Until the Wick Burns Out

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The surrounding forest once bustling with creatures of the night had now fallen silent, with the only sign of life being the solitary flame. The centuries-old trees that should be leafy green in the middle of summer, have now wilted into nothingness--bare limbs tell the tale of lost vigor. The pungent odor of decay repels even the most ravenous of scavengers, as if the dilapidated cabin has a force-field of death around its perimeter. No man nor beast dare to come within the radius of what would assuredly cause their untimely demise. The small town of Harthesborough, Minnesota would never forget the dark events that took place just outside of its peoples’ residences.

It all started on All Hallows’ Eve 1981 as per the sightings recorded by local middle - school students -- a trio of childhood friends. Their accounts were seen as nothing more than tall-tales; these scary stories from children with active imaginations on the spookiest night of the year. Their story, however, never changed anytime the cacophonous questions of curious classmates would arise. “First, we saw the glow of a candle, and then we all heard the voices,” said Juliet Newman, the only girl, but also the biggest skeptic out of the three. George, ‘the oldest by a few months’, Bishop, was the self-proclaimed leader and infamous showboat stated, “so yeah, I’m pretty sure there was a vampire waiting to drink our blood but I had a stake ready.” Emanuel Brandt, the conscientious observer of the group, quickly interjects “George, you shouldn’t lie, they already don’t believe us”, and his statement would hold true -- until they went missing.

George was a prankster and absolute menace all through elementary. He would place the occasional whoopee cushion on a homeroom teacher’s chair. He placed a laxative in the homemade birthday cake for Emanuel’s eleventh birthday party. There was also that time he let a wild turkey loose into the cafeteria just before Thanksgiving. These various antics would anger his parents, especially his Vietnam War veteran father, Lieutenant James Bishop and Rosa Bishop. “What are you doing son? You want to be like Ronnie? Huh?” His father would yell this and other obscenities in anger and send him to a heavily militarized boarding school for two years. Upon his return, George would be a very different person than when he left. A much more towering presence than many of his peers at just fourteen, he was nearly six feet tall and had an athletic build; this easily secured him the spot of captain of the baseball team. George was not only successful on the field, but his academics would climb the ranks to the top of the class, second only to Juliet Newman.

Juliet Newman was always at the top of her class. She was a smaller girl in stature, but what she lacked in physical stature, she made up for in scholarly intellect. None of which should be much of a surprise. Her mother, Mrs. Sadie Newman, was an accomplished educator and author of several children’s books, and her father was a successful physician at his local practice, Dr. Viktor Newman M.D. At an early age, her parents instilled that, outside of basic necessities and family, hard work and education are the only two things that matter. Every summer break she would be tutored by her sister Jacqueline who was a Biologist at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities every Monday and Wednesday, and would help her Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jeffery on their cattle farm Tuesdays and Thursday. Her weekend free time consisted of photography, painting, and she even grew a liking to some comic books thanks to Emanuel’s influence; her favorite hero was Batman due to his intellectual prowess as a detective.

Emanuel Brandt, like many in the Jewish community, was very knowledgeable about academics and economics. Maintenance of commerce within the community would make sure that they could afford their religious practices. He was not as built as George, but he was almost as tall and stout. His father, Joseph Brandt II, was a full-time sheriff's deputy and part-time Rabbi. He was a Holocaust survivor with many tales to tell of the horrors he and his people endured, as part of what got him through was his late father’s favorite saying, “He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good”. Mrs. Annette Brandt, who insisted on people including the ‘Mrs.’ as a sign of respect, was a strong matriarch for the family of five while also owning a fortunate bakery named Boker Tov; this means “good morning/good day” in Hebrew. Emanuel was thorough when it came to fundraising for his synagogue, while also earning tips when helping with his mother’s bakery in the afternoons. He was not always a perfect son, but he was inspired by comic book heroes like Superman. This would have a great impact on his character, since he was able to forgive and then become best friends with George, upon his return to Minnesota.

Weeks after their first encounter with this cabin, the company had set out to prove to their community and the world that they really did experience something abnormal. In the safety of daylight, they felt confident that they were prepared to face whatever darkness that may attempt to ambush them. George led the charge armed with an old military canteen, his metal Louisville Slugger, and Winchester Rifle. Juliet was an aspiring photographer, having brought her Nikon FA to capture evidence of the strange goings on. Packaged in his mother’s new Tupperware, Emanuel brought leftover cake from his sister’s bat mitzvah. Juliet noticed an aerosol can attached to his bag, “Emanuel, is - is that mace? How did you get mace?”. Emanuel, feeling somewhat ashamed, remembers secretly taking it from his father, a police officer, “I am borrowing it.” Juliet responds with sarcasm, “I’m sure your dad was like ‘oh yeah that’s fine, just bring it back when you’re done’”.’ If their voices could not alert the forest, every step did. The constant crunching of leaves on the forest floor ensured that whoever or whatever was out there knew their sanctuary was compromised by unwanted guests.

