The Cabin and the Candle

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

No one knew the secret of the candle or why it burned. There were a lot of urban legends… and just like all the other horror stories, there's always a group of kids who want to debunk the myth.

I was in that group of kids and what happened that night forever changed my life. So I waited for what seemed like an eternity to tell this story. I don't know if it's out of fear that anyone would believe me or that I even believed what happened.

"So why bring it up now, Casey?" Audrey asked, partly inquiring and partly annoyed. "I mean, if it bothers you that much to talk about this, maybe you shouldn't."

"Well… because it's time. It's time for me to get things off my chest."

"I want the nightmares to stop. The guilt I carry weighs down on me like an anchor sinking deeper and deeper into the nightmares I have. I'm getting pulled into darkness, and it's starting to envelop me, Audrey. I'm afraid of what might happen if it takes over completely."

"So I take it, the meds and the therapy aren't helping?"

"To be honest, it's not," I say dryly.

"You know you remind me a lot of Rachel; she was very cynical just like you."

"Cynical? I'm rational. I only believe what I see with my own eyes. I read the news articles. Everyone saw the interviews. Everyone has their theories. I know you had a hard time, but how long will you beat yourself up over this? My God! You were just kids! Kids! You're lucky to be alive. When are you gonna start living, Casey?"

I feel a lump swell in my throat, and my eyes start to water.

But my sadness quickly turned to misplaced anger.

"I'm the only one that survived, Audrey!"

"Everyone important to me died that night. I lost my sister! My best friends!" I began to weep.

I have the pleasure of constantly reliving that night repeatedly in my head.

Audrey's face softens.

"Casey…I don't know how to help you." She whispers.

You can start by listening, just listen.

Summer 1984:

"Carter, why are you stopping?"

We had been walking for hours. You know how it is with kids; everything is far away. But somehow, I don't think that's why my sister was stopping.

"Casey, I don't want to keep going. So let's go back home."

"Carter, we can't. We already lied to Mom about spending the night at Steve's. Steve lied and said he was spending the night at Luke's. So if we go home now, the rest of the summer gets shit canned. You know Momma doesn't play."

"Just tell her I was having those headaches again."

"Carter, please!" I begged.

"Casey, I'm telling you something isn't right, and I want to go home!" She stomped.

I knew Carter was right; it was more than just the twin thing they say twins have. Carter had a sixth sense like no other; she was always right. Momma said she was born under "the veil." So I came out first, and then 7 minutes later came Carter, but she had a piece of my mom's placenta covering her eyes. Like sunglasses, my mom said. Superstition says if that happens, you're born under "the veil," and you have the gift of sight…being in between both worlds, the living and the dead. If you believe all that.

"So your sister was psychic?"

"I believe so. I thought my Momma and Nanna were crazy when I was younger."

I just thought she had an uncanny sixth sense as I got older. She saved my ass more than once. But I couldn't listen to her that night. I had other things on my mind.

"Carter, listen, we are almost there, I think. And we'll check it out, and then we can go."

"You think Rachel will go out with you if you do? If she thinks you're brave?"

I feel my cheeks getting red.

No point in lying to "placenta face." I never would have called her names if I had known how things would have turned out.

"Call me what you want, but I know this won't end well ."

My obituary is gonna say:

Here lies Carter Vanhorn… she fearlessly gave her life so her brother Casey could get laid. God rest her soul. My sister places her right hand on her heart forlornly.

"Shut Up, Carter!" I say curtly.

Just then, Rachel walks up with Steven and Luke not far behind.

"What are you two arguing about? You guys are the worst twins ever."

Carter wants to go home, but I am starting to have second thoughts myself.

"I knew you were a chicken shit, Carter."

Rachel says smugly while waving her flashlight around.

"And you, Rachel, are a bitch. Yet here we are."

Rachel walks up to Carter, and they square up nose to nose.

Our cousin Steve wedges his way in between them.

"Ladies, Ladies, calm down, no need for name-calling."

