Crying Wolf

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. So when the young Riley came across it while walking her new Siberian husky, Maxine, her blood ran cold. There was a certain shiver that ran down her back as she peered at the candle.

No one was supposed to be living there, she thought.

She admired the bright flame from a distance watching it flicker back and forth almost in a teasing manner. It beckoned her closer. Almost luring her in to take a peek inside.

She remembered her parents warning her about walking Maxine over there but children will be children.

Twisting her white worn-down sneakers it dug into the dirt-covered trail. A slight breeze passed through her hair picking up any of the loose strands that managed to escape from her messy bun. The young girl was too fixated on the cabin to hear the low growl that was emitting from Maxine. She took a step forward, but the leash that was tied firmly to her wrist held her back.

She looked at Maxine who refused to move and whose eyes were also fixated on the cabin. Maxine bared her sharp teeth, lowered her body to the floor, and tucked her fluffy tail in between her legs. The girl had never seen Maxine so agitated and scared before. She brushed a hand through her blackish and gray fur.

“It’s okay.” Riley tried her best to comfort the poor pup but it did nothing to calm her. “No worries Maxy, I’m gonna take you back hom-”

“Riley!” Her mother called out nearby.

The air had gotten colder, as the hairs on Riley’s neck stood up. Her mother had stepped out not too long ago to go into town to pick up some stuff for dinner so she couldn’t have been back so soon, right?

There was ringing silence.

No sounds.

Blinking in confusion Riley looked past the trees, back to the clearing, and even behind some bushes yet her Mother was nowhere to be found.

“Riley.” Her mother called once more.

Less friendly.

Less enthusiastic.

“Mommy?” She finally answered, with a slight tremble in her voice. She clenched her fists to her side, gulping loudly.

Tap tap tap.

The noise came from the cabin. Three taps were all it took to frighten poor Riley. Maxine’s growling persisted, trying to pull Riley away from the unseen danger.

The candle still flickered by the dark window but strangely an object by the window-it was hard for Riley to make out.

“I’m in here Riley.”

Riley was taken aback. Was her mother pranking her? Trying to give her a little scare as punishment for walking by the abandoned cabin?

Unbeknownst to her, Riley didn’t realize she was walking closer to the cabin. The crunching of the dead leaves below her feet got swept up as she dragged her feet.

In the window, she was able to see a pale hand that had started to form. It looked funny, yet a little strange to say the least. She tilted her head, cautiously approaching the window, seeing something wave her in.

It certainly wasn’t her mother but why did it sound like her?

Creaaaaak.

Riley slowly turned her head while the sounds of Maxine’s loud bark finally broke the trance she was in. The cabin’s door slowly opened up revealing the darkness that awaited inside. Backing up Riley carefully watched, waiting to see if there was any movement.

Silence filled the air.

Maxine crouched her back once more, barking and growling. Riley pulled her leash signaling it was time to go. Before she had the chance to turn away, a powerful gust of wind blew her hair out of its bun, screeching her name so loudly she could do nothing but freeze.

“RILEY!”

Appearing right before her she saw elongated skeletal-like fingers with sharp claws that hooked around the door frame as a pale creature was bent over trying to get out.

Trying to get to her.

Riley let out a petrified scream and ran down the trail with Maxine right by her side. The sounds of heavy footsteps close behind her only prompted her to run faster. Hot tears ran down her cold face when she finally made it to the front porch of her house. She swung up the door with a BANG and slammed it shut, locking it with shaky hands.

It was hard for her to catch her breath. Violent coughs rattled her chest making it difficult for her to call for her father. Maxine tried her best to console the crying girl by getting in between her arms, nuzzling her nose against her red cheeks. A soft distress growl still emanated from the poor dog whose eyes were still fixated on the door.

“Sweetheart? Oh no, what happened?”

Riley’s father rounded the corner with a frown wondering why she was crying so much. He picked her in his arms, gently tapping her back and holding her head.

“Shh shh, it’s okay.” He sat her down on the living room couch, with Maxine following right behind. Her father pulled off her dirt-covered sneakers, tossed them to the side, and held her hands. “Are you hurt?” He asked looking over her face, arms, and legs for bruises but didn’t see anything.

