A normal family

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

All the horror, all the glory, the twisted tales of the family that lived in the cabin before was enough to make all the hairs on all four limbs of Shelly, Max, Justin, and Frances stand on end. However, they could not deny the thrill of exploring this abandoned building, the curiosity on their faces split wide open into cavernous voids with glaringly white and pointy stalactites and stalagmites that are commonly known as teeth.

Justin spotted the light first, peeking out from the top of the hill as the sun was beginning to set behind them, the four of their shadows long and menacing, crooked and grotesque, seemingly stretching and being sucked into the bowels of that cabin on the hill. They had been camping out for days before, a seemingly hastily put-together gathering of sorts but there was also a slight method to the madness that brought these four high school friends back together after ten years.

It was their first high school reunion after all and my, how the ten years had flown by just like that! Not much had changed; Max got fat, Justin lost most of his hair up front, Frances had an absolute glow-up, and Shelly, well, Shelly stayed Shelly, as if she hadn't aged a day since high school. They also had a camping trip ten years ago, to celebrate their freedom from the mandatory public education system up at a well known and touristy national park camping area and had the time of their lives. However, instead of going to the formal organized event that would've cost them $100 USD per head, they decided to go with an informal, cheaper option of getting together for another camping trip instead. This time, however, they would camp by one of their other high school friend's/classmate's house, the house that was somewhat on the outskirts but still positively within the reach of human civilization and had neighbors close enough that if you yelled outside, on the front porch, they would definitely hear you. That is, if and only if you were outside and yelling.

There were many, many stories told about that cabin/house, especially within the past five years, from when it was first discovered to being abandoned. Children and teens have made obvious traces around and inside the premises, graffiti littered the walls, windows cracked and the front door completely gone to who knows where. So imagine Justin's excitement when he saw a light, a candle light to be precise, flickering back and forth in the second-story window that was in the north-east corner of the cabin. "Quickly everyone, that's our signal!" Before anyone could fully register what Justin meant, Justin raced to the cabin and after a slight moment of puzzlement, the other three ran in full pursuit. Max got there first, then Frances, then Justin, and finally Shelly. Almost everyone was panting, wheezing, and having labored breathing except for Max. Justin, in between gasps, asked incredulously, "How---did--you-----get here-so fast?!"

Max just shrugged and sheepishly grinned and said, "Heh, you thought--just because I got fat, that I wouldn't have been able to keep up with ya, didn't cha? Well this fat on me is stress fat and coupled with my slow metabolism, it just is how I am right now. It doesn't show the fact that I run four miles at 4:30 every morning before work, does it?"

Justin and the others could only shake their heads in amazement as they were still catching their breaths and getting ready to face the next task on their agenda. After a few minutes, Shelly asked, "Well, we're finally here. Now what do we do?"

"Come to think of it Shelly," Frances asked, "how come you finished last? You look the fittest out of all of us, heck you don't look like you've even aged a day since we last saw you in high school."

To which Shelly replied with a sour face, "Well I'm sorry that my physical ability doesn't match up to my looks but I haven't really been exercising much the last ten years. Heck, after I got my Associate's in Accounting at that CC up north, I've only been sitting at a desk job from 9-5 M-F. "But disregarding that, focus on the task at hand people. We are here now. Are we going to go inside or what? The anticipation is killing me!"

No sooner had Shelly half-rolled her eyes did green tentacle-like vines shoot out of the cabin and snatch Shelly inside before the friends' eyes.