The Girl

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Megan peered out of her own cabin window, Cabin 205, the one she and her family rented the same weekend every summer.

"Mom," she said over her shoulder. Moments later her mother appeared at her side, smelling of hair spray and perfume.

"What honey?" Her mother followed her gaze, squinting through the window.

"I think there’s someone staying in 305. Look, there’s a candle lit."

"Oh," her mother’s sing song voice was quiet.

"Do you think they finally renovated it?"

"I don’t know, honey. Come on, let’s get unpacked."

Megan gave another glance out the window and followed her mother into the living room.

Her mother was tall with brassy blonde hair. She had big blue eyes and a crooked nose - not in a bad way - just enough to make her look like a real person. Her father was a little shorter than her mother. He had tan skin and shaggy blonde hair. Her brother Ethan looked like their parents, but Megan looked nothing like either of them. She was small, pale and freckly, with dark curly hair. Often when Megan looked in the mirror, she wondered if she would ever grow into the tall blonde beauty that was her mother.

"It’s just a phase," her mother would say. "Every kid goes through that awkward phase. One day you’ll be so beautiful, you won’t be able to stand it."

But not today, Megan always thought.

The next morning, her father and Ethan were packing fishing gear into a cooler. This was a tradition on these trips: fishing for their first dinner. Megan used to go with them, until the summer she turned seven, and she accidentally hooked a fish by the eye. It came off her hook before she could reel it in, and she stood there crying silently as it floated on the surface of the lake, blood clouding around it in the water. She never went fishing again.

She sat down at the dining room table after saying goodbye to her father and brother. Breakfast was waiting for her. She looked around the cabin as she poked her eggs with her fork. It looked the same as it did every year. The kitchen was to her right, the wallpaper white with green flowers on it, though the white had faded. The living room was situated at the front of the cabin and connected to the kitchen. There was a green plaid couch that faced an old fireplace. On either side of the fireplace were doors that led to the bedrooms: her parents’ room to the left and her and Ethan’s shared room to the right. Directly in front of the dining area was another sitting room where they played games after dinner, propping their knees on pillows to sit around the handmade coffee table. Between the living and sitting room was the door to the cabin, windows on both sides of it.

After she finished breakfast Megan put her plate in the sink and sunk into the couch. She pulled her sketchpad off the end table and opened it to a blank sheet. She started drawing the window, the tree line beyond it, and Cabin 305. She shaded the drawing so that it looked like nighttime, and she drew a candle in the window.

She got up and walked towards the sitting area. There were shelves built into the wall, stacked with games. She liked to browse the collection to see if any of the renters left new games behind. As she was crossing the room, a flash of blonde caught her eye through the window. She opened the front door.

"Mom?" asked Megan.

Her mother didn’t respond. She was sitting on the front steps staring across the grounds towards the woods. She was wearing a long blue dress and coral sandals. She looked as though she was visiting a tropical resort rather than a cabin in the woods. Although her outfit was vibrant, her face looked vacant, as though all signs of life bled from it into her dress.

"Mom," Megan repeated.

Her mother looked up. "Oh, hi honey."

"How long have you been out here?" Megan thought she had been reading in her room.

"What time did your father and Ethan leave?" her mother still seemed distracted, glancing towards the woods again.

"Over an hour ago."

"Oh, my, well I guess I lost track of time." There was a pause, and then, "When should Daniel and his family get to the grounds?"

"Sometime tonight. I’m going to meet him after dinner."

"Oh, wonderful. Well," she said, standing up, "you know he’s welcome here anytime, sweetie."

"I know. He’ll come to my birthday dinner," said Megan as her mother moved towards the door.

Her mother stopped right before the door and said, “Wonderful,” in her sing-song voice. She smiled and put her hand on Megan’s cheek, meeting her eyes for a moment, then let her hand fall to her side and walked into the cabin. Megan stood there wondering what could have held her mother’s attention for so long.

Megan was walking in the cool glow of the sunset. These woods always felt like home to her – much more than the bustling city where she lived. Megan looked up at the tree line, black against the pink of the sky. The outstretched branches looked like all the trees were reaching for each other. She felt sad for a moment that they might never actually touch. Her sixteenth birthday was tomorrow.

Daniel was waiting for her in the clearing, a six pack of beer at his feet. He was leaning against the big rock in the center. His bike was propped against it. Megan knew that tomorrow they would go on their normal bike ride around the lake, her on the back of it, occasionally covering his eyes with her hands to test his memory of the path. One time they crashed into a patch of grass and Megan cut her elbow on a stick. She still had the scar. In the moonlight, Daniel’s light brown hair gleamed, shaggy against his neck. He had some stubble along his chin; that was new. He was skinny, kind of in the awkward way that she was. He was her best friend in the whole world. When he saw her walking into the clearing, his hazel eyes widened, and he ran to her and picked her up. Megan laughed as her feet swung off the ground.

