Burning with Hate

The cabin was abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Bianca was the first to noticed the luring light.

“Jeff, wait, I see something through the trees,” she reached for the arm of her brother. They had both been sent to summer camp again for the fourth year in a row. This trip was different because Jeff was a junior leader since he was in eighth grade, while Bianca was still one of the regular campers. They were trying to find their way back to the camp after losing their group during a hike. Bianca just had to stop to go to the bathroom, causing them to become lost.

“We’re not waiting, I need to hurry to get you back in time for dinner,” Jeff ignored trying to continue along the darkened path.

Bianca, locked in by the flickering light through the trees, was determined to have Jeff look in its direction. “Jeff, you remember that abandon cabin we all talked about all the time at the campfire?”

Jeff stopped on the trail. Of course he remembered. In previous years, it was the talk of the campfire. Everyone had their own reason for the emptiness that claimed the cabin. “Yeah, what about it?”

“There’s a light coming from the window.”

Hearing there was a light emitting from it, captured Jeff’s attention. He slowly turned towards Bianca. “What do you mean there’s a light coming from it? That’s impossible.” Just as the words flew from his mouth, he looked in the direction of the cabin and to his wonderment, the light was staring back at him. Without uttering another word the disconcerted duo decided silently to investigate its source. As they approached the cabin, they realized it was a single candle.

“A candle? Who would put a candle in the window of this dump?” Jeff declared, still overwhelmed with confusion.

Bianca shook her head. “There must be someone in there.” She headed to the door, but Jeff grabbed her arm.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you remember what happens in horror movies? You walk in there and the killer is already hiding, waiting to chop your head off with a knife or something.” He walked stealthily over to the window; peered past the candle into the bodiless room just beyond the main door. “It’s empty,” he whispered to Bianca. Bianca quietly turned the knob and opened the door. After she walked in, followed by Jeff.

They stood in the vortex of vastness. There were no furniture, items, or any indication someone was staying in the cabin. The main room was design to be a combination of a kitchen and living area, but neither a stove, nor refrigerator was present. Opposite of the main door, stood two more. Both were closed. Jeff pointed to the two doors while looking at Bianca, then placed a finger over his lips. She seemed to understand what he was trying to convey, maybe the occupants were in the other room.

Feeling the guilt of intrusion, the two turned towards the door to leave. Whispers began to cloud the room around the pair, interrupting their departure plan. Jeff glanced back at Bianca, pointing to his ears. Bianca nodded, confirming that she was able to hear the whispers as well. She reached for Jeff’s hand for reassurance and comfort. The two stood still looking closely around the room to identify the whereabouts of the voices, but the whispers continued to form a whirlpool around them. Though the words were indistinctive, both Bianca and Jeff felt the conversation was about them entering the cabin. Eventually, the couple concluded the source of the whispers must be coming from beyond the two doors in front of them. However, they refused to fully believe it either because the voices were so closer to their ears.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Bianca finally suggested quietly. Jeff turned towards Bianca and nodded in approval.

“Going so soon?” A voice inquired startling them from behind. A dark figure hovered in front of them. Aside from the gleaming white toothy grin, the two had difficulty seeing the dark skinned boy. From what they could determine, he was about the same age as Jeff, but smaller.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to walk in,” Bianca began, “there was a candle in the window and we were just curious.”

The boy remained flashing his teeth. “That’s alright, Miss. Yes, Is jus’ put the candle there to give us some light, I did.” The boy glided over to the window and the fire danced slightly. “Name’s William. May I ask, your names, Miss?”

“Well, I’m Bianca, and this is—” Jeff jabbed her in the ribs, forcing her to stop. “Just a minute,” she apologized and turned to Jeff.

“I don’t think we should be telling him our names,” he ordered under his breath, trying to keep William from hearing.

“Why?” Bianca retorted, “oh let me guess, because he’s black?” She knew Jeff was racist. Even at school he had a habit of avoiding his classmates who were a darker skin tone than he was. All of his friends were the same pale color as he was. “Come on, Jeff. It’s 2022.”

Jeff shook his head, even though he knew she was right. He wanted to say something in defense, but failed to form the words fast enough to make it believable.

“And this is Jeff.” Bianca finished, turning back to William. “We really didn’t mean to come in without permission. Like I said, we saw the light and were curious. This cabin has been abandoned for so many years. What are you doing here?”

William flashed his pearly whites again. “We’s just come in tonight.” He drifted away from the window and closer to Bianca. “We’s needed light, so I lit a candle.”

Bianca kept her composure. “We, you mean you and your parents? Are they here too?”

“My parents, yes, they’s sleeping in that room over there,” William pointed towards one of the doors in the back of the cabin. He looked from Bianca to Jeff, but maintained his grimly grin.

As Bianca and William continued their conversation, Jeff felt strongly disturbed about William. It was beyond the fact that he was black. Maybe it was the way he smiled towards Bianca. Maybe it was his perfect row of teeth that he flashed after every sentence she seemed to spit our cheerfully. Jeff continued to monitor William carefully, as if waiting for William to attack her, or any other heinous act . That would be Jeff’s greatest fear, confirmation on what he believed black people do.

