The Cabin In the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods

By John Matthews

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It was a dark cold snowy night in Michigan with temperatures below 40 degrees. A group of young teenagers, two young boys named Ray and Jason, along with a girl named Tina were out hiking. It was getting late and the teens needed to head back home. Then they saw the cabin all alone at top of hill with a light coming from it. The teens slowly climbed the hill with much exhaustion. Rob the oldest decided to knock on the door. He banged on the door with loud knocks that shook the house. There was dead silence. Tina said “maybe, we should leave it’s getting late.” Rob attempted again by knocking on the door and again there was silence. Tina, said “come on let’s go home. No one is here.” Rob then for third time banged really hard the icicles from the tree branches began to fall from the lonely Oak tree nearby. Finally, the door creaked opened slowly and standing in the doorway was a small petite woman who was hunched over with a cane. She had wrinkles rough as sandpaper squashed together and a large mole on her right cheek. The lady looked to be in her late 80’s or 90’s and was wearing a dark gray cloak and torn black sandals. She smiled, and said “Come in children.”

The kids’ fingers were gray and stiff from the cold artic breeze in the air. They were exhausted from hiking in the snow and needed to rest. The three teens came inside. There was a fireplace burning to keep them warm. The old lady told them to sit and make themselves at home. She went into the kitchen to make some tea and soup for the two boys and girl. The four of them sat by the fireplace and talked. It was getting dark and the moon had shown its face in the dark cloudy sky. The woman said “you stay and rest here. I bet your parents are worried about you. Rest and go home in the morning.” Rob, Jason, and Tina sat and ate their soup and enjoyed their tea. Then the old lady took them upstairs to show them to their rooms. There were three bedrooms. One the main bedroom where the old lady slept. The second, a smaller room with one single bed. The third room had a bunk bed. The old woman said “you two boys stay here in this room with the bunk bed.” She then brought the girl over to the next room with the single bed. She said “here is your room” then walked away into her room on the far-right side of the hall. The door closed and there was dead silence.

As it became dark the parents of Tina, Rob, and Jason began to worry. Their children went out for a walk in the snow hours ago and never came home. The parents each contacted the local Ranger’s office to report that their children never came home. The Rangers showed up at took a report the called out a search party to search the area to find the missing children. The local media had heard on the missing children and showed up with their cameras to report this event. It was all over the local news that there were three teenagers were missing somewhere in the woods. The Rangers searched the parks and surrounding forests in the dark cloudy gray sky. It became too foggy to see anything and they called the search off till the next morning.

The sun had peeked its bright rays from the sky through the old dirty smeared windows. It gave out a blinding light. The children had awakened to the smell of bacon, eggs, toast, and hashbrowns which filled the house up. The teens followed their noses to the kitchen where the old lady was behind the stove flipping the eggs and bacon. She said “Sit down enjoy, I don’t get much company up here in this cabin. My family is gone now and I’m all alone in this cabin. It is usually so dark. I finally found some matches lying around in a drawer. I lit this candle to get some light. I’m glad you children could join me.” Rob, Jason, and Tina finished their breakfast up and told the old lady they had to leave that their parents probably sent the local Rangers out searching for them. As the teens started towards the door the old lady turned around and yelled “What’s your hurry? Are you going to leave me to die here alone?” Ray said “we have to leave our parents and family are looking for us.” The old lady screamed so loud her voice echoed through the walls. “Where do you think your going?”, said the old lady as she picked up a large kitchen knife and began swinging it around. Tina, replied “let us go, we will come back and visit. The old lady wrinkles now began to crinkle up on her face and the large mole just stared at the children as she began to get angrier. “Please let us go!”, said Jason quietly. A growl came out as the old lady’s eyes began bulging from her head. She ran to grab the children as Rob and Jason pushed her back. They ran towards the door but it was a steel caged door that was locked and only a key can open up. “You children aren’t going anywhere.” She gave them an evil laugh so hard that she snorted from her nose. The children were taken to a dark basement with no light and critters just crawled all over. There were roaches, mice, rats, and venom snakes everywhere. The floor was dirty and had musty mold odor. There were no windows and no way out except the basement door which led into the kitchen of the house. The three teens struggled to get out but realized the more they struggled the tighter the knots on the rope pulled against their bodies. Rob, Jason, and Tina thought this was the end and were frightened and shocked that this old lady would do this to them. They sat in the basement tied up on the floor praying to get out as the rodents and roaches crawled over them nipping their skin. The snakes slithered slowly crawling on their bodies biting their skin injecting their venom inside them. The teens were screaming in horror as their flesh was slowly being eaten away but no one could hear them.

After searching all day, the Rangers finally saw this vacant cabin up the top of the hill. They proceeded their journey to the top to see if anyone may have known about the missing teens. After a slight walk uphill, the Rangers noticed a candle burning in the window of the cabin. There was smoke coming up from the fire place and a foul smell in the air. The Rangers knocked on the door the first time and there was silence. They knocked again louder and no response. The Rangers couldn’t understand why there was a candle burning in the window. The Uniformed men began to walk away and suddenly the door swung open with a loud creaking sound. There stood in the door way a small petite old woman who was hunched over with a cane. She had wrinkles rough as sandpaper squashed together and a large mole on her right cheek. The lady looked to be in her late 80’s or 90’s and was wearing a dark gray cloak and torn black sandals. She smiled, and said “How can I help you?” The officer replied “we are looking for three teens that been missing since yesterday. Did you see them?” The old woman slowly smiled and said” No, It’s just me here. My family is gone and I live all alone.” The ranger asked if he and others could come in and check the place. “Sure, Sonny I am happy to help you out. No, children here.” The Rangers searched the upstairs, three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen closets and finally came to a door at the basement. The Officer said “Where’s this door go?” Oh, it’s just my basement. It’s empty and no one’s down there.” The officer said we need to search it. The woman stared at the officers and said” very well then, do what you must.” The officers went down the stairs into the basement and couldn’t believe what they saw. It was empty completely empty. The Rangers began to walk up the steps and noticed an Urn on a shelf. The woman replied saying, “this was my husband he passed away suddenly 10 years ago.” “Sorry to you Mam” replied the officers. They walked out the door. The woman blew the candle out, put the fire out and walked up her stairs into her bedroom. She closed the door and went to sleep.