The Haunting of Black Lake

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. And that flickering flame, my dear campers, beckoned me to come closer and closer through the tall dark trees, to meet whatever was inside that cabin.

As I stood there trembling, I felt sharp jab in the back of my ribs, and Sophie hissed in my ear. “There it is. All you have to do is go inside the cabin, blow out the candle, and run back out. Then you’ll be initiated into our Club.”

What’s that, Riley? Do you have a question?

Oh yes, you’re right, I am talking about me in this tale. Because this isn’t just another fireside ghost story, my wee friends. I swear on my last s’mores that this story is 100% true. It happened to me when I was a camper just about your age, on my first trip here to Black Lake.

But let’s back up and I’ll start this story at the beginning.

I arrived at Black Lake Camp on a beautiful late Saturday afternoon, with the sun sparkling off the water, the wind blowing through the pine trees, and the call of the loons. Just like you, I was given a welcome package that said I was assigned to Cabin 13, along with the schedule of activities, the menu plan at the Mess Hall, where the Camp Nurse was located – you know the drill.

Now I’m a shy person. At least I was back then. So when I walked into Cabin 13, I felt as awkward as a mime at an opera audition. But all the other girls never even noticed me. They had camped together for years, and were all gathered into a tight circle, with no way in.

I picked an empty bunk and unpacked my stuff while the other girls laughed and talked. A few other girls arrived, and at each occasion, everyone in the room would squeal and call out the new arrival’s name:

“Evie!”

“Maria!”

“Maddie!”

A shrill bell rang through the air which, according to my sheet of paper, signaled that it was dinner and time to head to the Mess Hall. All of the other girls ran out of the cabin, screeching, leaving me behind.

I hurried out after them, but they were already far gone.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you the way,” said a voice behind me.

I turned and saw a girl walking quickly towards me, with red curly hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose.

She quickly caught up to me and I fell in step alongside her.

“Thanks,” I said shyly. “I’m new and don’t really know my way around yet.”

She glanced sideways at me and gave me the biggest grin I’d ever seen. Like, some people have a friendly smile, but hers welcomed me right in. It made me feel like we’d been friends forever.

“I’ll make sure you get to the right place,” she said. “I’m Cassie. Cassie Black.”

“I’m Jenny,” I replied. “So you have the same last name as the lake?”

Cassie laughed. “I come by it naturally. The lake is named after my grandfather. He started this camp.”

We came to a three-pronged fork in the path.

“It’s this way,” Cassie said,” veering off to the right. I followed quickly behind and a dozen steps later, and the Mess Hall loomed before us.

“There’s Table 13.” Cassie pointed to a table with my bunkmates. “You take all your meals with them, and your activities. But I’ll see you around.” She waved and headed off, and I soon lost sight of her.

After dinner, tuck shop, and some campfire games, everyone headed back to the cabins for lights out. My brain was numb with exhaustion, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. Even the other girls’ chattering and giggles couldn’t keep me awake.

I awoke with a start. It was pitch black, and I was kneeling on cold damp earth. Where was I? How had I gotten here?

A low growl came from behind me. Was it a bear? I pushed myself to a standing position and blindly began to run. My breaths tore from my chest in ragged gasps as my bare feet pounded the ground. The path I was on suddenly split into three. A flash of memory shot through my brain like an electric current. Walking with Cassie to the Mess Tent, a fork in the path.

Behind me, I could hear the pounding of big paws hitting the packed earth. I veered to the left, and within only a few steps, I saw it. A cabin. And in the front window, a candle burned. I ran towards it.

There were voices and loud noises. A warm light shone on my face. I opened my eyes to find myself curled up on bunk, my bunkmates running around, getting dressed and slamming doors.

It had all been a dream.

Relieved, I rolled out of bed and pulled on a fresh T-shirt and a pair of shorts. I would be left behind once again if I didn’t hurry. I grabbed a pair of socks and went to pull the first one onto my foot as the other girls dashed out the door.

As I looked down, I saw my feet were covered in mud.

…

Although I knew my way to the Mess Hall now, I couldn’t have been more relieved when Cassie caught up to me.

