Potter's Cabin

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window." The flame from the campfire crackled. Scout Master Henry Thompson looked around at his troop. Ten pairs of wide eyes stared back at him. " You may have heard the stories about Troop 49, before. You may have heard them called the lost troop. You may have thought they were just a story to keep young scouts in line, but they were as real as you and me. And many believe they saw a candle burning in the window of the cabin the night they disappeared." Henry looked over his shoulder glancing nervously at the woods behind him. Then lowering his voice, he continued.

"Troop 49 was in these very woods just like you are for our annual Jamboree in 1967. Nobody really knows why they vanished. I can only tell you what has been passed down from scout master to scout master." All around Henry marshmallows sat burning forgotten on the ends of roasting sticks. "Just like we will tomorrow Troop 49 set out on the annual nature hike and never came back." He reached forward and stoked the fire looking around to ensure he still had the attention of each scout.

"Somewhere along the hike, nobody really knows where troop 49 got separated from the other troops. It wasn't until late afternoon that anyone noticed they were missing. When they didn't answer the evening roll call everyone in the camp began looking for them. After the first hour without finding them the park rangers were called in. Not long after, state and local police were called. In the days that followed every inch of these woods was searched, but the scouts of Troop 49 were never seen again. The only trace of them ever found was their scout master's journal." Henry paused, took a breath, and went on. "The journal they found was retrieved in a part of the woods no kid or adult should have been. At first the area wasn't even searched. No one would go in there, but after Troop 49 didn't turn up anywhere else, the searchers didn't have a choice. And a group of them volunteered to search Potter's woods." Henry looked down at his hands before returning his gaze to the scouts.

"Before I tell you about the journal, I need to tell you how Potter's woods got its name. I'd be surprised if any of you have ever heard of it. Folks around here stopped talking about Earl Potter a long time ago and in our town halfway across the state I doubt there's anybody who remembers his name at all. But make no mistake, Earl Potter didn't die when he was killed or when folks stopped remembering to fear him." Henry swallowed a lump in his throat.

"No one knows when Earl Potter built his cabin, but most believe it was in the years before children started disappearing in 1821. The disappearances started when a girl named Sue Kinley wandered into the woods on a summer day and never came home. In the rest of that year 12 other kids went missing, 23 the year after." Henry paused again. "Parents started keeping their children inside. Stopped letting them go outside at all. But no matter what they did their kids kept disappearing. That is until one night when a boy named Bobby Ray Jebson came running out of the woods in the middle of the night screaming a monster had his sister.

Bobby screamed so loud he woke everyone in the town. When the townsfolk realized, what Bobby was saying they lit torches and marched off into the night. Bobby led them deep into the woods muttering the whole way that his sister was already dead. When Bobby stopped and pointed at a cabin just below the next rise. The townsfolk recognized the cabin as Earl Potters. Without a word they made their way down toward the front of the cabin where a candle was burning in the lone window. Now, no one knows for sure, but legend says when they looked through the window with the candle, they saw Earl sitting at his table in the cabin's small kitchen eating one of Bobby's sister's legs." Henry listened to the gasps coming from around the campfire. "The townsfolk were so upset by what they saw they set fire to the cabin and burned it to the ground with Earl still inside." Henry watched as a burnt marshmallow fell into the fire then added. "Those who were there that night swore for the rest of their lives that Earl never got up from his table. Never stopped eating Bobby's sister's leg." Henry stopped giving the scouts a chance to digest his words before he spoke again.

"A year after the cabin was burned it reappeared. At first no one would go near it. But when people started going in the woods and never coming out again. The townsfolk found the courage to march back to the cabin and burn it down once more. When the cabin appeared again, and people started not coming home again. None of the townsfolk would go back in the woods around the cabin and they warned anyone who would listen to stay out of Potter's woods, but if they dared go in to give the cabin a wide berth, and if they saw a candle burning in the window to run for their lives. Because a candle burning meant Earl Potter had come back for them." Henry stoked the fire again.

"Now that I've told you about Earl and his cabin, I can finish telling you about the journal and its last entry. After wandering lost for hours the scout master wrote that the troop had come across a cabin. The final two sentences of that entry read,

There is a candle burning in the window. We are going to see if anyone is there or if we can possibly find refuge inside, as it is almost midnight, and we are very tired.

