FIRE DANGER HIGH

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

An unexpected discovery for Emily as she pushed her way past thorny brush piles and old fallen branches. Still, she narrowed in on its solitude, closing the gap between herself and the dimly lit homestead.

The cabin had belonged to her father, but Emily hadn’t been there since his passing 7 years ago, when according to his will, she was notified the cabin property had been left to her. So, who, at this time of night even, could have lit the candle that now flickered in front of her?

Believing she was surely about to walk in on a squatter, Emily grabs the candle from the window and begins searching the cabin’s stale spaces and cavernous corners for any sign or hint that someone had been trespassed/been there. Upon returning to the cabin’s main room, which lay bare and empty, save for her things spread out on the side, her eyes immediately clocked another candle burning in the window, in the exact same spot as the one she had previously blown out.

She rushes outside then around to the sides of the cabin searching and listening for whoever had lit the other candle, but doesn't see anything.

Emily wasn’t easily rattled, and the loss of her father had both hardened her and dulled her. The relationship she had with her father had been something of marble to begin with – rigid and illusive. It wasn’t unusual for her to stand unafraid, apathetic even, in the face of cruel play and trickery, were someone trying to mess with her. That was her father.

But he was dead now.

When she went back inside the cabin, she rolled out her sleeping bag and blankets, and pulled a gun from an inside pocket and placed it under her pillow. Whoever had lit the candle, whoever had been trying to get her attention, would perhaps reconsider if they met the other end of Emily’s gun.

As she sits on the floor next to her pack, she pulls out her phone and starts drafting a text message.

“Hi – I made it here safely. I’ll text you tomorrow when I’m heading back.”

Backspace, backspace, backspace.

“Hey, I’m here. We may have a squatting situation on our hands…or just some kids being kids…”

Emily erases the text again. Starts over.

“I just got here. I’m not even sure why I came now. I thought I just needed to think, to work through my own crap…but maybe it’s not what I need. We’ve battled these dark moments before, and got through them, I know that, but here I am again, and I just…I’m tired, and …”

Erase. Start over.

“This is just something I have to do. I’m fine. I’ll be back in the morning. [Heart emoji].”

Send.

Suddenly, Emily hears something pop, like a snapping of a stick, from behind the cabin. Grabbing her gun, she walks around to the back only to discover the pile of sticks she’d seen earlier are now ablaze. The fire’s roar grows louder and louder as she steps closer, the crackling and popping plunging her ears, brewing a cacophony in her belly, as the vibrations invade her body.

A torn piece of paper rests near the fire’s edge, catching her attention.

She reads, “Over again.”

From inside the cabin, Emily hears a familiar cry, almost like a sob, and begins to run back to the cabin. The floor is now littered with more tiny pieces of ripped up paper. Picking up a few pieces, Emily begins to realize the pieces make up a letter, and frantically begins piecing them together. When she finally finishes the letter, she is in tears having realized the letter to be a suicide note. The hard, dullness gives way just a slight as she imagines how painful it would be to write such a letter to her own family, especially her wife Lily.

Their first year of marriage had been easy, blissful, but things had grown especially difficult for them following the pandemic. Loss and grief had made Emily bitter, a darker shade of herself, and for all of Lily’s attempt, she couldn’t help Lily back to the kinder person she had married. Emily hated herself for it, but if Lily wasn’t willing to give up, then neither would Emily.

Emily reached for her phone to text her wife again.

“I love you so much. I’m so sorry for everything.”

Send.

She starts to type something else but pauses when she realizes there may still be time to stop the author of the suicide note from choosing to deal with life’s brutal temporary moments in a permanent way. All pain is temporary. She knew this to be true even if it didn’t feel that way right now.

From inside the cabin, Emily starts calling out to this person.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! IT’S NOT OVER!

From the porch on all sides, she yells out.

“IT CAN BE FIXED. WE CAN FIX IT!”

Through the roar of the fire behind the cabin she shouts.

“YOU’RE NOT ALONE!”

Emily stalks the woods, in search of this mystery person, hoping to reach them in time. Suddenly from the pitch darkness of the woods’ edges, a shadowy silhouette of a person emerges and appears to be walking slowing towards Emily. Flooded with great relief, Emily sets her steps and pace in time with this person, as they walk toward each other.

As the distance between them shrinks, Emily opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted when the stranger chooses to speak first. The familiar voice punches Emily’s chest, like a blunt ended baseball bat hollowing out the cavity beneath her sternum.

It’s Lily’s voice echoing Emily’s pleas from earlier.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! IT’S NOT OVER!

“IT CAN BE FIXED. WE CAN FIX IT!”

“YOU’RE NOT ALONE!”

Emily tries to get Lily’s attention, but Lily proceeds to walk on past her. Emily continues to call out Lily’s name, following behind her, panic ricocheting within her as she stumbles and falls all over the wooded floor.

Regaining her balance, Emily looks up as Lily’s figure comes to a complete stop.

She calls out to Lily, “What is going on, are you trying to kill me?”

Lily doesn’t move.

“I’m behind you.” Emily says a little louder.

But Lily doesn’t turn around.

Emily approaches Lily, whose eyes are wide and horrifically transfixed, her face outlined in an orange glow.

With zero desire to do so, Emily slowly turns, following the direction of Lily’s gaze, and sees the cabin up in flames.

Motionless, Emily stands witness to Lily’s screams as she bolts for the cabin, a surge of images and moments overwhelming her mind preventing her from running after her wife.

Image: Emily lighting the original candle.

Memory: Her sitting on the cabin floor writing the note.

Flash: Emily ripping up the letter.

Emily’s text: “I love you so much. I’m so sorry for everything.”

Image: Emily asleep on the cabin floor, iPhone in hand, a blinking cursor and elipse text bubble.

Lily’s response: “Baby, are you okay? I’m getting worried, should you be alone right now?”

Flash: The candle topping over and rolling across the paper littered floor.

Ash and smoke settle over the cabin, as a piece of paper floats down, and lands on Lily’s knee.

“ I'd love you all over again."