The Echo

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. I had heard the rumors of the cabin before, but I was left a bit surprised by its condition. It had a few cobwebs, but it wasn’t as rundown on the inside as I thought it would be. The outer walls were covered in moss and the property covered in overgrowth that gave no sight to a stable or even a road that led to the place. With the extremely dense trees that created a rich, horrifyingly dark forest which surrounded the small field where the cabin lay, I only hoped it would block out the candlelight to the rest of the world. The wild region was difficult to navigate even for someone familiar with it.

I moved the candle away from the window and into the corner, to hinder some of the light from escaping. I tried to relax. There was nothing here, but that didn’t mean something couldn’t show up, like I had. Tomorrow’s tasks were going to be long, so rest was necessary. But first, I needed to know what was around inside to know where to start.

I looked over at the supplies I had. It was just a sack that was prepared for several days in town. It wasn’t thoroughly packed, but the situation didn’t allow me more than a few minutes. Just some clothes, a large knife, and a multitool. An axe sat next to it that I had taken from the wagon before leaving town. It would have been nice to have grabbed the gun and some ammo, or even the wagon itself with my horse, but that wasn’t possible in the rush.

Turning away from the small pile, I took a walk around the two-room cabin. A bed with blankets was in the back with a wooden tub. Picking up the blankets, there were a few holes in them from moths, but it was significantly better than what I thought I would find. A few holes were nothing to complain about. Could have been rodent droppings.

I left the backroom to the tiny kitchen area where a wood stove sat with no wood to fuel it. Dusty, but possibly working. The chimney would have to be checked before it could be used, but I didn’t need it right away, so it was going to have to wait. To the side and in the back corner, a counter and a few cupboards were placed holding practically gold within them. A weary smile formed on my face seeing the cast iron pots and pans, some tin dishes, utensils, and two jars of canned beans.

Perfect for breakfast in the morning to start the day fresh.

After another check, I grabbed the candle to make sure the door was locked tight before bringing it back into the bedroom. The candle was set on the side table that was more akin to a wooden box leaving me free to undress. The drops of red on the clothes left ignored. I couldn’t wrap my head around what happened, and it was far too late to try and make sense of it.

Crawling into the bed, I blew out the candle and attempted to get some rest.

Day 2

The following morning was thankfully uneventful. Nothing stirred in the trees or the field I walked through. I needed something to collect water if I had any hopes of surviving out here, be it a few days or months. The long grass was loud compared to the exceptionally silent forest. Not a bird chirped, and not a thing went through the undergrowth. It should have unnerved me, but after the last week, I wasn’t sure if there was much that could now. Before the silence would have screamed danger. That was what I was taught when hunting with my father and taking care of the house with my mother. If the birds went silent, go home. Something is on the way.

But that something already had come.

I shook my head, dashing the thoughts away and rounded the corner of the cabin. A suspiciously placed pitchfork was leaning against some rotting building attachment, poking out a bit dangerously. I continued on. There was no need to go on that side of the building, but it was impressive that it hadn’t fallen over yet. A part of me was curious to know how long it had been there, balanced between the rotting wood and the side of the cabin, poking out like a caltrop. I moved along and saw something glinting just barely out of the grass a few paces away. I went over and struck some more gold. The hoop of a wooden barrel was a bit rusty, but as I set it up right, that was the only thing wrong with it. No bugs had called the thing home and it wasn’t rotting.

I couldn’t have been happier.

But it turned out that I was wrong. I could be happier. Looking up from my find, two other barrels were in the same condition just laying there. It took everything I had to not laugh in glee, thanking God for the graces he had provided me.

One by one, I brought them over to the side of the building to set up my water collection system. A few sheets of metal from a wrecked stable and some broken glass later, the rain and water catchers were done. Even if it didn’t rain, the humidity and the dew wasn’t going to go to waste. It was all the water I had until I found a proper source.

What was next on my list?

I turned to the cabin. There were only a few windows, but it was going to be dangerous at night when I needed light. So, that was next: boarding them up. That wasn’t going to be too hard with all the fallen structures about. They were perfect for blocking out any light from escaping. After that, food needed to be secured. I wasn’t sure if there were any fruit trees in the area like there was back home, but I had seen many berries growing so that was better than using the last canned good I had. I didn’t want to waste it in case I had to leave. From there… Well, I couldn’t live on just berries. I was going to have to make traps.

