The Cabin

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Unknowing of the danger that candle brought to them. Deep in the Adirondack Mountains, a group of four friends went on a trip to get away from the bustle of The Big Apple. Erica found the idea to go hiking and camp for Memorial Day, since the group had four days off work. After some extensive google searching she came across a nice secluded camping area. It was decided quickly this was the place for them to go. Erica, her husband Mike and Angie from the marketing division with her husband Derek. Mike worked with Erica in accounting, they actually met here, freshly out of college and hired together. Angie was hired shortly after Erica and Mike, she is a peppy and outgoing person but reminds Erica of your basic hippie. Not that it’s an issue with her, Erica genuinely enjoys having Angie around. Erica and Mike have never met Derek though, so they have no idea what to expect of him. Angie describes him as “her twin, but in guy form”.

Friday afternoon, Erica ducked out of work at lunch to go pack the car with hers and Mike's things for the trip. The group was taking Angie's car because it has third row seating, so a little more room for their gear. Angie said she packed their things last night and that Derek would be picking them up at work so they could get an early start. It’s just over five hours to get to Gothics Mountain, it’ll be too dark to hike by then, but Erica had already booked a couple rooms for them for the night. They’re lucky I plan ahead or we’d be camping in the car our first night - was Erica’s thought when she booked their rooms. Derek picked the three up and they were off for a weekend of light hearted adventure and fun. Excitement buzzed through the car, they jammed to some music on the ride, gladly it wasn’t nearly as awkward with Angie and her husband as Mike expected and they actually had some common interests.

With the first night of their trip behind them it was time to prepare for the ride to their campsite. They follow a long seasonal road for about twenty miles, when suddenly the path is barricaded. The GPS says to continue straight, but Derek quickly notices his phone has no reception. Meaning the GPS can’t update. The group starts to get anxious, but Mike is quick to help calm them down. He suggests they turn the car around before anything, but also reminds them he has an emergency GPS that should be able to figure out where they are and where to go. The backup worked, and they soon found a path that should lead them to the camp area. It’s only a few miles off the road from what they can tell, so they load up. Derek locks the car, and leaves the spare key on top of the tire. Taking the fob with him, just in case.

“Why are you doing that?” Angie asked Derek, obviously confused about the key situation.

“Well, what if one of us were to get lost or something, if we found our way to the car we could honk the horn for help I guess. I don’t know, I just saw it on one of those survivor shows and thought it was a good idea.” He seemed a little embarrassed when Mike piped up and agreed it was smart. Which seemed to ease Derek a little.

“Well let’s get going guys, we want to get there before dark so we can cook!” Erica exclaimed.

The group headed into the forest, just off the barricaded seasonal highway.

It’s been a couple hours of hiking. Everyone is hot and getting tired, but Mike and Derek keep reassuring the girls that the GPS says it’s “Just up ahead”

“I propose a ten minute breather and water break. That way we can collect ourselves and stuff. It’s way hotter here than in the city. Must be because of the ocean. I’m whooped!” you can hear the exhaustion in Erica's words as she tries to steady her breath and talk at the same time.

“A quick break is a good idea, I’m about to spring a leak. I’ll look ahead a little for a minute while I ‘relieve’ myself” Mike says quickly as he hurries off.

Mike finds a spot to pee and trails forwards a bit, looking for any sign of this campsite. He looks at the GPS, and suddenly its screen goes fuzzy and turns off.

“Shit shit shit, no!”

Suddenly a weird feeling fills him, like he’s being watched. He knows that there are three other people with him that could be coming to check on him, but it’s not a familiar feeling. He scans the woods around him and sees nobody, but can hear a twig snap in the distance. He snaps his head around towards the sound, but doesn’t see what did it.

“Hey, babe, what did you see?”

He’s relieved to hear the sound of Erica’s voice, but when he turns to her he doesn’t see her loving gaze. Instead, it’s her face decaying, filled with maggots. Body covered in fresh dirt like she’s just dug herself out of a shallow grave. Shocked, and filled with horror, all Mike can think to do is shake his head around like resetting an etch-a-sketch. When he opens his eyes, he sees his wife. Hands on her hips, waiting expectantly for his very delayed response.

