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"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window," Arvis said. "I must have gone by that cabin a number of times. I hiked there all the time as a kid. The old property never really stuck out that much from the scenery. It had faded exterior, the front door barely hung onto its hinges, and the cobwebs... there were enough of them to fill a pillowcase. But when I saw that candle, I couldn't help but accept the invitation. Desire overwhelmed my thoughts. The wind chimes ringing off the porch were like a siren song. I had to go inside that old oak cabin."

Arvis cleared his throat. He stared at the campfire, the flames dancing in the wind, and the smoke drifting all around us like a hazy dream. The smell of burnt wood filled my nostrils. I could smell it in my hair and my contacts were ever-so-slightly reacting to the thick gray smoke.

My grandmother had a weird saying. It went a little like this: "Campfires send out charms to protect those listening to ghost stories, and that's why people feel so comfortable sharing their creepy stories while in a circle around a giant blaze. Since the dawn of time, people have gathered around fires to talk, and it even makes you feel comfortable around perfect strangers. The smell of burnt wood keeps the listening dead from attacking the talking living."

I'm certain the smoke around us that night was a layer of protective magic, but that doesn't mean I was ready for Arvis and his spooky tale. The man was in his forties. He wore a black hoodie, overalls, and big brown hiking boots. He was a large man, pushing 7ft. His beard and nails were neatly trimmed, so it'd be safe to bet he was someone who mingled with others and not a hermit or some hillbilly who didn't keep up with aesthetic pretenses.

Arvis had stumbled onto our campfire—I was with members of an outdoor recreation club. He joined us for some beer and trail food, and he was pretty quiet, until around midnight when he felt so inclined to share his story—a story that I think about from time to time while wide awake in bed, desperately scrubbing my skin in the shower, or lost in the middle of a road trip.

Don't get me wrong. I've tried to find Arvis on social media. It's not a common name. It means "the people's friend." There is something peculiar about meeting a fellow in a black hoodie, who sits around quietly, has the craziest ghost story imaginable, and is called "the people's friend."

When I looked across the fire into his eyes, I felt a cold sensation tingle down my spine. The man looked into the fire as if it could hit the play button to his memories—memories that would probably be better if kept in a sealed vault guarded by immortal dragons.

"And ever since I went into that cabin, I always carry a special knife with me," said Arvis. The crackling of the fire seemed to pick up at that moment, but perhaps it was just because everyone was eerily quiet. Special knife?

Arvis poked the fire with a stick. He leaned closer to the flames. "Do you want to hear all of my tale?" he asked. There were head nods of agreement among us—there were eleven in our group, plus Arvis. Betty, a rock climbing daredevil, said, "Hell, yeah! Scare me out of my gourd!"

My friend sitting next to me, Katie, drew her knees into her chest. She wrapped a blanket around her. I suppose these were her ways of mentally preparing herself for a ghost story.

An older man in our group, some might call the leader, Daniel, spoke up, "We, as a group, try to open the floor to anyone to have their say. We're well versed in ghost stories, so it would take a lot to really scare us. You're welcome to tell your tale."

"Rock on," said Arvis. "Feel free to leave and go to your tent at any time. My story isn't for the faint of mind." He took a water bottle and gurgled it down in big gulps. He wiped his mouth, and then he squeezed the bottle, making a loud crisp plastic sound. He tossed it to the ground where it rolled into crunchy leaves.

"It was twenty years ago. I was walking in the woods alone. The cabin was a decent size. It had two stories. As I approached the building, there was a really strong stench, like old pumpkins or molding fish. The ground was damp and cool. The old window shutters were creaking and the wind chimes were ringing," said Arvis. He raised his black hoodie over his head.

"The front door wasn't locked. It was coming off the hinges and was in serious need of WD-40. There were noticeable gaps around the edges, and the door was crooked. When I pulled the door open, it unsettled a great deal of dust. That was probably a sign that I shouldn't enter, but I ignored it," said Arvis. He looked around at the other campers' faces. He was gauging our level of interest.

