The Haunting of Heber house

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window". "Legend has it, that once you see the candle, you will die within a day of the first sighting. Believe it or not, this cabin has been around for over three hundred years. Every year on the anniversary of the strange disappearance of Katarina Heber, the candle appears, and a person, or sometimes persons, go missing and are never seen or heard from again, all that is left is a trail of blood, a lock of hair and a bloody handprint"! Josephina paused for effect, searching the faces for reactions.

She smiled, quite pleased with her progress of scaring the crap out of them all.

Everyone sitting around the campfire shifted uncomfortably. They were a group of young friends who hung out on weekends to get away from the rigors of the work week. Most of them were fresh out of college and worked temp jobs while trying to land their dream jobs. A few of the others were already settled and worked mainly as entrepreneurs. They all took some time on weekends to 'thaw out', as they liked to jokingly name it.

The story goes that Wilber Huber had locked his wife in the tiny underground basement room that he had himself erected. Wanting to escape his cruelty towards her and her daughter, Rachel Heber had tried to leave. She never made it out of the house. Unable to find her mother, Katarina, suspecting that her cruel father had done something to her, had pushed him down the well on the property, and then dropped a cow on top of him, so no one could hear his screams. No one knows exactly, what happened to Katarina, it is believed that she is still searching for her mother after all these years, and take others with her for company. A search of the house yielded a tiny secret hatch hidden under the huge elaborate and roughly carved desk, where the body of Rachel Heber was eventually found and given a proper burial. They just filled in the well over Wilbur and the cow, at least what was left of it after the rats had fed for weeks.

Benny groaned audibly in frustration, "guys can we just go home, this is getting real really fast, it's not feeling funny at all anymore"!

"Don't be a big pussycat, Benny, we have enough girls here already", Stu was a bit of a bully and was always teasing poor Benny.

"Leave him alone Stu, you know that the bully always gets eaten by the big bad monster first, right"? Jen was really tired of Stu's huge ego.

"Good one Jen". Lauralee laughed.

Stu just guffawed and snorted, laughing at them all. He had been the football star at school, he was invincible.

On a dare, they had all agreed to campout near the cabin, and at midnight the entire camp would trek to the cabin to see who would see the candle. As the hours passed, they were all growing a little apprehensive. "What if the legend is really true"? Jen whispered to Tom who was sitting on her left.

"Oh come on, it's all poppycock", he whispered back.

"Maybe so, but still I'm feeling a bit scared".

"On the thirteenth of June at midnight, the sole survivor of twenty years ago, recounted how, before the group of friends she had been with went to the cabin, they had seen a young woman walking alone in the fog. They had tried to invite her to join them, but when they tried to walk to her, the closer they got to her, the farther away she seemed to get. It was really eerie and strange to experience such an occurrence in the dark of night, so they had given up and returned to their campsite".

"Meghan, the survivor, who incidentally said that she never saw a lit candle in the window, recalled that the young woman had been dressed all in black, with a strange band around her head which seemed to somehow obscure her face. They had all been uneasy, but in their excitement and giddy headedness, had paid little attention to the strange woman. She could not remember what happened after that, just that for some strange reason, she had survived. It was rumored that Meghan, suffering from amnesia due to the trauma and unable to live with the guilt of surviving her friends, had ended up in an institution, refusing to talk to anyone since".

Suddenly, there came a rustling among the trees.

"What's that"? Yelled Lisa, springing up from her perch upon the log.

"Probably an animal"! Stu spoke hopefully, all this talk of strange women and missing people was making him jumpy. He was beginning to wonder what he had gotten himself into.

"Who has the flashlights"?

"Here", June offered, "there is one for everyone".

Taking a flashlight each, they all shined the lights towards the woods. Nothing! All they could see was the outline of the trees against the backdrop of the hills in the moonlight. A cool breeze was stirring the leaves with a gentle whisper not unlike a baby's breath, which offered a calming effect on the night wind. Breathing easier, they all settled back down, albeit with a sense of dread prickling at their nerves.

The trees rustled again. Lisa jumped up, flinging herself into Tony's arms with an unladylike screech, almost toppling him from the log. Everyone else jumped to their feet, the fright of the sudden appearance of the woman throwing them into utter confusion. The first part of the legend was uppermost in their minds.

The outline of a woman could be seen quite clearly. They did not need a flashlight, the moonlight illuminated the figure. She raised her hand and beckoned them to follow her. Wordlessly, they all obeyed, in a zombielike trance they turned and walked towards the trees.

"Where are you going? Come back! Wait"! In vain Lauralee tried to stop them. Why was she not affected she wondered. Looking around, she realized that she had two choices, run the other direction or go along with everyone. Both appeared to be really bad choices. Finally, she decided to stay with the group and hope for the best. Being alone on this frightful night was not sitting well with her.

Not a word was uttered as the trance-like procession traipsed obediently behind Katarina, there was no doubt in Lauralee's mind that that was who they had encountered. The path to the cabin took them directly through the thickly forested ranks of colossal beech trees with their dismal attempts at light. They passed by Heber Mere's quiet looking waters with thick weeds growing all along its embankment. They then emerged into the moonlight, passing by trees on both sides of the pathway further on with blazing red leaves illuminated by the night sky.

A little further on they came to a small bridge with a quiet stream passing under it's dilapidated casements. There before them was the cabin. It was a forlorn, grey and forbidding looking building. The stark exterior, though a little worse for wear was in passable condition, except for the vines reaching up like witches fingers with tendrils clinging to the walls, it still appeared in moderately livable condition.

Look as she would Lauralee did not see a candle.

"The candle, the candle"! Chanted everyone else.

The woman in black turned to look at Lauralee, sending icy chills down her spine. Suddenly, she was in front of her, she opened her mouth and uttered the most blood curdling scream Lauralee had ever heard.

"LEAVE"! She yelled.

Poor Lauralee was too traumatized to move. She reached out for support and promptly fainted into a black stupor. Opening her eyes and blinking herself into awareness, "oh God, she wasn't dreaming", she heard more blood curdling screams. She sat up rubbing her eyes. Focusing her vision, the cabin came back to her. One by one her friends were walking into the cabin, seemingly unaware of the horrible screaming emerging from the interior of the house.

Getting up quickly, she felt a bit unsteady, but she darted for the front door. Alas, Lauralee was too late. The last of her friends stepped through the cabin door as she got to it, and the door slammed shut in her face. The force of the unnatural wind sent her hurtling backwards into the dusty pathway. Finally, the screams died down and there was utter silence.

Lauralee started to run, stopped, turned back around and steadfastly walked to the cabin door. Grabbing the handle without thinking about it, she swung the door open. Nothing! Just the empty cabin. As she turned to leave, the tortured screams of many voices in agony and despair pierced through the walls of the cabin. Hands reached through the walls towards her, seemingly encased in cobweb. Unearthly, eerie, bone chilling dread overcame her and this time she did not wait. Lauralee ran out the open door never looking back once.

N.A.