The Unseen

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window-"

"What was that?" Laura asked nervously. She turned her body around to look for the source of the noise coming beyond the treeline. The top of the trees had a soft orange hue from the sun that was slowly setting. The campfire was warm offsetting the cool breeze present on this summer evening.

"Laura, your second marshmallow has met its death," said Mike.

"Guys! My story-"

"David, you're going to freak us all out again. I need another chocolate; seriously, I couldn't sleep because of your ghost story from last night!" said Emily. Laura passed Emily some chocolate for her smores she was making along with a mini Rum liquor bottle. Emily danced her shoulders up and down celebrating the goodies just handed her.

David took a deep, slow breath with a mischievous grin on his face. He looked intensely at his friends making eye contact with each one of them. The soft glow from the campfire pranced around their faces, while an eerie silence fell upon the woods surrounding them. They only heard the pops and crackles from the wood burning in the campfire pit.

David finally had their attention and began his story.

Ava walked off the trail towards the light. She had hiked this trail for years and knew of the dilapidated cabin cocooned in the woody area just off the trail. The cabin was located about a mile from the entrance of the park. The sun was setting soon and a crisp breeze had kicked up causing autumn leaves to twirl towards the ground.

As Ava got closer to the cabin she saw the glow in the window, a candle. She stopped suddenly and looked around noticing that putrid smell, again. It had been present off and on since she started making her way out of the park. She thought she heard something or someone walking along with her, trying to match her steps.

Hues of red and orange fell upon the trees and brush. The sun was setting fast, and she questioned checking to see who was in the cabin. Maybe they need help, she thought to herself.

She walked towards the window looking for movement from inside, but there was nothing moving. She listened for sounds coming from within the cabin and heard nothing.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded through the tops of the trees, startling Ava, as if something large jumped from one tree to another. A labored creak-like sound came from the porch causing Ava to jump again. The door to the cabin opened, the light from the candle softly melting through the crack of the door.

A deep guttural growl rumbled through the tops of the trees. "What the hell?" said Ava. She looked up to hear the unfamiliar sound get louder and the top of the tree shake and sway as if something large was moving around the branches. Then she saw it. It jumped from the top of a tree to the one just eight feet from her. This dark, massive animal was not a bear, not a cougar but what it was she did not know. The wind had picked up and she realized the putrid, indescribable smell had been coming from this creature. It had been following her. It perched on a large branch of the tree on all fours and glared down at her. Its eyes were a luminous, reddish-amber color and shaped like a human's. It locked eyes with Ava. It snarled its dog-like nose and mouth exposing long sharp teeth without making a sound. It dived down to the next lowest branch and Ava ran for the door of the cabin and slammed it shut. An iron latch rattled from the vibration of the door slamming. She locked it just as the creature crashed into the door and surrounding wall.

This thing let out a horrid, screech-like scream that sounded part human and part animal. It walked toward the window. Ava could feel each step made by this creature on the warped wooden porch. She backed towards the center of the cabin looking for a person or place to hide. No one was there. It was a square empty room with cracked and buckled wooden floor and walls with only the one window and front door. A rusty iron rod was mounted to the back wall with one wire hanger left indicating it was once a small clothes rack.

Ava saw movement by the window. She crouched down on the floor, her breath strained, her heart beating fast. The window was smeared with grime from neglect and made it hard to see the creature. The light of the candle illuminated patches of dark hair on the shoulders and arms, long muscular arms that looked human, and the torso looked human as well. It bent down to look through the window. Ava froze with fear at its hideous, dog-like face. It stood on its back legs like a human. It put a hand on the window dragging its claws across the glass creating a spine-tingling sensation like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.

Ava shivered as her eyes weld up with tears. She only had a knife. It was no match for the size of this thing. She knew she couldn't outrun it. Her thoughts were interrupted by a shuffling sound made behind her in the corner of the cabin. BAM! Something hit the wall. She couldn't tell if the bang was from the inside or outside. The creature made strange smack-like sounds and rushed towards the back of the cabin where the bang happened. Ava reached into the side pocket of her sling pack and grabbed her cellphone. No service.

Her body started shaking and she wanted to cry but didn't dare make a sound. She felt a hand softly touch her shoulder. She screamed and frantically dragged her body away from the person that touched her. Ava turned to look to see who was in the room but no one was there. She thought she saw a shadow move in the corner where the loud bang happened but it disappeared as soon as she saw it.

Slow, deep scraping sounds were heard along the outside of the back wall of the cabin. The creature was carving its claws into the wood as it moved along the backside.

