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The Trickster

a campfire tale

By Ethan BryantPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 9 min read
1
The Trickster
Photo by Olivier Guillard on Unsplash

The Trickster

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window. A warning to anyone whom entered these woods, the cabin was abandoned for good reason. The Trickster had claimed many victims, now it awaited it’s next.

Charles drove eagerly down the dirt trail, his family groaning in annoyance at being dragged out to the woods for vacation. They were a city family and didn’t get out to the woods often, if at all. Charles wanted to reconnect with his family with something more than Wi-fi. A coworker told him of a place out in the woods, with a little TLC he and his family could have a cabin for his vacation. Finally a place where his kids won’t stare at there phones all day.

“Do we have to go out this far, I can’t get any signal out here.” Charles son Dax complained.

“How am I supposed to update my Insta, Dad?” said his daughter Tracy.

“Sorry, your five followers will have to wait till after the trip for your posts.”

“That’s not funny Dad!” protested Tracy.

“Charles, let’s just go back and get a hotel with running water.” His wife Jane suggested.

“No! For the last time, I want all of us to be able to bond and have fun out here, no devices or blankly staring at each other for another day. Look we are already here.” Charles pulled up to the cabin, eyes lighting up at the site of the old log structure.

“This place is great! I can’t believe no one comes out here anymore.” Charles spoke with the excitement of a child, his family on the other hand didn’t share his enthusiasm.

The cabin was nothing special, moss grew up the base up to the windows which were cracked and probably didn’t keep the heat in anymore. It’s once rustic charm faded away with time, but to Charles this was his chance to reconnect with his family.

“Are you sure no one is here, there is a lit candle in the window.” Jane pointed out.

“Oh, that is strange, I’ll go check it out.” Charles got out of the car and approached the cabin.

“Oh no, I really hope no one took this amazing cabin before us.” Charles glared back at his son’s sarcastic remark. Charles knocked on the door to the cabin, a rusty creak moaned as the door slowly swung open. The creak echoed thorough the cabin giving a subtle nod to the age of the building.

“Hello, anybody home?” Charles asked to which there was no reply. Charles began to investigate the cabin. Room after room was empty except for the occasional spider but otherwise empty. No signs of anyone being there for sometime, except the the candle in the window. Charles approached the candle. The table which is sat upon was covered in dust, the candle wax was only just beginning to drip down the sides as if it was just lit a few moments ago. He stared at it for some time, unsure of how it was here in the first place. It was quite odd he thought. His family stared at him impatiently from the car. Charles shrugged his shoulders and blew out the candle.

“Caw, caw!” A raven flew out of the corner right past his head, he could feel the feathers on his head as the bird swooped by him and out the front door.

Charles let out a string of curse words as his heart jumped out of his chest, how did I miss that bird in here he thought. Once he calmed down he waved for his family to come in. They rolled their eyes in collective disappointment. The children dragged there feet as the unloaded the car. There hopes of getting out of this fading away. The second they were settled in the kids took out their phones and started playing games. Charles decided to put a stop to that right away.

“Alright hand them over, no devices for the rest of the trip.” After what seemed like hours of pleading and begging Charles finally got the phones. “I’m going to put these somewhere safe and go collect some fire wood to warm this place up.” On his was out of the cabin he heard Dax say “This place is fire wood.”

Charles ignored the sarcasm this time. They just need to detox from these damn screens, they will see, this is going to work. He took the phones and locked them in the glove box in the car. He opened the trunk and took out his chopping Axe. Behind the cabin was a spot for chopping wood. There seemed to be a old pile of trees ready for chopping that had been there for sometime but still usable. ‘Well, this is going to be easy.’ He thought. As he began to chop something felt off, like something was watching him. He scanned around and he spotted it, that damn raven was perched in the trees staring at him. His first thought was ‘That can’t be the same raven, can it?’ He thought maybe the raven was mad for invading his home. He swallowed the lump in his throat, ‘why am I afraid of a damn bird’.