A cold gust would come rushing through carving a narrow path toward the group, as if a powerful entity had just exhaled. George goes to zip up his jacket when he hears a cracking of a tree limb approximately twenty feet in front of him. He immediately looks up to meet the gaze of a large elk with huge antlers. Now, not only are the Bishops a military family; they are also avid hunters and outdoors men. Upon seeing this large creature, George was instantly taken aback by its strange appearance. It was gaunt with ribs showing and it had a pale-white coat of fur that was ivory in color near the face. The eyes seemed to be almost glowing even in the midday sun; this was also an odd time to see this type of animal, because elk are known as dusk and dawn grazers. “Um, guys, are you seeing what I'm seeing?”, George asked as he readied his hunting rifle. The others looked confused and looked at each other before Emanuel broke the silence. “George, we don’t see anything, are you okay?” Juliet, being the voice of reason, interjects, “Come on Emanuel, can’t you see he’s trying to prank us again?”.

At this point in his life, George had left the prankster life behind him. This time was dead serious as he raised his Winchester, and he looked through his scope to see something absolutely horrific. A terrified gasp left his body and he fired a round into its face, but there was no impact. In fact, the elk started to fade where the bullet should have pierced, like it was an illusion or a nightmare. Emanuel, covering his ears, yells, “what are you doing! There was nothing in front of us!” He turns to him with beads of sweat on his forehead, and his expression tells the story. Emanuel changes his tone to be more sympathetic and with a slight stutter asks, “w-what did you see man?”. Juliet starts looking around nervously, because she notices there was no reaction from any wildlife. She knew from experience with biology, there are still woodland creatures active during the fall in Minnesota which unsettled her. This meant that the group was not alone and in the worst way. “I-I-I don’t, uh,” George stammers trying to regain his composure, “its eyes were missing a-and its teeth were like the shark from Jaws. You guys didn’t see it?” Emanuel shook his head slowly as he was concerned for his best friend, “are you okay?”.

Before the trio could regain their wits, an ear-piercing sound erupts from behind them. It can be described as a mix of a wolf howl, goat scream, and eagle screech. The three start looking around scared of what monstrosity could create such a blood-curdling scream. Another scream erupted from the direction of where George saw the elk. They were all speechless, frozen in fear until Juliet suddenly shrieked while holding her left ear. “Which one of you did that!” Juliet exclaimed, “someone just yelled help in my ear!”. George bellows back, “we haven’t moved from our spots, Juliet!”. She checks her ear and notices that it is bleeding, "my eardrum, it's ruptured," Juliet had concluded. In the meantime, Emanuel had been struggling to speak this entire time, but he began breathing erratically. He used to suffer from asthma and he grew out of it, but this was a very different sensation. There was no sound leaving his mouth, in fact, it felt like his vocal cords were constricted and paralyzed; he had become speechless. A frightened but quick thinking Emanuel began using sign language to communicate with the group. A confused but concerned George asked. "Uh, Juliet, do you know what he's trying to say?". Before she could answer, a tree had fallen behind them about fifty feet away. Then an adjacent tree fell that was ten feet closer than the first. Sequentially, several trees started to fall like dominoes, at which point the party turned and ran. This flight response would unfortunately lead them directly to the dilapidated cabin.

The crew kept running until they heard no more trees falling behind them. George was leading the charge but he ended up looking back to see that there were no trees on the forest floor. It was like they had all imagined the very realistic scene simultaneously. Before this thought could set in, Juliet yells, “look out!” at which point George turned his head back to the direction he was running. Having no time to react, he ran face first into the cabin’s door. As he falls backwards to the ground, Emanuel notices that the padlock on the door is now broken with some damage to paneling in the door. This would become a clear indicator that George, unbeknownst to him, had shot the cabin padlock when he fired at the elk. A curious Juliet, with a look of complete dismay and a noticeable gulp, points in the direction they had all just run from, “George, is that the elk you saw?”. Dazed and in pain, George looks to see the same pale, motionless, abomination. Almost if things couldn’t get any worse, this creature’s bones started to contort to a point where it looked like a bipedal mammal on all-fours. As soon as it starts to stand upright, Emanuel dashes towards the cabin door grabbing Juliet in the process. Although she knew it would be shaky, Juliette attempts to take a photo of the monster. The door is pushed open, and Juliet screams George’s name as he takes aim and fires again at the creature. Thankfully, he hit the beast with several rounds this time, but it was enraged and charged the cabin. “George! Get in!” Juliet screams while pulling George into the cabin. They shut the door, barricading it with the heavy leftover furniture and their body weight as they prepared for a heavy thud.

