fiction

Horror fiction that delivers on its promise to scare, startle, frighten and unsettle. These stories are fake, but the shivers down your spine won't be.

The Ghosts' Lodge
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It had been burning for several days now but nobody dared to go near the cabin.
By R. N. M. Haubrock4 years ago in Horror
Dressed in Silken Moonlight
Dressed in Silken Moonlight The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The soft glow was enticing to Harry, and he needed a better view of it.
By J.J. Cross4 years ago in Horror
One Way Out
“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window,” Todd began, affecting his best campfire story voice.
By Drew Streip4 years ago in Horror
Midnight Sunrise - Chapter 1
Lonely the wind sings Lonely the bird wings Through fold of hill Then all is still In Windy Gully Deep in the mountainside
By Glenn Stoklasa4 years ago in Horror
Hunting Season
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. An actual candle. Ketch could tell because of the way it flickered and its faint, yellow-orange glow. Kerosene lamps didn’t flicker due to their thick wicks and hardly anyone carried them these days. Just the old-school family campers who liked to show off their woodsman skills to the grandkids. They stayed at the campgrounds and didn’t wander. The flashlights and camp lights favored by drunken, horny teenagers also didn’t flicker. They threw a white glow into the room. They were also often accompanied by horrendous music that scared the nocturnal wildlife away. No, this was a real honest-to-goodness candle. And that meant only one thing; hunting season.
By Dina Ritz4 years ago in Horror
The Cabin
“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.” These were the first legible words of a letter I found in the “undeliverables” pile in the mail room at Miskatonic University.
By Levi Hill4 years ago in Horror
Cabin Fever
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Matt spotted it first, tapping Alice’s arm and pointing at the glow flickering through the trees. She paused the truck’s jostling ascent and nodded silently, then eased the clutch back out slowly to keep the tires from slipping into the meandering fissure eroded down the center of road. The headlights swept across the squat structure as they rounded the bend, light reflecting off what fragments of glass still clung to the window frames. Black shadows from the porch rails and hanging fragment of porch roof were sent racing fast across the cabin’s blank face. There was a flutter of movement in the window and the candle went out.
By Gina King4 years ago in Horror
A Portrait in Time and Space
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. A candle burning in a cabin window is an altogether benign thing to see, except for just one suddenly and absolutely deniable fact: this candle had never been there to begin with. It should be impossible for a candle to exist in this abandoned cabin. The cabin, the woods, and the abandonment: all of these things had been envisioned and realized intentionally, and had been brought to life without a thought ever being given to a candle, lit or unlit, in the window of this cabin. It had been painted, stroke by stroke, layer upon layer of oil color laid by hand, and never had there been a candle, not until about a week ago, when, as if it had been there the whole time, a candle burned in the window of “The Abandoned Cabin, 1968,” signed by artist Terry Ross (presumably circa 1968), before being printed on pre-stretched canvas en masse and distributed by Distinguished Wall Art, Inc., purchased by my father, and hung on my bedroom wall on my birthday. I did not feel any sort of profound affinity for the print, but in the absence of family photos full of smiling kin it seemed an apropos substitute to hang on my bedroom wall. And that is not to say that my family and I were not happy, we were, but there was just no photographic evidence to chronicle our happiness. No, our family preferred paintings and prints of paintings, as if we were curating our own lives via the visions and efforts of others, and even then through the visions and efforts printed in bulk and sold at a deep discount. We were not the “live, laugh, love” sort of wall art family, make no mistake, but we were the family with prints by Gaudi, Gauguin, Dali, et al, adorning the walls of our shared spaces, instead of records of our own earned memories.
By John Aaron4 years ago in Horror
The Caves Speak
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The cabin sat on the threshold of the unknown. It was the last stop before venturing into the Casted Caves.
By Maddy Newt4 years ago in Horror
Quarry
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Flickered. Flickering. Will flicker. Soon, it will burn out forever and vanish into the eternal unknown.
By Caitlin Jessen4 years ago in Horror
Wolves & Bears
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The flame was not flickering, but stood perfectly still, as if the air inside was void of movement. Strangely, however, Hana could have sworn she had seen someone, or something moving in the front room.
By Ruby Schofield4 years ago in Horror
Northern Will
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The late fall air choked out what warmth the sun had brought to the north.
By Angela Michelle4 years ago in Horror