“Look raven, this is my cabin now, so just find somewhere else to nest.” Charles said to the bird as if reasoning with it would have any effect. Charles threw a piece of wood at the tree to try and scare it off. The raven dove talons out heading for Charles. Charles put his arms up in defense. The raven scratched and pecked at his arm. Charles yelled for help. His wife came running broom in hand. With only a moment to register what was going on Jane swung the broom at the bird, shooing it away.

Blood dripped down his arm and Jane ran to get him a towel. A searing, burning sensation ran through his arm as he trembled in pain. His wife soon returned and quickly wrapped his arm. “What the hell was that! What happened!?” Jane said confused.

“I tried to scare it away and it attacked me. It really burns.” Charles gritted his teeth from the pain.

“Let me take a look, it might be infected.” Jane said. Charles nodded. Jane began to slowly remove the towel. Jane dropped the towel and gasped in horror at what she saw. Charles could see the color drain from her face.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Charles looked down at the towel to see the blood stain spelled out the words “GET OUT” impossible he thought, how can this be. The lines were sharp and crude but there is was clear as day “GET OUT”.

“We are leaving right now!” Jane insisted. Unable to disagree anymore he swallowed his pride.

“Get the kids we are leaving now. Leave our stuff, we can get it later.” Jane ran into the cabin shouting for the kids to get into the car. Charles made his way around the front, glancing at the blood stained towel one more time, the image searing into his memory. Charles fumbled with his keys as he tried to start the car, he honked the horn to hurry his family up. Jane came running out in a panic. “The kids are gone, I can’t find them.” Jane yelled.

“What do you mean gone, where the hell could they go?” Charles got out of the car and began yelling for his children. “Dax! Tracy! We are leaving, no time for these games, lets go.” No response came. Hours passes and the sun began to set, the creeping darkness gave the woods an eerie persona. The two continued to shout for the kids to come back. The woods yielded no response, it was too quite. They searched the woods flashlights in hand.

“They are just playing a prank on me, I know it. They are mad at me for bringing the out here.” Charles said trying to rationalize what was going on.

“Your damn right they are, none of us wanted to come out here in the first place, now are kids are missing and it’s all your fault!” His wife's words struck him like a knife in the back. Charles turned to face her and she was gone, like she vanished out of thin air. Fear gripped him as reality set in. He was alone in the woods.

The pitch black darkness crept around him only giving way to faint glow of his flashlight. His mind began to race, what was going on, was this some horrible dream. He tried to trace his steps, find the trail. He was lost.

“This isn’t funny you guys, please I need your help.” Silence was his only response. Charles collapsed to the ground breaking down in tears. The light on his flashlight began to flicker out. Shadows enveloped him. His heart raced, thumping against his ribcage like a hammer, at that point it was the loudest sound in the Forrest. Charles tried to calm himself down while his eyes adjusted to the dark. There was no moonlight this night, but off in the distance was a faint glow, flickering ever so gently.

The candle, the candle in the cabin was lit. A sigh of relief. “They must be back at the cabin. I can follow the light and be back there in no time. This was just a prank, I know it. I’ll get back there and they will have there laugh at me for bringing them out here I just know it.” Charles began to make his way towards the faint light. “You got me guys, good one.” He kept saying. After walking for sometime the light in the distance never got closer. ‘How far did I go?’ He shook it off and continued to walk. Hours passed now and his feet and legs winced in pain. The light remained in the distance. Delirium set in as he began to walk mindlessly towards the light. He finally collapsed to exhaustion and as he lost consciousness a cackling laughter rang in his ears.

“Another one Doctor, this is fifth case this year.”

“Yes, this one was found wandering the woods, his shoes completely worn off. His family sent out a search party for him after he went out to setup a cabin for there vacation. Funny thing is no such cabin seems to exist out there. The poor man doesn't even know where he is. It’s like his mind is just gone.”

“How does this happened Doctor?”

“It is beyond my expertise to understand, only thing I can think of is an old Legend that haunts those woods, there used to be a saying.”

“Beware The Trickster, he comes for your mind, your life will be forfeit for madness is his delight.”

The End

Horror
1

About the Creator

Ethan Bryant

I write fiction and fantasy. I love everything video games, comic books and D&D. I support mental health. Follow me on instagram @ soulreaver5

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