Radio Waves

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

Or at least, I thought it was a candle. The light flickered through the windows, the thick dust coating the partially shattered windows making the light warp and the color appear a little greenish.

I held my breath, watching the light continue to flicker as a shadow moved within. No one was supposed to be there. I wasn't even supposed to be near the old abandoned cabin.

But curiosity had buried itself deep in my stomach when Elizabeth had run into town yesterday, shouting about seeing someone in the woods. Someone who was tall and had a face with only large, soulless eyes and leaving a glowing, green path while slowly moving towards the town.

I didn't believe her, not in the least! But I was bored, and not the only one. There was hardly anything to do in the small town I called home. Barely anything new or exciting, so the moment us kids had heard Elizabeths story, we knew what we were going to do for the next few days.

"A monster hunt!" Joey said in a near scandalous whisper, fighting a smile as his eyes scanned the edge of the woods. The younger, much more gullible children had their eyes darting back and forth, eyes wider than dinner plates as they hung on every word.

“Maybe its a demon!” I said, joining Joey in spooking the younger children. I held back a laugh as the blood drained from some of the childrens faces. They were so easy to mess with. Joey nodded solemnly at my words, though I could see the laugh he was holding back as he knelt and put a hand on his younger brothers shoulder. His brother was a small, spindly thing. Barely over 7, though that didn’t stop him from puffing up his chest to look brave and Joey gripped him.

“Now listen Thomas, I understand if it’s too scary for you-”

“I’m not scared!” Thomas said, cutting off his older brother with a huff before spinning around and marching right up to the edge of the woods, ignoring the calls of the younger children as he bravely went in. Not even turning to look back at us.

Joey shook his head, holding in a laugh while attempting to whisper to me “He’s such a brat! We’ll leave him alone for a while and go get him before it gets dark. Let’s let him get a little spooked,” He grinned at me, and I grinned right back. Though I didn’t know the pain of a younger sibling, I knew that pulling pranks on them was said to bring the greatest joy.

It was dark. Hours past when Thomas had entered the woods and hours past sundown. We could not find him. I had been searching with Joey, and the fear tightening in my stomach was written all over his face. We hadn’t let anyone know where we were going before slinking off into the woods to find Thomas, maybe try and scare him when we did. It had been at least three hours now.

We had split up, I had squeezed Joeys shoulder, trying to comfort him while attempting to avoid his fear stricken eyes darting around the woods, and marched off in a random direction, calling for Thomas as I went.

Time passed. I didn’t know how long it had been, but it didn’t get too dark on summer nights and the moon and stars shone brightly. Despite that fact, I could barely see what was in front of me. The trees shadowing me in their canopy and blocking the beautiful sky from view.

I nearly turned back, telling myself that surely Joey had found Thomas by now and I was wasting my time. I would have turned back had the light in the old abandoned cabin had not flickered to life and caught my eye.

Now I knew there were two lights. One, a lone candle burning almost sadly in the window, and another that came from deeper within the cabin. One that shone sickly green and seemed to wave and wane sporadically as shadows moved within. Shadows that were too long and gangly too be Thomas, too large and hunched to be Joey. Shadows that didn’t belong to the two people that I knew were somewhere in the woods tonight.