The Cabin at Capron Landing

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Those who drove past it could not believe their eyes; who could be living in that decrepit old place? The two-level cabin had stood vacant for more than ten years and had become weathered and worn, looking woefully like something out of a horror movie. Speculation around the village of Badgerville, deep in the western Canadian woods, was running rampant, and curiosity was getting the best of most to the point that they had started inventing tales. So as Kali walked into the Whiskey Watering Hole Bar and Grill around seven-thirty on that Friday evening, people were too busy to notice the pretty brunette as she walked by and took a seat in the corner booth.

"I hear that it's probably the old man, come back from the grave to finish the job and get his revenge." Leroy Clifford said, followed by an audible gulp as he took a big swig from this beer.

"Don't be stupid, Leroy; nobody is coming back from the grave, you idiot!" piped up his brother Henry with a scowl full of disdain.

"Shut up, Hank! I ain't no idiot, you fool!" Leroy retorted as he elbowed his younger brother.

"You boys pipe down over there! What can I get for you, Miss?" Kali had not noticed that the ball-headed Curtis MacAvoy had approached and was now standing next to her booth, ready to take her order. Curtis had a way of intimidating people with his size alone, standing six feet six inches tall and sporting a handlebar mustache. But, the resident bartender and owner of the bar's booming voice got your full attention.

"Hi, I'll take the meatloaf, mashed potato special, and a Coke."

"Sure, not a problem, Ms.? I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" he asked.

"Not a problem, I didn't throw it, but it's Kali Jamison, Deputy Kali Jamison," she replied.

This information caused Curtis to raise his left eyebrow, "Well, I heard that Rick was hiring a new Deputy but hadn't heard that he had done it already. Welcome to Badgerville Deputy Kali Jamison. I hope you'll like it here. I can suggest a few places if you haven't found a place to stay."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary; Sheriff Montgomery was happy enough to provide me with the keys to the cabin at Capron's Landing near Badger Lake." Upon saying that, everything and everyone in the room stopped. All the air was sucked out of the room, and only the music playing from the jukebox could be heard.

"Capron's Landing, you say? Are you sure that's what he told you, Deputy? He asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why yes, I'm quite sure why?" she asked.

"It's just that that cabin at Capron's Landing has a back story, if you know what I mean. I meant to say it has a dark history that the Sheriff probably didn't tell you. No one has lived there in ten years or more, not since…" his voice trailed off. "Look, Deputy, I could help you find some other place to stay until you get your bearings; that's all I'm saying."

"Again, there's no need; besides, Mr. Brennan wanted me to have the cabin, and that's why he left it for me."

"You knew Abbott Brennan?" he asked.

"No, I never met him, he and my mother had a falling out in her senior year of college, and he never forgave her for marrying my father, so she never returned home."

"So, Abbott Brennan was your…"

"Grandfather? Yes, that's correct; he was my mother's father." She finished for him.

"I'm sorry, I better get you your food." He stumbled, then quickly caught his bearing and headed to the kitchen glancing back over his shoulder at her as he pushed through the saloon doors. Slowly, the room became animated again as people began to talk and whisper, leaning in to hear the new speculations now that they knew that Abbott Brennan, the man who went insane and killed two of his neighbors before disappearing and drowning in the lake. A tragedy that happened more than ten years ago pitted neighbor against neighbor, and people sided with this side or the other over a land dispute that ended with talk of witchcraft and black magic. The body never washed up on the shore or was ever found, but people reported down through the years that they had seen a ghostly figure walking down by the lake late at night from time to time. Some people believed it; others said there was no such thing as ghosts, and people needed to get a life instead of spreading such tales!

Kali hadn't realized how hungry she was, but the dinner was delicious, and the Coke was nice and cold. She sat for a few minutes and made notes on what she needed to take care of during the next few days to get the cabin back in good condition. At least the water is working, but Kali will have to wait a couple more days for the electricity. Meanwhile, she would do what she could by candlelight in the evenings and on her days off, whenever possible. She quietly walked over to the far end of the bar, asked for her tab, patiently waited for Curtis to ring it up, and then paid him.

"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious."

"You're very welcome, Deputy…" he began.

"Please, you may call me Kali." She said while offering him her hand. He took it and noticed how warm and soft it was in his.

"Only if you will call me Curtis," he replied and smiled warmly at her.

"Then, until another time, Curtis, you take care." She said, then left the bar.

As she stood on the landing, she could tell that the voices inside the bar just went up an octave with her departure, and with that, she put on her campaign hat, walked to her car, and put the key in the ignition. She pulled out of the parking lot, pointing her vehicle towards the dark road lined on either side with mostly ponderosa pine trees and thick undergrowth. Twenty minutes later, a large boulder appeared on her right, and just beyond that, she turned off the main road and followed it deeper into the woods. Through the tree line on her left, she could make out Badger Lake illuminated by the full moon that showed brightly above and whose reflection shimmered across the surface of the dark water. Beautiful and mysterious at the same time, it gave off a sense of foreboding that she couldn't shake or even understand. What her grandfather did or didn't do all those years ago had nothing to do with her she was here to find a sense of peace in her life.

After her marriage to her high school sweetheart failed, she enrolled in college, earned a criminal justice degree, and joined the military. After two tours in Iraq, she came home nursing a war wound that spiraled into an opioid addiction that lingered for more than a year. She moved in with her divorced mother, who was dying from breast cancer six months later, and her father, who had unplugged many years before the divorce, was now living in London with a girlfriend half his age. After her mother's death, she descended deeper into addiction until her CO demanded that she get help or lose her job, which spurred her to seek treatment in rehab. She slowly fought back and realized she needed a fresh start, but where? Badgerville came to mind when she ran across several old pictures of her mother as a child with her parents. She checked online and found that a deputy had just retired, and they were looking for his replacement, so she applied and was hired.

