Who's in the Woods?

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The couple who had been walking in the cold dark night for what seemed like hours came across the cabin by chance. Or was it? The girl, Lacey, saw the flicker of the candle flame in the distance and suggested to her boyfriend Jason, “Hey I think I see a light, a cottage, let’s go see if someone is home”. “Maybe they can help us”. As they walk closer, they see it’s a cabin that has not been easy to find because it was located deep in the woods. The wood was aged and flimsy. The windows were covered with a film of dust and difficult to see through. Dry dead leaves overlaid the ground like a blanket as well as the edges of the ominous cabin. They walk up the creaking steps approaching the door. Jason knocks at the door two times, knock knock, but no answer. “Anyone home?” Still no answer, just the sound of the owls in the trees hooing at every other word. They hear a snap of a twig within the trees but it’s too dark to see. They look around and wait for someone to come out of the trees, but they don’t see anyone. They look at each other and Jason makes another attempt on knocking at the door. “Hi um… me and my girlfriend were out on the road when our car broke down.” “Do you think we can use your phone to call a tow?” he says aloud. No response, he raises his arm again to knock but before his hand hits the wooden door, it opens by itself. Jason pushes the door open gradually, Lacey holds on to Jason’s hand following behind him as they allow themselves inside the cabin.

“Hello?” “Anyone home?”, Lacey calls out. As they wait for someone to respond or see a person come out through the corners of the walls they are startled by the tap on the window. They gasp and quickly look in the direction of the sound. Thanks to the dim light of the lit candle in the other room they see it’s just a partially broken tree branch tapping on the window due to the harsh wind. “Alright, let’s just stay here until the morning”, Jason tells Lacey. “We can’t stay here, we don’t know whose house this is, or if anyone lives here”, she replies. “Well, it’s cold and late, if anyone comes, we’ll just explain our situation”. “This place gives me the creeps”. “Well what other choice do we have?” “I guess you’re right, we just need to make the best of it”.

“I’m going to look around,” says Jason. He turns on the flashlight from his cell phone to walk the halls. He begins to leave Lacey’s side and the weight of his heavy boots creaks the wooden floor panels with each step. Lacey is left standing alone in the living room. Jason follows the glimmer of the lit candle on the window seal in the bedroom. He sees old pictures of different shaped and sized vintage gold frames on a dresser, covered in dust and webs. He picks up a few and examines them then puts them back down. With the flicker of the light from the lightning, there is a tall broad figure with a mask of a longhorn skull over his face, a long black coat, and large talons for fingers standing there watching Jason. He doesn’t notice the mysterious figure, but he suddenly feels a chill creeping down his back as if someone was observing him. He quickly turns around towards the window, another flash of lightning showed but the figure was gone. “Hey! There you are. What are you doing in here?”, Lacey says, as she pops in the doorway of the bedroom startling Jason. “Nothing, I was just looking at these pictures”. Lacey walks in further, “Why are the faces scratched out in all of them?” she asks. “Weird right?”, Jason replies. “Yeah”. Jason turns towards the bed and says, “well at least there’s a bed”. “Ew, those sheets probably haven’t been changed in decades”, she says. “It’s not like we have any other options, it’s just one night”. They don’t bother removing the sheet and blankets, they just lay on top of them with his arm around her. “Can you blow out the candle?” “Oh I forgot”, Jason says as he gets up again to blow out the flame. He gets back in bed and goes back to cuddling with Lacey. They fall asleep to the sound of a cool breeze and owls hooting. The large haunting figure continues to watch them sleep through the window.

The sunsets in the morning, and Lacey gradually opens her eyes. She sees the abandoned cabin in its true light. She turns over to Jason who has not awoken. She puts her arm around him, “hey wake up it’s morning”. Jason doesn’t reply, “Hey Jason? You awake?” she says trying to wake him. Again, no response. She sits up and tries to roll him over only to find his eyes have been plucked out of his face and his throat was slashed. She screams at the sight of her lover’s dead body and the fresh blood on her hands and on the bedsheets. She frantically jumps out of bed and rush out of the cabin and runs back pacing through the gallows trees. Her heart is racing, her chest is pounding like it’s about to burst, and she trips falling face-first into damp dirt and dead leaves. She picks herself up and continues running with tears in her eyes. She turns her head back towards the cabin as she’s running when she finds her deserted vehicle. She fumbles for the keys in her hands before unlocking the door and getting inside. Still panicking she locks the door and within that second she is startled by a knock at the window. She jumps in fear, turns to the window, and sees it’s a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard, in a worn-out baseball cap, a red and black flannel, torn blue jeans, and Steve Madden boots. “Are you okay?” he asks. She opens the door and tells him in a frantic, “please you have to help me!” “okay miss, calm down” he tells her placing his hands on her biceps. “Tell me what’s wrong”. “My…my boyfriend, he dead,” she says struggling to get the words out. “We…we…were staying in the cabin in the woods last night because our car broke down and when I woke up this morning his eyes were gouged out!” she explains with mortified and tears in her eyes. “Okay, why don’t you take me to the cabin and we can scope everything out”. “Maybe it was a dream and he’s just playing a trick on you or something”. She complies and they begin walking back into the woods towards the cabin. When they arrive she stops in her tracks, “That’s it”. “Okay follow me”, he says. He walks up the steps and opens the front door slowly releasing the creaking sound of the hinges. “The light”, she says. “What?” “The light, the candle was burnt out last night”. “If no one was here how did it turn back on?” “Ma’am, it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here, maybe you just thought you put it out”. “I’m telling you someone was here and killed my boyfriend!”, she shouts. She starts walking towards the bedroom where she slept and opens the door and he follows. “See!”, she says as she opens the door. He pushes the door more, “see what?” She turns to look inside the bedroom but Jason is gone. There was no dead body on the bed, no blood staining the sheets, it was as if nothing happened last night. “He was there damn it! He was pale white, his eyes were missing, and there was blood everywhere.” “You were probably dreaming, come on I’ll take you back to the truck and get you some help.” “I’m telling you he was there”. She begins to walk out of the cabin with the stranger, her arms crossed watching her feet move one in front of the other. She reflects in silence on the events of the possibilities that happened. They arrive at her truck and he says, “Get in, I’ll give you a ride.”

She opens the door to his pickup truck that’s parked behind her. Without a response, she gets in. She leans her head against the window pondering, is she crazy? Was what happened real? Was it all a lie? Was she hallucinating? Who moved the body? How was everything so clean and in place? She starts to notice the road and realizes she doesn’t recognize where she is. She lifts her head and says, “Where are we? This isn’t the way to town”. He turns his head giving a mischievous grin her way and replies, “I know”.