Justice to the Woodlands 101

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. With the old Pike Road closed, no one had been close to the cabin for some time. Besides, since the unfortunate events surrounding the twin sisters Chelsea and Megan Walabha three years ago, no one ventured within a kilometre of the old cabin.

Wayne Thompson was counting on this, for this would be the decades-old scores would be settled, and many would finally find peace. He stood behind the cabin near the old woodshed, and his mind raced as he looked toward the woodshed as the shreds of daylight slowly faded away.

The deep bush around the woodshed slowly vanished; a teenage boy stood outside the woodshed. A young adult male with shoulder-length hair and a beard stood at his side. In his right hand was a half-meter length tree branch. They both winced as they heard the thud of a piece of wood striking the bottom flesh of another student. The beating seemed to go forever, though, in reality, it was only six strikes.

The shed door opened, and a young dark-haired teen boy exited the woodshed; despite his best efforts, several tears went down his cheeks. The man outside of the woodshed pointed toward the edge of the woods. "Now go prepare for bed." He then pushed the other boy's shoulder and motioned toward the shed.

The boy walked into the partially dark woodshed to see the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Instructor standing inside the door. "Now, Mr. Thompson, assume the position."

The boy gave a brief gaze in the direction of the other Instructor in the shed before bending over. A moment later, he felt the first blow against his buttock. Each blow came with a brief thirty to forty-second gap between each impact. The pain was intense, but he knew the other Instructor might pick him up should he collapse, and the process could start back at the beginning.

After the sixth blow, Mr. Peir Ackson's voice bellowed, "Now, when we reassume our hike, you will keep up."

"I will try, sir," the boy replied, knowing his words would bring further correction. Ackson never spoke; his right hand quickly struck the boy's left cheek. The boy fell against the wall with the strength of the blow, tears formed in his eyes as he looked defiantly, "My grandmother hit harder."

The other Instructor saw the look on Ackson's face; he spun around between the other two and punched the boy twice in the stomach, dropping him to the dirty floor. He whispered, "Remember this day. You could have died."

Wayne Thompson turned away from the overgrowth woodshed to the tailgate of his pickup truck. He popped it open. He laughed with a grin, "Gentlemen, we have arrived,"

He pulled a thick green tarp out of the back of the truck exposing three senior males.

Wayne pulled the feet of each one to the edge of the truck's tailgate; all three were still tied up and appeared to be drugged and unable to move.

Wayne walked to the rear of the cabin and opened the old rear porch door; he remembered how so staff slept inside the old place during the scary rain and lightning storm. That night, a falling cedar crushed Billy Hassle's small tent.

He entered the cabin to see his old school companion Daniel Daily and Herbert Cooper inside.

"You got all three?" asked Cooper.

Wayne entered the cabin's front room; a large white circle was drawn on the floor, and three old-school jackets sat in the middle of the ring. Several other candles were burning in the various windows and on shelves.

Cooper's limp from the long show shoe trek of 78 had worsened with age, and several times he had wondered why he was lived through that hell trip when others did not. Cooper was hoping to have all questions answered tonight and punish those involved in crippling him.

Once the captives were carried into the cabin, each was placed against a different wall. They struggled to free themselves but to no avail. No one could hear these men as they were gagged, but they were not blindfolded so that they could see everything. Once the last man sank against a wall, Daniel Daily began to pour salt around each one of them.

Wayne dropped photos of different boys in similar attire in the middle of the circle. "Do you remember me," his question echoed around the cabin? "You must remember this cabin, a resting point on the school trek following the route of the Voyagers."

Herbert Cooper took a large candle and let the wax drop all around the edges of the white circle. "I am sure they remember me; they must remember the tall kid they crippled."

Wayne waved his arms in the air, "The cabin became famous for evil over time. You must have heard that the last owners of this cabin, twin sisters from New Zealand, went quite mad. They found one of them hanging upside down, gutted in the trees near the woodshed. The surviving one went to a Mad House claiming the Tanner Brothers did it." He paused and looked around at all three of them. "YOU KNOW THE TANNER BROTHERS!" he bellowed. "Loved to scare kids with stories of those two homicidal bastards."