Close to an hour would pass at this point, with no sounds occurring from the outside. They could breathe easy now, but they were still understandably shaken up from the ordeal. George sinks to the floor, now feeling the deep gash above his right eye, he tries to reload his rifle with crimson dripping from his forehead into his eye. “George, let me stitch you up,” says Juliet. George, afraid and frustrated, responds, “And trust you around my eye? Yeah, no thank you”. Emanuel, still unable to speak, signed to George how much of a jerk he was being. Juliet translates, “Thank you Emanuel, he is being a total jerk right now. Look, I might not be a doctor but I’m your best shot at preventing an infection”. Suddenly, the infamous flame ignited on the candle accompanied by the whispers they had hoped to forget. The volume of the whispers would increase as nightfall came rapidly as if a VHS tape was on fast forward.

The true condition of the cabin would soon be realized by the group, like the flame was lifting a thick veil. They look around to see the rain damage, with panels of wood barely hanging by a thread. Windows were busted, shards of glass lying around waiting for an unfortunate barefoot intruder. The pile of bones scattered around was the worst detail to grace their eyes; there had to be a dozen individuals that did not make it back out of the cabin. Emanuel could see his mother’s famous lemon meringue pie was rotten, as if weeks had passed Before the group could react, they were each grabbed by disembodied shadows. These dark hands covered George’s eyes, Juliet’s ears, and Emanuel’s mouth and they were each greeted with visions of their past.

George was brought back to a dark memory from three years ago. “Remember, G-man, tell ‘em you didn’t see anything”, his older brother Ronald said in a hushed tone to George, as he had beaten a supposed member of his rival gang to death in front of him. He was actually someone George knew from school; it was his mentor Alan Schubert, a high-school sophomore and the town sheriff’s son. The blood of this individual ended up on George’s right eyebrow. They discovered Alan in the very same cabin the trio are in now. Soon after the discovery, Ronald disappeared without a trace. Although he was questioned, George never broke his promise to his brother. However, George still regrets not giving Alan’s family some sort of closure.

Juliet’s memory was the adulterous nature of her father’s relationship with one of the nurses at his practice; her name was Amanda DuPont originally from British Columbia. Juliet could overhear their conversations behind the closed office door with her left ear. They talked about each other with pet names like high school sweethearts, and even spoke of their “little one”. Mr. Newman was keeping a secret family, bank account, and life from his actual family and Juliet knew. This knowledge eats away at Juliet’s conscience, but she is afraid of how her family’s life would be upended by the truth.

Emanuel had been shown all of the lies he had told to those around him before George’s birthday prank. These people included teachers, parents, authority figures, family and even friends. He defended his plagiarism of another student’s work to get into the Science Club. He lied to obtain many of the badges he earned as a boy scout. The Brandt family could not figure out why their savings would disappear until the results of Emanuel’s raffle would come out. George’s random prank was happenstance and some sort of penance for what Emanuel had done. He still hadn’t apologized for these discrepancies, and he still holds the guilt close to his heart.

“Set us free. Set us free. Set us free,” chanted the voices, as the three came back to consciousness. These shadows then faded slowly and Emanuel shouted, “But wait! How do we do that?”. The other two were astounded by the return of his voice with George exclaiming, “Your voice! It’s back!”. Juliet noticed the deep wound above his eye was now non-existent, “And your gash is gone!”. As George feels his head for confirmation and asks, what about your ear? Juliet smiles, “it’s all good as new”. George was happy for everyone's recovery, but he couldn't help but notice that they all were put off by what the phantoms showed them.

"You all saw some gnarly things too huh?" At this point their smiles faded as Emanuel stated, "we need to make things right". "Okay, I totally agree, but that thing is still out there waiting for us", Juliet responds. George ever so slightly positions his head so that just the left side of his face is looking through the window towards the door. "I think I see snow. When did it snow? Other than that, I don't see anyth-", before George could finish, a pale arm breaks through the window to grab him. Emanuel runs up to use his mace on the abomination slowing it down slightly, but it bellows in anger as it barely had any effect. George falls back to the floor because he recognized something about this monster. On the arm that busted through the window, he could see a familiar marking that read Never Say Die. “George! Are you okay!” Juliet scrambles to his side. “R-Ro-Ronnie”, was all that George could answer. Emanuel breathes heavily still in a slight panic, but he hears George utter the name that he had nearly forgotten. “Ronnie? What about him?” “Guys, my brother, Ronnie, had a tattoo that was the name of an album he would play everyday on his turntable. Never Say Die is the title of the album by Black Sabbath.” An inquisitive Juliet stated, “so, maybe he was taken by that monster. Maybe it wanted the same marking as a trophy”. Emanuel chimes in with “or what if it’s like - like a Bizarro Ronnie?”. Juliet in disbelief says, “Really? We don't have time for Superman references!”. George interrupts with, “No man, I know my brother, and that monster is Ronnie. It has his eyes.”