Riley continued to cry. Seeing the tears run down her face made him feel a heavy weight of guilt that buried its way into his heart. Did something even worse happen? The fearful thought rippled through him.

He pulled her into a hug, “It’s okay sweetie. I’m here.” After a couple of moments later when her cries had calmed down a bit he burdened Riley with the same question. “What happened? You can tell me.”

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes staring up at her Father with red puffy eyes. “D-Daddy. There was a monster.”

Furrowing his eyes, he tilted his head. “A monster?”

She nodded her head as a couple of stray tears rolled down her cheeks. He gently wiped them away with his thumb and made her blow her nose inside of a clean tissue he had in his pocket. The jingling of the door made Riley jump as she became fearful again. Her heart thumped in her chest listening for the monster she had seen outside.

Badum.

Badum.

Badum.

Her breathing became quiet as a shadow on the ground slowly emerged to reveal… her mother.

“Hi, guys! What-” Her mother stopped short seeing Riley with tear-filled eyes looking at her warily. “Baby what’s wrong?” She dropped her bags to the floor and ran over, kneeling in front of her.

“There was a monster outside mommy.”

Upon hearing those words, her mother inhaled deeply before releasing a tiresome sigh. She heard this way too many times from her daughter. She was easily frightened by the littlest of things, so this was nothing new with Riley.

She was 8 years old.

An 8-year-old with a hyperactive imagination that ran so wild she would conjure up these things that would frighten her when the sun started setting and darkness crept in.

Riley's puffy eyes pulled at her heartstrings but she couldn’t keep babying her and pretending her imaginary monsters would go away as soon as mommy and daddy appeared.

“Honey, I’m sure it was nothing. You’re all safe and sound. Now-“ She stood up gesturing to the groceries. “Do you want to help mommy make some dinner to make you feel better?” She smiled warmly, tip-toeing around the situation. Trying her hardest not to make her daughter feel worse and to calm her worries.

Riley refused to move, clutching onto her father’s arm and staring at her mother with a frown. “Mommy there was a monster! I’m telling you when I was walking Maxy by the cabin. There was someone there inside an-“

“Wait-what cabin?” Her mother snapped with a scowl on her face. Riley knew she was most likely going to get in trouble but now since she knew there was a monster close by she couldn’t sit there and lie.

“Riley is that the cabin we told you not to go by?” Her father questioned with a sigh. Riley nodded, sinking back into the chair as her Mother pointed at her.

“We told you not to go there for a reason!” She chastised.

She was getting upset. The cabin had been abandoned for many years but the property had originally belonged to a cultist group back in the 60s up until the late 90s.

Doing terrible rituals.

Conjuring.

All of the insane things you could think of.

Although no one had returned there-according to neighbors and her husband and her seeing for themselves. She knew it would frighten Riley.

Too bad they found out the history of the cabin after they moved in nearby. Her mother was not a superstitious person and didn’t believe in all the crap most people did. On the other hand, her husband did, which fueled little Riley’s mind at times.

“I really did see something.” Riley pleaded.

Her mother sighed, rubbing her temples. “Riley please-“ she raised her hands to stop her. “Be reasonable sweetie. There is no such thing as monsters. It could be scary but I need you to be brave. It’s been a couple weeks in a new place and you’re scared. I understand but-.”

“There was someone in the cabin! I saw a candle-”

“Hone-“ Her mother tried but Riley was getting upset her Mother wasn’t listening.

“You’re not even listening to me!”

Her mother rubbed her tired before looking at her husband to deal with their daughter. She turned to pick up the groceries she had dropped with Maxine staring at the front door, not moving an inch.

“I thought I heard you, mommy. It sounded just like you.”

Her mother froze. It sounded just like her? What did? She was completely confused. Gritting her teeth, and clearing her throat she didn’t want to frighten Riley anymore than she already was. Was there someone actually there? Someone harassing her daughter? Someone that Riley was interpreting as a monster? The thought made her furious but she suppressed her angry thoughts.

“You know what Riley. Daddy and I will check it out in the morning.” She smiled, casting her husband a look he knew too well.