On the night troop 49 disappeared every scout in the Jamboree camp reported on their troops honor being woken from their sleep just before midnight to the sounds of screams coming from the woods." Screams erupted from the trees beyond the campfire. Scouts jumped from where they had been sitting running into each other in the chaos. Henry threw back his head and roared with laughter. A moment later Jenny Dall and Jeff Stebbins, the scout masters of the two older troops came out of the woods laughing and pointing at the scouts. Then Jeff asked.

"How many scared scouts peed their pants?"

The next morning ten-year-old Ryan Kern and his sister Sarah, who was two years older than him sat with their hiking packs between their legs.

"Do you think that story was real? You think there really was a Troop 49?" Sarah looked over at her brother. She knew Troop 49 wasn't real. Brian Goldman who lived three houses down from them on Henry Street said the scout masters told the story every year to junior troops who were attending their first Jamboree. He said they even show the troops an old outpost that's supposed to be Potter's cabin.

"No, Brian told me it was fake. They tell it every year. He said they'll show us a cabin that's supposed to be it, but Brian says it's not. It's just an abandoned forest ranger outpost." Ryan picked his pack up and stood.

"Good, I had a really bad dream about it. We were trapped inside the cabin, and this thing was chasing us. We had to get out because the thing could only get us if we stayed inside. We jumped out of a window just as the thing was going to eat us alive. That's when I woke up." Sarah put her hand on his shoulder

"It was just a dream from a stupid story." She grabbed his hand and started over to where Mr. Thompson was staging the other scouts at the trail head. Jamal Williams fell in alongside them.

"Hey, what'd you think of the story, you believe it? Scotty says Mr. Thompon is going to show us Earl Potter's Cabin. Maybe we'll all get eaten." Jamal made eating noises and grabbed at Ryan's sides.

"The story's not real. It isn't his cabin. It's just a dumb outpost the Forest Service abandoned." Sarah said, before moving away from them. As she left, she could hear Ryan starting to tell Jamal about his dream. She didn't want to talk about the dream or the story anymore. They both scared her. Brian had said they weren't real, but they felt real. Inside her she had an inescapable feeling that was warning her not to go on the hike, not to go in the woods, and not to look at any cabin or outpost.

At the trail head Mr. Thompson helped Timmy Blanks get his pack on. He Lifted Timmy a little off the ground when he pulled the straps over his thin shoulders. Sarah watched as Mr. Thompson finished and turned to face her and the rest of the scouts.

"Are we ready, Troop. We got a big day full of nature sightings, hiking, and bivouac. Everyone good? Alright follow me, troop." With that he started off, mentioning over his shoulder. "I might have a surprise, scouts" Then added. "Or a scare...hope you haven't forgot last night's story." One by one the scouts of Bellevue City Local Junior Troop 38 fell in line. Sarah fell in behind Timmy who was the first kid behind Mr. Thompson. Ryan and Jamal were three kids behind her joking with Chris Hiller about getting eaten in the cabin by crazy Earl Potter.

The trail seemed to always be winding up as Sarah hiked. Jessica Hosan had moved up beside her. Jessica was talking about her two older sisters which was what Jessica always seemed to be talking about. She was only half paying attention to Jessica and half paying attention to the sweat beads rolling down her back.

She was grateful when they stopped for lunch. Jessica showed her how to put potato chips on her peanut butter sandwich, which she liked. After they ate, she laid back on her pack and Jessica did too. They picked shapes out of the clouds and watched the tops of the trees sway in the wind. When Mr. Thompson told the troop it was time to get started again, she told herself they should turn around and go back to camp.

As she hiked, she thought the woods were growing in on them. More and more of the light coming in from the sun was blocked out as the branches above her weaved together. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach when Mr. Thompson announced that they had somehow stumbled into Potter's woods. When he said they might come across Earl Potter's cabin she whispered a silent, no. The warning bell inside her was a full siren now. Ryan, Jamal, and Chris only made things worse. They were doing their best ghoulish howls and teasing her and Jessica they would be eaten by crazy Earl Potter the cannibal.

The last of the sun going down did nothing to ease her fear. She did not want to spend the night sleeping in Potter's Woods. She wished she had never joined the scouts. With every step she took she wanted to call out, Mr. Thompson, I think we should go back. I don't think we should be here. She almost did a couple times, but she knew Mr. Thompson would not turn the troop around and Ryan and his friends would really give it to her then. Her eyes drifted up to storm clouds gathering in the sky above the trees.

