The Cabin By Hillside Creek

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The glow emanating from a lonesome flame danced against an empty wall, beckoning anyone who would dare come inside.

Billy knew better than to go out that night. He had a bad feeling deep in his bones when Charlie came to pick him up to go camping. But summer had just begun, and he didn’t want to miss out on anything. Charlie and a few other boys from the varsity football team went out to camp up on Hillside Creek the weekend after graduation. It was a secluded piece of land at the edge of town with a small rundown sugar mill, a quiet creek that ran for miles before it reached the falls, and a lot of dark woods with one old, abandoned cabin. No one dared to go into the forest, the woods were so dense and dark that it was a surprise anyone knew there was a cabin out there at all. They decided to camp at the edge of the forest, the perfect place to enjoy some fresh air, fishing, and the great outdoors.

***

It was around dusk as the sun started to set on their second night out when they noticed the light in the woods. At first, they thought it was a hunter, lost perhaps, wandering through trying to find his way out. But after a while, they noticed the light didn’t move, instead, it seemed to flicker. They all four decided to look and see where the light was coming from. As they started making their way towards the light, trekking through the dense woods, they couldn’t help but notice the profound eeriness that lurked around them under the blackest blanket the tree canopies created. There was no moonlight, just darkness. They finally came upon a clearing where they found the cabin. After noticing the light was coming from the cabin window, they stopped just before the clearing. With no moonlight, it was hard to see anything let alone each other. The boys stood at the edge of the clearing watching the cabin window for any signs of movement.

“No one managed to think to bring a flashlight out,” Billy whispered.

“Sorry Billy I forgot everything back at camp,” Charlie whispered back, shrugging his shoulders. “Go on. Check it out.”

“You go look in there, I don’t want to go,” Billy replied shaking it off like he wasn’t terrified.

“I’ll go if y’all are too scared of the dark, someone had to light the candle,” said Dylan. Dylan was the star quarterback and built like a brick house. Surely, he was one to be feared and not frightened easily.

***

Everyone knew there was a cabin out there, but no one ever went out to it. Most abandoned places get vandalized or graffitied but not this one. It was said that back in the late 1800s a family lived in it before the town became a town, and one night under a full moon a passerby looking to rest stopped in only to find the family had been slaughtered to death at their dining room table. No one ever did solve the murders. A tragic event no one wished to bring up. But what even fewer people knew was that before that incident occurred, a lonely woman lived there. Her lover had built the cabin for her only to die of Scarlet Fever shortly after it was completed. For years after she lived in solitude out in the woods. A recluse to the townspeople. When she did go into town she was always seen wearing a long black dress. Her features wrinkled and tired from age and sorrow. She never spoke. Hardly anyone ever saw her. That is until one day the townspeople saw smoke coming from the woods. Her cabin had burned to the ground, but no one ever found the woman. With such a tragedy the town tried to forget about it. No one had lived in it for a hundred years. It was then a century after everyone forgot about the woman, a family bought the land, rebuilt the cabin, and moved in. Only to be found slaughtered less than a month later. After that, no one dared to take the chance of tempting the fate of an unknown but widely rumored, cursed cabin at that.

***

As Dylan took a breath and started walking towards the cabin, the whole forest fell silent. He didn’t hear a cricket or cicada, no toads or rustling of the trees. The only noise he could hear was his footsteps crunching the leaves beneath his feet as he walked and what sounded like a deep, tantalizing hum of a woman. The hum was so beautiful, soft, and song-like, that Dylan was almost entranced by it. He wished it was a full moon so he could see better, instead, he felt like he was being watched in the darkness as he crossed the clearing to the cabin. As he approached the cabin he could see it more clearly, a decrepit rugged-looking shack really. Dead vines entangled in the broken pieces of the dilapidated porch columns. He knew the moment he stepped foot on the porch of the cabin he made a mistake. A burst of energy and wind blew against him seemingly out of nowhere. He could sense danger lurking.

Suddenly, the body of a single shadowy figure seemed to glide effortlessly in front of the candlelit window. Dylan froze. Unable to move, paralyzed in fear, unsure of what he saw. At that moment he wanted to run, but he couldn’t. Almost as though a force was keeping him there. He saw the shadow move against the wall through the window once again. He finally got the nerve to walk further through the rickety doorway only to find an empty cabin. Not a person or piece of furniture in sight. The only thing there was a single burning black candle.

Dylan shook his head thinking the shadows from the candle had to be playing games with his head. Standing in the middle of the empty room, stunned by the sudden chill in the air, Dylan thought it best to leave. Before he could move the door slammed shut behind him! He spun around to find nothing but darkness. The candle had blown out. Dylan tried opening the door with no luck. The door seemed to be stuck. As he started panicking, he pulled once more for the door to give way. He ran from the cabin with the ever-present feeling of still being watched.

“I told you guys it was nothing,” Dylan half yelled coming out of the clearing. “Someone must have lit it and then left.” He glanced back at the now dark cabin. A shiver ran down his spine.