_

The next morning Riley’s parents went out to check out the creepy worn-down cabin while she was at school.

“She needs to stop crying wolf.” Her mother started with a sigh. Her father remained silent, trying not to refuel the argument that had started last night after Riley had gone to bed.

They observed the cabin, time nor nature had been kind to it. Carefully they both checked out the windows and peeked inside to see nothing but darkness and a table pressed up underneath the window pane.

Riley’s father had his shotgun firmly at his side, ready to use if needed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. What if it was actually a creature roaming around? What if he couldn’t protect his daughter and his wife? He took a deep breath and with the butt of the gun he nudged the front door of the cabin.

Creaaaaak.

It opened a little too easily and with their phone lights, they illuminated the darkness inside. To simply put it, it looked like a regular abandoned place.

No signs of any person.

Forgotten books. A trail of yellow stained papers. A black dirty covered rug. Dusty scattered jars of unknown liquids-which neither of them wanted to explore, and a strong musty smell of what resembled rotting meat burned their senses.

“That is horrendous.” Her mother coughed using her sleeve to block the overwhelming smell of decay. She shined her light all over trying to find the source along with her husband. “What the hell could that be?”

“Don’t know Jane, probably some dead animal. Let’s get out here, there haven’t been any signs of anyone or anything at all.” He shrugged, turning his body away but his eyes stared into the darkness of one of corners of the room. Jane looked at where her husband was looking but there was nothing.

“Tom?”

Tom turned to his wife, shaking his head, “Nothing, let’s go.”

Jane agreed watching her husband walk out. She was about to follow in suit but something by the window caught her eye. The words of Riley saying there was a candle by the window played over and over in her mind. She walked over to the window and brushed her hand over a small black scorch mark.

That’s odd, she thought. Her eyes wandered looking around and very faintly she saw the remains of what looked like white wax plastered against the dry wood. She looked at it- deep in thought if there was any truth to what Riley had been saying.

_

Later that night, when the moon was high in the dark skies, a shrill scream broke through the silent air. Jane and Tom jumped out of their sleep with thumping hearts and scrambled out of their beds. Maxine was barking and growling at Riley’s closed bedroom door, with the crying girl on the other side.

Jane ran to open the door but when she ran to turn the doorknob, it was locked. Furrowing her brows she tried again. “Honey? Can you open the door?” She tried to ask Riley in a panicked voice.

There was nothing but loud sobs.

“Tom!” Jane turned to Tom and she moved out the way, almost tripping over Maxine who was also trying to get to Riley. Tom threw his entire weight into the door but the door didn’t budge. After a string of curses, and with one more frustrated BAM, the door swung open.

Jane switched on the light to see Riley on the ground staring up at her window. Maxine charged into the room, sniffing the ground with a low growl before sitting by Riley.

“Honey…” Jane whispered realizing she had most likely had a terrifying nightmare. She feared this was most likely going to happen but the next words out of Riley’s mouth made her grind her teeth.

“The monster was by the window.” She pointed reliving the moment when she was in her dream world and was awoken by a tapping on her window.

Three loud taps made her stir out of a good dream, and when she opened her sleepy eyes the monster was there with a sharp toothy grin, black hollow eyes, and melting pasty flesh trying to get in through the window.

She screamed and screamed for dear life hoping her parents heard her. She wasn’t able to move and that scared her.

Jane and Tom looked at the window to see nothing more than an overgrown tree branch reaching over tapping and scratching at her window from the cool breeze that blew by.

Tom let out a sigh of relief. He was glad she was not in any real danger. Although she was visibly shaken up, he closed her window that was slightly ajar and locked it.

“No worries, we scared off the bad monster.” He smiled sleepily.

Jane did not take kindly to his words- a bit annoyed he was encouraging their daughter of this monsters she was supposedly seeing. Jane picked their daughter up from the floor. “Honey, I’m sure you thought it was a monster because it was dark. We have to get you a nightlight.”

“Mommy, it was here!” She argued with red cheeks. She tapped her back soothing Riley into her shoulder before looking over at Tom. “Come on, darling you could sleep in mommy and daddy’s room for tonight but you’re going to have to be brave from now on.”

