The Gateway

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Hayley slows her old pick-up truck, the front end taking a deep dip into one of the many muddy ruts along this, not so often used, dirt road.

She swears quietly as she comes to a full stop, hoping she won’t have a hard time getting out of the damn hole. She leans out her open window, the muggy night air plastering the top she’s wearing to her skin, and squints through the trees.

The slight breeze is enough to move the tree limbs, making it difficult to determine if that really is a light in the window of the cabin or just her eyes playing tricks on her. Perhaps it’s the moons reflection on the last unbroken window of that decrepit structure.

Her focus is broken when a hoot of an owl makes her jump, hitting her head on the door frame as she rights herself. “Son of a…” she curses, rubbing at the tender spot that she is sure will turn into a dull headache later.

The cabin sits on her property, nearly at the end of her, recently inherited, forty acres. She had driven by it only a few times in the two years she has been here but has never taken the time to cut her way through the overgrown paths to inspect the place.

Now however, she was deeply upset at the prospect that some interloper might be camped out in there. Even if it was only some of the local kids hiding out, the chance of a fire from some untended candle was enough to cause concern.

Glancing up at the sky, the glow from the nearly full moon hasn’t yet been extinguished by the dark clouds. They had started rolling in just before the sun slipped below the horizon, and Hayley was certain a storm was in the works.

I have maybe an hour before the winds pick up and the rain hits, Hayley thinks to herself. Reaching into the glove box, she retrieves a flashlight and after a moment’s hesitation she grabs the well cared for machete as well.

A girl never knows when a good sharp blade will come in handy, she snorts as she opens the door and hops out, tucking the sheathed blade into her belt at her back.

Most people would be afraid to go tromping through dense forest after sunset, chasing down a potential intruder, and Hayley probably should have been afraid, but that wasn’t in her makeup.

Not to say that she acted recklessly most days, hence the machete, but she didn’t pander to wild imaginations and dark corners didn’t scare her.

If it was a lost camper or some hiker that had misjudged the time, she could give them a lift into town. If it was some of the neighbour's kids causing mischief, she would threaten to tan their hides or at the very least, tell their parents.

Either way, she would clear out the uninvited guests and eliminate any potential for a fire.

Clicking the flashlight on, Hayley turns the weak light onto the ground alongside the road. The start of an old path that leads to the cabin is somewhere along here, she just needs to find it.

The path has long since been reclaimed by the forest, but a single wooden post leaning almost parallel to the ground, marks the start of it.

She had seen that trail marker on her last foray along this road, having stopped to try to make out what the wooden sign nailed to the post had said.

The deeply gouged words, weathered by time, had been mostly illegible. All except for one word; Gateway.

The sign hadn’t been large so the message must not have been a long one, still that one word had sent a slight shiver over her skin. But, being a practical person, Hayley hadn’t lingered on it. Hadn’t, like some people might have, let her imagination run away with her.

She was looking for that post now, knowing the once used path would be the easiest to take. She could use her machete if she had to cut her way through the thick bush.

“Aha!” She exclaims, happy to have found the location on her first sweep of the area. It was exactly as she had left it; the eroded sign, with the single legible word, turned towards the sky, the post nearly touching the ground.

Stepping carefully over the post, Hayley shines the light into the underbrush as she gingerly picks her way along the path, keeping her eyes to the ground so as not to trip.

So focused on her steps, Hayley doesn’t immediately notice when the noise of the night insects goes quiet. Their sound is such a constant thing during these muggy summer nights that the sudden silence is eerie.

Whipping her head around, Hayley gets a sudden feeling of being watched. The hairs on her nape rise and her heart starts thundering as she quickly scans the area with her light.

Turning slowly, she sweeps the area around her; nothing other than the lack of noise from the insects seems out of the ordinary.

Finishing her 360 degrees turn, Hayley finds herself facing the cabin which seems suddenly much more ominous than before.

Training her feeble light on the broken entrance way, Hayley holds her breath, sure that at any moment some dark figure will come barreling out.

When several seconds pass and nothing happens, her breath leaves her in a whoosh and a shaky chuckle escapes her. “Damn, I’m becoming as jumpy as Aunt Jenny,” she quips, picturing said aunt.

A small smile pulls at her mouth when she remembers the many times she and her brother had hid around corners, jumping out to startle a scream from their poor aunt. The fake snakes had been her brother’s favorite trick, one which often earned him a cuff upside the head; totally worth it, had always been his reply.

Squaring her shoulders, she continues her trek to the cabin, determined not to be cowed by a run-away imagination.

