A Ghost

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window. The candlelight shone through the dense forest.

Although the woods were silent, the light did not go unnoticed. Anna walked by every night on her way back from her job, at the summer camp. The children were all tugged into bed. The counselors that slept there were all probably asleep.

Anna stared at the light, making sure she was not seen by who was on the other side of the window.

Her mother had trained her to welcome all new neighbors, but she crept by. There was no car in the driveway. She heard a horse neigh. It was coming from the road behind her. Anna hid. She wasn't sure why, but her throat tightened. A man rode up to the cabin. The door opened. There stood a girl that Anna had seen a younger version of before.

She could have sworn that it was her high school friend Maria. Maria was never mentioned. This lady romantically ran into the man's arms. It looked like an embrace of relief. As if she had been frightened.

Anna was getting confused and scared. She remembered how they had searched for Maria's body. Her parents had cried, they even had a funeral.

Her family did not own the cabin, what was she doing here? Anna felt numb, she silently crept away. Once home she set about her after-work routine. Work-sweat- there was always a need for a nighttime shower.

She looked at the shadows moving outside her window. She pulled out old yearbooks and reviewed the best she could, the life of Maria.

There had been no boy in Maria's life. She had had brothers, but that was not a brotherly hug.

The cabin had been empty for years. Vacationers and hunters occasionally stayed. But even that hadn't happened since Maria disappeared. The owner had somewhat abandoned it after his wife had died in childbirth. The doctors had warned her that she was too old. The man had lost both the child and the mother. The couple's son had withdrawn from the world. He painted and drew and moved to the city. He would be around Anna's age now. He had always seemed to move through town unnoticed. Anna wondered if the man in the cabin had been him. Why would they come back here? Not to claim the cabin.

Anna the following day tiptoed by the cabin on the way to work. It looked lifeless and the horse was gone. Anna was surprised, it was only 6 am. No candle, no horse, just her foolish curiosity.

Nobody at the camp had noticed anything odd the other night. No one had heard the horse, they had all slept right through it. Anna said nothing. That night she timidly walked past the lawn of the cabin. There was no light on in the cabin, but there on the porch stood Maria, holding a candle. Anna waved, Maria waved. Anna kept walking, but nobody followed. Neither girl acknowledged knowing the other.

Once she had passed, Anna stood and shook. Why had that happened? They had been best friends. They should have hugged and talked about good times.

Anna in her mind was not sure. Maria, the Maria she knew had been declared dead. Where could she have been for these five years? It was not a ghost, she did not have a twin.

Anna did not take her usual shower. She did not want to see the old yearbooks. When she thought back on those years, her throat tightened.

They had had one argument. It had been about a boy. They had both received a love letter from the same boy. Or so they had assumed. Both letters had the same handwriting. Anna had assumed the letters were from Tommy. The boy she was interested in. Tommy had insisted that he didn't write the letters but Anna knew. She broke up with Tommy. And no Tommy did not ask Maria out. Maria seemed to have no interest in the love letters at all. Thinking back Anna found herself doubting her judgment for the first time.

Maybe the letters came from that strange guy, she had seen the other night. Maybe he had been Maria's secret. No one had left the year that she had disappeared. All the young boys had been accounted for.

Anna was relieved that today was Friday. This time the horse was in front of the cabin. Anna stopped in her tracks. There was no noise coming from the cabin. Somehow barely breathing she crept by unnoticed.

This morning others had seen the horse. There was gossip that someone was in the cabin. The lead camp counselor wanted the camp to greet them. In the cooking group, they made chocolate chip cookies. Anna and her troupe of girl campers took the cookies over.

Anna took charge trying to hide her nervousness. She told Sue to knock on the door. Lauri held the plate of cookies.

The door opened, and Anna froze, unnoticed by the young campers, who were introducing themselves to the stranger and offering her cookies.

The young lady was named Maria. She knew all the young girls' parents and seemed amused by who had married who. Nobody asked how she knew all this.

Anna just stood and listened. Maria recognized her and gave her stiff body a big embrace.

And then everyone turned toward the door. They had heard the horse. Anna's eyes scanned over the young man that walked in the door. She did not know him. He was not the young artist that she had supposed him to be.

He introduced himself. His name was Jeff. He loved the chocolate chip cookies. He offered the girls some milk. He had bought the cabin from the previous owner. They were family friends, that is how he met Maria. The owner's son Ryan had been friends with Maria. Ryan had wanted to date Anna, so he had sent two letters, but Anna had thought it was done by Tommy. Ryan had been too shy to voice his desires. Maria had offered to speak for him but he had said no.

Anna squirmed hearing all this. The young campers were enthralled that their camp counselor had been the object of someone's desire.

Anna thanked Maria and Jeff. She was no longer curious, she just wanted to leave.

She sighed in relief that night on her way home when she passed the cabin without seeing Maria or Jeff.

She was shaking when she got home, and she didn't even know why. There was something she was missing, something from her past.

By Sunday night the Cabin had faded from her mind. Monday the last week of work - was something to look forward to. Next Saturday she would forget all this and go on her vacation.

Someone was playing games. Someone was pretending to be Maria, but why. The whole week she crept back and forth in front of the cabin.

Friday the young campers were picked up. It was early afternoon when Anna went to get her check. She thanked all the other staff and left. She just had to pass that cabin one more time.

The cabin looked different. It looked as if there had been a fight. The furniture on the porch was a mess.

Anna stopped and stared. The front door was open. She called into the cabin. She saw a puddle of blood in the middle of the floor. Anna felt her body shaking she had seen something like this before. Next to the puddle was what looked like her brother's knife. Her brother had moved out years ago. Anna gazed around for a body.

Maria walked in. " Hi Anna, doesn't it look familiar." Anna forced herself to answer." Yes, and I don't know why. Where would I have seen a pool of blood? How did you get my brother's knife?

Maria was silent. Anna froze in her confusion. " The story about Ryan was not true. I did not mean to confuse you. I was dating your brother. Don't look so shocked he was only two years older,

Anna said "the Duck, the blood was supposed to be from killing the duck. Why harass me over a duck? Why come back? How do you think people feel seeing a ghost."

"I am not a ghost, and that was not a duck. It was a baby- your brother and my baby."

"He aborted you?"

We didn't know what else to do. He wanted to go to med school and I didn't want to be a housewife or live with my parents in this town.

Anna felt sick. "Well, why come back? Nobody would have ever known.

"That's what I thought until I talked with your brother. He said we waited too late, he had taken the form to a local doctor. Somewhere here I have a daughter. Somebody here knows."

It would have taken years of medical treatment for someone to make her healthy. Anna felt faint. She would have needed tubes and oxygen. She was not here.

"Your brother said he returned her from where she came. That would be this cabin."

Then all of a sudden Anna knew. Her brother, Bill, the year before he had moved had started traveling. Investigating where to relocate. But he had always gone to the same place. He had always gone to Boston. The best hospitals were in Boston. He had adopted a little girl. She must have been his child. But why send Maria here?

Anna was not going to tell Maria that Bill had their daughter. 'Don't tell me you wanted to raise your daughter now."

"Well, I am the birth mother."

Anna felt sick. "Your future was more important than your baby's future. A true parent would make her baby's future her future."

Anna left. Anna was too upset to cry. She did not want to hear Maria's story. She felt much more love for her brother.

She was supposed to go on vacation tomorrow. Should she go to Mexico, or shoud she go to Boston and meet her brother's daughter?