"This adventure is not for the faint at heart. If Carter is scared, I don't blame her. You heard the stories."

"Well, I haven't. Enlighten me." Luke chimes in.

Luke transferred to our school from Wisconsin. He was one of those cool kids. He was tall for his age and well built. Caramel in complexion with the whitest teeth I'd ever seen. He wasn't into clicks or being a jock, but you could tell he was athletic. He said he would never play for another baseball team other than the Meadowbrook Rangers, his old team, and that was that.

He and I became fast friends because we both liked comics. Although he was a marvel guy and I was DC, we found a way to coexist.

All the girls at school were fond of Luke and even some guys. He just had that appeal; you wanted to be him or be with him, but he was so cool it didn't even phase him.

"Luke, we made copies of the news articles you don't read? Typical jock." Rachel quipped.

Rachel was a bitch. But she was the hottest bitch at Riverbend Prep. Rachel was around 5 ft 7 in and of athletic build in stature. However, her mom was Greek, so even though she fit in the frame, she was fully figured in the breast and hip area. For a 10th grader, she was a coke bottle in the making. She had long wavy hair dark as night and eyes blue like the Caspian Sea. I could see the ocean in her eyes when I looked at her. And that smooth olive skin to top it all off. She had all the upper class-men vying for her. But she seemed to brush them all off. Her even speaking to me was a feat in itself. We worked on the school newspaper together. So I kinda got to know her. I asked her if she had a boyfriend, and she said no one at Riverbend Prep had the intellectual bandwidth for her. She needed to be mentally, not just physically, stimulated.

So I got to know her more and found out she loved ghost stories. So I started pouring over Riverbend's supernatural history. That's when I came across the cabin and the candle incident.

We started researching the events surrounding the cabin and ended up on this ghost hunt.

I just wanted a chance with her.

"I do read Rachel." Luke stated “But I want to know what's not in the papers, you know, the stuff they don't want to print because it's just too un-explainable."

"Well, she begins…you all know what happened in 1924. Six kids came to investigate this cabin, and no one made it home. They found all six bodies mutilated beyond recognition. They had funerals for all the kids, but some say they never found the bodies and had funerals to keep panic down. They blamed it on a bear or something; every 20 years, the candle lights the window for one night. Then no more. They think it's some kind of fluke with the sun or the moon shining on the window, but no one that's gotten close has lived or came back to tell the tale."

"I heard in 1944 that a couple went to the cabin to rekindle their relationship, and the boyfriend left to get firewood and never returned. The girlfriend left the candle burning so he would see it. They found his body a few days later in the woods mutilated. No one knows what happened to her. Maybe she haunts the cabin waiting for his return."

Steve chimes in. "I heard in 1964 that a couple went there, and the girlfriend tried to do some voodoo love spell that went wrong, and they both got sucked into some other dimension, and whoever sees the candle and blows it out can set them free." He adds.

"So what happens to the people that blow the candle out, dummy?" Rachel asks.

"That's the thing everyone that comes out here to see doesn't make it back. So nobody knows."

"It was probably just some serial killer, or in fact, a bear, and that's that," Luke said.

"That's why we need to go home!. I have a bad feeling about this." Carter begins to protest.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching Carter; we are almost there. You'll see it's a bunch of malarkey." Luke trudges on unphased by all the tales.

We had reached the end of the dead man's path, and the cabin was just a few feet in front of us.

Everyone starts moving toward the cabin, and I grab my sister by the shoulder and pull her to the side.

"You think this is gonna end badly?"

"Casey, I had a vision. Nanna said I would start having them soon.

All I see is blood and you, Casey, no one else."

Ok, so even more reason to turn back.

"I don't want to die by a bear or a serial killer Casey."

"They won't believe us, Carter."

"We have to try."

"I believe you, but we can't just leave them."

I look back and forth between the path and the cabin.

"Come on, I'll try to convince them."