I looked up at the sun overhead, blocking it partially by my hand. That was an awful lot of work to do with the remaining sunlight left. I was going to have to set up the traps come morning.

I got to the remaining tasks, starting with boarding up the windows to ensure that sunlight couldn’t come into the cabin. If it couldn’t come in, it meant the candlelight couldn’t go out.

Hours trickled by as I cut the wood down to size and hammered in with a rock. Eventually, no light came in, and no light was getting out. I looked at my progress in the now extremely dark room. I chuckled. If this had been home, I would have been at it all night trying to block all the windows. Mother loved the openness that windows brought to each room. The amusement faded.

They were better off now; I was certain of it.

I grabbed one of the large pots from the cupboard and went back outside, heading for the woods opposite the way I came to the cabin. I didn’t want to go anywhere near the town I came from. The less conspicuous I was, the less likely I was to be found.

It didn’t take long to find several bushes of blueberries, raspberries, and elderberries. They weren’t my favorite and I honestly wished I had found something else, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

I went to pick some for a snack before stocking up when the dirt under my nails made me cringe. My mother always made me wash my hands before eating and Alice always mocked me for not doing it as a child. But that was then, and there were times recently when I could get back at her for trying to sneak a pastry Mother had made. She always snubbed me off and said she was the oldest and could do what she wanted. Her hands were far cleaner than a boy’s. It was one of the small things the two of us bickered for fun about. That and the long nights of her moaning about the roles school tried to push on us. Her being a housewife instead of providing for the family like I was taught. The reactions from our parents telling us to just go with it. I didn’t know I would miss the discussions as I thought they were annoying, but now… Now they were gone.

I sighed in frustration, turning back to my task of shoving lunch in my mouth before throwing handfuls into the pot at my feet.

A branch broke behind me and I turned around, knife in hand from my belt. The trees blew in the breeze, making the shadows under them difficult to see through clearly. Bushes moved, my heart pounding in fear. A deer’s head poked out, spotting me. We both looked at each other for a moment, frozen in fear. Then he took off, bounding away. I dropped to a knee in relief. I wasn’t sure who was more scared but was grateful it was just a deer.

A deer was good, perfect even. It meant there were animals that I could hunt, but not tonight. A task to prepare for tomorrow.

I looked at my pot of berries, finding it half filled. I was going to need a bit more before I was satisfied. I started filling the pot again and before long, it was filled to the brim. The sun was starting to get low, and I still had to make it back and complete my final chore.

Keeping steady, I made it out of the woods without spilling my collection and placed them inside the cabin. I shut the door and started to cut some of the long grass with my knife in patches to avoid it being noticeable. After several handfuls of bringing them inside, I took the final one and locked the door behind me.

The candle was glowing softly as I ate my berry dinner while weaving the grass into rope. It was a very, very boring task. And like all boring tasks, it led me to think. Think about how I got here. When it all started…

My finger pulled the trigger of the rifle and the buck that had been in my crosshairs collapsed. A shot to the heart. The grin on Father’s face when I lowered the rifle was wide, one I hadn’t seen in a while. It had been a rough couple of days of stress from lack of animals for hunting and some getting away. But now that I just secured a buck so massive we mistook it for a moose, the stress practically washed away from his face. It was like he was a couple decades younger. He trudged after it with almost a skip and I started after him when something red caught my gaze. I turned to it.

On a tree, the largest red butterfly I had ever seen sat there. Intricate, glass-like wings that sparkled in the light. I went closer to it out of curiosity. It was strange, glowing a red-purple color. It left the tree and started flying away, a whisper or an urge in my head telling me to hurry and follow it. Father called behind me, a horrible chill and ill-feeling dropped into my stomach at the idea of abandoning the butterfly. It threatened to keep me there as I left after the butterfly that had patiently waited for me. Through the bushes and around trees, the red bug kept just within sight, slowly gaining distance. I chased faster to catch up, seemingly never able to. Then it disappeared as I entered an open field. I looked around, trying to find it, but with no luck. How did it disappear if I couldn’t lose it in a forest?