"When I entered the house, I went to the front room—the room with the burning candle. There was an armchair facing a wall with peeling wallpaper. There were spray-painted words on the wall, but it wasn't in English. Different alphabet. Maybe Russian? I don't know." Arvis took a deep inhale of air. He was building—intentionally—to the juicy parts.

"I walked over to the other side of the chair and found a boy sitting there. He was about eight years old or so. His feet didn't touch the ground. He was staring at the wall as if hypnotized by it. Then he noticed me. A big smile stretched across his face. He was missing his front two teeth. He said, 'I really want to go fishing today. Will you take me fishing?' Then he turned, and in the darkness, something seemed to change because all of a sudden the child's right eye was missing and there was a big gash in his head, and fluids were leaking out of the gash. His skin was bluish."

"The child repeated his request to me, 'Will you take me fishing? I think the water is okay today. It isn't black.' Then I noticed in a corner was a fishing rod with a blood-stained hook. There was something round on the floor in the shadows, about the size of a golf ball."

Some people at the campfire shuddered.

"The child shrugged and then stood up. He said, 'Never mind then.' He grabbed his fishing rod, put on a fishing vest with scratch marks all over it, and went into the woods. I watched him from the window as he cast his line, he awkwardly ambled as children do, he lowered to pick up rocks, and he seemingly threw those rocks into water that wasn't there to make ripples."

"Then there was a look of panic from the child. He seemed to mime some fight with a bigger force than him, and he dived into the ground screaming for help, screaming like he was going to drown. Then he disappeared. Vanished into thin air! His fishing rod was still visible, and I promise on my father's grave, there was an eyeball on the hook."

"I walked away from the window, and I looked over at the armchair. I about lost my lunch when lo and behold: the child was there again in the chair staring at the wall. On the side table next to him, the candle was burning a blue flame. The child didn't look at me, but he said those same words again, 'Will you take me fishing?'"

"The lights flickered for a moment. The child said, 'Oh, I thought the power was about to come on. Oh well. At least we have candles. I guess I should wait to go fishing today. Mommy doesn't like it when I fish at night.'"

"I looked away at the stairs. I noticed there was a stanchion with a rope blocking off the steps. Out of the shadows, a man appeared, but he wasn't entirely a man. He had the head of a buck sewed to his neck. He wore red flannel and holey jeans. He was carrying a clipboard. His giant eyes were a deep red. He came up to me and tapped his clipboard a few times with a long black pen. He said, 'You're late. I almost forfeited your reservation. Are you ready to see the master?'"

"I replied, 'Who is the master?' The buck-head man scribbled on his clipboard. He said, 'Do you have any bags?' I replied, 'No, I don't have any bags.'"

Arvis paused to swat a fly that had been circling around him for a long time. He said, "The buck-head man looked up from his clipboard. He seemed to think it was odd that I didn't have any bags. 'I'll take you to your room. You don't mind staying upstairs, do you? Our only vacant room is up there.'"

Arvis paused his story. He pulled out a lighter. "Does anyone have a cigarette?" he asked. The woman next to him, Molly, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to him.

Part II

Katie, who was very tightly wrapped in her blanket to where you could only see her face, said, "Please, for the love of God and sanity, tell me you didn't go up those stairs."

Arvis smiled, and it was—in a word—unsettling. He puffed some smoke from his cigarette. He said, "What would be the fun in not going upstairs?" He flicked the tip of his burning cigarette, "And you seem to think I had a choice in the matter. There was no turning back at that point, but you have the choice to turn back. If you don't like hearing about a ghost boy who loves to fish and a buck-head man with a clipboard, you're not going to like what I have to say about the upstairs. That's where the real frightening took place."

Katie sat there for a moment, quietly thinking over her options. She eventually got up, folded her blanket, and left to go to her tent. She wasn't the only one to leave. An older woman, Ada, got up and said, "It's too late for an old geezer like me. I'm going to go hit the haystack." She went back to her tent. So that left ten of us—nine listeners, and one talker.

Daniel looked around at everybody. He said, "Does anyone else want to leave?"

No one moved or made a sound.

Daniel shrugged. He said, "Alright then. Whenever you're ready to continue your story, Arvis, we're ready."

I didn't want to leave because I didn't want people to think I was a wuss. I made every effort not to wince at gruesome details.

