The Anniversary

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The pungent odor of the swamp in the distance and decaying vegetation couldn't be ignored by them either.

The four friends huddled as closely as they could while navigating the brutal brush and sloppy muddy ground. Brian, Jana, Quincy, and Lynn set out to celebrate their success as founders of a .com technology firm.

It had taken over twenty years to become a respected household name (ForeAGeek.com) and the business idea had been hatched on a camping trip without any technology.

Exhausted and scared, the illumination of their phones lessened the pitch black darkness while buckets of cold, hard rain fell. They knew they were lost. "This is all my fault!" Brian yelled. "I never should have tried to commit this damn hiker's path to memory. We're gonna get out of here-I promise and I'm so sorry," he said.

The remote and dense area prevented any signals from reaching a cell tower. There were some old hunter towers still standing in the area.


"It's okay B, we can figure this out," Jana responded. Both Quincy and Lynn looked at each other and decided not to respond. They quietly continued to walk in the rain behind their friends.

Lynn began to cry and she yelled in immense pain . Quincy quickly attempted to help her up but noticed a hunter's trap clamped to her ankle. Blood was now gushing from her injury.

"Oh God," Jana yelled and tried to help Quincy remove the trap. In shock at the sight of blood, Brian stood still and did nothing to help.

"Look!" yelled Quincy. He spotted a cabin just yards away. The trap had been removed but Lynn fainted shortly afterwards. "Brian, Brian, get a grip and help us here!" Jana and Quincy yelled.

The dim candle light in the cabin's window piqued their interest.

They lifted and carried Lynn towards the cabin.

As they walked up the old, creaky steps the cabin door opened quickly and without warning.

Persons shrouded in black robes and holding machetes continued to chant and move toward the exhausted campers. Lynn and Jana were snatched first and thrown into a cellar.

Brian and Quincy were blindfolded, handcuffed and marched outside the cabin. The eerie chants of unknown origin continued loudly by the shrouded inhabitants of the cabin. Brian began to cry and look at his newly inked hand tattoo. It was their .com's founding anniversary date. He also planned to renew wedding vows with Jana during this trip. Brian kissed the sentimental tattoo and continued sobbing.

The sunlight over the mountain was bright and hot. A beautiful hawk flew high above an experienced search party and finally perched itself in a nearby tree.

Rangers were already searching for the missing foursome. As one of the rangers walked deep into the brush he saw four bodies impaled on wooden stakes. Each body had a date painted on their foreheads. It was the anniversary date of the The Cabin Cult's Rite of the Moon sacrificial offering. The ranger gasped and yelled out for help.

As they all rushed towards the old, deserted cabin with its door wide open they quickly realized what an active brutal scene it still was now.

One of the younger rangers couldn't control his urge to vomit as he looked on in disgust.

As his fellow rangers also gasped at the scene one of them didn't really show any emotion. He stood quietly with his hands in his pockets. This was his moment to take a photo of the crime scene but to also memorialize the event.

"I can't believe it's happening again," one of the rangers stated while looking at the cabin. "We've tried to warn so many people to stay away from this particular trail. It's one thing to be a hunter with a gun, but quite another to wander into this area with no weapon of any kind."

The news of the missing friends trended for days on social media. Their car or other personal belongings were never recovered according to the rangers. Even after the grisly and unsolved mystery of "The Anniversary" case, the area continued to attract curious hikers from across the nation.

As word spread of the famous .com entrepreneurs untimely deaths more attention was placed on the net worth of their company. Books and even movie deals were offered to their families within months of their demise.

The Cabin Cult has never been proven to be a real underground society of an occult, machete wielding, methodical group of unknown people. However, in a world of hybrid fact and fiction this story could be real for many. An Anniversary should be one (a date) that is cherished for all the right reasons. As technology drives many of us into the wilderness to escape its grip it may be always a good idea to only travel where technology can find us literally.








































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Whatever I think can be... will manifest and become me
Author-Michelle
Whatever I Think Can Be Will Manifest And Become Me-Authored by Michelle SHAAY