Cabin Fever

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Ames sat on her hands, nearing the tip of her nose to the flame. Time will tell, she thought, then huffed. Best to keep your candle snuffed in these villatic woods. Smoke became her shadow as she listlessly recalled her mantra:

“My mind is sheer. My mind is sheer. The time comes when my mind is sheer. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m”-

A sickening sound interrupted Ames- a sound she heard too usually. Never had it emanated from her, though. This was the first time and she didn’t know whether to be terrified or ecstatic. The sound crescendoed from within her, erecting her hunched body. With hair on end, she welcomed it until she buckled to the floor. Her right cheek caught her weight. It fractured right away.

Her eyes stayed shut for three whole days.

“Am I doing it?!” she screamed into the sticky white pine floorboards. “Time will tell”, replied the sound from still inside her, menacing, “Time comes when the mind is sheer. You know the rule- YOU made it clear!”.

Ames was silent as she fumbled across the floor on her previously scarred knees. High on delirium, she made her way to the kitchen of the derelict cabin where she arduously declared, “I am now!” She lit her candle with a grace that hasn’t been seen in this reality since the illumination stage. “AM I DOING IT?!” she bellowed again, to which the sound responded by pulling her ears into her head.

My mind is sheer. My mind is sheer. The time comes when my mind is sheer. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m- her thoughts came to a halt. Something strange had happened in the kitchen. She observed with her left eye a second candle now placed next to hers on the rotting kitchen table. Paralyzed, she sat for hours, losing her vision to the flame and wiggling her ears (now in here neck).

“Do you see us?” The meager voice’s whisper fell flat in the air. Do you feel us? The meager voice somehow entered into Ames. She had heard of telepathy once before but didn’t believe the tale. How could she ignore this though? The candle fell into her lap and burned her legs straight through. “AM I DOING IT?!” She screamed. She withered on the floor, drenched in anguish, crawling toward the door. She couldn’t feel her face but felt the sound erupting yet again, “Have you no sense of self?” It questioned. “Have you sense of pride?”

Her candle’s flame was dancing in the wind she created from unlatching the door. “HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF SELF?!” The sound was irrevocable. “HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF PRIDE?!”

My mind is sheer. My mind is sheer. The time comes when my mind is sheer. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing- no matter at all. My will is my command. My mind is sheer, now take me to the clear. Ames’s mind had never been as focused as it was in this moment. Transfixed upon the idea that she could transcend this hell through sheer will alone, her body lifted up off the floor. A wind swept through the cabin and intrepidly led her to her candle, still lit, undisturbed by the heavy air circulation.

It’s happening Ames thought ecstatically, swinging her feet through the air. She turned her ears back right side out and tucked her braid behind. My mind is sheer..