“Uh, well. Sorry, I umm we have a problem.. With the GPS. It died I guess, the screen went blank and it won’t power back on. But I think we just go this way a little longer and it should be there. It looks like the trees thin out a little. Are they ready?”

“What do you mean it died? That’s supposed to be a military grade GPS and battery! Angie, Derek, this way. We’re ready to keep going!”

They quickly rejoin the group and they’re off, no idea where they're going or where they are. Well Angie and Derek think Mike knows. About an hour later they come across a clearing and an old cabin. It’s pretty shabby looking, but the group is losing light now and they’re all getting pretty tired and hungry.

“Oh thank god, Erica, you booked us a cabin?! Way out here? I knew you wouldn't leave us to tenting it out!” Angie squeals with delight and hugs Erica around her shoulders, the pep already restoring the group's morale.

“I actually didn’t, Angie. But it doesn’t look like it's been in use recently, so maybe we could check it out. It would be nice to have a roof. These woods have been creeping me out!” Erica shivers before she asks the guys if they would give it a look over inside while the girls check the outside. The girls see a fire pit, but no recently chopped wood, another good sign they shouldn’t be disturbbed. Erica gathers some twigs and small logs she finds along the treeline while Angie is clearing out around the pit and setting up their food to cook.

“Here’s a few pieces of wood, I’m going to get us some more. I think they’re cleaning up in there before we see it so we should get ready for the night. There's probably a small fireplace inside too.”

“Yeah, no problem. I’m going to get dinner going, I’m starving!”

Erica heads back to the treeline and is making a pile of logs to take back in a couple arm loads. She’s making pretty quick work of it, and takes some more to Angie. When there’s plenty to cook with she makes a pile by the small porch of the cabin, and goes back for a little extra. She's never used a wood fireplace before so Erica is not quite sure how much you need for one night. The wind shifts once Erica is at the treeline again, filling her nose with an awful smell. She plugs her nose, but when she pulls her hand away it's covered in black blood that smells like sulfur. She stares at it in disbelief, her nose isn’t bleeding but there's the blood. She feels something looking at her from the woods, she scans the area she can see around her but there’s nobody there. She looks back at her hand and the blood is gone, but the smell remains. She looks around her again and when she sees nothing she decides they have enough wood and quickly rejoins her friend. Angie is cooking up a few burgers, and almost finished by the time the guys emerge from the cabin. You can see the dust roll off of them as they step into the fresh air. Erica pats them off before they cover the food that Angie just slaved over in dust.

“How’s the cabin, guys?” Angie asked, very eager to go to sleep.

“It looks better now, we got rid of the cobwebs and made sure the fireplace was safe to use. That should be all we need to do tonight. I started the fire, it'll probably be pretty chilly here soon.” Derek said, with a mouthful of food. “Oh and I found a couple candles I lit for us to have some light”

Unknowingly this poor group has put themselves in more danger, making themselves more obvious to the dark thing tracking them. The smoke from the fire outside, the soft glow of life in this long abandoned cabin. But this was just the beginning of their bad choices.

“Alright guys, I have some beer in this bag where Erica’s extra sandals were packed- sorry hun- or i have some vodka in this bag where my extra jeans were packed -again sorry babbe to repack on ya- and i got spliffs all around guys, pick your poison!” Mike said, sparking himself a blunt and passing to Erica. Probably to diffuse her annoyance at leaving her sandals at home for some beer.

It’s dark now, the group has all had their drinks and packed their food items up to bring inside. The fire is down enough so they all relocate to the cabin. They make up their sleep spots in front of the fireplace, bring in a few extra pieces of wood and latch the door shut. The only light inside are the two candles in the windows and the fire, glowing around the group of friends as they shoot the shit and work on sleep. The guys a little more sauced than they planned to be, and the girls were just as fried as they needed to get a good night's sleep. They were all about to be asleep when the house shook. Like someone knocked, but it echoed through all their heads. Amplified like a stadium loudspeaker. The girls sit up and look at their husbands and back at each other. Derek puts his finger to his mouth to signal thm to be quiet. They're so far out of town, very deep in the woods. What on earth could be knocking on this door that way? Mike gets onto all fours and crawls to the door, trying to look through the seam of the door frame to see who is there. The sound of a wind chime rings through the silence, and the sound of footsteps on the cabin roof. The four are thoroughly scared now, not sure what to do and not wanting to make any more noise to alarm whoever is outside.