Riley frowned, and although her mother couldn’t see, she made herself a promise that she was going to get them evidence so they would believe her.

_

After a couple nights, everything seemed fine until one day Riley was acting strange. Stranger than usual. Her mother was going to be working the night shift before she slowly transitioned into the graveyard shift for her new job at the hospital in town.

It was 8pm. It was a chilly night, and the dreary clouds had blocked out the moon’s well-needed light. Jane concluded driving was going to be a pain but she would be okay. She had to be at work for 8:30 and had to stay until 3am or if she was lucky she’d get to leave an hour early.

She was completely bewildered at Riley’s behavior. Clinging to her mother’s leg, hoping and begging she wouldn’t go to work.

“M-mommy please don’t go. Please don’t leave us.” Pleading on her knees she clung onto with strength she never knew her daughter possessed.

“Riley! What has gotten into you?”

Riley didn’t say anything but Jane knew it was probably this monster situation. It was becoming ridiculous. Instead of snapping at her to let her go, she gently pried her daughter off and kneeled down at eye level.

“I’ll be back before you know it. Can you be brave for me?” Riley stopped her whining, looking at her mother, letting her words sink in. She nodded, mustering a small smile. “There’s my good girl.” She kissed her forehead before telling Tom she was leaving. And with that, she left for work. Riley watched from the window watching her mother pull out from the dirt-filled driveaway.

Riley had a plan. She was going to be brave.

_

After her father had tucked her into bed, he told her to call him if anything. He turned on her night light, which brightened up a majority of the room, before taking off the lights and wishing her a good night.

Riley waited until she heard her father walk away and she threw her blanket off of her. She quietly jumped out of bed and made sure her curtains were drawn over her locked window. That was number one on her list. She reached under her bed to grab her mother’s old aluminum basement bat from her high school days, and her father’s hunting knife.

They made her feel safe.

Number two checked off the list, she thought. She plugged in her iPad that she had gotten as a gift from her parents a couple months ago. She positioned the iPad in a way that it would record the entire room, and get her the evidence she needed so her parents would believe her. Especially her mother, who she overheard saying she cried wolf over anything.

She took in a deep breath, and pressed record, before running back to bed hugging the bat closely to herself and placing the knife under her pillow.

Then she waited.

_

Ultimately, Riley had fallen asleep. She was having a good dream, running around as the heroine in her adventurous tale.

Tap tap tap.

She sprung out of bed, rubbing the sleepy out of her eyes, and armed herself.

“It’s time… be brave.” She told herself slowly getting out of bed. Her hand slithered under her pillow to grab the knife, while the other hugged the bat. She looked to the window, waiting anxiously to see the shadow of the creature again.

Badum

Badum

Badum

She gulped listening carefully.

CRASH!

The sounds of things falling and being thrown threw Riley off guard.

Oh no, did it get inside?

She heard the sounds of her father's loud groans and glass shattering and breaking. She ran to her door-almost tempted to open it to see if her father was okay.

She kept telling herself to be brave over and over and over again but she couldn’t find the courage to open the door. Even with the weapons she had that made her feel brave.

BANG

Her father’s shotgun went off, and she gasped covering her mouth. Did daddy kill it? She felt somewhat relieved when she heard a loud THUMP right after. She stayed by the door pressing her ear against it, hearing footsteps she recognized too well.

Yayyy, she sang in her head excited that the monster was no longer going to be an issue. She turned about to head back to bed with a huge grin on her face. She saw the iPad was still recording so she fist bumped the air.

“Riley,” Her father exclaimed excitedly, making her spin around to her closed door. “I know you’re awake. You were right! The monster was pretty scary. You planned work. Let me give you a big hug sweetie.”

She smiled proudly about to open her door, her hand firmly on the doorknob. But then she froze. She never told her parents about her plan. She thought it up just a couple hours ago.

Her father definitely didn’t know.

Riley locked her door. Her father didn’t seem to like that after hearing the faint click. “Riley. Open the door.”

