Painted Red Across my Eyes

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

They could see it from across the frozen lake as the family pulled up to where they would be staying for the weekend, a relatives house situated only a few miles from the mountain for a winter ski trip.

It was a dim light through the barren trees of the forest, stripped of their foliage from the harsh, frigid conditions. Having only really visited the lake during the summer months, they did not think much of it and assumed that maybe someone had finally bought the cabin and was actually getting some use out of it.

The family did not dwell on it long as the father and son helped to unpack everything from the car while the mom opened the house.

The house had been recently constructed and it was the first time the family had been inside, discovering all the different rooms and layout within.

The design was so open and expansive, it even had a large canoe hanging in the center of the main living room. Once they were finished bringing everything in from the car, they all sat down for a warm dinner before making their way upstairs to get some sleep to ski the next morning.

The upstairs was a long, expansive hallway with bedrooms on either side. The son chose the room all the way down at the end while the parents took the master bedroom nearest to the stairs. Saying goodnight to each other, the son closed his door, turned off the lights and scrolled on his phone for a while before dozing off.

It was a faint sound that woke him, the son not even sure if there really was a sound or not. But then he heard it again, a muffled banging coming from the living room downstairs.

The son opened the door, his eyes checking down the hallway towards his parents room and then towards a little balcony overlooking the living room below at the end where he was. He slowly slid the barn doors closing off the balcony open and when he looked down, he saw one of the glass doors facing the lake fully ajar. It was banging up against the door stopper in a rhythmic pattern with the light wind outside.

He turned around and began walking slowly down the hallway towards where his parents were sleeping. Not knowing where any of the light switches were, he walked slowly to allow his vision to adjust with the back of his knuckles sliding across the side of the walls to keep him balanced. When he got to their door, he saw that it was completely ajar as well. He called into the room for them, but there was no answer and he could see no shapes within the bed.

The son then made his way downstairs, putting on his winter clothes to see if maybe they had just gone down to the dock overlooking the frozen lake. As he was about to pull the glass door shut behind him as he left, he noticed some type of blue glowing particles near the door in the shape of a footprint. He did not know what to think of it and closed the door before making his way down to the dock.

He made his way across the road towards the dock. He could not hear any voices as he approached and saw no figures within the chairs atop it. He stepped out on the wooden planks but could only see the expanse of the icy lake before him with no sight of his parents.

Calling out for them, the absence of response was as quiet as the night. He stood there dumbfounded and with no idea of what to do or where to check next.

Something soon caught his attention on the ice in front of him as he peered out across it, a faint blue glow in the shape of more footprints leading across the ice. His eyes followed the glow for as long as he was capable until they reached that faint, dim glow of the candle still burning in the abandoned cabin.

The son tested the ice first, making sure it could bear his weight before he followed the footprints across the ice. The tracks were abnormal now that he took a closer look at them, traversing slowly further. He could see that each toe made a chipped indent in the ice, as if whatever it was had sharp claws to grip the slippery surface.

The son was almost fully across when he saw a brief shadow pass in front of the candle in the window. He ducked low to make sure it was tougher to see him, not fully knowing what was within the cabin now. Faint sounds could be heard emanating from within, but the son was unsure of who or what was creating them.

The son stepped onto the other side of the lake, slowly approaching the cabin now to try and get a glimpse into it. When he got to the window with the candle, he found his parents talking cheerfully and preparing a meal, but no one else could be seen. The son tried to gain their attention through the window, calling out to them in a low voice. They could not hear him so he made his way around to the front door to enter the cabin and get his parents.

At the front door were more glowing blue tracks that led deeper into the forest surrounding the cabin, a wooden pile stacked near what looked like a large bonfire. The son entered the cabin without any issue and called out to his parents, asking them what they were doing. They did not respond to his voice, the son now growing agitated that they were ignoring him. He called out to them again before grabbing them both and dragging them outside.

As soon as they hit the cold air, something switched in the parents. They began looking around everywhere, unsure of what had happened. They saw their son and asked him where they were. He told them how they were across the ice, in what they thought was an abandoned cabin. He told them they needed to get back across to the other side right away as he was unsure about what had brought them here.

When they were about to turn to head back, a soft, red glow in the shape of some undistinguishable pattern began to emanate from the center of what the son thought was just a normal bonfire pit. It ebbed and flowed like a heartbeat in the night, radiating through dark swaths of the forest around them. They were not about to stay around and find out what it was.

Making their way back down to the ice now, the family began to walk across slowly. They were slightly separated from each other so as to not cause too much pressure on the ice.

Once they became more comfortable, they made their way across steadily until a loud and primal roar bellowed out from beyond the cabin.

The family looked back in terror from whence they came before picking up the pace to get back across to the other side. The son kept checking behind him and noticed a large shadow in the moonlight making its way onto the ice. The shadow looked slow at first but soon its pace picked up and the whole family could see it making its way straight for them.

As it came closer, the family now saw the ravenous beast looming towards them on all fours, a cross between a bear and elk. Its steps left behind it trails of glowing blue and its razor sharp teeth were bare for the family to see.

It was almost on them now, its long strides covering large swaths of ice before it lunged at the parents. The son had grabbed them at this moment and pulled them both out of the way.

The beast came crashing down on the ice which could not hold its large weight, crashing right through into the lake. It writhed endlessly to try and grip the ice around it, but its strength kept breaking off any support it could have found. Its water logged fur began to weigh it down heavily, slowly drifting underneath the water with a final bellow into the night. Its vibrant blue glow could be seen by the family slowly sinking in the freezing water until the darkness swallowed any remaining light.

The family finally made it to safety on the other side of the lake. Looking out across it now, back towards the cabin, they all could see a dark figure in front of the candle light. Much smaller than the creature that had pursued them, it was there momentarily until it vanished, the candle extinguishing along with it.

The family would never return to the house again, the creature was never found beneath the lake and the cabin would remain abandoned, for all they knew...