The Sheriff didn't reveal that he knew who she was until she showed up on the first day. After he had gone through all the standard information and issued her the required uniform and equipment, he took a deep breath and opened his desk's middle drawer.

"I know you are new to town and will be looking for a place to stay, but I thought that if you want to save a little money, you might want to consider looking at your grandfather's old place. He willed it to your mother, but I suppose she never told you that?"

"No, she didn't," she said and bowed, trying to think of something to say.

"Well, here are the keys, and I'll look into getting the utilities turned on for you if you like."

"Thank you, Sheriff; I'll run down and look at it right now." She replied quickly and left. For the last two days and nights, she had gone there and started to take the white sheets off the furniture and wipe things down. Now tonight, she would spend her first night alone in the cabin in the woods, and she had to admit to herself that she was feeling anxious and nervous.

The clearing appeared as the car rounded the bend at the end of the road, and then the car's headlights illuminated the cabin. She inserted the key in the door and turned the lock, then found her way to the hall table and the lanterns she had seen earlier on the first day when she had come to check everything out. She was lucky and had found four and a box of candles that fit perfectly in them. It wasn't a large cabin but had three bedrooms, one on the main floor, two upstairs, and a full bath. A nice-sized entrance opened into a large living room, a roomy kitchen on the left side of the living room, large picture windows, and a stone fireplace. The main bedroom with a fireplace and a door leading to the main bath was off the entranceway. The house was nicely constructed but had deteriorated over the years due to neglect. Termites and animals such as raccoons and opossums had taken up residence and destroyed some of the furniture. No matter, this was home, for now anyway. She decided to bring in her important stuff tonight and her suitcases and would deal with everything else tomorrow.

An hour later, she had the upstairs bathroom shower running and washed off the day's grime, dirt, and worries. The water felt so good as it ran down her face, through her hair, and over her body. Some of the tension she had been feeling started to let up, and she began to feel more like herself. She thought everything would be alright as she stepped from the shower and began to towel off. Just as she began to pull on her blue sweatpants, she heard a faint sound coming from somewhere in the house. She froze, quickly pulled on her matching t-shirt and slippers, and stood there thinking about what she should do.

Was someone in the house with her? Was it an animal that had gotten in again? There it was again! This time it sounded in the main bedroom right below her. Dammit! She blew out the candle and waited for her eyesight to adjust to the darkness; then, she carefully opened the bathroom door and eased out into the hallway, walking as slowly and quietly as possible. Kali moved as close to the wall as possible, making sure not to make a sound as she rounded the corner to make her way to the stairway that led to the floor below. As she peered around the corner, the lantern she had left in the living room shed light on the area immediately within about twenty feet of it but cast a dim, soft light in the other areas that left most of the downstairs in shadow. She made her way down the stairs, carefully keeping her footing so as not to all. Once in the living room, she heard the sound again, and it was coming from the bedroom for sure this time, so she grabbed the broom she had left by the kitchen entrance and headed for the main bedroom.

She had slowly opened the door, giving herself a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, realizing that the lantern she had lit earlier had gone out, so she struck a match and relit the lantern. She moved towards where the sound was coming from, the closet. She steadied herself, counted to ten, reached for the door handle, yanked the door open, and looked into the beady black eyes of a raccoon who looked startled. Kali took the broom and began to fight with the raccoon forcing the animal to retreat into the hole it had come through, knocking over several items from the top shelf. As she began to pick up the items that fell, she noticed a wooden box almost the size of a small shoe box and took it over and placed it on the dresser so she could further inspect it. Beautifully made with intricate carvings of symbols and letters that she had never seen before, any of which she could decipher. She held it up to her ear, began to shake it, and realized that there was something in it, but what? Kali went into the kitchen, where she found a flathead screwdriver, returned to the bedroom, looked at the box again, and found what appeared to be a latch with a small lock. Carved around the latch was a skull with what looked like small red rubies for eyes, so she carefully inserted the screwdriver into the skull's mouth and began to move it around, and after about ten minutes, her reward was the sound of a click.

After putting the screwdriver down, she removed the lock, lifted the clasp, and slowly opened the box. As soon as she opened the box, she regretted it because a rotten stench came from inside the box that was fouler than anything Kali had ever spelled in her life, and she began to cough and gag. She quickly ran with it to the kitchen, closed it, and shoved it into the trashcan. Once she cleared her throat with a tall glass of water, she decided that she had had enough excitement for one day and was going to bed. Having checked and secured the doors, she took the lantern, walked back to the bedroom, closed the door, set her alarm, and climbed into bed. She decided not to turn off the lantern but to keep it on for a while.

Kali was soundly asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow and her cares seemed to drift away the deeper the sleep became. Cold air on her arms and neck awakened her, so she sat up in the bed and looked down to see that the covers had come off her during her sleep and were now down at the bottom of the bed. She reached for the covers, pulled them back up to her neck, and laid back down, but when she closed her eyes, she felt the covers move slowly as if someone or something was pulling them. Of course, that wasn't possible; she was here alone, so she pulled them back up again and laid back down. The mattress moved, and someone sat on the side of the bed and placed their hand on the side of her hip. She froze, couldn't move, couldn't breathe, and didn't know what to do!

She wanted to turn over and look, but her body wouldn't cooperate; all she could do was lay there with her hands trembling and sweat running down her face. Slowly, the hand slid along her side until it touched her shoulder, and the mattress gave way as something laid down behind her, right up against her back. That's when Kali again smelled the horrible stench and the warmth of someone breathing next to her left ear. She began to whimper and cry softly as her entire body shook, she wanted to scream but then a deep raspy voice whispered in her ear.

"Hello Kali, I have been waiting for you."

Then the lantern went out.