The need to find it faded, leaving me a bit dumbfounded and with a small headache.

Father called for me again, this time a bit more panicked. I turned back the way I came, rushing towards him. The cold chill I had felt before was gone. Breaking through the bushes, my father was by the deer carcass, looking up at me in confusion. “Where’d you go?”

“I saw a weird butterfly and started following it, but I lost it,” I admitted. “Sorry.”

“Timothy… you get distracted far too easily. I thought something happened to you.”

“Sorry,” I apologized again and looked down at my kill. “But you can’t be too mad. Look at this thing!”

“Yes,” he laughed. It quickly faded to a frown as he got up and looked around.

“Something wrong?”

“Someone is out here.”

“What do you mean?” I looked around, finding nothing around – not even hearing a bird’s song. “There’s no one out here.”

“There’s someone screaming in the distance…”

A loud bang came from the side of the cabin, causing me to jump, biting my tongue, but I refrained from screaming. I looked to where the noise came from and waited, unmoving. I didn’t even want to breathe, or swallow down the metallic taste in my mouth. I couldn’t risk it.

The seconds turned to minutes, and nothing came from the noise. A silent sigh of relief escaped as I thawed, turning back to my weaving. It must have been an animal. But even if it wasn’t… It didn’t know I was there.

Day 3

The sun was beating down overhead despite it being morning. I wiped the sweat from my brow. The trees weren’t doing me any favors, but at the same time I was grateful. I wanted everything to bask in the light, to keep the shadows at bay so I could see everything around me while I set up my traps. I didn’t want anything sneaking up on me like the buck had yesterday. I finished up my snare, making sure my grass rope wouldn’t fail. It was hard enough to find animal trails, harder still to set up the traps so they weren’t noticeable.

I was terrible at it.

I fell back into a tree to give my poor grass cut fingers a break. It would have been easier if there was someone else to help with these unending tasks. Maybe someone else who was good at trapping like my sister. But that wasn’t happening. Not now.

My mind tried to wander back to a few days ago but I got up from my break before it could. It wasn’t safe out here to get distracted. Come on, Timmy, only a few more traps. You could do it. After that, it was lunch before another round of forging. I groaned at the thought but didn’t stop looking for my next spot to set up the snare.

A few hours went by, and my outside time was just about done. My pot was almost full of berries and a lucky haul of a few wild carrots and parsnips. I pulled out another carrot, brushing the dirt off of it. Carrots were something I actually enjoyed, though I wasn’t sure how they would taste when mixed with berries. A small smile formed. Maybe I could make soup with carrots and parsnips or something like that. Soup was good, just had to wait for more water.

I broke off the stem and placed the root into the pot and got off my knees. That was probably enough for now. If I needed more, I knew where to go. Better not to waste the food until I could preserve it properly.

I took another look around to see if there was anything else I could use before stopping on the pale green stalks with purple stripes and spots. A dreadful feeling sunk into my stomach.

Hemlock…

I knew it grew in the same areas as its sister plants… but in a moment like this, I was wondering if it was a message from God. Him providing me the tool to stop while I was ahead. Before it came for me like it came for everyone else.

Father was screaming about the voices echoing like he couldn’t hear himself. No one was speaking in the house that night. No one was even home when I walked through the door with my sister and mother. Scratches covered the sides of his face and ears like he was desperately trying to get whatever voices he was hearing out. Mother and I tried to tell him there was nothing there. He insisted there was, looking hysterical with bloodshot eyes and dark bags under them. I wasn’t sure if he had slept since the hunt three days ago.

“No, they are here,” Alice said in the brief pause of them fighting. “I hear them. They are begging to be freed…”

I turned away from the hemlock to find a suitable sapling for a bow. Survival even if it was futile was important. It’s what they would have wanted. Not for me to join in the insanity and in death. Not yet if I could help it.

It didn’t take long to find a maple sapling, maple branches, and cedar leaves for the arrows. Milkweed for string. Thankfully despite the forest being lifeless of animals besides the deer, it was bountiful with vegetation. It had provided me with more than enough resources to sustain myself. All the more reason to continue on.