Her steps falter once more when she notices the light that first drew her here no longer flickered in the window. Maybe the breeze blew it out, she thinks, sounding skeptical even to herself.

She studies the cabin as best she can under the moon’s infrequent glow. The sky has become much cloudier as the promised storm moves in.

There’s no porch or steps leading up to the door, just a faintly grooved path then a single step, before one would be perched before the entrance.

The door is slightly ajar, the top half no longer attached to its hinges. She’s already cringing at the sound she knows that door will make when she forces it open.

Too late to turn back now, she thinks, though of course it’s not. It’s just her stubbornness moving her forward at this point, she just doesn’t want to admit it.

Taking a fortifying breath, Hayley steps up to the door, the silence inside mocking her. “What’s wrong scaredy cat? Afraid of the dark?” It seems to say.

“No,” she whispers back, her voice unsteady.

Holding her flashlight in one hand, she grabs the machete from its sheath with the other. Using her forearm, she nudges the door open.

As one would expect from such long disuse, it doesn’t budge; a clue that maybe no one was ever actually in the cabin.

Perhaps it had been a trick of the moonlight after all.

Feeling more confident, Hayley gives the door another nudge, this time with more force; the promised groan is even louder than imagined.

The door gives way more suddenly than she expects, causing her to trip over her feet as she practically falls into the room.

Quickly righting herself, she swings the flashlight in an arch around her, scanning the small room; afraid of being caught off-guard.

As hoped, the space is empty.

Well, not really empty as debris from half rotted furniture litters the floor. But it was devoid of life thankfully.

Hayley rolls her eyes as her still thundering heart starts to slow.

She lets out another low chuckle as she takes one more sweep of the area, the single room not much bigger than the living room of her house.

“It’s a good thing no one is here. They would not have liked what I had to say about trespassing,” she says in a mock menacing voice, waiving the machete out in front of her.

Grinning, she shakes her head before turning, ready to retrace her steps back to her truck. She was so ready to put this night behind her.

Already thinking about the bath she was going to draw for herself, and the glass of wine she had been looking forward to all day, she almost doesn’t hear the quiet hiss that seems to emanate from one of the dark corners.

Her grin dies on her face as she freezes in place, her ears perked to figure out what it was that she heard.

She definitely doesn’t miss the serpent like laugh that comes from all around her.

Once more spinning in place, Hayley wills her flashlight to banish the dark areas just out of reach of its light. But being of the slightly cheap variety, it can only do so much.

Her desperate search still comes up empty, nobody is in here with her. Who then, had made that noise?

Not who dummy, what! Her mind screams at her.

“Who…who’s here,” she shouts, a definite quiver in her voice.

“What…what would. You. Have said. To me. About Trespassing…little human?” The words slide over her skin, the halting speech deep and breathy, causing a quaking to start deep in her core.

Her teeth start to chatter with her fear, as she glares around her, desperate to locate the source of those words.

“Who,” she stutters out, having to stop and swallow twice, wetting her dry throat before continuing. “Who are you? Where are you?”

Another hissing laugh makes her jump, and a slight movement to her right has her gasping as she swings her machete out in front of her.

Finally, a form takes shape…wait…what? But It’s not her eyes playing tricks on her, the darkness from all corners of the cabin seems to be drawing together, forming into something…no…someone.

She squeaks and hops in place as the darkness slides along the floor under her feet, heading for that now humanoid shape.

Soon, the darkness settles, the floor and walls no longer flowing with shadow. But the thing that is left behind terrifies Hayley.

And a thing is what it is. Even though her rational mind is protesting the thought, she can’t dismiss what she just witnessed and what now stands before her.

The creature is tall and draped in blackness. She can’t determine any real features as the black cowl that obscures its head is pulled low.

She jumps back as it takes a flowing step towards her, the thing halting at her movement.

Another low chuckle issues from it. “You. See. Me now. Yes? Tell me. What do. You. Have to say. about. Trespassing.”

She gapes, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Ssssspeak,” it commands, the sinuous sound licking down her spine.

“I only…I only meant to chase off whoever was hiding out in here. I saw a candle burning in the window and feared they could start a fire,” she stammers.

“I was going to give them a piece of my mind,” she finishes weakly, shifting her gaze to the door, trying to gauge the distance.

Would the creature chase her if she tried to flee?

“A. Piece. Of your. Mind? What. Curious. Words.” Its broken speech is suddenly much closer. Hayley gasps, stumbling back when the dark form is suddenly mere inches from her face.

How? She wonders, frantically shuffling backwards. The blackness of its shape is absolute and even at this slight distance she still can’t make out its features.

This time, the being takes affront at her retreat and Hayley feels its cold tendrils reach out towards her, their touch freezing her in place.

