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Human Curiosity and the Green Flame

"Fools rush in where angels refuse to tread."

By Bunny Published 2 years ago 3 min read
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The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The candle itself wasn’t the draw, it was the flame. A bright green hue that one could see through the woods for miles. It drew many to the location, but once there, no one dared to enter the cabin.

Their hearts would race, their breath catching in their throats. Sweating pooling at the back of their neck, as fear took their hearts in a fierce grip. Something was there in the darkness, watching… waiting.

The green flame became brighter the more visitors ran from it, as if it were feeding off the fear they left behind at the cabin door. The brighter it became; the more people came to the cabin.

Then there came the investigators.

The fear did not chase them away. They were used to locations of mystery and nightmares. So, they laughed off their fears and opened the door to the cabin. Venturing into the dust and decay that lay within, some of the fear returned. Because each bump they heard made them turn to each other. But none claimed the noise as their own.

As all the time, the candle and its flames stood in the window. Watching… waiting.

The investigators set up their fancy equipment in the small one-room cabin. There wasn’t much space to investigate, but something was causing them to speed things along. Something nipping at their heels, hurrying them, causing them to miss wires they had hooked up a million times before. A monitor broke, a camera refused to turn on. Batteries that were brand new became drained in seconds. All things they had faced before, but in the light of the green flame, it made it worse somehow.

They again tried to laugh off their fear, but this time something from the corners giggled at their attempts. It made the investigators freeze in place.

Funny ones, you humans are.

A voice out of the corners of the room echoed. The green flame dancing in the window, causing the shadows to dance with it. The investigators, frozen from the giggle before, held their breath as they waited and watched.

Their waiting paid off as a spark from the flame caught a stray wire from one of their monitors. Within moments, the flames were spreading, chasing the investigators around the room like a little kid playing tag.

As they ran for the door, it slammed shut on them with an enormous crash. A mark burned on the back of the door appeared before them as the room continued to brighten as the flames spread. The ashen remains of a person, etched deep into the back of the door.

They hadn’t been the first to dare to enter the cabin, they would not be the last. They would be just another meal for the creature that lay within. A mammoth being of monstrosity propositions arose from the shadows. Its whole body is made of green flames and ash. Its eyes, large dark shadowy pools that swirled with the stars and universes that it had seen pass him by. As it morphed itself into being, the investigators tried to pry the door open. The monstrous creature laughed. A hollow sound echoed throughout the room.

Fools. You humans are such fools.

As it spoke, waves of hot air enveloped the investigators. Melting them, and fusing them to each other before they became nothing but another burned stain upon the back of the cabin door. Their screams did not echo through the cabin as they burned, as the beast ate their terror the moment it surfaced within them.

Like nights and years past, when visitors would become too curious about the cabin and the mysterious green flame, Virimmas would come and claim them.

This was the cost of human curiosity.

Short Story
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About the Creator

Bunny

Hello everyone! My name is Bunny (well nickname is anyways - pay no attention to the name behind the curtain). I go by she/her, and am a panromantic asexual. I have a great love for everything comics, horror, and fantasy.

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