I brought home the materials and food, bringing them inside to set up for the night. It was still daytime, and I could go out and continue wandering. But the less time I spent outside, the less likely I was to be found by that thing. That and I also had to work up the courage to start a fire tomorrow. In daylight though, to avoid a glow being noticed. Still, it was a risk. Unfortunately, I needed my arrows to be tempered and to do that, I needed fire.

The berries I had collected for the day were quickly consumed. It still tasted awful, but I needed the energy. Hopefully tomorrow my snares provided something far more edible… one could hope. I turned to the sapling and branches and got to work on them with my knife and multitool. I had made a bow once before and like the last time, just from the first slice, I knew it was going to take a while.

It had been suspiciously quiet even though my mother could finally agree with Father and Alice. That the voices were there. The complaining over something I couldn’t hear. The agony of them not being able to sleep. But now it was silent.

I went to where I had last heard my father’s voice. He was in his room trying to rest. I went to knock, to wake him for supper that was prepared downstairs only to find the door ajar. Pushing it slightly, what I was faced with was far from what I was prepared for. Alice and he were on the ground, blood soaked into the rug with bloody footprints from both of them all over the floor. Large gashes in their chests and faces from the hunting knives in their hands…

My stomach twisted as I backed out of the room, slamming against the wall. “Mother! Mom!”

Nothing came from downstairs.

My heart jumped in my throat, and I rushed down to the kitchen. Sprinting around the corner, Mother was standing in front of the stove, shoving something in her ear. It was already caked in blood with large drops on the floor.

I went over to her, grabbing her arm to stop her from shoving the carrot peeler deeper. “Stop!”

“The voices aren’t stopping…” she whimpered, not fighting me as I threw the tool away. she shuddered, breaking at the seams. “God, why won’t they stop?!”

“We’re going to town, to the doctor,” I stated. She shook her head. “Mom, please!”

She grabbed her head with blood covered hands. “Make them stop!”

“The doctor will make them stop. Just hold on, okay? I need to grab some stuff and he’ll make them stop. Can you go to the cart?”

“He’ll… make them stop…”

“Yes. Alice already set up the cart earlier, remember? Just sit out there and don’t hurt yourself. Okay?”

“Okay… Thank you, Timothy. Where are your sister and father?”

“They’re… They’re fine. We’ll bring back the doctor for them,” I lied. She believed me, too distracted to notice the poor lie and went for the door. As she opened it, the farm dogs whimpered and whined from beyond the threshold.

“You hear them too, don’t you, Clare, Buster,” Mother muttered in pity. “Poor things, we’ll be back.”

Day 4

The day was cloudy as my arrows cooled on the ground. They were straight, finally, meaning I could finish them later. But for now, I had to check my traps. The air was heavy as I walked, a sure sign that a storm was on the way. I might not have been able to hunt today as I planned, but getting water was far more important than something other than berries, carrots, and possibly meat from my traps. If I got anything at least.

Down the small trail I had marked subtly, the traps had done their jobs. One by one I undid the traps, putting my catch into the pan I had brought and reset the trap again. The silent forest made me think that maybe the deer was a fluke, but I was wrong. I frowned. I hadn’t heard so much as a bird… were the rabbits and groundhog flukes, gifts from God, or did the voices get them too?

I didn’t think about it for long. I got what I came for and went back to the cabin. Thunder rolled in the distance. I needed to cook my food and bring it in before it started raining.

And Lord, did it rain.

I barely made it in with my arrows with the wall of water right behind me with a roar. The door was closed and locked, and I breathed in deeply. That was far too close. I ended the moment of peace I had and went over to my workstation in the corner to finish up my bow and arrows. The food I had made was too hot to eat right now anyway.

Taking the twine I had made; one by one the arrows were fletched with the cedar leaves. Just like how I was taught. Thunder boomed outside, scaring me half to death, reminding me of the town the following day after I brought Mother to the doctor. Fights were breaking out. The authorities were trying to break things up, other’s joining in the mayhem. Children crying, saying something about the red butterfly. To follow it. Some were hearing the voices; others were telling them there was no one screaming.