"Hey Megs!" Daniel said, setting her down.

"Hey Dan," she said, smiling at him.

He led her over to that big rock and they started on the beer. She listened as he told her all about the last year, then she told him about hers. Even though they stayed in touch when they weren’t at the grounds, it still felt like they always had so much catching up to do. After half an hour there was a break in their chatter.

"Do you know if someone is staying in 305?" Megan asked, bringing her beer bottle to her mouth.

Daniel swallowed and said, "305? No way. That cabin has been abandoned for years."

Megan turned her head and gazed at the tree line, bringing the bottle to her mouth again.

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"I thought I saw a candle lit in the window last night."

"You sure it wasn’t a reflection or something?"

"Maybe." Megan took another swig from her beer. She was starting to feel buzzed. She loved these nights with Daniel.

"You okay?" Daniel asked her.

"Oh yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…why has it been abandoned all this time?"

"I think someone died there or something? My parents said no one ever rented it from then on. The owner sort of stopped taking care of the place. Didn’t want to put any money into it if it wasn’t making any money for him, you know?"

"Yeah, I just, I could have sworn I saw a candle in the window."

"Maybe some kids broke in and are fooling around in there. It’s probably a great place to go if you don’t want your parents to know what you’re up to." He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe," she said.

"You want to go check it out?" Daniel asked.

"What?" Her stomach flipped.

"Come on," he grinned again. "Let’s go see."

And then they were on his bike riding back the way she came.

When they got there, Daniel pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and clicked it on. They looked at each other then walked up the steps to the porch. Daniel tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

"I think it’s jammed shut," he said, and he went around the porch to peer into one of the windows. Megan walked to the window where the candle had been lit the night before, but it was dark. She could see the room behind it in the light from Daniel’s flashlight. It was empty and run down.

"I don’t think anyone is here!" Daniel called out.

Megan turned, but then she caught her reflection in the window. She looked like herself, but different. Her clothes and hair looked wet, and her face…her face was twisted and looked like she was screaming. She moved closer to the glass.

"Did you hear me?" Daniel was right beside her.

She jumped back and looked at him, then turned back to the window. This time her reflection looked normal. It looked like her.

"What’s wrong?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "I think I’m just seeing things."

The next morning, Megan walked out of her room to a birthday banner hanging from the ceiling. Her mother was already frosting her birthday cake. Her brother was sitting at the counter, card in hand. She loved his handmade cards.

She looked at her brother, smiling and sunburnt – he always got sunburnt the first day at the cabin – and wondered whether he would ever experience what it was like to want to be someone else, or when he would get his heart broken for the first time. She wanted to keep him like this: fourteen and happy forever.

"Happy birthday honey!" Her mother came around the counter and kissed Megan on top of the head.

"Thanks Mom," she said. Just then her father walked out of their bedroom.

"Hey kiddo! Sixteen! How do you feel?" Her father put his hands on her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug.

"About the same," she laughed.

"Well," her mother said, walking back to the cake. "Dinner will be ready at 6. Daniel is welcome to come celebrate! Are you going to the lake today?"

"Yeah," Megan said. "I’m going to meet him around noon." She took Ethan’s card and opened it. He had written "16" in big block numbers and drew a picture of Megan in a crown below it. Megan started teaching him to draw at a young age. It was the one thing they had in common.

"Thanks Ethan," she said, smiling.

"Love you sis," he said.

At noon, Megan headed toward the lake, backpack in tow. Daniel’s cabin was a fifteen-minute walk from hers. They always met there before their bike ride around the water.

"Hey birthday girl!" Daniel was waiting for her on his porch. Before she could say anything, he had already jumped down and was throwing his arms around her.

"Happy birthday," he said into her shoulder. She smiled into his. "Before we go, I have your gift!"

He went back to the porch and grabbed a small blue package. She laughed at the messy wrapping job and took it from him, opening it to reveal a new sketchpad. She beamed down at it.

"Thanks Dan. I love it," she really meant it.

She pulled her backpack off and slipped the sketchbook and wrapping paper inside, then slid it over her shoulder again.

"You ready?" Daniel asked her.

"Yeah," she said, smiling again.

They climbed onto Daniel’s bike and ventured around the lake.