Daniel Daily interrupted his old friend saying, "Let's get this started." The three hostage-takers all looked at each other for a moment. Cooper, Daily and Thompson began to move toward a different man lying against a wall and removed their gags. 'So, it finally begins," Daniel whispered.

"What the hell is this?" Pier Ackson said in an authoritative tone, "You little psychopaths will release us at once! I will not put up with this shit for very long!"

Wayne stepped toward his old Instructor, "Sorry, it is not 1979 anymore! You are not in charge; you are once more the student!"

One of the others with a greyish ponytail and a scruffy beard looked confused, "What is this?"

Daniel Daily opened a box near him and pulled out a piece of 2X4 board with a small carved-out handle. "You had me carve these for you, you evil bastard. Eighty percent pass grades and whack for each mistake on a test if you failed."

Herbert Cooper had started to blow some of the candles out as the three tied-up men tried different words to get released or explain their actions when they were teachers and mentors at an all-boys school long ago.

Wayne nodded, Cooper followed by Daily and finally, Thompson stepped into the white circle. "Brothers, I know you are here. We brought three offenders we could find to face your judgement."

As Wayne talked, the remaining candles began to flicker, and two of the five candles went out with smoke embers floating in the air. The cabin's floorboards shook scarcely as a loud moan began to echo senselessly through the room. The rear cabin porch door flew open, and the window shattered in the door as it slammed shut.

A loud shrieking voice roared throughout the cabin, shocking all six inside. "Who permitted you? This is our house!" The three in the circle felt an icy breeze around them, and the foul smell of rotting flesh filled the cabin.

The cabin's front door opened, and the hovering image of Jonathon Tanner appeared in the doorway. He glided into the cabin, followed by a misty breeze filled with forest debris and the smell of rotting flesh and death. No one inside the building advanced. All six appeared in mortal dread as Tanner floated across the room. At times he materialized pretty solid and almost human other times, he was a mere ghostly vapour. His mouth at times hung wiped open with dirty leaves following from it, and a smell of soil clung to the air around him.

The front door swung shut as all but one of the candles went out, leaving a ghostly image of all of the men against the cabin walls. Tanner hoovered over Peir Ackson for a long moment, finally pointing with a partially dismembered left hand, "Peir, it has been so very long,"

Peir Ackson looked up, "Jono, you were always big on the show." he growled in a low tone. "You beat the leaving hell out of me, but I survived."

The image drew back as if deep in thought," Peir Ackson's my dear bunkmate, and you even brought students to me for years. Paying tribute, you cowardly bastard you!"

As Jonathan Tanner spoke, the back porch door swung open with a crash, shattering the door. A whirlwind of air swept through the entire cabin, knocking old beds over, chairs toppled onto their sides and several old dishes smashed against the walls. The last candle blew out as Jonathan's previous word echoed out.

Herbert Cooper shrieked, "Wayne, what have we done!" as he tried to reach out in the darkness.

The figure of a teenage boy entered the room; a yellowish glow encircled him. the blonde-haired teenage boy glided almost gracefully into the cabin's front room. The candles in the room burst into flame and lit almost at once. The room was light, and the image of Jonathon Tanner hoovered against the only empty wall.

Daniel Daily looked long at the teen boy, "Billy, Billy Dole."

Billy Dole was one of three different boys who had perished on the trips through these woods. Billy had disappeared along the trail, and his remains would not be located for nearly ten years. Officials believed he must have gotten lost from the main troupe and fallen down a hidden slope.

Billy moved across the room; his face distorted as he looked at Jonathon Tanner. "You tormented me as I lay dying, but your crime was not the worst to me." The bearded man lifted into the air, his legs swinging, trying to break free of his ropes. Billy moved toward the suspended older man. "Mr. Hasckle, you pushed me hard that last day, you name called, kicked me in the side and slapped the back of my head repeatedly. You called me names and ordered me to run; as I slipped down the slope, you left me to die!"