When rain started to drizzle, she thought, this is great. Up ahead the trail was going up yet another rise. Behind her Jessica was breathing in loud noisy gasps. She wandered if Jessica would pass out. Mr. Thompson had definitely picked up the pace since the drizzle started. He was probably worried the sky was going to open up before they got to where they were going to camp. So far that hadn't happened, but the smell of the wet air told her it could at any second.

In front of her the top of the next rise bobbed up and down. With each step she took she measured how many more it would take before she would be on the other side. She hoped when she was the path would go downhill for a long while, or they would reach the spot where they would camp. Her legs were tired. Her stomach had started grumbling at least a mile back and the Nutri-grain bar she'd eaten had done nothing to stop it.

Relief washed over her when she took the last step over the rise and even more when she saw Mr. Thompson had stopped. Her relief vanished when she saw him pointing into the woods. Hesitantly, she followed his finger to where he was pointing. When she saw the cabin, her fear exploded. Brian had said it would only be an outpost, but the same warning bell that had been ringing inside her all day was telling her now that it wasn't. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Mr. Thompson speak.

"I knew we'd be close, but I can't believe it. I never thought I would see it with my own eyes." Henry looked at his tired troop who had just hiked seven miles and decided to lay it on a little thicker than usual. "That's Potter's Cabin." His words caught in his throat. Something he had not expected to see had stopped him. The kids might think it was Earl Potter's cabin, but he knew it was just an empty outpost that saw its last use decades ago. What the hell was a candle doing burning in the window?

Somebody was playing a joke, probably Jeff. He hadn't been able to stop about how scared the kids were last night. He must have put the candle in the window to give him and the kids a little extra scare. But had it been there when he first came over the rise? No, he had looked right at it. The window had been dark. Was Jeff still in the cabin? Had he left his troop just to play a joke?

The sky above them opened up. Rain fell in heavy sheets. He was instantly drenched. Forgetting about the candle he said in a loud voice.

"Everybody into the cabin." All the scouts started to move at once, but they were only walking. "Let's go! we need to get out of this." He had to shout to be heard over the rain falling through the trees. The scouts started to run all except for Tommy Martin who hadn't moved.

"Tommy! let's go get in the cabin." Tommy shook his head. "Tommy, what are you doing?" Tommy looked up at him.

"I don't want to go in there. Mr. Potter will eat me." Henry moved over to where Tommy was.

"It's not really his cabin. It's just an outpost the forest service stopped using years ago." Tommy moved his eyes from him to the cabin and then back again.

"It's not." Tommy squeaked out, Henry smiled.

"No, it's safe I promise." That was enough to convince Tommy and he took off running. Henry followed him lamenting the fact that the rain had already soaked all the way through his clothes.

Inside the cabin Henry knew immediately something was wrong. He wasn't in an outpost. He was in a cabin, a cabin that looked to be from the 1800's. He reached back and tried to open the door. It wouldn't move. He turned and put all his weight against it. The door wouldn't budge. Panic creeped up inside him. He turned again and faced the children. They were huddled together on the wooden floor in front of him. Some of the kids were visibly shaking. Others were crying. He had to keep them calm while he figured out what was happening. The cabin beyond him seemed to stretch out and grow longer. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. This had to be a trick, an illusion. This wasn't real. He looked down at the floor not wanting to see the illusion anymore. He took a breath and decided despite the rain he had to get the scouts back outside.

"Everyone up, form a single line. Hold the hand of the person in front of you and the person behind." Loud whimpers rose from the scouts. "It's all right. We're all-" His words caught in his throat. Their eyes. Their eyes had stopped him. Every pair were as large as half dollars and frozen with fear. Their mouths hung open as if they were trying to scream but couldn't find the sound.

That was when he felt the air rush hot and warm against his neck. He heard the grumbling sound of something large breathing behind him. But no one was behind him, only the door was behind him. A warm acrid smell that reminded him of rotten eggs filled his nose. A sensation of death came over his body. He knew something terrible was behind him. Piss ran warm down his leg and he knew he was about to die.

Sarah ran into the cabin keeping Ryan in front of her. When they got inside, when they stopped running, she put her hands on his shoulders and asked

"Are you okay?" she could hear the concern in her own voice.

