The Cabin

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It was a bright candle, able to be seen from the beaten path several hundred yards from the cabin. It was the first thing you noticed when you looked at the formerly empty building.

As you peer into the window, trying to get a better look at what could have started the light, perhaps you see a shadow moving in the background, or perhaps it was your imagination. In either case, this cabin probably isn't somewhere that you want to be. It was bad enough when it was empty, but now that it might not be, you want no part of anything that could be found inside it.

You would turn and run back towards the safety of your camp, the only natural response to something like this, but you feel something holding you in place. Fear? Curiosity? Something else? You have no way of knowing; you don't know anything except that the only thing that you can bring yourself to do is turn around and look directly at the firelight of the candle, focusing on nothing but the flickering flame, letting it dance in front of your pupils.

Before you realize it, you find yourself standing directly in front of the window, staring intently through it at the candle, unable to help yourself. The fire continues to dance, enthralling you, but there it is again. You know for sure this time that you saw a shadow move across the back wall. You want nothing more than to turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as you can, but some force beyond your power keeps you rooted firmly in place.

Suddenly, that same force causes you to turn towards the door, making your way to the front entrance which to your knowledge has not been opened since before you were born. Standing in front of it, you find yourself unable to move a muscle. You are waiting for something, even if you have no idea what it might be. You hear shuffling from inside, as if someone is moving just beyond the door.

The door swings open, revealing a pale but young-looking man dressed in an all black suit. "Well, hello, weary traveler," he greets you, "what brings you around these parts of the woods? Don't you know it's dangerous out here?"

All you can manage is a slight nod, one that you still feel as though was not your own choice to perform. The man grins, revealing perfectly white teeth that are almost blindingly bright in the black darkness of the night.

You still want nothing more than to run. The animals and hazards of the woods are the least of your concern. You are unable to place why, but you know this man is more dangerous than anything you could find in the woods anywhere else.

You've heard the stories of course: the old cabin is haunted, the woods themselves are haunted, the cabin is a hideout for escaped criminals. But you've never believed them. Until you saw him, that is.

"You must be famished," he says. "Care to come in," he pauses before continuing, emphasizing heavily, "for a bite?"

You again are powerless to do anything except to nod, and he again flashes his dazzling grin. "Excellent." He takes several small steps back, allowing space for you to come through the door. Involuntarily, you begin walking through it, and as you do, you can see a pair of large fangs begin to protrude from his grin, which has now transformed into a snarl.

"I'm starving."