“I. Think. I would. Like to. Know. This. Piece of. Your. Mind. Little human,” the words are whispered against her ear and the press of its cold lips against Hayley’s skin makes her shiver.

The sudden feel of its form alongside hers, rips a scream from her lips, but those tendrils are still holding her in place.

Unable to move her feet, Hayley desperately swings her blade. The sharp edge slashing out and through her shadowy opponent.

As soon as the knife enters that unending darkness that embodies the creature, it’s as if she’s swinging through tar.

Her hand slows, coming to a stop partway through its midsection. Hayley’s eyes widen as she stares at her hand, now stuck inside the creature.

Her eyes snap up, trying to scan for anything resembling its face. The blackness swirls under its cowl and colors, akin to gasoline that’s been spilled on cement, radiates from its depths.

“Humans. So. Quick. To violence,” it chuckles.

Faster than Hayley can follow, the dark form is gone.

Suddenly released from her shadowy chains, Hayley stumbles forward, nearly falling on her face.

Her breath shudders out of her in great gasps, and a hysterical sob tumbles from her lips. She turns to leave, her mind on nothing but escaping.

She has no sooner taken a step towards the door when the darkness starts to writhe again. The light from her flashlight bounces around the small room as Hayley’s panic reaches new heights.

Where previously that slithering darkness had slipped harmlessly under her feet, it now drags her along. The tar like substance inescapable.

Hayley’s struggles are fruitless, and the incessant pull drops her to her knees. Her hands sink slightly into those murky depths, she screams again.

The flow is centered in the middle of the room and her eyes widen at the small whirlpool that starts to form.

Hayley’s struggles increase but her efforts to pull herself out from the cloying blackness are useless.

“No, no no nononono!” She wails as she reaches the center and feels her body sink further into nothingness.

If the creature was still around, Hayley’s too busy to notice, but a quiet hissing laugh reaches her ear just before her head slips under the shadowy quicksand.

She’s screaming, she knows she’s screaming but no noise issues from her throat. The darkness that surrounds her is profound; she’s never experienced such a complete and utter lack of light as she’s in now.

She has a distinct sense of falling but nothing marks her progress. No whip of wind through her hair, no pull of gravity on her body; yet somehow, she knows she is sinking down, down, down.

Suddenly, those cold lips are again pressed along her neck, just under her ear.

If she hadn’t already been screaming, Hayley would have started at that touch.

“Down little rabbit. Down into your hole.” The words come out less breathy than before, its sentences less choppy, but Hayley knows it’s the same creature from the cabin.

“You intrigue me you know. And I don’t become intrigued often. Most mortals don’t see my light…only my darkness. How, I wonder, did you?” Those lips, less cold than earlier, run along her neck.

She shudders, trying to move away but that presence doesn’t leave, the feel of it tight against her side.

“Oh no. You won’t escape me that easily. Your life was mine the moment you saw my light,” it chuckles. Those ominous words have Hayley struggling anew, but there is nowhere to go. Her downward slide never-ending.

“Oh, but it will end. Perhaps not as you expect…or hope for, but it will end. We are almost there in fact,” the creature seems to read her mind, but its words do nothing to ease her panic.

Where are you taking me? She screams in her mind, hoping the being at her side will once more read her thoughts.

The feel of a hand gliding along her back, then coming around to grip her waist has Hayley’s heart pounding, the need to flee that touch so instinctual that a whimper pushes past her lips. But, as with her screams, no actual sound leaves her.

“I think you know. You read my sign after all.” The snap of teeth grazes her skin, and suddenly the creature is no longer at her side.

She only has a moment to register its disappearance before Hayley feels a pop, then suddenly the air is whistling past her ears. Her screams, no longer silenced, rip into the darkness. A darkness that isn’t quite so complete.

Now, she is really and truly falling.

She may not be able to make out anything in this perpetual blackness, but somehow, she knows the ground is coming up fast.

Hayley closes her eyes. As stupid as it sounds, the blackness behind her eyes is preferable to the blackness all around her. If she is going to die, she’ll die staring at the back of her own eyelids.

But she doesn’t die. Instead, she “lands” with a sort of thwack; almost like she hits a gymnastics mat.

Air blasts from her lungs and she’s left gasping. Sprawled on her back, Hayley desperately tries to refill her lungs.

But the air she’s reclaimed leaves her again in a strangled cry when a face, the color of a corpse, suddenly looms above her.

Its cowl no longer obscures its features, and red eyes feverishly scan her face.

“You’re mine little rabbit. Welcome to the Gateway.”

End: Look for Part 2 below.