Window Games

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The flickering glow would be a warning to those who believed in monsters, but just inviting enough for those who did not yet know better.

The crack of dead twigs echoed into the looming woods as the young boy explored the night. He had waited until his parents settled in to their bed and quietly left against their strong warnings. He listened for the sounds of crickets and frogs, and he watched the skies for owls and bats coming out to play. He thought his parents were fools to believe that the woods could ever be "scary"; the woods that the young boy knew were full of light and wonder, forever bathed in the protection of the sunlight. He could not have imagined what awaited him in the shadows, just beyond the surface of what he believed he normally saw.

Just as the young boy had decided to make his way home, he saw the flame dancing in the distant cabin window. Somehow in his daytime travels of the woods, he'd never noticed this cabin nestled there. He wondered who lived in the cabin, and wondered what better way to prove his parents wrong about the woods at night than to befriend the magical being who watched over them? The young boy approached the cabin, eager to meet the fairy princess he imagined fluttering about the inside, but was met only with the image of the candle in the window against a completely black interior of the cabin.

It was so dark inside the cabin that the boy could only see his own reflection beyond the light of the candle, just gazing back at him in confusion, squinting to see into the dark. Something appeared to have moved in the darkness, refracting the light of the candle ever so slightly, but was gone before the boy could see. The young boy re-focused his gaze to his reflection and noticed that something was different. The boy in the window was not confused or squinting, he was smiling a very wide smile, one that almost looked inhuman. The young boy raised his arm to the window frame to see the mirrored image, but the boy in the window did not raise his arm to match.

"You're not me?" the boy asked aloud.

The boy in the window replied through his large, tight lipped smile, cocking his head to the side."No, I'm not you. That's your first guess. Two more."

It appeared that the young boy had happened upon some sort of trickster of the wood, perhaps someone who could grant him a wish or award him the most amazing treasures should he play their game. The young boy smirked and leaned closer to the window. "Are you rumplestiltskin?" he jested.

The boy in the window raised his finger to the window frame, now bearing a toothier grin through his opened lips. "One more guess." he cooed back.

The young boy pondered all of his favorite stories of forest creatures and magical beings. He remembered the fairy princess he had hoped for, and was delighted at the thought of her revealing herself in the magic of the moonlight.

“Are you a fairy?” He squeaked.

The boy in the window’s smile grew bigger, razor sharp teeth stretching all the way across his face. His eyes blackened and sunk into his skull, and his arms and legs stretched until they were as spindly and brittle as the twigs that snapped beneath the young boy’s feet, ripping away from the flesh that once contained them. The young boy’s jaw dropped open as he stared in pure terror, tears streaming down his face without a sound.

The creature, still smiling, slowly cocked it’s head to the side again.

“You lose,” it snarled.

The young boy sprinted away from the cabin, so afraid and desperate for anyone or anything to save him, and still, his cries did not make a single noise. The creature burst from the cabin window and galloped closely behind on all fours, it’s drooly smile practically glowing in the moonlight. It felt as though with each step the young boy was losing his speed, and yet the creature only gained it, fuelled by his terror, propelled by the thirst for the kill. He was mere feet from his front doorstep when the young boy realized he could no longer hear the crunch of rotting leaves or the snap of the twigs gaining on him. The young boy glanced over his shoulder; nothing was there. Nothing moved in the darkness, nothing lurked in the shadows. He had made it, he had outrun the monster.

The young boy hurried toward his front door, and slowly turned the knob so as not to disturb his sleeping parents. It wasn’t until he looked up that he remembered that his front door, in the dark of night, gave off a very clear reflection. Only, he did not see the boy in the window this time: he only saw the razor sharp grin drooling behind him. It was the last thing he ever saw.

The flame of the candle in the cabin window flickered and fought to stay lit, but was at once a steady stream of smoke trailing out of the broken glass and into the moonlight.