That night Megan was sitting at the head of the dining room table, her brother and Daniel on either side of her. They had just finished eating cake. Her parents were clearing the table.

"I better get going," Daniel said, glancing at his watch.

"I’ll walk you out," said Megan. They both stood up.

"Oh, Daniel, thank you for coming. It was so great to see you! Tell your parents we say hi," her mother said from the kitchen.

"Thank you for having me! The food was good, Mrs. Anderson."

"It’s Heather," her mother said to him, smiling. He grinned and nodded.

Megan and Daniel walked outside to the porch. He leaned over, putting his elbows on the railing, and sighed.

"This trip goes by faster every year," he said.

"Yeah, I know," she said, leaning onto the railing beside him.

"I’m saving up for that car, though," he said. "Maybe I’ll be able to visit you before next summer. Or maybe your parents will let you borrow theirs now that you’re sixteen."

Megan gave a small laugh. "Yeah right."

Daniel gave a small laugh back. "Well Megs, I guess this is - "

"Wait," Megan interrupted. "Do you see that?"

"What?" Daniel replied.

"There," Megan was pointing at Cabin 305. A candle was lit in the window. She hurried down the steps.

"Megan, wait!" Daniel exclaimed. But it was too late; Megan’s shoes had already hit the grass and she was marching towards the cabin, Daniel in step behind her.

Megan hurried up the steps to Cabin 305, Daniel following closely. They both put all their weight against the front door and burst into the room. She looked around. It was dilapidated and it smelled like mildew. The kitchen cabinets were falling off the walls, the dining room table had all but collapsed in on itself, clinging to one rotting leg. The books on the shelf behind it were so dusty and worn down, Megan thought they might crumble with one touch. There was a couch in the middle of the room, stained and ripped. There were wooden boards sticking out from the floor and walls.

"Hello?" Megan called.

It was silent.

"Megan, come on," Daniel said, his voice peppered with fear. "There’s no one here. It’s probably just some kid playing a prank or something."

Megan turned to Daniel, and just as she opened her mouth to speak, the front door of the cabin swung shut. Daniel’s voice shot through the stale air. "Hey come on!" he yelled towards the door. "This isn’t funny!"

A creaking sounded just outside, and then something was scratching at the door. Megan stepped forward, but Daniel grabbed her arm.

"Megan, don’t!"

"What?" Megan asked.

"What if it’s like a serial killer or something?"

"What, are we supposed to just stay in here forever hoping they go away? It’s probably just the wind."

"Okay," he said, grabbing a broken wooden board from beside him. "Okay, you open the door and stand back, and I’ll hit them with this."

Megan rolled her eyes, a smile curling the corner of her mouth. She nodded in agreement, and then stepped forward again, slowly turned the knob, and opened the door.

Megan looked in horror as a woman - no, a girl - was curled on the porch, her hands stretched out towards the door frame. Her nails were broken and dirty, the skin on her hands was gray and rotting. She gripped either side of the door frame and slowly started to pull her way up, tilting her head towards them. Megan stepped back as the girl’s face came into the light. Her eyes were bloodshot, wide and pleading. Her mouth was hanging open and her jaw looked broken, making her bottom lip hang unevenly. She looked as though she had been trying to scream for so long that it broke her entire body. There was dirt on her face, coating her lips and stuck into the corners of her red, unseeing eyes. Her dark curly hair was wet and sticking to her neck. As she reached out, Megan noticed the pinky and ring fingers on her right hand were broken, bent in different directions. She stepped towards them and let out a low, guttural wheezing sound.

"Megan," Daniel breathed. "She looks…like you."

The girl walked slowly towards Megan.

"Hey get away from her!" Daniel yelled, wielding the board in his hands. He started to swing, but Megan held up a hand.

"Don’t!" she said.

"Megan, we have to - "

"Just, wait."

Megan stayed where she was, looking right into the girl’s face. All she could hear was that low, guttural sound as the girl breathed, standing so close now that Megan could feel the breath on her face. The girl’s bloodshot eyes met her own and she slowly reached towards Megan’s face, grazing her broken fingers along her cheek. As she touched her, the room around them started to fade. The light from the candle was dying, and darkness engulfed the room. Megan tried to scream, but no sound came out. She shut her eyes tight. When she opened them, the room was quiet. There was no more wheezing; all she could hear was the sound of rain against the window.

"Daniel?" Megan whispered.

"I’m here," he whispered back. She turned towards his voice, but as she began to step forward, the candle in the window sputtered back to life and softly illuminated the small cabin.

