The Girl Inside

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. If only Lauren had known that she shouldn’t have been on that road that night. That she shouldn’t have went for that walk with her dog. If only she had stayed home.

Lauren passed by the cabin nightly on her walks with her Corgi, Dash. Not far away, about a mile down a windy dirt road, she lived in another cabin with her mother. They were both in a pretty secluded part of the mountains. Not too many people were around, so it could seem pretty creepy at night. The cabin always gave Lauren an uneasy feeling of being watched. But she thought that was silly and shrugged it off. Plus, having Dash with her made her feel safe.

As she neared the cabin, she could see a faint glow coming from the porch window. She stopped in front of the cabin and wrinkled up her forehead. Did someone move in? It doesn’t look like anyone has moved in and I didn’t notice a lit candle in the window yesterday.

She saw that the cabin was still in shambles. There were overgrown vines twisted up and around the porch railings; they wound through the cracks of the broken steps and missing boards. She couldn’t see through the downstairs’ filthy windows, which also had long cracks sprouting from the corners. She couldn’t see most of the walkway under the moss and leaves. The tree roots had erupted through most of the cement squares along the path up to the front porch. Her body was buzzing with nerves, but her curiosity was stronger and wanted to check it out. And for a seventeen-year-old to pass this up, would be social suicide when her friends found out that she chickened out. She gave it a few seconds of thought and looked down at Dash. “What do you think, boy? Should I go see?” she asked. Dash looked up at her with his toothy grin and bright eyes. He wasn’t much help in decision making.

She took the handle of Dash’s leash and tied him to a skinny tree by the edge of the dirt road. She told him to be a good lookout and bark if there was any danger. He sounded off with two short yips and Lauren took that as a verbal agreement. It was just nearing dusk and trees made it a bit darker, so she pulled out her phone and clicked on the flashlight to see the pathway a little better. Her phone didn’t offer her a flood light, but it did illuminate the ground closest to her pretty well. The walkway was roughly five yards long with a few bends around some tree trunks. Lauren took slow intentional steps, just in case someone was inside. As she got midway up the walkway, a strange feeling made her stop. A chill ran up her spine which caused every hair to stand at attention. Her eyes caught movement from the upstairs window, but nothing was there when she looked. She quickly looked back at Dash. He was standing there by the tree with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. When he saw Lauren’s face, he pulled on the leash and his tailless butt wiggled as he tilted his head as in to say, what’s up?

“Good boy, Dash. Stay,” she said. She turned back, pushed up her sleeves and stood up straight. She aimed the flashlight from her phone with purpose and took another step. Again…that feeling suddenly stopped her in her tracks. Her eyes caught another movement. This time when she looked up at the window, she stumbled back a few steps and almost tripped over a protruding root behind her. She quickly steadied herself and leaned her hand on the side of a tree for support. She looked back up at the window again. There was a frantic girl in the window who looked to be about the same age as she was, yelling and banging her hands against the glass. Bloody handprints were staining the glass with each hit. Tears were streaming from her eyes. Lauren thought she had gone deaf. She couldn’t hear the banging or the screams that were clearly coming from her wide open mouth? The girl’s movements went still after she looked sharply at Lauren, and her eyes turned dark and cold. With slow movements she mouthed, “Help me.”

Lauren stiffened at the sight. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run. And just as she was about to fulfill that request, the girl resumed her panicked actions. She didn’t know what to do. On one hand these were all the ingredients of a horror movie, in which we’d be yelling at the character on screen to get the hell out of there. On the other hand, this wasn’t a movie set and she looked to be in serious need of help. Adrenaline had started to pump through her veins and she made the snap decision, whether smart or not, to run inside to find her. Her feet carried her swiftly to the front door. She was surprised to find it unlocked, but she didn’t have time to think about that. Once inside, she held the flashlight up high. It looked like a room full of giant dusty marshmallows from all the furniture covers. Other than a few cobwebs and dirt on the floor, everything looked to be in place like it was recently lived in. Everything inside was intact with mirrors and pictures on the walls, not one hung crooked. As she looked around for the stairs to go up, she realized that it was very quiet. Why am I not hearing any screaming or banging? This made her even more uneasy.

