Invisible Monster

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window* Joe started to laugh as Fred started his yarn of “terror”.

They had been buddies since they were in diapers and Fred had always had an imagination bigger than anyone Joe knew. It would be good to get out of the city, even better with his best pal.

It had been a few years since they saw each other and it would be good to catch up.

Especially since Joe was about to tie the knot with Mary, They had been dating for three years but he had known that she was the one the minute he saw her on the dance floor.

He wanted Fred to be his best man, and he hoped Fred would say yes…it wouldn't be right without him there. But time had caused them to drift a little, and so they needed a guy's weekend to kind of reconnect.

Fred went on with his tale as Joe drove along the winding road up to the cabin they had been going to since they were 16, Fred’s Dad had bought it but it hadn't been well maintained since Fred’s Dads health had started to decline. Maybe Mary & I can help with that he thought to himself. It felt good to hear Fred's world-building again, Joe had sorely missed his friend.

Joe’s truck ate the miles to the cabin quickly, and they arrived by noon.

The two friends climbed out of the shiny red pickup and grabbed their gear for the weekend, coolers of beer, a cooler of grillables, and fishing gear. Joe could hear the lake in the distance, the waves and the crickets tried to outdo each other but ended up making a blended harmony all their own. Fred hadn't stopped talking the entire way and was still talking as he pulled the coolers inside the cabin.

The cabin had a wood stove which they would need to chop firewood for, it still got cold at night up here. After a few games of rock paper scissors to determine who got axe duty they realized that it was a draw, so they took turns splitting wood. They both realized that their hands were going to be sore all weekend.

Once they had split enough wood for 2 nights, they agreed to just go in and pass out; they didn't make it passed the living room.

With all the exertion Joe was sleeping like a baby when Fred gave him a shake. He looked like he had been awake for a bit, his blue flannel sleeping bag across the room looked rumpled.

Joe checked his Indiglo watch, it read 2:30 am “Jesus Fred what's wrong??!!”

Fred quickly put his hand over Joe’s mouth and pointed to the side of the cabin where the huge old tree was…Fred’s side.

At first, there was nothing, then rustling…..louder rustling, then a sharp scratching...and then a deep resonating growl came from Fred’s side of the cabin.

Fred’s curly brown hair was almost standing on end and his brown eyes were as wide as saucers. Joe could relate; he was pretty sure that all of the sandy hairs that he had left under his Gone Fishin’ baseball cap were standing on end.

So they weren't going to get any sleep tonight…. a good thing he had thought to bring a deck of cards.

Ok so, he could admit, that the city had its perks.

Once the noises stopped, Fred began “What was that?!! It sounded huge….And like it wanted in here”

“It was probably just a raccoon or something, it’ll be fine” Joe took a pull of his water bottle and tried to sound convincing.

“What if it comes back?” Fred was pretty shook up, Joe couldn't blame him

“We are inside, and it's not like it can get in. they might be clever but I’ve never seen a raccoon use a door key” Joe was just as scared but trying real hard not to show it. He had been in the woods ever since he was a kid and that didn't sound normal. But he refused to be afraid, he would not become irrational just because of a little animal noise…..even though everything in him was screaming at him to pack them both up and head out of here at first light.

“But Joe, what if it comes back? You and I both know that was too tall to be a raccoon” Fred rubbed his hands together.

“Fine, let's go see what it is then, if it's a raccoon then you owe me some beer.” Joe really wanted Fred to say no. he was hoping his friend would say no.

“Nope, I am not going out there” Fred was not having any of it.

Then they heard the sound of claws on metal.

“The truck!” They chorused

And without thinking, Joe ran out the front door with nothing but his water bottle in his hand, Fred following a tick behind him.

They couldn't see anything, and so decided to climb up high in the huge tree by the cabin to get a better vantage point.

They decided to wait a little and see what the heck they were dealing with, nothing should be able to spot them where they are and the trees still held plenty of foliage for cover….and they waited silently.

Joe was about to say let’s go inside when Fred starts screaming, he watches frozen as his friend is yanked out of the tree screaming and terrified…but he can’t see what has a hold of Fred. He can’t see anything.

Fred keeps screaming as he is drug down the tree and off into the woods, he didn’t even have time to scream for help...he just kept screaming.

Joe can’t wrap his mind around what just happened and he stays up in that tree until dawn, a mix of shock and terror paralyzing him.

Once day breaks, he climbs down and heads into the cabin….he stares at his friend's sleeping bag ….what had happened, what took him….and why couldn’t he see it.

As he sits shakily down on the old couch that he had used for a bed last night, he begins to think. He is terrified but he needs to think clearly. That thing was coming back, he would bet good money on it…and he wasn’t about to be next on that thing's to-do list.

Then he remembered that Fred’s Dad had a bunch of bear traps in the shed behind the cabin. So he got to work quickly to get them all set up around the cabin before nightfall. Joe knows that he won’t be sleeping tonight…and possibly for many flights after this.

Then he lays in wait for whatever took his friend the night before. He wants to draw it in. He needs to draw it in.

He lights a candle in the window and begins to make noise, rattling the cast iron pots and pans even, and singing loudly …louder than when he got drunk at that karaoke bar.

He doesn’t hear anything and is just about to take a break when all of a sudden

Bam!

One of the beartrap closes. He has managed to catch something.

He is shocked, but hopeful.

Joe waits till daylight the next day and goes to check his trap which is partially closed and bent….when he tries to pick up the trap to inspect it.. He can't. The trap is too heavy. So he takes a bottle of water and pours it over the trap…as the clear liquid runs over the metal it pools well past the trap mechanism. It shows that the trap snapped the creature's neck, the otherwise invisible creature's neck.

Joe caught his invisible monster, by the head no less.

Joe will never come back to these woods, he will have to get a new truck…he will say that a bear clawed his pickup door…even though those claw marks are too big to be a bear. He will tell Fred's family that Fred was dragged off by a bear.

Tears are running down Joe's cheeks

But now he is safe.