud, booming voice, “Get out of my cabin!” The girls all gave a jump but they were determined so they walked out of the cabin. Everything looked silvery in the moonlight. One of the girls had a flashlight and slowly they started walking to the corner of the cabin. They had no real plan but they figured that once they saw what was around the corner of the cabin they could quickly run to the counselors' cabin. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, and the cabin shook and the windows rattled. The six of them huddled together and reached the corner and all together quickly moved so that they could look down the side of the cabin. There thumping against the cabin was a large, hand closed up into a fist. The girls turned and ran as fast as they could move.