Edward Hasckle's felt his chest pounding and thought his heart would explode. He struggled harder and harder to burst free. He tried to speak but could not create anything except shrieks and cries.

Billy looked around the room as the room grew very bright; a moment later, Edward Hasckle's body crashed through the front window into the forest. "He is yours," Billy said as he looked toward Jonathan Tanner. With that, the front door opened, and Billy glided out of the cabin disappearing back into the woods from which he came.

Jonathan Tanner's ghostly image moved with the whirlwind and went out of the broken window to claim his prize. All the debris blowing around the room dropped to the floorboards. All five left in the cabin looked around without speaking a word. Wayne was about to leave his circle, but Daniel held him by the arm.

The front open door as the faces of six teen males slowly drifted into the doorway. One of these faces became the entire body of Buck Peterson, a tall boy with thick glasses and a crooked right arm. Unlike the other visitors whose feet appeared to touch the floor, he went to the beating stick Daniel had tossed onto the bed, his hand-picked up the stick and approached the older man with the wiry hair that once had been a bright red.

Buck's mouth dropped wide open, and an unearthly teen voice emerged from the open mouth, 'Assume the position."

"I shall not, for one thing; I am bloody tied up, you ignorant Spector." He said in an East London accent. The roped that held him flew off, and he struggled as he tried not to stand up, "Let me bloody go!" Slowly his body bent over as he continued to protest, "Bloody well piss off. I educated you, and I gave you a chance at life." A moment later, he was bent over, and the stick began to strike his bottom over and over.

Wayne and Herbert remembered the day when Buck received twenty-four hits for failing his biblical studies quiz. In the 70s, no one understood learning disabilities as they do now. Buck went home at Christmas, took his father's revolver, placed it in his mouth, and fired.

As the beating continued, blood oozed out of Buck's head as he shrieked with each blow he delivered. The Instructor's body fell to the floor; the stick dropped from the bloody hand as Buck slowly moved out the front door. He moved and disappeared amongst the images of the other boys at the doorway.

"Mr. Thompson, you mean to see us all dead!" said Mr. Ackson. Despite all that had happened and nearly being frightened to death, he had not forgotten who he was. No former students, no former classmates or anything living or dead to take away who and what he was.

Wayne moved to the very edge of the circle. He pointed his hand at the last of the instructors that appeared to be able to reason. "If it is the will of this cabin, so be it."

"Still the little defiant prick to the very end," laughed Ackson. "Unlike your colleagues, you at least could take a beating like a grown-up!" He looked at the three men inside the circle, "Mr. Chubby Cooper, I remember you now, the poor little boy that loved his chocolate bars." "Ah, Mr. Cooper needs to cry and go find mommy." Mr. Ackson, proud leader of a rugged outdoor program and school, would not accept his fate.

The school photos in the white circle began to lift upward and swirl around the ceiling. The three stood as Daniel removed an item from his jacket pocket and smiled. A rectangular-shaped black box with a small button on the side and a toggle switch on the top.

"I am so afraid," the Instructor laughed loudly. "Daniel, you were always a little KNOB!"

The faces at the doorway slowly entered the room, with no bodies or substance, but they all looked at the Instructor with loathing, hatred and no signs of childhood fear. Their eyes glowed yellow and bright, staring down at the one who had abused them in their youth.

'"Come on, boys!" Come on, one at a time or all at once. You are bloody filthy cowards: line up, boys, time to get your punishment. I always lived as one with you!"

Peir Ackson finally managed to free his hands and started to release his feet and legs. "s his legs freed, he could see the three in the circle all place a hand on the device Daniel Daily had taken from his pocket.

"I am Wayne Thompson; I accuse you, Headmaster, of Cruelty, Abuse, Crimes against Order and MURDER!" Wayne bellowed as the faces began to move around Mr. Peir Ackson's head and body.