We slowly make our way toward the cabin.

The cabin was in the center of the woods, alone and desolate. No other properties for miles on either side. It looked decayed and rotten. There were two windows on either side of the door. Both were still intact, but the one on the right still had the remnants of a tattered curtain. A weather-beaten rocking chair remained on the front porch.

Rachel decides to set up camp a few feet from the cabin. It was now or never. So I decided to speak up.

"Umm, guys. I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea. Carter has a bad feeling and thinks we should just head home. I do too."

"I'm not leaving, and neither is anybody else. We all lied to come out here, and we'll all get in trouble if we go back now." Rachel continues to set up camp.

"Well, we definitely can't get in trouble if we are dead! Maybe we should just leave." Steve had a point. He believed Carter too.

She didn't tell him about her vision, but he was our cousin and was familiar with our family's quirkiness, to say the least. Steve was always the voice of reason. He was tall and lanky like me, but he had dark hair and dark eyes, the opposite of Carter and me. We were twins with red hair and green eyes, so we stood out even more in the family. Steve was calm; he never talked much, but when he did speak, he was always insightful and the voice of reason.

Rachel wouldn't listen to any of us, though. Somehow she had become our fearless leader and was bound and determined to get to the bottom of whatever was happening here.

Carter began to prod at Rachel, "So what's the plan, Einstein?"

"The plan is we are gonna sit right here and watch the cabin. The stories and events recorded start around this time of year, every 20 years, so we sit here and wait."

"And if the candle appears in the window?"

"We can take a picture of it with my Polaroid," Luke said.

"And then what?"

"Then we go in and see what's going on," Rachel said.

"Oh no, why do we have to go in?" I wondered.

"Did you think we came all this way for a Polaroid?!

We have to have some objective, concrete evidence!" Rachel yelled

We all began to argue about going or not going in so loudly that Carter had to yell to get our attention.

"Guys! Look!"

We all turned toward the cabin and stared in silence.

Sure enough, what wasn't there before appeared. A single glowing candle in the window...

Luke breaks the uncomfortable silence.

"It's true." He whispers.

"Holy shit," says Steve.

"Please, I am begging you! Let's leave now!" Carter was frantic this time.

I was completely frozen. I was too scared to do anything.

Rachel made a Beeline straight for the cabin.

"It's showtime! Luke, get your equipment ready!"

Luke ran after her.

"We can't just let them go in by themselves!" Steve runs toward the cabin as well.

I look at my sister Carter and think, what do we do now?

She grabs my arm and drags me to the door of the cabin. I pull away.

"Carter, maybe we can run back and get help." "No, we won't make it."

"We have to go. It has already started." I didn't understand what she meant until we got inside.

So the five of us are standing in the center of the cabin unknowingly; we maneuvered back to back, I guess, so we could be ready from all angles.

The candle sat glowing on the table, eerily in the dark.

"So now what?" Steve said. Rachel begins to bark out commands, "Let's just take a few pictures, and then we can leave."

"Good idea." Luke begins taking photos of the candle. I wave my flashlight around, trying to visualize the rest of the cabin. Old furniture and things are strewn about. Some of the chairs have slashes through them and stains. Maybe old blood stains. I swallow hard.

"Guys, hurry up!" Carter is gripping my hand so tight I feel it's losing circulation. I wave my flashlight by the stairs, and I think I see a dark shadow move out of the light. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Rachel starts to move closer to the candle. Then, all of a sudden, the candle goes out. Then, an eerie voice resonates out of the darkness.

"Stay with me."

Luke screams and drops the camera. It's so dark no one can see. Just a hint of light shines in from the cabin windows. Then, suddenly, there is a thud on the floor.

I see Rachel pull on the windows, but they won't open. Carter and I stay planted and frozen. The dark figure I saw comes into view. A woman decayed and grotesque grabbed Rachel from behind.

"Stay with me!"