She didn’t answer. She looked over at her digital clock. It was 3:32am in the morning. Her mother was coming home soon. She just had to wait until then.

The rattling of the doorknob shook the silence of the room. “Riley. Open the door!” Her father sounded more angry, banging on it as she fell back nearly hitting her head on her bed frame. The bat clattered to the floor as it fell from her hands but she held on firmly to the knife.

The banging came to halt.

The sounds of her mother’s car brought tears of joy to her eyes. She ran to the window to see her mother parking her car in front of the house. She banged on the window to get her mother’s attention but it was like her mother couldn’t hear her. Riley screamed for her mother banging her hands against the window. That seemed to catch her mother’s attention who looked up at her, throwing her hands up wondering why she was still awake.

Riley smiled but the sounds of scraping against the door pulled her attention away. The lock was gradually turning in the opposite direction. She ran to the door and before she could lock it back, the door opened.

She stopped in her tracks peering at the door but nothing ever came. Darkness was the only thing she could see from the hallway, and a weird stink odor she had never smelled before permeated the room.

She tip-toed closer to the door in order to shut it, wondering what was taking her mother so long. However, she felt like she was suffocating when she saw long skeleton-like fingers through the opening of the door dig into the doorframe. With her knife, she sliced the fingers feeling a wave of bravery overtake her senses.

She had to protect her home.

A loud shriek was heard, and although the monster’s hand pulled away out of view, the poor girl wasn’t prepared for what came next.

_

Jane ran into the house after hearing her daughter’s muffled screams from her bedroom on the second floor. Where was her father? Why was she up so late? Why the hell was the front door open?

Entering the hallway she was met with that disgusting smell of rotting flesh from a couple days ago. Maxine was nowhere to be seen, but bloody paw prints led into the kitchen to reveal her poor dog whimpering from an injury. Nausea took over at the grotesque wound. She hugged Maxine, comforting her and sadly telling her she would be back as soon as possible.

Did a wild animal get in?

With wide eyes, she ran upstairs to search for her husband and daughter. Her bedroom door was opened but she nearly tumbled down the stairs when she blood splattered all over the walls. Tears pricked her eyes as she shakily ran to see Tom laying there with a large wound on his head. She wanted to look after him when she shook him awake but when she turned down the hall to Ripley’s room, her door was open and she wasn’t there.

“Riley?” She cried out running into the room. She looked all over seeing her old bat on the floor. She checked her closet. Under the bed. In the bathroom but there was nothing there. Tears ran down her face as she called for Riley over and over again. Her eyes met her own reflection on Riley’s iPad.

She grabbed it realizing it was recording for some reason, and she stopped it. There was a four-hour-long recording of tonight. She played it, quickly skimming through it to see Riley getting into bed with a dangerous knife, and bat by her side. She continued to see Riley sleeping for the next four hours, tossing and turning until she got up to see her looking at the window then at the door.

Riley was frightened but she didn’t understand, nothing was happening. She was staring at the door for so long hearing something on the other side until a loud BANG made both her and Riley jump. She wanted nothing more than to hold her daughter.

She saw her run to the window, screaming and pounding away at the window calling for her mother. Then Riley turned back to the door, slicing away at something she couldn’t see. Jane looked at the door frame seeing where he daughter sliced the door but also seeing strange dent marks buried deep into the doorframe.

Looking back at the video. Jane saw something that would haunt her until the day she died. Long elongated hands reached into the room, pulling Riley by her short legs.

For a moment- a small moment, she saw a disgusting wounded creature with blood draining from a chest wound stare up at the iPad with hollowed-out eyes and a terrifying grin before dragging the hysterical girl out the room with a soft thud, whisking her away into the darkness.

Screaming in the distance made her drop the iPad, grab the bat that lay on the floor and the shotgun that was left in the bloody hallway, chasing after her daughter.

Riley hadn’t been crying wolf after all, and Jane hoped she wasn’t too late to save her daughter from the monster she had been trying so hard to tell them about.

“I’m so sorry honey.” She cried to herself running into the dark forest and in the direction of the cabin where she saw the small flicker of a candle in the window.

Taunting her.

Daring her to get closer.