"I don't know." He answered. She could tell he was scared. "I don't like it here, Sarah. It's just like my dream."

"I know." She didn't know how she knew, but she did know. This was exactly like his dream. Behind her she heard the door they had just come in slam close. Forgetting about Ryan for a second, she turned to see Mr. Thompson standing in front of the closed door. Her eyes moved to a picture on the wall behind him.

A man was standing alone in the picture. On his head he wore a tall black hat. The coat he wore had long black tails that hung down behind his legs. The photograph looked like the old ones she'd seen in museums. Looking at the photo she knew in her gut the man standing in it was Earl Potter. She knew this cabin they were in was his home. Brian was wrong this wasn't an outpost. Maybe it had been when he'd been here, but not now. Instinctively she reached for Ryan and tried not to cry. Just as she was about to give into the fear, she heard Mr. Thompson speak.

"Everybody up, form a single line." His words were lost in her mind as she watched a shadow rise out of the floor behind him. At first it was a shapeless black cloud, but as it grew it began to form the shape of a man. She gasped. The creature forming in front of her wore the same tall hat and the same drab suit with long coat tails as the man in the photo. She felt her heart beating faster in her chest. She watched as the creature kept growing taller rising high above Mr. Thompson's head.

She knew the creature was Earl Potter come back. She stopped moving when the mouth on the creature's featureless face opened and revealed rows of crowded teeth that stood like spikes. She was paralyzed by her fright. A large tongue rolled out of the creature's mouth along with a hissing noise that made her grab Ryan tighter. Then in a blur of motion the mouth full of teeth descended down toward Mr. Thompson.

The mouth grew so big as it travelled down that the top half of Mr. Thompson disappeared when it came down and closed on his waist. A scream stopped half-way up her throat. The creature lifted Mr. Thompson's body off the floor. Then shook his dangling legs back and forth until the part of Mr. Thompson hanging outside its mouth ripped off spilling his blood and guts on the floor in a long arching wave. She was silent. The whole room was silent except for the gnashing, slurping sounds of the creature eating Mr. Thompson's upper half. Bile made its way up and she threw up on the floor.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth and looked up into the space where the creature's eyes should have been. The top half of Mr. Thompson was gone. Her instincts screamed at her to run. To grab Ryan and go, but she couldn't move. In front of her the creature reached out faster than she could believe and wrapped its long black claws around Timmy Blanks. Her breath caught in her throat as the creature lifted Timmy off the ground and squeezed him until his blood burst out of him like water bursting out of a popped water balloon.

It was Timmy's blood spraying against her skin that broke the spell that was keeping her from moving. In one motion she turned and shoved Ryan toward the other end of the cabin. Looking at the rest she yelled.

"RUN!" They looked up at her for a brief instance then got up and ran. She followed them across the floor thinking of only one thing, escape. Time seemed to slow, and she started to wander if she would make it to the other end. The floor seemed to be stretching out and growing longer. Behind her she could hear the sound of the creature eating Timmy.

When she made it to the far wall of the cabin, she pushed through the rest of the scouts, who were standing like statues. Was she the only one who was still thinking? She pushed the thought aside. She had to focus. If she didn't get them out fast, they would all be dead. With her hand she tried the door beside the window where the candle was burning, locked. "Damn", she said the word out loud. She wasn't supposed to curse but, in this instance, she thought her mom would let it pass. Turning back, she saw the last thing she wanted to. The creature had finished with Timmy. Blood dripped down from the grey skin covering its chin and onto the floor. A guttural growl rose up from its mouth.

Looking around she made a desperate search. Two feet from where she stood her eyes locked on the outline of a trap door cut into the boards of the floor. Diving to her knees she dug her fingernails into the crack at the front of the trapdoor. behind her she heard the creature take a thudding step. She used all of her strength to raise the trapdoor, but it wouldn't move. The creature took another another step. "Help me" she called out. Two more hands appeared beside hers, then two more. For a moment the trapdoor still wouldn't move then broke it free and came up from the floor.

Another growl thundered across the room. The thud of the creature's steps came closer together. They were running out of time. The thought raced through her. As fast as she could, she helped the other scouts down the ladder that was just inside the front edge of the opening. She calculated with each scout that went down if there would be enough time for her. With each passing second. With each step the creature took she knew there wouldn't be.

