The Return of Darkness

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. This flicker of light had drawn a camper away from their tent in the woods. Like a moth drawn to a flame, the camper moved closer and closer to the light until they were nearly on top of the cabin. There was no sense of danger from what the camper took in around them outside of the cabin. Unbeknownst to what was inside, the camper cupped their hands to place them on the glass and peer beyond the flame. The camper could not tell what was inside the dim-lit room. They would have to enter to find out.

It appeared that the only thing seen from the outside was the flame in the dark window frame. This was the case no matter how close anyone got to the glass. The camper would not believe that they could not see into the actual room beyond the flame. Moving to another window a few feet down from the candle-lit window, the camper repeated the same actions of cupping their hands to the glass and peering into the room where the candle was to be lit. Complete darkness overtook the camper's vision! Stumbling backwards, the camper was astonished at the impossibility of this. The camper flitted back to the original window where the candle was still lit.

Taking their hand up and placing it upon their forehead, the camper looked at this peculiar window. First bending over to get up close to the window, the camper slowly moved their head away until they saw a reflection in the window. The familiarity of the faces in the reflection made them jump! Not only was the camper's reflection seen in the window, but it was the faces of their closest family and friends as well. Now, the camper thought they were losing it. They remembered coming out into the wilderness alone, for peace, and nobody was around them as they looked left to right. Thinking their family and friends must have entered the cabin, the camper moved swiftly to find the door too. The camper found the front entrance of the cabin.

From the front, it looked completely abandoned. The flicker of the candle came from the back-side of the cabin. The camper reached for the doorknob. They thought it would open easily. It was locked and continuing to twist and turn it did not help. Losing their patience, the camper kicked the door in! The camper yelled out as they fell into the broken pieces of door and almost onto the floor. There was complete silence as the camper shouted the names of those they saw in the window's previous reflection. The camper thought they were going to find at least one of the faces they saw with their flashlight. Their wrist rapidly moved the light beam at face-height as they searched every room of the cabin.

This cabin was void of other life. By this time, the camper thought they had to be going in circles. It was as if these rooms connected somehow in a never-ending loop. The camper was having trouble finding the door they had broken down so that they could leave. All the doors they came across were in perfect condition. The camper began to move their flashlight. Lowering it from their face, to scan other parts of the room, the camper noticed sheets covering what they thought to be furniture. The camper made their way to the furniture that they then noticed to be lumpy in shape. The camper began to lift one side of the draped sheet and felt warmth radiating off the object under it.

The camper let out a lone scream! Freshly dead bodies were under the first sheet they lifted. Backed up to the one wall, the camper muffled their cry as they were debating whether or not they were truly alone. The camper ran around the room in a flash to lift other sheets only to discover varying bodies decaying at different paces. The camper didn't have time to identify these bodies as their loved ones. They were looking for an immediate way out and broke the window nearest to them using their flashlight to catapult it through the glass. The camper hurled their body through the window falling onto the dead pile of leaves that layered the forest floor.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the camper jumped up but had no sense of direction beyond the cabin. The camper didn't know which way to run for help. This camper circled the cabin one last time and noticed the window with the flickering flame. This was the flame they had not discovered upon entering the cabin. The bloodied camper felt they were going to pass out due to the blood loss. They rested their forehead on the window before the flame. A movement was heard inside the cabin. A wearied camper looked up to see their own reflection staring back at them. A knife shattered through the glass as the camper lifted their hands up! The camper had been led out of the darkness only to return to it.