Arvis dropped his cigarette on the ground and smashed it with his boot. "The buck-head man unhooked the rope on the stanchion. I went up the stairs, and he followed," said Arvis.

"There was blood trailing down the stairs and broken glass. As I made my way up, there was a series of sounds that overwhelmed me. I have no idea how I couldn't hear those things while on the first floor. Screams, loud whispers, cackling, furniture moving, ringing bells."

"The hallway upstairs was long. It seemed longer than the cabin itself. Rooms were open, and I saw many strange things as the buck-head man escorted me to my room. In the first room on the left, a woman was levitating in a white dress. Her long hair was waving around like snakes. In the background, there were these images of cars moving at quick speed. The woman started flailing her arms as if she was hurled in a giant blast."

"Down the hall, there was a girl who was rolling her own head on the floor. It was a game to her. She would roll it... then go and pick it back up... and do it all over again." Arvis stared deeply into the roaring flames.

Daniel interrupted the story. "Do you mean the girl was headless, or did she have an extra head that she rolled on the floor?"

Arvis glared at Daniel for a long while. He never did answer the question.

"In another room, a woman was on a spinning board and a man was throwing knives at her. He landed one in her neck. She turned a pale bluish color."

"There was one room where an old man was sleeping in a bed and someone in a dark cloak with very long fingers was hovering over him. Reminiscent of sleep paralysis dreams. Except the person in the cloak strangled the old man. The scene kept repeating itself."

"Perhaps the room that disturbed me the most was at the end of the hallway. There was just a well in the middle of the room. I could hear someone whispering something from inside it. Whatever they were saying, it was indiscernible. I was too chicken to go into the room to look in the well," said Arvis. He shuddered and seemed to wipe down goosebumps on his arms.

"The buck-head man told me, 'I'm impressed that you've made it this far. You've been noticeably kind to the other guests. You haven't asked a single question or shown any sign of disgust. Your compassion makes you the perfect candidate.'"

Betty interrupted the story. "The perfect candidate? For what?"

"I'm getting to that," said Arvis. "This is probably a good time to let you know that what happens in my room is far scarier than what I saw in the hallway. I've really only touched the tip of the iceberg here. So if you want to leave now, you totally can. To be honest, no one has ever stuck around to hear my full story."

Part III

Darcy and Tracy looked at each other. We call them the "Camping Gemini Twins." Darcy yawned and stretched her arms over her head. She said, "It is getting late. I'd love to sit and listen, but tomorrow we have a big hike. I'd like to get some shut-eye and a string of zzzs." And with that, Darcy and Tracy left to go to their tent. Molly also went back to her tent. But first, she left behind a pack of cigarettes, and she let people know they could help themselves to a good smoke.

Seward, who had been perfectly quiet and expressionless, also left the circle. That means there were five listeners left and one ghost storyteller.

"The buck-head man took me to the end of the hall. There was a black door with a silver handle. Buck-head said, 'There is still a guest in there. He hasn't checked out yet. You'll need to talk to him, so he'll know it's okay to leave."

"'But what if I don't want to stay here?' I said. 'I'm not sure I really want to stay at a lodge for ghosts.' Buck-head shook his head. The antlers gently rattled. He said, 'That choice isn't for you to make. Everything has been planned out. This is your fate.'"

"The buck-head man then opened the door. He told me he couldn't go inside the room because it would upset the master. So I stepped into the dark room alone."

"I was astonished by what I found. There were all these gears and pieces of glass hanging from the ceiling. The room was gigantic. If you went to the eye doctor, and his equipment was as big and grand as a pipe organ, that's what was before me. It was this giant collection of nobs and gears for an eye exam. There was a man sitting on a chair behind the eye equipment with the lens-changing-glasses in front of him, you know, the big thing where they adjust what lens you're looking through."

"The man had a hump, and with his black cloak on, he looked like that black cloth people used to cover themselves when taking fancy pictures in the late 1800s, or whenever. I couldn't see his face, body, hands, nothing. Just a black cloak. The room was really dark, so I'm not sure what all was in there."