“What should we do, I mean there can't be anyone there. Maybe it was an animal crawling up there and like a tree fell over or something? That would make a lot of noise, right?” Angie whispers.

“How about you and Erica go hide by the bathroom and me and Mike will take a look outside and we can finally get some sleep and get the fuck out of these woods in the morning” Derek said. You could tell he was ready to leave right then, if it weren't for the seven mile hike back to the car in the dark woods.

‘Are you sure it’s a good idea to go out there? What if there IS someone there. Maybe it's just my city brain here but I am never going camping again!” Erica chimed in. “I’m so sorry I dragged us out here for THIS!”

She began to cry, overwhelmed with fear and guilt for everyone having such a terrible time. All she wanted was some time away from the city with her friend and husband ( and Derek too of course). Not a full day's hike to not even find where they were trying to go. Angie puts her arm around Erica, and rubs her shoulder trying to comfort her when suddenly there's more crying coming from right behind the girls. It sounds like over exaggerated sobs mixed with sarcasm and it quickly shifts to maniacal laughter.

“ You lit my candles and now I will extinguish YOUR flames!”

The figure has long gray hair that looks like it hasn't had a brush through it in years. The hair falls in front of her face but reveals her wicked and twisted grin.

“You shouldn't have come here. Shouldn't have entered my house. This is your fault, now, get ready for the consequences!” She continues to laugh, filling everyone with even more fear. Erica and Angie run towards the door but the woman throws her arms out towards them and pulls her empty fists back to her, yanking the girls. Angie is thrown to the floor, hitting her head and knocking her unconscious. Derek leaps towards the woman to defend his wife but she pushes him off too, he's laying next to Angie on the floor, but unable to move. The woman turns to Erica, unable to fight the hold she has on her. She runs her sharp nail down the side of Erica's face, leaving a large cut and blood running quickly off her jaw.

“Please! Don’t hurt her!” Mike pleads. “Just let us go, we'll leave right now and never return, just let me and my wife and our friends go. We didn’t know this was anyone's home, we just needed shelter for the night”

“Oh I won’t need to hurt your precious girl” The meaning of that is unclear, but the woman's laughter is a clear sign this is not a good thing. Suddenly the laughter transfers from the woman to Erica. She's standing on her own again, blood mixed with tears pouring off her face as she picks up the large kitchen knife sitting nearby. Erica looks to her husband, crying and obviously not in control of her own body, she mouths `` I'm sorry” as she cuts her own throat and falls to the ground.

“You see, Mikey. There's no ‘oh just let me go’ you lit those candles. You summoned me, do you know how long I've been asleep? Like forty years! I’m ready for some carnage. Or as I call it, fun.” Her smile widens even more as she steps closer to the unconscious couple on the floor. She whispers something in Derek's sleeping ears and he stands, eyes closed but somehow moving with ease. He steps closer and closer to Mike who is cornered by the door that he can't open. Derek pushes him to the wall, both hands around his neck. The woman's voice comes from Derek “Now you all will pay the price for your mistakes”

Angie starts to come to and sees her best friend dead, her husband choking out Mike and the woman just laughing on and on. Mike collapses to the ground and Derek turns back to his wife. Angie sees his eyes are all white, and as he steps closer to her she hits him with a beer bottle to try and slow him down. The woman laughs at her through her husband.

“Poor little Angela, no friends, no more husband. You know what comes next? Ohhh come on baby, give it a guess, don't be scared to be wrong. You're always wrong anyways, aren’t you? Okay, okay. I'll tell you. It starts with your love killing you and then me killing him and hanging you all on my porch like wind chimes so the next people coming through the forest will see how stupid you were!” She laughs some more.