Ackson moved over and picked up the bloody beating stick, "Come on, ten to each of you, first you, Mr. Cooper. No Mommy to cry to anymore!" he yelled as his face began to turn red.

Daniel Daily pressed the button on the side as all three gripped the device, "Peir Ackson, I charge you with the Murder of students and one caretaker, Mr. Fredrick Mayworth, my only friend at your center of educational abuse.!" His words crackled as he spoke.

A choir of moaning teen voices echoed the name "Ackson" as the faces followed Peir Ackson around the room.

Pier Ackson tried to reach into the circle to pull Wayne Thompson out, but this hand could not pass over the white circle line. "Now what black magic, you little bastards!"

Herbert Cooper looked toward the man that had beaten him for three solid years of his youth. His voice rung out in agony but without fear," Mr. Peir Ackson, the king of the late-night beatings, the Emperor of Peril, King of Panic, I find you guilty of Cruel and Unusual Punishment. I also consider you guilty of being the killer of dreams, the plague of pains and the murder of teens."

Peir Ackson threw his body toward the three men in the circle. He bounced away from the ring and plummeted to the floor. He waved the stick, yelling, "Curse and damn you all to Hades!"

He got to his feet and started toward the front door. The full-body image of Jonathan Tanner stood there, except it had a complete body form this time. Peir Ackson waved his stick at the upright corpse striking it across the face and the torso. Tanner grabbed him and tossed him back into the room.

"Damn you!" Peir Ackson hissed as he turned toward the rear exit toward the small kitchen and the back porch. His steps seemed heavy as he pushed himself threw the faces toward the rear. "I gave you all strength; I gave you the chance to be leaders he added.

As he reached the edge of the room, a bloody female corpse swung upside down in the doorway, knocking into his side of him. He gasped for air as he turned back into the room. For the first time in their lives, the three men in the circle saw fear in their old Instructor's face, and all four knew it was over.

The three looked deep into each other's faces as they pulled the toggle switch together.

The cabin walls exploded outward as the roof went into the evening air. The rear porch collapsed. Bloodcurdling colossal shrieks and screeches echoed out across the entire forest. The rear of the pickup truck flew upward as the force of the explosions flipped it into a gulley.

The savage blasts seemed to last forever as bright lights burst from the burning cabin and nearby brush. The many faces of the teen boys seemed to instantly develop bodies and slowly move above the flames and dissipate into the night sky. The desecrated body of the twin from New Zealand smiled as she felt her body becoming whole as she began to walk out of the flames.

"I am coming, Meg," she whispered joyfully as her body faded into the night.

As morning broke, RCMP Corporal Lewis stepped behind the embers of the cabin. "You found something then."

The Volunteer Fire Captain looked shaken and only nodded. He two-stepped beyond the smoky hulk of the pickup truck. Three other firefighters and a local trapper stood near the woodshed.

"This shed should have burned like everything else." Said one of the firefighters as they approached.

"Yha, I know Murphy, corporal, just inside." Said the fire chief.

The Corporal stepped into the shed, no spider webs or dust as if built last Tuesday, and the axes looked clean but well used, a stack of neat wood in one corner. In the other corner are three bodies in one line and three in the other. One line appeared to be young men and the other teenage boys.

After the photos were complete, the rescue and recovery teams met outside the woodshed. The Corporal asked, "Does anyone know these young men and the boys are the local or here on vacation."

A young RCMP member new to the area looked at the camera to check the photos. "LOOK!" "Corporal, Corporal," his voice was high and confused. He stumbled towards the other, holding the camera out to his superior.

The Corporal had been a member for over a dozen years and was rarely rattled, and believed he had seen almost everything possible. He looked at the photos for a long moment, then ran back into the woodshed.

The rest of the rescue team began to run after the police officer. A moment later, the officer tossed the covers off the first row of bodies; each body appeared to have aged over thirty to forty years in just a moment. He stumbled over one of the bodies as he pulled the covers off of Wayne, followed by his fellow students.