"The man on the swivel stool asked me to come sit and look through the lenses. He said he wanted to check my vision. I said, 'That's okay, man. I'm not really interested in an eye exam. It's too dark in here anyway.' But he was insistent. He said, 'I really want you to come see something. It will clear up the confusion you have.' Again, I rebutted, so to speak. I said, 'I was told to come in here and tell you to leave. There is a man with a buck-head with red eyes, and I really don't want to disappoint him because he seems dangerous. I'd like to get out of here, but I assume that will cost me gravely. So I'm just trying to stay here for the night. I kind of think I'm in a bad dream at this point, so I'm just going along with it.'"

"The man on the stool laughed at me. He said, 'That's the most original thing I've heard while at this cabin. Usually, people are screaming and begging to leave here. You have thick skin, son. That's why the cabin picked you.'"

"I said, 'Am I dead? Am I a ghost too?' The person on the stool got up and stepped away from the optical machine. 'There is only one way to find out for certain,' he said. 'Come look into these lenses.'"

"I figured, if I just do what this dream or chaos tells me to do, it will end sooner. Fighting it could actually make things worse. So, yeah, I sat down on the stool. And he brought the lenses to my eyes. I was tightly closing my eyes though."

"The man said, 'It's okay to look. Once you see what I can see, you'll have knowledge that will change everything. This knowledge will guide you to greater understanding.' I slowly opened my eyes, and it was the most disturbing minute of my life.'"

Arvis took a cigarette, lit it, and smoked it. "Sorry, I need to pause for a moment," he said. "This story can suck the energy right out of me." A couple of people stretched in their chairs and made themselves comfortable. "Anyone got coffee?" asked Arvis. No one said anything. He shrugged it off.

"When I opened my eyes, I could see fields and fields of dead people. Random body parts were moving independently on their own. Hands quickly crawling in the grass with no body connected to them, mouths attached to trees trying to suck up water, and eyeballs climbing up fishing rods to get stuck on hooks."

"There were headless men riding horses into the night. They went into battle with other soldiers, and there was a great clanging of swords. I saw people crawling backward on their hands and knees looking for teeth to put back into their empty mouths. Children, who were nothing but skin and bones, were eating dust and crying because they had no real food to eat."

"Women were drowning in bloody quicksand. Men were hitting rocks with hammers, and they had been doing it for a long time because their bodies were falling apart... their limbs were breaking off their bodies. People exploded and then turned back into their regular selves. This happened over and over again."

"There was one woman who looked like my mom. She was tied to a tree. She kept screaming, but no one came to help her. She'd turn into a corpse and then back into the screaming woman."

"I pushed the lenses away from me. I felt like I was going to vomit. The man said, 'That was only the first setting. You should see what the other settings are like.'"

At this point, Sam got up from the campfire and left. He was out. Four of us remained: Betty, Daniel, Howard, and myself.

"I looked at the man, but I never could see his face. I said, 'What... was that?' He said, 'Those are all the ghosts who are suffering. They're caught repeating the last moment of their life that they don't understand: their death. They're not part of the living world, but they refuse to move on to the next. Their roots are too deep to get out of their liminal state. Do you know what a liminal state is?'"

"'No,' I said. 'What is a liminal state?' The man said to me, 'Think of it this way. You jump out of a window but someone hits the pause button. You never fall, you just hang there in anticipation of the next moment. You're suspended in time. That's what all those ghosts are going through that you just saw. They're in different parts of the world, and they're stuck without any relief. That's what the ghosts in this cabin are going through. And they're some of the most complicated ones to handle. I built rooms for those ghosts, so I could study them and figure out how to cut them from their roots. You have to use a special knife to cut ghosts free.'"

"'Why the hell did you show any of this to me?' I said. The man in the black cloak replied, 'Because you're the perfect candidate.'"

I should have realized something at this point that the other campers did. I was spellbound by the story. It got so weird. But I should have realized, this wasn't a normal ghost story. I was listening to the initiation story of something. Arvis was telling us how he was hired into something.

Part IV

We all shared glances with each other. Some people look concerned. Daniel looked unphased. Arvis said, "You know, if you don't want to hear what I have to say, you can leave."