Ava quickly crawled to the corner by the door. She heard shuffling again from inside the cabin. She looked to the wall adjacent to the window where the shuffling was coming from. The flickering light from the candle dimly illuminated long, deep gashes in the wall with spots of dull, brownish stains that streaked down to the floor. Her stomach turned as she realized she was looking at cuts and blood left by the creature, the dogman. The horrifying marks on the wood suddenly disappeared. The gashes and stains were gone.

"No, no, no. I'm not losing my mind. This isn't real," she assured herself.

The dogman slammed his arms against the wall next to her causing a wooden plank to pop out. A nail fell next to Ava's foot. The creature screeched, screamed, growled, and was raging! It wanted in. It scraped its claws into the outside wall. Some of its claws slipped through the slit of the damaged plank of wood.

Ava darted across the room to the opposite corner and grabbed her knife from the holster under her shirt. The dogman moved to the front of the cabin and continued to bang and claw at the door with deafening screams. The door jolted and nails loosened within the frame with every hit this abnormal creature made. Ava huddled in the corner, tears running down her cheeks but she was ready. She would fight. She had no choice.

The creature let out a deafening howl that seemed to vibrate through the air inside the cabin. She heard it run off the porch leaving her in unbearable silence. She gathered the strength to stand up. Her legs quivered as she tried to fight the paralyzing heaviness that had overtaken her. Did the dogman leave?

She slowly made her way to the center of the room afraid to approach the window. She looked intently through the dirty window trying to see movement outside. She hoped she wouldn't see those terrifying eyes staring back at her. The candle's light flickered creating tiny shadows that seemed to mock Ava as she desperately tried to see where the dogman went to.

All of a sudden, Ava heard something heavy being dragged slowly across the floor from the corner she just moved from. It moved along the side of the wall towards the window. She could hear the grit from the dirt scraping along the floor from the weight but nothing was there.

She couldn't breathe. Terror spread through her body once more. She dropped her head to her hands and said, "This isn't real. None of this is real. Wake up. Wake up!" She heard a faint voice near the window. She looked up and her eyes widened at what she saw. By the candle a figure appeared, a man. He looked as if he was standing within a haze of slow, swirling heat. The flame of the candle danced upon the side of his body. His legs from the knees down were missing yet he was standing. His khaki pants were shredded on one of the pant legs. His white t-shirt had huge gashes with dark stains soaked into the edges of the ripped fabric. His face was dirty and streaked with blood. He stared at Ava and said, "You are safe now. Never come back to the park." He looked towards the candle lifting his hand to the flame. Blood dripped from his fingers as he turned his gaze back to Ava. He calmly said, "Run," and pinched out the flame.

The cabin went black. Ava frantically searched for her flashlight. The sun had set and the woods were draped in a blanket of darkness. She turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards the window. The man was gone. In his place was a dirty backpack ripped to shreds and covered in stains. The contents of the backpack were scattered along the floor; a crushed water bottle, open food wrappers, and broken parts of a cellphone. Ava moved the flashlight around the room. She saw deep cuts in the wood made from claws. Old blood stained the wood of the walls and floor. She wasn't crazy. She wasn't seeing "things." It was all real.

A long, powerful howl was cast out from deep within the woods. Ava jumped and ran for the door but paused. Breathing heavily, she questioned whether she could make it back to the trail and the mile she had to run to get to her car.

"RUN!" screamed the voice of the ghost. Ava flung the door open, ripping the loose iron lock from its mount, and ran for her life.

"RUN," screamed David as he slammed his hand down on Emily's knee.

"David! You baboon butt!"

Mike and Laura laughed at Emily being startled by David.

"That was a good one," said Mike as he leaned towards David and gestured a 'cheers' with his beer in hand.

"Ya, and the whole time, I still heard something behind us in the treeline," said Laura. "Didn't you all hear it?"

"I saw a shadow move a couple of times," said Emily. "I'm sure I was just freaked out. It was probably just shadows made from the campfire."

"What was that?" David stood up and looked towards the trees where branches could be heard breaking.

Emily stood quickly and leaned into David while pointing to the trees and asked, "Are those red eyes? Look up in the trees."

They all looked up and Laura started screaming. Three pairs of luminous, reddish-amber colored eyes were looking down on them.

Off in the distance within the darkness of the woods, a resonating howl that sounded part human and part animal carried through the air. The three pairs of eyes looked back into the woods then back at the campers. One of the creatures jumped down from the tree and landed on all fours. It led out a guttural, gurgle sound and stood up on its hind legs revealing a hairy, human-like body and grotesque, large dog-like face. It stepped into the treeline towards the campers towering over them at seven to eight feet tall and snarled showing its bloodied, long, sharp teeth.

"RUN!"