There were only feet separating her from the creature now. The sound of the creature's breath filled her ears. Its rotten smell filled her lungs. Finally, Ronnie Thompson who was the last scout except for her disappeared from the opening and she whirled onto the ladder. It was too late. The creature was on her. Letting go with her hands she stepped back off the ladder and let herself fall as the creature's jaws snapped shut in the space she'd just vacated.

As soon as she landed on the dirt below, she scrambled to her feet and pulled the ladder down. The creature's jaws were still snapping in the opening. Grabbing Ryan's hand, she told him to go to the other end of the cellar. Then she helped the others. When she reached the far side, she looked back. The creature was sniffing the air in the cellar. She reminded herself again that they didn't have much time as the creature's black claws slid down into the opening and curled around the edges. Loud cracks filled the room as the creature began ripping the wood from around the opening. Turning she grabbed Ryan by his arms.

"Ryan, is this just like your dream? The monster's the same, right?" Ryan looked at her and slowly shook his head up and d0wn. "You said you woke up when we got out of the cabin." He shook his head again. "How did we get out in the dream." He didn't answer. She put her hands on both sides of his face. "I know your scared Ryan, but I need you to remember. I promise if you do, I'll get us out of here." She looked back at the opening that was now double its original size. The creature that was once Earl Potter would be in the cellar in an instance. "Ryan, please." He started to talk got stuck, took a deep breath then stumbled out.

"We went through the window with the candle." That was it! She had to think fast. The ladder was still on the floor under the opening. Swallowing her fear, she ran for the ladder grabbing it off the floor and turning back in one motion. When she got back to the other scouts with the ladder, she lifted it up to the floor above and said.

"Help me." She started banging the ladder up against the wooden floorboards. Chris and Jamal were the first to grab the ladder. None of the boards moved. Each time the ladder struck with no effect a fresh wave of fear rushed over her. She could hear the floor behind her being torn apart. The opening had to be enormous by now. In seconds they would all be dead. Suddenly one of the boards came loose, then another. She watched as the boards popped up and disappeared. She heard the creature land in the cellar. A rush of dust and wind filled the air. She shoved the ladder into the hole and yelled.

"Get up the ladder!" She looked back at the creature. Its mouth hung open in a half moon of yellowed teeth. The other scouts were scrambling up the ladder and she wondered again if she would make it before the creature killed her. Across the cellar the creature moved toward them. Ryan stepped on the ladder and began climbing leaving only her to go. She stepped on the ladder and heard the creature howl behind her. She took the rungs on the ladder two at a time. When she came through the opening Chris and Jamal took her arms and pulled her out. Just before her legs came up, she screamed as the creature's claws dug into her leg.

Her leg pounded with pain. The creature began ripping the floor from under them. Blood ran down her calf. A chorus of voices asked if she was okay. Her eyes met Ryans and she said.

"I'm fine" The words felt like a lie. "Get to the window with the candle." She didn't wait for them this time before she started moving. The pain was unbearable. Her leg felt like it was burning with fire. She wasn't sure if it would hold up long enough for her to cross the floor. Halfway to the window she picked her pack off the floor where she'd left it when they first came in. Behind her the wood of the floor crashed down into the cellar. She was almost to the window. She didn't dare look back.

Swinging the pack with both her arms she brought it forward and into the window behind the candle. The glass shattered. Using the front of the pack she cleared the remaining shards of the glass from the frame.

"Get through the window." She said picking the candle up. One by one the scouts made their way out. The creature crawled out of the cellar and hissed at her. She turned back to the window to see Jessica going through the window. She was the only one left. Still holding the candle, she faced the creature one more time. She waited for it to move. When it came for her, she threw the candle. The flame at the end of the wax hit the creature in the chest and exploded. The creature burst into flames. It stopped for a moment then kept coming for her. Turning she threw herself through the window.

Landing on the wet grass she rolled up to one elbow and looked back at the window. In one moment, the creature was at the window reaching out for her with flames licking off its arms. In the next it was gone. The cabin was gone. There was nothing but forest and trees. Ryan appeared beside her and helped her to her feet. When she was standing, she slipped her arms around him and hugged him tight. Looking up from his shoulder she saw flashlight beams moving in the distance. Faintly she could hear their names being called. They were safe, she thought. They were finally safe.