***

The next day the boys thought nothing of the candle nor the cabin. They went about their trip as usual. Right around the time dusk fell, they noticed the light through the woods again. This time they decided two of them would go inside the cabin. Dylan and Billy decided to look inside.

Once again as they started through the forest, it became eerily silent. Not a sound to hear outside of their own hearts pounding in their chest. When they reached the cabin, they noticed the candle was still there and lit again but now in a different window on the opposite side of the cabin. Even stranger than that, the candle still looked brand new with not a bit of melted wax. Still, no furniture or anyone to be seen. Billy went to turn around when suddenly a gust of wind rushed between him and Dylan, the door slamming behind them.

“Drafty freaking cabin man but I just don’t see anything. No trash or sleeping bag. I don’t think anyone’s been staying here. Let’s get back,” Dylan urged flicking on the flashlight he remembered to bring this time.

Suddenly, Billy got the feeling they were not alone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, his breathing shallower than before. Behind Dylan, no more than 5 feet away stood what looked like a mist swirling in the air. The room became increasingly colder to the point they could see their breath. Both boys stood hypnotized, unsure of what to do. The mist began to grow to enshroud them and the whole of the cabin. A malevolent force. Inside the mist was the ghostly figure of a woman. A look of both horror and anger stood on her face. Her eyes were black as coal. Her skin was covered with burns and scars. She wore a flowing black dress billowing in the wind that seemed to engulf her body. It was as if she was coming out of the mist with a vengeful look of terror. She reached for them both, her touch burning their skin to ash. Deathly screams shrieked from inside the cabin and then all went silent.

***

Charlie and the other boy outside had watched as the candle’s light extinguished shortly after Dylan and Billy entered the cabin. They saw no sign of either of them. Nor did they witness any wind, mist, or light of any kind. The shrill screams they heard moments ago warned them they should not enter. They waited in the woods for some time. After a while, they decided to had no choice but look for themselves. In what seemed the blackest of nights, they began walking towards the cabin, a dense fog now rolling across the clearing. As they stepped onto the cabin porch, a gust of cold wind stopped them in their tracks. As they both took a breath, they crossed the threshold of the cabin’s doorway, to their surprise not a soul was inside. No flashlight or any sign of either boy. No furniture and no candle to relight. They searched the empty cabin only to find it empty of everything. The only noticeable thing was that it was freezing inside. Trepidation filled both boys. With the woods now engulfed in a dense fog, they walked back to the campsite looking for their friends only to find no one waiting for them. As the night passed, they had the eerie feeling of being watched. Marked as the next victims to the horrors of the cabin.

***

The next morning at dawn, Charlie sat at his campsite, stirring the fire, unable to get any sleep. He looked up towards the forest as the tiniest bit of light seeped through and thought he saw one of the boys looming at the edge of the woods. He called out but got no response. The figure, dark and sinister like, slowly turned back towards the woods and began to walk back in. He couldn’t see who it was, so he decided to run after them. He watched the dark figure walk up onto the cabin porch, look back at him, and continue inside. Charlie knew it was neither of his friends. Instead, it was a menacing-looking figure, covered from head to toe in black clothing. A mist seemed to surround the figure making it impossible to fully see its features. Silence fell upon the woods once again. The figure entered the cabin enticing Charlie to follow. He knew he shouldn’t, but it was as if he couldn’t help himself. Charlie walked towards the cabin with the encroaching sense of danger lurking ahead. As he got closer to the cabin, the louder he heard the sound of a woman humming. An enchanting sound he couldn’t help but follow. As he entered the cabin, he noticed the black candle lit in the middle of the cabin floor. Charlie looked up from the floor at the dark mist closing in on him. Unable to fight the force against his body, he became engulfed in the mist, freezing. He found himself aghast by the woman in black. As she reached out to him, he let out a horrific scream that startled the forest. Birds squawked as they flew from the trees, and wildlife scurried away as fast as they could. The echo of his scream could be heard for miles. The cabin left once again empty and barren. Dark and desolate.

***

The only boy left at the campsite sleeping was woken by the shrill scream of Charlie. He jumped up and out of his tent. Unaware Charlie even left, he had no one to turn to. As he looked towards the woods, he saw a figure surrounded by a dense mist. Aware it was not any of his friends, the boy stood frozen for moment before it started approaching him. Instinct told him to run as fast as he could. Leaving all their belongings behind, the boy left Hillside Creek never to return again.

No one believed the boy’s story. And no one ever found his friends. Police and the townspeople searched for days. No one would go into the woods at night. But no one found any traces of anything to validate his story. Haunted by the screams he heard those two days, eventually drove him to insanity.

No one ever took notice of the cabin really, a run-down thing. Then again no one ever went into the woods and come out alive to tell you otherwise. That is until that one boy. We never knew his name.

***

They say that there must be a rift between two worlds at the site of the cabin, ours and a much darker one. A place where the woman waits. But they say the black candle still sits in the window, unlit, waiting for the next passerby to approach. Waiting to be lit once again by the woman in black. Waiting for her long-lost lover to come back to her. Until then, she will surely take the lives of any and all who step foot through her door. A door that harbors the souls of those taken in the cabin by Hillside Creek.