“How’s it going?” she asked me.

“Okay, I guess. It’s just…”

“What?”

“I had a really strange dream last night. That I was lost in the woods, and then I found a cabin. With a candle burning in the window.”

Cassie smiled at me reassuringly. “It’s not unusual to have strange dreams. Especially when you’re sleeping in a strange bed.”

“Yes, but it seemed so real. Then I woke up…” I hesitated.

“And?”

“There was mud on my feet.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Cassie laughed. “The cabin floors are pretty dirty.”

“Maybe.” I wasn’t convinced.

“Hey, maybe you were sleepwalking!” Cassie suggested. “Do you sleepwalk?”

“Not since I was a little kid.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” said Cassie.

During the next few days, I acted like a normal person. I joined my bunkmates for meals, played softball and went canoeing with them, and slept in the same cabin with them at night. None of them ever said much to me.

And every night, I would have the same dream. Each time, I got closer and closer and closer to the cabin before I would wake up.

But in the meantime, I walked to meals with Cassie, shared jokes and stories with her, and waved at her when our groups passed each other on the way to activities.

Then a few days in, a miracle happened. Just as Cassie was coming up to meet me to walk to breakfast together, one of my bunkmates walked up to me.

“Hey, there’s a free period after breakfast and some of us are kayaking to the island across the lake. Wanna come?”

I could barely stammer out a yes.

“You’ll need to bring a towel, hat, and water,” the girl said.

I nodded and hurried back into the cabin to get my gear. Cassie followed me.

“What are you doing?” she demanded. “You’re not really going with them, are you?

“Well, yeah,” I said, surprised she would even ask. “I’ll be fun. And great to make a new friend.”

“I thought I was your friend,” Cassie huffed, flopping down onto my bunk.

“But you are! Why don’t you come too?”

“Never mind. I have better things to do.” She stomped out, making me feel guilty and sad.

But I figured she would come around.

That morning I had a blast with my bunkmates. I finally got to feel like I was fitting in.

We kayaked back to the mainland after a picnic lunch, and that’s when the queen bee, Sophie, approached me.

“Don’t think you’re one of us just because we let you come to the island,” she said.

Well, that was mean.

“Leave her alone, Soph,” cut in Beth, the girl who had invited me to go with them. “She has no other friends, so what’s the harm in letting her hang with us?”

I felt my cheeks turned hot. I didn’t want people to be friends with me out of pity.

“Tell you what,” Sophie said. “We’ll let you be part of our group. But only if you prove your worth by passing a little test.”

“What’s that?” I asked warily.

“You just have to go to Old Black’s Cabin and blow out the candle in the window.

My blood coursed through my ears. The cabin I had dreamed about? It couldn’t possibly be real.

“What’s the matter? Are you too chicken?” Sophie crossed her arms and smirked at me.

“Course not,” I replied, before I could lose my nerve. “Let’s go.”

“Not now. We’ll sneak out of the cabin tonight, at midnight.”

And so, dear campers, that’s how I ended up staring through the darkness at that flickering flame in the cabin’s window, as it beckoned me to come closer and meet whatever was inside that deserted cabin.

And that’s when I felt the sharp jab in the back of my ribs, as Sophie hissed in my ear. “All you have to do is go inside the cabin, blow out the candle, and run back out.”

I decided the best way forward was like ripping off a band-aid. Don’t think about it, just go ahead and do it, and before you know it, the pain will all be over.

So I just put one foot in front of the other, and then I was walking faster and faster down the path towards the cabin. Behind me, I heard some of the girls gasp. They really hadn’t expected me to do it.

When I reached the cabin, I didn’t hesitate. The boards on the front porch groaned as I stepped on the wood, splintering it with a loud crack. I pushed open the door on its squealing hinges and stepped inside.

“You came,” said a familiar voice in the dim light.

I peered around the room and there, in the far corner, stood Cassie.

“Cassie! What are you doing here?” I was relieved I wasn’t alone in the abandoned house.

“Waiting for you, of course.” Cassie stepped out from the corner, walking towards me. The flickering glow from the candle cast shadows across her face. She grinned at me, as if we were sharing some kind of inside joke, something only the two of us understood.