Megan and Daniel looked around. The girl was gone. The room looked different. It was no longer a dilapidated mess. The couch in the center looked fuller, brighter. The countertops were shiny in the candlelight. The dining table wasn’t broken, and the books on the shelf behind it looked newer. The smell of mildew had lifted.

"What is this?" Megan breathed as she looked around the dim room.

"I don’t know Megan, but we have to go right - "

But Daniel didn’t get to finish his sentence. Just then, the front door burst open. Her parents were rushing in, soaking wet, dragging something between them. No, not something - someone.

"Quick, put her on the couch," her father’s voice boomed through the room. They picked up the small person between them and set her on the couch. Her head rolled back against the cushion; she was unconscious. Her mother sat down on the coffee table with force, looking panicked. Her father knelt beside her on the floor. They were her parents, only younger. Their soaking clothes looked dated. They didn’t seem to see Megan or Daniel, who were watching them from behind the couch.

"Walk me through it again," her father said, reaching up to unstick the girl’s dark wet hair from her face. Her head slumped to one side. It was hard to see her face from this angle.

"I was going to look for a flashlight in the car. She was on the porch when I opened the door," her mother said exasperatedly. Tears were rolling down her face. "She said she was staying in the cabin across from us and needed help, that she was…" her voice broke, "that she was in labor. Then she just, just collapsed."

Megan looked down at the girl. She could see that she was pregnant.

"See if the phone in this cabin works," her father said, and her mother leapt from the table and looked wildly around the room. Megan noticed her eyes settle on something behind her and turned to see that her mother had spotted a phone hanging on the wall. As her mother ran to it, her father sat up on his knees and called out, "Is anyone else here?!" There was no response.

"This phone is dead too!" her mother said loudly across the room, her voice broke into a soft sobbing sound.

"Storm must have knocked out the whole area," her father said unsteadily.

"What do we do?" her mother asked.

Her father looked at the girl, still unconscious on the couch. He started tapping on her face.

"Hey! Hey, wake up! Hey!" his tapping quickened and grew less gentle.

The girl let out a small groan. Her head slowly lifted off the couch. Megan’s mother said, almost inaudibly, "Oh my god," and ran back to the coffee table.

"She’s coming," the girl said softly.

Megan was frozen in place as she watched what happened next. The girl had lifted her dress and started screaming. The screaming got louder, and her parents were at the girl’s feet, her mother leaning up to hold her hand. It felt like this moment went on for hours, and then she heard a tiny cry from somewhere beneath them. Her father brought a baby up to the girl’s chest. She sighed in relief and clasped her hands around the baby.

"Megan," she said in a joyous whisper.

Megan’s chest tightened and she started to reach out. But just then, she heard the girl whisper, "Something is wrong."

They all looked down and noticed blood pooling on the couch and floor below, and the girl’s head started to slump over again. Megan’s mother grabbed the baby from the girl’s chest.

"We need to get her to a hospital," her father said, starting to stand.

"Wait," her mother said, grabbing his wrist. He sat back down. "What if we just, let it happen?"

"What, let her bleed out?" her father replied, clearly startled.

"We’ve been trying for years."

"But – "

"What if this is how we get our child?"

"What?" the girl’s weak voice drifted over them. Megan’s parents both looked at the girl with an expression Megan had never seen on their faces. There was something both sad and primal in their eyes.

"What?" the girl said again, more awake this time. "No. Give me my child."

Megan’s mother clutched the baby closer to her chest.

"Give her to me!" panic flooded the girl’s voice. She was gasping as she grabbed for the baby.

Megan’s mother stood up and carried the baby behind the couch, standing next to the phone in the kitchen.

The girl screamed and twisted on the couch. She tried to climb over the back of it, her hair falling in her face, but Megan’s father had grabbed her by the legs. The girl flung her head back, trying to kick free. As her hair fell away from her face, she was now eye-level with Megan. It felt like time had stopped, as her wide eyes met Megan’s own. Then, Megan’s father rose from behind the girl and curled his hands around her neck. The girl’s eyes widened even further as she held Megan’s gaze. She tried to let out a scream but couldn’t make a sound. She ripped at the hands around her throat, clawing and flailing. She tore into his hands, ripping off most of her nails. Her father yelled and loosened his grip, and the girl let out a low, guttural wheeze. Her father repositioned himself and as his fingers closed once again around her neck, she flung her hands up and there was a loud cracking sound as her fingers met his and snapped. Megan watched through tears as the girl’s eyes turned red, and the girl’s fighting began to slow as her mouth fell open, trying and failing one last time to scream. She reached toward Megan with her broken fingers, and her wide eyes went blank. The only sound was Megan’s mother crying behind her.

