The Project

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Of course, I had to be the dumbass that lit it…

But here’s the thing, I didn’t even want to go near the woods that Friday night. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to stay in the comfort of my bedroom, playing online games with my friends from camp and eating cheap pizza. But, as per usual when it comes to Lindsay Blanchard, I couldn’t say no.

When I got to school Thursday morning, I was busy rummaging through my locker when the familiar scent of Lindsay’s lavender perfume washed over me. I closed the door just enough to see her face and offered her a smile. Her green eyes lit up as she looked back at me, and the rest of the noise in the hallway faded into nothing as she began speaking. “Okay, so I was thinking about the project that’s due Monday,” she began as I turned back to the task at hand.

“What about it?” I grinned to myself as I pulled my chemistry textbook from my locker and shoved it into my backpack.

“We should do it at the Wetzel House. You know, that cabin out in the middle of nowhere?” I nodded along, still organizing my locker slowly while I waited for her to continue. “Well since we have to record a video and do a voiceover for a story we’ve written, I thought maybe we could do a ghost story and record it there since it’s supposed to be haunted and everything. You in?”

“Yeah absolutely! We can write the story later.” I finally closed my locker, glancing at her again.

“Friday at 7! Meet you there!”

“See you, Lindsay.” My heart thundered in my chest when she smiled at me.

“Have a good day, Jackson.” She touched my arm briefly before heading back down the hallway, her group of friends already surrounding her.

I still couldn’t believe I was working with her on this project. Of course, I’d had a crush on her since the fifth grade, but so had half the people in this school. When Ms. Waverly had told us we could pick our partners on Monday, I had looked up at Lindsay hopefully like I had so many times before. But this time, she was looking right back at me. I raised my eyebrows, pointing to myself curiously, and she just grinned and nodded back. I was glad we’d come up with a plan since we hadn’t had a chance to discuss it until this morning. This was going to be great.

The rest of my day passed in a blur; all I could think about was Friday night. I went to bed as early as I possibly could so I would be a few hours closer to hanging out with Lindsay. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the night would go. Maybe we could go get dinner after. And then maybe we’d go get ice cream and sit on a park bench for hours while we shared our deepest secrets. No matter what, it was going to be a great night.

Honestly, I didn’t even care that I’d had plans for Friday night. Everyone else could wait. When Friday morning rolled around, I got ready for school, taking a few extra minutes to make sure my hair wasn’t as unruly as usual.

“You’re in a good mood today,” my mom said as I walked into the kitchen, whistling softly to myself.

“I’m just glad it’s the weekend. I think I’m meeting my project partner tonight to work on that story assignment for English.” I grabbed a granola from the bowl on the counter and planted a kiss on my mom’s cheek as I strolled toward the front door.

“Okay, well keep me updated. I love you, J.”

“I love you too!” I walked out the front door and hopped onto my bike, shoving the rest of my breakfast down as I went. The weather was absolutely perfect, lifting my spirits even more. Not even getting shoved into a locker by Tyler Jacobs as soon as I walked through the door dampened my mood.

Calculus and chemistry sped by, and by the time I was in English, my heart was pounding at the thought of seeing Lindsay. I sat down in my usual seat a couple rows away and got out my notebooks.

When she finally walked in, the smile she gave me could’ve stopped the world before turning around to talk to Tyler and several other popular kids. Even though we didn’t get a chance to speak before class was over, I knew she was looking forward to tonight just as much as I was.

I went home after school, ate dinner, and counted down the seconds until I could go to the old Wetzel house. I rode my bike, like I always did, and got there a little earlier than anticipated. I strolled up the narrow path through the woods, cutting leaves and low hanging branches until the house came into view. Yep, it was just as creepy as I remembered.

When I got to the front porch, I twisted the doorknob. The door swung open easily, so I walked into the darkness of the cabin. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and turned on the flashlight, moving it around slowly as I took in my surroundings.

The cabin was just one big room with broken furniture scattered all over the place. Even though I was excited about tonight, I was starting to feel just a little bit uneasy. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was about to be in my own personal horror movie as I looked at the cobwebs in the corners and dust covering every surface.

As I walked through the small space, I found a pretty big candle sitting on the windowsill. It was getting darker by the second, so a little bit of light couldn’t hurt, right? I dug around in my pocket and pulled out my lighter. As the flame caught, warm light flickered throughout the space.