Rachel screams and tries to run. The woman grabs Rachel by the neck and rips at her throat with her bare hands. Rachel drops lifelessly on the cabin floor, and blood pours out of the gaping hole in her neck. I moved backward in horror and let go of Carter's hand. I trip and fall over Luke's lifeless body. His face was unrecognizable. I try to look for Steve. He is pulling on the cabin door, but now it won't open! The apparition grabs Steve and snaps his neck. He drops to the floor. Carter and I move toward the window. We get a better view of the woman in the moonlight. Her face is decayed, just dark sockets, a jagged mouth, her garments frayed but look old like something from the 1800s. She moves toward us. She looks at me and then at Carter.

She moves toward Carter. I think our fate will end up like the others.

She reaches for Carter and moves wisps of her hair out of her face.

She grabs Carter by the wrist and pulls her toward the stairs.

I grab Carter's other arm and pull her towards me. "Let her go!" I scream.

Carter looks at me with tears in her eyes. "Casey, she won't hurt me. I'm different." Now Carter starts to walk with her toward the stairs. I'm so confused. I move toward the stairs to try to save my sister one last time.

"Casey, Go! Now!"

The door to the cabin opens. I turn toward the stairs, and they are gone. I run out of the cabin, keep running, and don't stop until I get to the Sheriff's department. Deputy Cummings lets me in. I'm hysterical and frantic, trying to tell the story of what happened. They call an ambulance, and the medics come. Soon after, I am medicated. When I come to, I am in a hospital bed with my mom, Nanna, and a handful of officers in the room. They asked me again what had happened. I try to explain, but what do I say? So I just started from the beginning. In true adult fashion, they tell me what happened. I was so traumatized that I couldn't make out the assailant. They found my friend's bodies but not my sisters. I'm lucky that I made it out.

I pleaded with my Momma and Nanna to forgive me. My Nanna died soon after. I think of a broken heart at the loss of Carter. My mother and I never had the same relationship after that.

"Oh, Casey. I'm so sorry for all that guilt after all these years. I can only imagine. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time." Audrey says.

"But if that was traumatic for you, why are we here?"

Just as I finished my story, we arrived a few feet in front of the cabin.

As I did with my friends 20 years ago, just as the sun began to set.

Because Audrey, there's more to the story. You see, before my Nanna died, she helped me to understand my sister Carter better. She was the only one that believed me. Because my sister was not only psychic, she could also communicate with the dead.

"A medium?"

My Nanna knew that Carter would grow up more powerful than her and my mother. Because she was the way she was, she was like a beacon to the dead or lost souls like a light. After some more research, I found the real story of what happened in the cabin. A woman from the 1800s married a soldier and had one daughter. He left and never came home from the war. When she got the news, she burned a candle in the window every night in mourning. Soon after, when her daughter got old enough to walk, she ran out of the cabin and got lost in the woods. They searched for days and could not find her. The woman grew cold and lonely, reclusive. She still burned a candle in the window at night until she died for her husband and her daughter in case they found their way home. I believe she was so heartbroken her spirit lingered in the cabin, waiting for her daughter. Wanting someone to stay with her. My sister was the one that saved me that night. If only we all could have made it out. Because she was of both worlds like my Nanna said. I have been waiting 20 years to see her again. I promised her that we would be together again that night.

"But Casey, how? You're scaring me, and none of this makes any sense."

Just then, the candle begins to burn in the window. Then, I grab Audrey by the arm and drag her toward the door of the abandoned cabin. Audrey tries to get away, but my grip is too strong. I open the door and fling Audrey inside. "Casey, please!" she screams as the cabin door closes in front of me. I wait. Praying, a few moments later, my twin emerges from the cabin.

She runs toward me, and we embrace. "You figured it out; you came back!" I promised I would. Finally, I was reunited with my sister. Twins. The same but different. She was unable to age while suspended with the ghost of the cabin. We turn and look back to see Audrey banging on the glass, and then the candle goes out. We turn and walk hand and hand up dead man's path.