“I knew you would come,” Cassie said. “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me for those other girls. Because we’re friends, right? Best friends?”

Cassie’s eyes were glowing oddly in the candlelight. Step by step, she was closing the distance between us. Without thinking, I took a step away from her, towards the candle.

“I’m just here to blow out the candle, and then I’m leaving,” I said, trying to sound casual. “You can come with us.”

“No!”

The vehemence in Cassie’s voice shook me, and I turned to look at her. Her face had changed into an ugly scowl. She took another step towards me. I took another step away from her.

“Cassie, stop. You’re scaring me. Let’s just blow out the candle and go back to the other girls.”

“No,” she said, but softly this time. “The candle is for me.”

I was confused. “What do mean? Sophie lit the candle for me to blow out.”

Cassie shook her head. “No. My grandfather lights the candle for me. Every night. So I can find my way home through the darkness.”

Cassie was only a few feet away from me now. I looked down on the floor and saw her nightgown was dripping with water. Her hair was wet, plastered down around her skull.

I looked around the cabin and recalled how Cassie had said she once lived there with her grandfather. But where was her grandfather now? Dead?

A chill ran up my spine.

“I’m going back to the others,” I said, trying to hide the quiver in my voice.

“No, stay,” Cassie pleaded. “We’re friends. We can be best friends forever.”

Cassie looked up at me from underneath her wet hair and grinned widely at me.

Her teeth were all black and rotten.

I ran towards the door, but a sudden gust of wind blew it shut. I tugged on the knob but it wouldn’t budge.

“You’re supposed to be my friend!” Cassie screamed. Wind swirled around the room, reverberating off the walls and ceiling. The candle tipped off the windowsill and fell to the floor. In just moments, the flame licked the dry floorboards and set them ablaze.

“Cassie! Let me out! Please!”

I tugged harder at the door.

“We’ll be here together forever, now,” Cassie soothed me. “We’ll have so much fun. You’ll see.”

I picked up the candlestick and slammed it against the window, breaking the pane. I pushed myself over the sill and scrambled down to the ground, as I heard a long resound scream from Cassie. “Nooooooo! Come back!”

As I ran through the forest, my hands bleeding from the broken glass, I could see the counselors already running towards me and the blazing cabin.

“Cassie’s still in there!” I yelled to the first counselor. Then I collapsed to the ground.

I woke up the next morning in the hospital, with a couple of counselors watching over me. The doctor told me I’d suffered smoke inhalation, cuts and shock, but would otherwise be fine.

“What about Cassie?” I asked. ‘Is she okay?”

The two counselors glanced at each other. Finally, one of them spoke to me. “Dear, there was no one else in the cabin. It burned to the ground. The firefighters combed through every square inch of the rubble, but there were no human remains found.”

“But where is she then? Did she go back to her cabin? Someone should check on her because she looked…strange.”

The other counselor put her hand gently on my forehead. “Honey, there’s no camper registered with us by the name of Cassie. We checked.”

“But there is! Maybe her full name is Cassandra and Cassie is just a nickname. But I hung around with her all week. Cassie. Cassie Black!”

I watched as the color drained from the counselors’ faces. “Sweetie, Cassie Black was a camper here. Back when we were campers here. The owner’s granddaughter. But she went out on a dare to swim across to the Black Lake Island one night. When she didn’t return, her grandfather lit a candle in the window to help her find her way back.”

The other counselor looked at me. “He finally went out looking for her and found her in the lake. She had drowned.”

“But that’s not possible! I was hanging around with her all week…”

And then I stopped talking, young campers, lest the counselors think I needed to be locked up.

But my story doesn’t end there. You see, the next year I went back to Black Lake. And every night, I saw that cabin. The weird thing was, it was never in the same place. One night it would be down the middle path, the next night a different path. And whenever I saw it, there was always a candle flickering in the window, beckoning me to come inside.

And every once in a while, I catch a glimpse of Cassie, still roaming these trails and looking for a friend, and OH MY GOD SHE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!