I left the town’s chaos into the doctor’s office to check on Mother. The doctor didn’t know what was causing it and had a few patients like her. No secretary greeted me, but the silence spoke louder, gripping my heart. My legs were moving quickly to my mother’s room where the doctor stood beside her. Blood dyed her sheets as it spilled from her neck.

The doctor spun around, tears falling down his cheeks. “Timothy, I’m sorry.”

“What…” I looked between her and him, my mouth refusing to work.

“She wanted it. I couldn’t see her suffer anymore,” he cried. His hand rose holding a bloody scalpel and slashed his own throat.

The thunder boomed, breaking me out of it. My heart was racing in my ears as I looked around in a panic. Then I settled, realizing nothing was in the cabin but me. It was fine. Nothing followed me. Not even the horse. It was too much of a risk if other animals were affected by whatever the voices and screams were.

Day 5

My traps were once again lucrative and filled with rabbits. On top of that, I managed to secure a buck. It took only one arrow, and I should have been happy that it went so perfectly.

But I wasn’t.

I messed up while hunting it and stepped loudly on a very dry stick and tripped over it. It was more than enough noise to scare off anything that had any sense. But the deer didn’t move. It just stood there, looking off into the distance. It wasn’t normal and no matter how much the Bible said God was merciful, He wasn’t that merciful. Something was wrong and it felt like my time was running out.

I set the deer down by my firepit along with the rest of my haul. It was too much food. Even if I was leaving soon, it would have been wasteful to leave it behind. It’d be better if I brought it. I needed a drying line and a tanning rack for the hide. And while the circumstances around the deer were far from good, his hide would be useful in the long run.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be so lucky in the future.

Something red went by in the corner of my eye. I turned to it. A familiar sight of large wings fluttered in the air, twirling around as it danced out its whisper.

Follow.

I took a step, almost leaving behind everything only to stop. I gritted my teeth. My catch here, my bag inside. I couldn’t go… not yet. I needed a few hours at least.

The butterfly bounded around, striding from right to left before backing away, beckoning.

I took a step back. “I’m sorry. Tomorrow, I promise.”

It urged again, flying around, and whispering. It was disorienting, but I held my ground. I couldn’t go with it. There was too much to lose, even if I grabbed everything I could and left now. It was too risky with night on the horizon.

It stopped fluttering, almost depressed, and took off into the forest. I watched through the darkening wood, wondering if it’d come back. But it never did. A horrible feeling dropped into my stomach that I tried to ignore. It was going to be alright. It was just for the night.

Nothing horrible followed after the butterfly’s disappearance and the awful feeling faded. Food was ready, my barrels filled with water from outside, some of which I boiled for the journey tomorrow, and the meat I didn’t eat was drying outside. The tanning rack idea however was left abandoned. In the next place I would be able to dry out the rolled hide placed by my bag. Hopefully the next place I went to had a river or a lake. It would have been easier to clean up. Plus I could fish; something I was much better at.

In the desolated silence while cleaning the dishes, a scream screeched outside. My heart jumped into my throat for a moment. Then it laxed as I recognized the sound. It wasn’t women… It was a cougar. My huff of relief was cut off as something smashed into my cabin wall and the screaming went silent.

I stared at the wall the bang had come from, morbid curiosity drawing me in to check what it was. Everything was telling me to check it in the morning… but I couldn’t stop myself. It was the first real noise in days… I needed to know what happened to the cougar.

I grabbed my knife and silently opened the door. The dark, humid night shared little stars above as I crept around the corner and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight. It was a cougar with the pitchfork directly through its head. However it wasn’t female.

The darkness grew off to my left. I snapped to it. In the trees, a dark figure of a woman or something close to it was within. A chill ran up my spine, the idea of coming outside at all obliterated from my mind. I turned and ran into the cabin without a sound, praying that it didn’t spot me. The horrible, dreadful cold however was like that day it all started. That thing was the cause of the screams. The chorus that never ended.

The door was closed silently. Locked. I backed away from it, holding my breath and waited.

Nothing happened.

I searched the door, logic trying to play it off as paranoia. The shadow was just another tree. A bush. A coincidence.

“Make it stop…” Alice’s voice cried from outside in the far, far distance. Like an echo. “The voices. They scream… Make them stop!”