The room went dark again. When the candle flickered to light once more, the room looked the same, but it was empty except for Megan and Daniel. There was a creaking sound outside the cabin, and the door opened to reveal Megan’s parents again, this time in different clothes. Her mother was holding a toddler on her hip. The girl looked to be a little over a year old, with dark curly hair fighting against a purple headband. It was Megan. Below her tiny swinging feet, her mother’s pregnant belly poked out under a floral green and white dress.

"It looks the same," her mother said softly. She walked to the couch in the center of the room. The blood stain was still there, brown in color now.

"Do you ever feel like we should turn ourselves in?" her mother asked, turning to look at her father.

"It’s too late now," her father said, still looking around the room as if expecting it to collapse around him. "They found her where we left her in the water. They think the baby drowned. If we come forward, we will lose Megan, and we will lose the baby."

Megan’s mother placed her hand on her stomach. "I know, David, but we did it because we thought we couldn’t get pregnant, and then a year later we do, and it just – " her voice broke as she began to cry. "It just feels like we are being punished."

Her father walked to her mother and caught her eyes. "Hey," he said. "We come back here every year so that we never forget what we did. We come here to honor Megan, and to honor how we got her. We are punishing ourselves enough. We don’t need to punish the kids too. They need us. They need their father," and then he put his hand on her face, "and they need their mother."

Only she wasn’t Megan’s mother, not really. Megan’s mother was dead.

The room went dark once more, and then was illuminated again by candlelight. Megan opened her eyes and was once again face to face with those wide bloodshot eyes, the breath from the gaping mouth felt hot on her cheek.

"Mom?" Megan said through tears.

The girl kept her broken hand on Megan’s face. She grazed Megan’s dark curls with her twisted fingers and leaned her head in, pressing her forehead against Megan’s. She looked into her mother’s bloodshot eyes, this time mere inches from her own. They stayed like this for a moment, the only sounds were Megan’s soft cry and her mother’s low wheezing. Then the candle went out one final time and the room was swallowed in darkness, her mother going with it.

Megan reached out frantically, searching for the girl who was just standing in front of her. She was grasping at air, crying harder now. Then she heard Daniel’s voice: "Megan," he said. "She’s gone."

Megan’s legs gave out and she started to fall towards the floor. She heard a thump as Daniel dropped the wooden board and he caught her in his arms. They both sank down. She pressed her face against his shoulder and cried into the night.

They were standing in silence on the porch of the cabin now. After a few minutes of eyeing her, Daniel spoke first.

"Megan, I – "

"I know," Megan said, not meeting his gaze. She was looking out at the lake now, her arms wrapped around her chest. The breeze seemed colder now. "Do me a favor Daniel," she said, finally turning to him. "Don’t tell anyone about this."

"What?" Daniel said. His face looked exhausted, as though he had aged several years in this one night. Megan felt older now too. Before tonight, sixteen always felt so far away. Now it felt so far behind her.

"Ethan," she said. "He can’t find out about this. Not yet."

"Megan."

"It’ll ruin his life. He’s so young. And we will be separated. I just lost my parents – three of them. I can’t lose him too. He’s the only family I have left. Him…and you."

Daniel looked at her again, that familiar grin showing on his face. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"Okay," he said. "Okay, but," and he looked down at her, "you write me, every week. You call me if you need anything, or if you just, you know, want to talk. Promise?"

"Promise," she said. She squeezed him one last time. "I’ll see you next summer Daniel."

She turned and walked back to her cabin.

The next morning Megan woke to find her parents already packing the car. She brushed her teeth and ate a quick breakfast with her brother, then piled her bag in the trunk atop his. They drove back to the city. Her parents chatted in the front seat about how nice the trip was. They said the same things every year. Ethan slept in the seat beside her the whole way home, still sunburnt. Megan didn’t speak the entire car ride. She gazed out the window, watching as the blur of trees and lake turned into a blur of cars, and then a blur of tall buildings and storefronts, indicating they were back in the city. Ethan stirred as they pulled into their garage, and they each got their own bags and went into the house to unpack.

That night, Megan looked out her window to the dark street below. She walked to her dresser and pulled open her top drawer. It rattled as the contents inside slid with it. She pushed aside some old movie stubs and polaroid pictures and found a box of matches. As she turned back towards the window, she grabbed a candle from her nightstand. She struck a match and lit the candle wick, then placed it on the windowsill. She looked out one last time, catching her reflection in the glass. She looked just like her mother.

She crawled in bed and drifted to sleep. The light from the candle glowed in the window beside her.