Ready or Not

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window. The flame flickered softly, dancing along the edges of the broken glass surrounding it.

We were out playing hide and seek, the eight of us scattered throughout the woods we loved so much, with no warning of what was to come. There were no urban legends, no words of caution from older residents, no tales of terror passed from generation to generation, nothing at all to warn us away from the woods or the cabin within. The cabin was so much a fixture of the woods that it had ceased to be an object of interest for us long ago and, since it consisted of only one room, it made for a terrible hiding spot anyway.

I don’t remember who's turn it was to be the seeker, but as they started counting I scurried to find the best possible spot to hide. Most people hid themselves near the base, waiting until the seeker was just far enough away to make a run for it, but my strategy was always different. Many of the others were bigger and faster than I, so rather than trying to make it safely to base without being caught, I found the best hiding spot possible and stayed as still and quiet as I could until the seeker caught someone else or eventually gave up.

“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…” I could still hear the count as I rushed further into the woods. The noise of the others crushing leaves and twigs underfoot as they ran faded as they each found their own spot to hide.

“Twenty-one, twenty-two…” I finally found the perfect spot- a broken, hollow log just long enough to cover my small frame with a knothole perfect for peeking through as I hid. I lay down beside it, quietly pulled it over myself, and settled as comfortably as possible to wait.

“Ready or not, here I come!” the seeker shouted. I hadn’t noticed how close I had gotten to the cabin until I peered through the small hole in the log. I frowned at the candle as it flickered in the usually dark window. Before I could do anything more, I heard the loud crunch as someone made a rush for the large tree we had designated as base. There was shouting and laughing as the game played out. I lay frozen as a dark shape moved inside the cabin, just beyond the flame.

“Ellie! You can come out! James is it now!” the shape jerked out of my limited sight, towards the front of the cabin.

“Ellie,” someone shouted, “the round is over!”

“Just leave her, she probably just found a ‘perfect’ spot and doesn’t want to give it away.” another voice responded, then they shouted, “Ellie, I’m counting now! One, two, three…”

Underneath the sounds of the others racing to hide, I could hear the slow, steady sound of footsteps from the cabin.

“Seven, eight, nine…” I tried to steady my breathing, making it as quiet as possible.

“Twelve, thirteen…” A large shadow crossed between my hiding spot and the candle, its head misshapen and far too angular, its arms ending in thin, clawed fingers, and then it was gone from my sight.

“Twenty…” I listened for any hint of sound from the shadow, too afraid to move or even shout to warn my friends. A branch cracked near my hiding place.

“Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty! Ready or not, here I come!” James called. The leaves near my head crunched as I struggled to control my shallow breathing. A leg, wet with something dark, with patches of matted fur, and far too thin stepped over my log. I could hear its ragged breathing and I tried not to gag at the sudden and overwhelming stench.

Then, it began to run.

I listened to my friends screams, first in terror as they tried to run, then in pain, as it caught them one by one. Finally, silence descended on the forest. I waited.

Something crunched behind me as I tried to keep my tears silent. Leaves whispered and twigs snapped, each step bringing the sounds closer to me. The creature sniffed the air.

Step. Sniff. Step, step. Sniff.

Silence.

I barely breathed, listening as hard as I could for any hint of the creature’s location. I clasped my hands together to stop their shaking.

“El….lie…” the whisper slithered through the cracks in my refuge, far too close for comfort, “Ready…or…not…

HERE.I.COME!”