It was probably only seconds later that I heard laughter floating up to the cabin. I glanced out the window, a smile already on my face. I’d know that laugh anywhere. My smile faltered when another voice joined hers.

Two figures came into view, and my stomach dropped. There was Lindsay, with her dimpled smile and bright green eyes. And then there was Tyler. What was that bastard doing here? We were supposed to be working on our English project…

Tyler put his arm around her as they walked up the steep hill toward the front porch. I didn’t want Tyler to see me. He’s made my life miserable since the day I moved here ten years ago. I had to get out of there, but there was no way I could leave without them seeing me. Shit.

There was a wardrobe here I could hide in. I jumped in and shut the door as I heard their heavy footsteps approaching. “Why is there a candle lit? Do you think someone else is here?” Lindsay’s voice was full of uncertainty.

“Hey! Is anyone in here?” Tyler bellowed. A shiver ran down my spine at the threat in his tone. I stayed silent and hoped against hope that he wouldn’t check in here. “Nah, I think we’re good. There was probably some weirdo or kids in here or something. Bet they left when they heard us coming,” he said after a beat of silence.

“Okay…” I heard what sounded like a bag falling to the floor. “Let’s just get this over with. This place gives me the creeps.”

“What’s the hurry, baby?”

“Tyler, cut it out. You’re my partner for this project. That’s it.” Lindsay sounded irritated then.

I thought I was Lindsay’s partner. She’d picked me, right? And then talked to me about it at my locker…Then it clicked in my brain. Tyler sat on my other side in class. She’d asked him to be her partner, not me. His locker was next to mine too. Of course she was talking to him.

Even in the darkness of the wardrobe, I could feel my face burning from both embarrassment and anger. How could Lindsay pick that absolute idiot over me? How could she betray me like that? We had something special.

Tyler’s voice cut into my thoughts after a moment. “Oh, just give it up already. I know you want me.” I could see the ugly sneer on his face even though there was a thick wooden door between us.

There was a crash then Lindsay’s voice. “Tyler, seriously. You’re scaring me!” The tremble in her voice broke through the rest of my control. The wardrobe door splintered into pieces as I kicked it open.

“Dude what the fuck?” Tyler yelled as I jumped onto the dirty cabin floor. Lindsay didn’t say anything at all. She just looked at me, her eyes wide.

“Leave her alone.” I was surprised at how calm I sounded, all things considered.

“Are you going to make me?”

People talk about blacking out and doing things they can’t remember. But I didn’t black out. Everything came into even sharper focus than before as I slid my hunting knife from my pocket and sprang forward.

I pulled the knife from Tyler’s gut and made sure he would never touch my girl again. When I was finished, I turned to Lindsay. She was so pale. Tears were streaming down her face, and her mouth was open in a silent scream. And there was blood everywhere. There was so much blood.

“Why are you crying?” I finally asked.

“Because, Jackson, you just killed Tyler!” she shrieked.

“For you. I killed him so we could be together, Lindsay. Don’t you see?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Well, it looked like he was trying to force you into something.” I looked at her, confused now.

“He’s my boyfriend! He was my boyfriend. He was just going to tickle me, and then you jumped out of nowhere and killed him!” Another sob wracked her body, so I waited patiently.

“No, Lindsay. I’m your boyfriend. I know how you feel about me. I could see it every time you looked at me, every time you touched me.”

“You’re fucking crazy. Get away from me!”

“I’m not crazy. I love you!” I smiled at her, doing my best to show her that everything was okay now. She started backing away from me, and when she glanced toward the door, I knew she was going to make a break for it. Good thing I was faster. I grabbed her and carried her over to the couch. I dug around in my backpack until I found the chain I usually use to secure my bike. “You can’t leave me, okay?” I smiled at her as I looped the chain around her waist and secured it to the couch. “I’ll come visit you every day. I promise.” I leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently before starting the clean up. Friday night went even better than I ever thought it could.

…

“Okay, next up is Jackson Rivers.” Ms. Waverly says once the scattering of applause for the previous story ends.

I stand up with a smile, holding up the small flash drive. I plug it into my teacher’s laptop and open the file for my project. Thundering footsteps rush down the hallway, and I hurry to press play before we can be interrupted.

My voice comes through the slightly crackly speaker as several uniformed officers burst through the door. “The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window…”