Betty said, "Well, I sure don't want you to think I'm a wuss. But I'm about as tired as it gets. I think I've had enough of spooks tonight. Send my regards to the supernatural side of things." She got up, dusted off her pants, and went to the tents. Howard followed her.

It was just Daniel and me. We were the last ones there to listen to Arvis. Daniel was giddy with excitement, smiling from ear to ear. I tried my best to be expressionless.

Arvis held up two fingers. "The final two," he said. "This should be... interesting."

Daniel seemed to be over the moon for the garish details of the ghost story. He laughed and said, "Okay, let's get on with this. I want to hear the ending."

Arvis poked the fire; it was beginning to die. "'Because you're the perfect candidate,' the man in the black cloak said. 'I need you to have the same eyesight as me. I can't train you in all the ways, but it is time that I retire. I've lost my touch, and it seems someone stronger is needed to pull ghosts from their roots. I've been watching you for a long time. I know you will have no problem sending souls to the other side.'"

Arvis licked his lips. His face looked really dry. "I didn't particularly follow what this man in the black cloak was saying. It was all mysterious. I said to him, 'I'm not really interested in spooky business. I'm just trying to be a good and polite guest.' And the cloaked man said, 'I don't really care why you came into this cabin, or what you've told yourself is the reason for your staying. The point is, I'm ready to retire.'"

Arvis looked at his hands, as if he was uncertain whether they should be there. He said, "This is where things get pretty tricky. The man in the cloak stepped back into the shadows. Everything was real quiet. I thought maybe I was about to wake from a dream. Then I felt these things crawling up my legs. They were about the size of hands. They were bloodsucking leeches or some other nasty predator. A multitude of them crawled on me, covering every inch of my body—my head, my fingers, my toes. They started gnashing their teeth, pulling at my skin, reaching deep to get to my insides. I started screaming and wailing in pain, crying for somebody to help me. But the man in the cloak didn't do anything. The buck-head man never came."

"What I remember... was lying on my back as these bloodsuckers were attacking me. I tried to punch and kick them away, but they'd just bite back harder, ripping my flesh. They were skinning me down to my bones. The worst experience was when they got to my face. They used their sharp teeth on my ears, ridding me of cartilage. They took away my lips. And the worst of all, they ate my eyes. It felt like vacuums with teeth were pulling out my eyeballs."

"I could still hear, taste, and smell when they were done with me. But I could no longer see. They took my human sight, and all I could see from then on was the whirling of ghosts tangled up in the wind as they search for the afterlife."

"Eventually, the bloodsuckers had their fill and scurried away. As I was lying there on the ground, screaming in pain, a thick sheet fell over my body. I was trapped, suffocating, and afraid. I tried to break free. This sheet or blanket was so heavy, and I was so weak."

"I felt around the floor until I found a knife. It was long and curved, something you'd use to cut wheat. I took that knife and started cutting my way through the sheet. To make matters worse, the sheet was resistant to the blade."

"At last, after a lot of flailing, I punctured a spot in the sheet and all the air started seeping in. I reached my hands toward the hole, and the blanket seemed to lose its heaviness. I stood up and the sheet came down my body. My head came out of the hole; I was reborn. The sheet wrapped around my shoulders and neck. I felt my face with my hands... I was nothing but bones."

The fire was dying. Little embers were fading into ashes. Blood was trailing out of Arvis' eyes. He was staring his big, hollow yellow eyes at me. He placed a hand on Daniel, who convulsed, fell out of his chair, and died on the ground.

Arvis, the people's friend, said to me, "One day, you're going to be in the middle of nowhere, and you're going to stumble onto a cabin with a candle burning in the window. You'll be full of desire to go into that cabin to see if the things I told you tonight were true. You'll meet the master when he's ready to retire, and you'll become the new Grim. So live your life wisely now, and do all the things you want. Because a cabin is coming to you. Your fate is sealed."

Arvis wiped the blood off his face. His hands were simply bones. He got up and walked straight into the woods, disappearing into the darkness. It was hell waking the others to tell them that Daniel had died and then dealing with emergency responders.

***

Cover image can be found at Wikimedia Commons.