Fifteen minutes faded easily and the two were still locked in a mouth running marathon. Bianca was telling William about her school social life. William continued to respond to her stories with one or two lines about himself, but had difficulty understanding walking to different classes. He was accustomed to just staying in one room for his lessons, or not having lessons at all. He seemed genuinely excited about learning new subjects. Meanwhile, Jeff stared at William, refusing to engage in their discussion. However, after watching, waiting, and listening for five minutes, he started to feeling hot. Maybe the room is just becoming stuffy, he thought, and moved over to the window with the candle to catch some outside air, hoping to cool down. He kept his back to the window in order to keep his eyes on William.

The two had shifted their talk to hobbies at the thirty minute mark. Bianca was joyous talking about the movies, books, and outdoor activities she enjoyed. William said he had no time to enjoy a hobby because of all the work he has to do with his parents. Regardless, William seemed pleased to have Bianca there to talk to. Jeff was still disturbed by Williams lack of cultural references and knowledge. From Jeff’s perspective, William seemed to know very little about the current world, which left a stone of oddity deep in his gut. Why doesn’t he know about all of this?

Forty-five minutes into the couple’s conversation, Jeff began to pay attention to William’s words and manner of speech. His words were comprehensible, but seemed outdated. He always referred to Bianca as “Miss” or to Jeff as “Master.” Jeff relished in the idea of being William’s master, but remained perplexed when William was confused about the definition of certain words and required an explanation on regular modern teenage lifestyle. For example, William was unfamiliar with Tik Tok and he seemed confused by what a phone was. Jeff wondered, what time period is this guy from? When Bianca asked why he didn’t know about it, William’s response was always his parents could not afford it, or he was too busy with family chores to have time to enjoy it. Eventually Bianca asked about his chores.

“I’s do, or did, mostly outdoor work wit’ pa. Lots of farming. We’s had to pick from da fields e’ery day under that burning hot sun, we did. When we moved, we found this here cabin and pa thought it bes’ to restart here.” Bianca beamed at William’s response. For her, making new friends was her forte.

As Jeff continued to stand by the window, observing the interaction between his sister and her new black best friend, he felt like his body had become stiffer than it was fifteen minute prior. He attempted to move his arms and legs, but it seemed impossible. What’s wrong with me? He thought, but Bianca’s voice distracted his thinking.

“Oh William, I’m truly sorry, but it must be getting late. We need to get going. I am sure our camp is starting to worry about us. Remember you need to have your parents get you an iPhone. Are you sure you can remember my number?” Bianca concluded cheerfully.

William nodded.

“Ok, when you find paper tomorrow, write it down and text me when you have your phone.” Bianca instructed and headed to the door. She turned towards Jeff. “Are you coming? We better hurry back to camp before they start to send a search party to find us.”

Jeff nodded, but his voice appeared to be lost. A burning sensation of hate had grown inside of Jeff, molding itself around his throat. How could his sister sit and talk to this guy for nearly an hour? William was nothing like his sister, or like Jeff. He knew nothing about modern social life and had to keep ask questions about everyday words. William was just another dumb black kid, which is the reason he never liked them to begin with. Jeff kept his attention on Bianca by the exit; unaware that William was now staring him, instead of watching Bianca opening the door of the cabin.

“Bye, Miss Bianca. Thank you for da kind conversation. The world needs more warm souls like yourself,” William smiled, while waving to her. However, his eyes stayed glued on Jeff as he gradually floated closer to him.

“Jeff, I’ll meet you outside, ok?” Bianca added before she walked out.

“Oh Master Jeff, you look a bit stiff,” Williams words became bricks on Jeff’s scorched heart of hatred.

Jeff locked eyes with William, as if anticipating an attack. He had no fear because he was taller, stronger, and smarter than William. He wanted to move away from the window to follow Bianca, but found his body would not respond to his request. He legs refused to bend; his arms declined to leave from his side. Rage had blossomed into an inferno inside of Jeff. He tried to speak. He wanted to cast searing words back at the dark colored boy. The same fiery words he incinerated other blacks with at school. However, the mold that had formed earlier in his throat was still blocking his esophagus, prevent any escape of passionately heated sound. The wick of hate had threaded through Jeff’s heart and up to his mind. Jeff wanted to retaliate, but all he could do was scream with animosity from his eyes. Watching as the flame of anger ignited from his vision, Jeff witnessed William’s pearly white grin laughing for the last time.

Bianca walked out of the cabin and headed back to the trail. When she arrived, she glanced back behind her. Two candles were burning in the window. She paused, trying to remember why they were there. The answered seem clouded somewhere in her memory. After a brief moment, she shook her head to clear it from the thought of the candles. She realized she had fallen behind during the hike and needed to return to camp before the leaders would send a search party. Additionally, her parents would be devastated if they found out their only child ended up lost, or dead, in the woods.