She navigated her way past the living room and spotted the stairs near the back wall. Reaching the first step, she took each one slowly just in case they weren’t sturdy. Not one creak sounded as she ascended the stairs. All this was getting very weird. She reached the top landing and looked left and right. There were three doors. One down the hall to the left and two to the right, all closed. She figured, based off of where the landing was in relation to the front of the house, it had to be the one to her left. With the sun going down, it didn’t offer much light down the long hallway. She got that eerie feeling of being watched again. A presence other than the girl pushed at her mind. The walls appeared to be moving as if they were breathing. This is crazy. I can’t be seeing what I think I’m seeing, can I? She hurried her way to the door.

Finding herself standing in front of the door now, she put her hand on the doorknob. A cool breeze permeated from under the door. Another chill ran up her back making all the hairs stand on end again. Her body trembled a bit as she turned the knob in a clockwise direction. It slowly swung open after the latch clicked past the strike plate.

Lauren stepped into the dark room. The window offered no light at all, even though the sun wasn’t completely set. Her nose was assaulted by a strong rotten and iron smell. Thinking the iron was possibly from the blood, she lifted her phone and shone the light into the room so she could see. It was different from the rest of the house. There were piles of what looked like dirty bedding, surrounded by swarms of flies, all around the edges of the floor. There wasn’t any covered furniture, for that matter, no furniture at all. Some stuffed animals that had seen better days were torn and scattered around the room. It looked as though maybe a child stayed here. The few pictures that hung on the walls had cracked glass and hung crooked. The floral wallpaper had been torn in many places. As she looked towards the window, the presence in her mind grew heavier, and it made her nauseous. She couldn’t see the girl and wondered where she had gone. She should’ve been in there.

As she walked further into the center of the room, the door slammed behind her. She jumped, which caused her to drop her phone, and the room went dark again. She couldn’t see so she accidentally kicked it as she ran back to the door. It was locked, but she felt no lock on the knob to unlock it; panic entered her body. She dropped down on her hands and knees to look for her phone. She brushed her hands along the dark floor but it was nowhere to be found. It couldn’t have gone far. But it was gone, vanished as if she never had it. She crawled over to the window, where not long ago she saw a panicked young girl, banging and screaming. Looking out, she could see that it was barely light outside now, just bright enough to see where Dash was still tied up to the tree. He was laying down now.

Why was the girl not here? Was it her that slammed the door shut? She knocked on the window to get Dash’s attention. He didn’t seem to notice. She tried it again, harder this time, still no reaction. She yelled his name over and over with failed results. She was scared.

Then she saw someone walk up to Dash. She tried yelling and banging again… nothing. She stopped banging to focus on the person who approached her dog. She couldn’t see her face. Was it the girl from the room?

Dash stood up and began his familiar butt wiggle that he would only do for Lauren. She watched as she unhooked Dash’s leash and put it in her hands. He didn’t usually like strangers. She didn’t understand what was happening. She started to freak out and banged on the window and called for Dash. He didn’t look up and pulled on the leash like he wanted to go home. Lauren stood there helpless at the window and continued to watch them. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

The person looked up at the window where Lauren was still watching her. A slow smile stretched the full width of her face.

Lauren inhaled sharply at the sight of her... she was looking at herself!

Disbelief washed over her. Lauren kept eye contact with her and noticed her body went still like before. Again, the eyes turned black and cold, only more evil this time and with HER OWN face. Then with slow movements she bent over to pet Dash, who looked up at her with a toothy grin. She mouthed, “Good boy.”

She then turned and looked towards the direction of Lauren’s home.

Panic filled Lauren’s lungs as she realized her mother was home alone. She screamed and screamed and banged on the window…but she knew that Dash couldn’t hear her, because she could no longer hear herself. She could feel the cabin had a hold on her. Dread was heavy in her body. She could feel the icy grip on her soul. And each hit of the window grew weaker. Tears poured from her eyes as she watched herself down below, walk away with Dash, into the darkness…

…then the candle went out.