Sacred Flame

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The candle, black and shimmering in the glow of its own flame, burned ever vigilantly. The door to the cabin, locked all the years prior, sat open and cracked, waiting for someone curious enough to walk through. Day and night the candle burned in the window of the abandoned cabin. Night and day the door sat open just a crack in wait for someone to come. Neither had long to wait.

Dark clouds loomed overhead as the candle sat in the window looking on. A light breeze picked up, flickering the flame. Still it held on, waiting for the one who would dare enter the cabin ending its abandonment. Picking up in speed, the wind began to taunt the candle, forcing the flame all but out, slamming and opening the cabin door against the inside wall. Before long, a light drizzle began to pour from the clouds. Between the rain and the wind, the candle seemed all but defeated. Still it burned fierce and bright. Neither force was strong enough to extinguish the flame. Not until an outsider moved the candle from its perch.

A man, drenched in rain and freezing from the wind, moved the candle so he could better see what he was doing. He poured whiskey from a flask on the dusty logs stacked up in the fireplace. Then he threw the candle on the flame. The logs ignited with the sacred eternal flame of the candle. The man quickly grabbed the candle out of the fire and blew it out. Seeing its uses, he placed the candle in his pocket that once held his flask. He sat and warmed himself by the fire. The door flew open to the cabin as the storm gained ferocity. The man quickly ran to shut the door, locking it firmly behind him before heading back to his place by the fire.

He looked around. Everything in the cabin looked as if someone would come back at any moment. The layers of dust and grime told him otherwise. A handmade quilt lay on the bed. A vase full of dead flowers from summers past sat stiff and motionless, despite the slight breeze a crack in the window provided. A lack of dust in the shape of the candle sat on the window sill. The cabin creaked and moaned as the storm outside raged on.

The man sat shivering by the fire. He got up and grabbed the quilt off the bed, wrapping himself up in it as he sat back down by the fire. Just as he was starting to fall asleep from the warmth, he heard a faint whisper swirl around the room.

“Sa-cred fire,” it whispered. “Sa-cred flame.”

The whisper woke the man right up. He looked around the cabin to see if someone was there, but he saw nothing. He looked outside but all he could see was his reflection in the dirty, broken window. The man took a drink from his flask, perplexed by what he heard. Looking at his flask, he closed the lid and headed to the bed, the candle still secured inside his pocket.

“Sa-cred fire.” he heard it again as he sat on the bed. “Sa-cred flame.”

The man rolled over and closed his eyes. “Sa-cred fire.” the whisper all but screaming in his ear. “Sa-cred flame.”

The man tossed and turned in the bed, sweating and shivering as the whisper continued to taunt him.

Sa- cred fire! Sa- cred flame!”

The whisper danced and swirled around the cabin, echoing in the pots and pans, bouncing off the walls before finally resting in the man’s ears. Try as he might, he could not ignore the whisper and drift off to sleep.

“Sa-cred fire! Sa-cred flame!”

The man screamed in frustration, demanding whomever was taunting to make themselves known.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!”

“Sa-cred fire. Sa-cred flame.” The whisper echoed in an eerie tone. The man sat up, looking for the person taunting him to no avail.

“Sa-cred fire! Sa-cred flame!”

The candle, hidden in the man’s pocket, fell out onto the floor.

“Sa-cred fire! Sa-cred flame!”

It rolled along the dust ridden floor, igniting as it slowed down. The man slowly walked up to the candle and picked it up.

“Sa-cred fire.”

He looked at it, confused and bewildered, affixed to its flame.

“Sa-cred flame.”

He blew it out, watching it ignite itself as soon as his breath stopped.

“Sa-cred fire.”

Like a moth to flame the man held the candle, unable to move, right where the candle wanted him.

“Sa-cred flame.”

The man became surrounded by flame as the whisper chanted it’s eerie phrase.

“Sa-cred fire, sa-cred flame.”

In no time the entire cabin was engulfed in the flames of the candle that still sat unmelted and intact amongst the flames. The rain made no difference to the flames. They continued to burn until the cabin was nothing but cinders and ash. Come morning, there were no signs of the cabin or the candle. The man disappeared into the flames of the night just as everything else had. Until one day it all returned. The cabin in the woods sat abandoned for years till one night, a candle burned in the window once more.