The Candy Lady

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window," I tried to remember the story.

"What do you mean for years? Like, recently?" Terry, my best friend, wanted to tag along with me to check out the wreckage the most recent storm had brought.

"I don't know. That's how everyone starts the story. Before I was born. It sounds like the cabin was built and no one ever lived in it." I was stepping around the roots, crunching twigs and leaves as we weaved through the trees.

I couldn't imagine how that cabin still stood after last night's storm, but there it was, looming at the edge of the woods with the lake just beyond.

"Do you think anyone goes in there?" Terry and I walked past the cabin, giving the thing a wide berth.

I'd almost hoped that old creepy house would have been blown into the lake altogether.

"Of course not. Everyone knows it's haunted" I glanced over at Terry to see her face. Her eyes grew a little bigger and she tripped on a stick.

"Haunted?" Terry had moved into the house across from mine late last summer. She had a lot to learn about our little town.

"Yeah, it's haunted" I smirked, paused a little for drama, "you know the story of Hansel and Gretel? "

"Yeah... that's not a real story though," Terry spoke almost out of breath as we walked up the hill overlooking the lake, "it's just a fairy tale."

"Well, one lady thought it was a great idea," I looked over my shoulder at the house, sitting by itself amongst the trees.

"What lady?" Terry had stopped walking and touched her hand on a tree to balance.

"The Candy Lady," I snickered softly under my breath.

"I hope you're joking, Elaina," her voice shook a little as she tried to play cool.

"Why do you think all the lake houses are on the other side of the lake?" I looked across the lake and added, "you know she's home when she lights a candle in the window. A beacon to lure kids who are lost in the woods."

We made it up the hill and Terry was looking at the water below. "When does she show up?"

"I don't know. I've never seen a candle. My brother swears his friend's sister saw it. That's why she's blind." I picked up a rock and tried to skip it but it made a sad little plop straight into the water.

"Blind?" Terry's voice shuttered and her throat sounded dry. I knew I went too far. She was a bit of a scardey cat. On Halloween, Terry was the only one who wouldn't say Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom.

"Yeah. Blind... You know what, forget about it, Terry. It's just an urban legend. Plus, I've never seen the candle in the window and I don't know anyone who has. Come on, let's head back, my mom will freak if I'm back after the street lights come on again."

"Why is she called the Candy lady? And not the Candle lady?" not able to let it go, Terry wanted to know the whole story.

"The Candy Lady leaves out a bowl of candy on her porch, you know, like on Halloween. She leaves out this bowl and when kids come across the candle-lit house, the kids will stay a little while. Just long enough for her to..." I stopped. We were passing the cabin and I didn't want to scare Terry too much. But something else had caught my eye.

"To do what? What are you looking at?" before I could turn my eyes away, Terry saw what had stopped me, "Is that? That must've been there when we passed by, right?"

A bowl sat on the old broken table next to the cabin door.

"Probably. I never look at the house," I tried to remember but my entire body felt numb. Was it already there? A kid must've been double-dog-dared to put the bowl up there. I tried to reassure myself that I was just being silly.

I kept walking with Terry next to me trying to get the last part of the story out of me. "What happens to the kids who eat the candy, Elaina? Come on! You can't not tell me now! Does she eat the kids?"

"Okay," I shook my head and tried to find reality again, "well, the story goes that kids lost in the woods at night can follow the candle to the cabin. The Candy Lady leaves out a bowl, like I said, and waits for children to show up," I paused and looked up, relieved to see the paved road ahead. I started to walk a little faster. "When the kids eat the candy, she grabs them and stabs their eyes for being naughty. You know, being out late and eating candy. Some say the candle is a beacon because it's bewitched. Draws you in. Like a moth to a flame. That's what Billy Reeves says, anyway. You can't look away. Billy Reeves also says you have to close your eyes and try to run away if you see the candle."

I chilly wind blew out of the woods as we stepped foot back on the concrete. I had the sudden realization that I had said The Candy Lady three times and my blood felt cold. I looked up at Terry and saw her staring into the darkening woods. I followed her gaze and saw it.

A candle burning in the window.