“George! Help me! Help! Why won’t you help me!”, Erupting from outside of the cabin in a distorted and guttural roar. The phrase would repeat multiple times in a clockwise pattern around the cabin. A petrified Emanuel recognized the voice as not Ronnie, but his first cousin Alan Schubert. He would say in disbelief, “Alan? No, no way. Why does it sound like Alan?”. George knew he had a lot to answer for, but he also knew they had to find a way out first. “Juliette, please tell me if you have any escape plans.” Juliette used her detective brain to scan for ideas and useful items, until she saw an old blunderbuss on the wall. “Grab that gun behind you George,” she continued in confidence, “I’ve got an idea”.

The beast was still lurking around the cabin until George shouts from the inside, “Ronnie, I’m ready to talk. The G-man missed you. I’m about to open the door”. So, its feet crunched in the snow and it stopped at the door, showing that this thing understood what was being said and it answered with, “Remember, G-man, Remember, G-man.” The crew started their countdown three - two - one and Juliette yanks the door open with an old tablecloth. Emanuel, his slingshot ready, stands straight up behind a crouched George with his Winchester rifle firing right into the beast’s chest. Soon after, Emanuel releases his attack which was a glass bowl filled with the last of his pepper spray. The distraction of the bullet impact allowed the bowl to crash right into its face, and Juliet hands Emanuel the metal bat. In a swift movement, George switches to the blunderbuss filled with whatever they could find and runs to the left of the beast. Juliet detaches the tablecloth from the door and lights it aflame with the candle. The now temporarily blinded monster was taking blows from the metal bat-wielding Emanuel. The creature counters by knocking the bat away and tears a chunk out of Emanuel’s face with its claw, as George comes behind with a powerful hit from the butt of the blunderbuss. As the boys fought with the monster, Juliet combined cloth and tapestry to create a lasso to help pull the creature. The beast roars, backhanding George and swiftly throwing him fifteen feet into a tree and the impact breaks the Winchester in two. Juliet yells, “Hey!” to grab its attention and it turns ever so slowly then makes a steady advance toward her. The makeshift lasso was attached to the heaviest furniture she could find, a large wardrobe turned on its side pushed against the back of the cabin. The creature comes within six feet of the trap when Emanuel tackles it into the cabin with all of his might. As the beast turns to kick Emanuel five feet into the air cracking several ribs, Juliet lassos its waist and tightens it. The monster grabs the makeshift lasso and slings Juliet into a wall and through a window on the opposite side of the cabin, which was now filling with flames. “Ronnie,” George says while stumbling toward his former brother, “I’m sorry”. The beast lets out an immense roar and then the blunderbuss goes off, launching each of them in opposite directions.

The cabin was soon engulfed in flames, with the monster inside. Juliet staggers around the corner to the other two to check on them. She had some deep gashes from the broken glass, and George’s left shoulder blade was shattered. “George, you’re going to need a sling and lot’s of TLC.” The creature then makes one final attempt to lunge at the group, but then the same shadowy hands re-appeared. They surrounded the beast, pulling it into the underworld with their immense grip. The cabin and its foundation was consumed into the earth like a hungry, underground predator finally eating after a long fast. Then the group heard behind them excited voices, “There they are! They’re in bad shape! Hey, where are the medics!” The search party had found them, and were ready to take them to safety. Sheriff’s Deputy Brandt and Mrs. Brandt were in tears when they saw their son; he was broken but alive. Juliet was met by her father and his mistress nurse, so it was a bittersweet moment. Nurse DuPont asks her, “are you okay Juliet?” “I’m okay, thanks Amanda, oh sorry, I think you go by Ms. Maple Leaf?”. Both of the adults' faces were now red with embarrassment. George was met by his father, who led the charge to work tirelessly to find them. George says apologetically, “Dad, I’m so sorry,” James would respond with, “Look, the next time you wanna camp, let somebody know”. After a short pause, George apologizes for burning down the cabin. James was confused and asked George, “What cabin? That cabin was torn down years ago. Right after that first body was found, and um, Ronnie’s disappearance”. James realized that his son’s face had turned pale and his eyes had become saucers. “George? What happened to you all out here?” George would start looking around as he was placed on a stretcher, and it would be confirmed that there was no sign of the underworld pit, the antlered beast, or the burned down cabin. He wanted to think it somehow just a group hallucination but what about the injuries, the broken rifle, or the dented metal bat? He would catch a glimpse of a shadow creeping behind a tree, and it had small white dots where the eyeballs should be. The shadow would then reveal that it was one of many shadows with hundreds of tendril-like arms. George would begin to scream bloody murder while witnessing this unholy amalgamation. In each of its many hands, there were individual candles. George soon realized that he and his friends had released an even worse eldritch horror into the world. It utters one last whisper, “We are the Forgotten, and We. Are. Hungry”.