The Light Will Lead You Home

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It enraptured me, like an obsessed moth being lured into a sanguine prison of absolute horror. If only I had foreseen the agony, and anguish that was waiting for me behind those notched, tapered logs; I would have impetuously eluded the sinful, wickedness that was secreting itself within the mysterious woodland. It was too late, I was already allured, and tempted by the haunting flame. Unreality and delusions enswathed me, pushing me closer, and closer to the gnarled, wooden door.

As I approached, the window shutters began rattling as an eerie wind began to whisper through a broken window gap, calling me forth. My mouth grew sour, and dry from fear. The deplorable dust floating in the air was vilely coating my tongue. I desperately tried to disentangle myself from the immoral trickery. I was ensnared, subdued by the supernatural forces within.

As I entered the doorway, the malodorous scent of wet wood, and mildew invaded my lungs; I coughed, and gagged as the dank stench closed in all around me. Suddenly a broken, disintegrated dining room chair jolted back, and tilted toward me, hauntingly, free-floating in the rancid air. An ill-mannered invitation by an invisible host. The feeling of light-headedness, and nausea swept through me. I could feel the hair rising on my arms, and the back of my neck.

It was at this exact moment that I felt a phantom hand on my shoulder, and a puff of revolting breath on my earlobe. I was not alone, and I was certain that my company was filled with an ungodly evil that I could not possibly decode or understand.

The terrifying sensation of being grabbed on the arm, pushed, pulled, pinched, poked, slapped, and burned left me horror-struck. I crouched in the unlit corner, cradling myself tightly, combing through my very soul, searching for any shred of sanity.

I cringed at each creak on the old warped stairs in front of me, but it didn’t sway my determination to make it to the second floor. Halfway up, a shadow flickered at the corner of my vision. I froze, and as I stood there, I caught a woody scent lingering in the air. Tobacco smoke? A shiver curled through the hairs on the back of my neck then cascaded down my backbone. I heard footsteps on the stairs, hastily following me. It was all I could do to not hurl myself back down the stairs toward the front door.

I was frozen by fear. Upstairs I could hear the formidable sounds of disembodied screams, crying, wailing, laughter, glass smashing, the scrap of a chair moving, the scritch of tree branches scraping at the windows, rats squeaking, movement in the walls...The nightmarish echoes were all around me. I was helplessly surrounded, undefended, and unprotected.

Salty tears trickled down my cheeks as I tried to find a place to escape the torment. The evil laughter turned into a ghostly whisper “You can never leave!". The phantom voice was reechoing inside of my head. It was deranging, and maddening. I felt myself unhinging from reality. I began searching for the warm, stimulating candle that had led me here. There was no longer a light to be found within the caliginous cabin walls. I felt the bitter chills, I was uncontrollably shivering. I could see my breath puffing out before me. My legs began to tremble, unable to hold the weight of my body.

The last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I could feel the sharp, penetrating claws ripping, and shredding my flesh. The screams, and howls intensified, glass was shattering as the floors quivered, and wobbled beneath my feet. I could feel the scalding blood cascading down my back as I fought my way through the threatening darkness.

I could see the faint shadows of towering, tall trees side by side in the forest outside. With every heavy step the pressure on the floor boards made the cabin threaten to collapse on top of me. I wrapped my hands around the dusty door handle as the shadowy figure engulfed me once more. I could feel a cold, gelid sweat passing over me like a ghost at a séance.

I could feel my body floundering back into the darkness. Pain, and burning agony washed over me, and then there was nothingness. I was numb, unfeeling, and deadened. I had fallen, inanimate, and demised. I was a dormant soul now at one with the house.

I sit silently, and patiently in the gloomy, somber woods waiting. Waiting for someone to find my light, and to follow it’s warm, inviting glow. I wait long-sufferingly, and with desperation for someome to tell my story, to join me in this forlorn, morbid purgatory isolated in the beguiled, mysterious woods. Will you allow the candle's spellbinding light to lead you home? Will you join me?