Sally Jo and Lost Souls

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. We knew what that meant. He was back and it could be mean death for us all.

It was the summer of 1982 and my friends, and I set out on a summer adventure. The kind you wait all year for, the excitement is so real you have goosebumps and can feel the electricity run through your whole body. You feel so alive and free, the kind of freedom only a sixteen-year-old can feel right before summer break.

It was me; Mike, Cassie, Jeremy, and Sam. Cassie was the quiet one in the group. She was my friend and always had a book in her hand. Sam and Jeremy were a couple, and they could not keep their hands off one another, Sam is a pretty cheerleader type and Jeremy was on the basketball team. Tall, lanky, and awkward due to his size. Skillful player and he always said he would play in the NBA.I do not think they even noticed the black smoke coming from the front of the car and the miles of nothing all around us. Not sure where we were but it was only road in front and behind us and woods on both sides. Nothing else. No houses, no cow’s no anything.

Mike would be driving he was our only friend who owned a car. He worked two summers mowing yards to have enough money to buy beauty. Beauty is what he called her, and he would not let you in if you did not do the same. We all joked that if she is Beauty, he must be the Beast. Mike was the complete jock type. He was large, very tall, muscular, handsome very Alpha male. All the girls liked him and wanted to be with him. I have known him since we were children. We were neighbors, he was best friends with my brother Joe, who did not go with us. Mike is a year older.

So off we went in beauty to have an amazing adventure. But we soon realized some, adventures are not meant to be.

Beauty blew a gasket. Luckily, we were still close to town. We got out and walked. We knew there was some cabins ahead. No cell phones in 1982. It was a hot June day. The sweat was pouring down my face causing my eyes to burn, all I could do was squint and try to shield them, so I did not notice the massive hole in the road. My foot caught and I tripped. I stumbled and fell hard on the hot pavement, I scrapped my knee, hurt my elbow, and fractured my wrist. I was bleeding and it was hard to bend my knee. I really could not walk much further.

Mike noticed a cabin in the distance, he could see it through a small clearing in the woods.

We decided to head towards the cabin to see if anyone was home. The blood was dripping down my leg and made a unique pattern that looked like a tie dye shirt I got at the beach last summer.

The air seem to thicken the closer we got to the cabin; an eerie feeling washed over me. Later I found out we all had the same eerie feeling, but no one said it aloud. If only someone who have had, we would have turned around, ran as far as way as possible and not opened the door. But that is not what happened.

“Hello,” Jeremy said in a loud stern voice. He repeated “HELLO” no answer, no movement from inside. He knocked loudly and then peered inside a window. The windows were dirty, and you could not see anything.

He knocked harder and the door opened, it made a shrieking almost screaming sound, like a cat makes when they want to go outside because they are in heat. It was terrifying. It did not want us to enter, and we all felt it. We entered anyway. “” Mike said in a low shaky voice. Mike this huge football player afraid of what or who may answer back.

The cabin was dark no lights were on. We could see a dim light coming from the kitchen. The candle flickering made eerie shadows dance across the ceiling, like happy people at a concert waiving their arms in the air like a wave. As we got closer, we could see a figure on the floor. More candles were circling the figure. The candles were burned out, the wax melted all over the floor. The figure looked like a doll, as we got closer, we could smell blood, I am not sure if you have smelled blood like this, but it has a usual copper smell. As we got closer, we all knew this was not a doll it was person. Looked to be a small person or a child. It looked like it was tortured and killed in the cabin. Perhaps sacrificed. We all heard the stories of the with in the woods. We thought it was urban legend, the old folks trying to scare us from us from going into the woods to drink and smoke.

We all ran each going a different direction. I hear Mike scream “No No leave me alone than HELP, Oh God Please help. “I turned around and what I saw left me frozen in fear, I could not move, I could not speak I just stood there in terror. It was not a witch but the devil himself. A huge humanlike demon with horns, cloven feet, and a tail. The room became hot, and I felt like I was going to pass out form the sulfur smell that was emanating from the room now. His eyes had fire in them, doll eyes, no life in those dead red eyes. He told Mike there is no God here, only me as he scaped his fingernails along the old wood floors, causing pieces of wood to burn at his touch.

I am not sure what happened to Cassie, Sam, and Jeremy. I scanned the room looking for anyone. The devil took Mike and told him he had to pay for his sins. And he was there to collect. He told Mike he knew what he had done to Sally Jo Martin, Sally Jo disappeared last summer. Her family was told she ran away, after a few days the police stopped looking. She was one of the girls in town who had a reputation for being easy with the boys. Her mom put up missing have you see me posters every week, but Sally Jo was gone.

I did not want to believe what I was hearing; I know the devil can play ticks. I am not deeply religious, but I do attend church and I was forced to go bible study as a child. What did Mike do to sally Jo, how could this person I have known since a child do anything to cause someone to disappear.

Mike said he was sorry it was an accident. She fell and he did not know what to do. He cried out to God to please help him; he was so sorry. The devil grinned and told him God cannot help you. Deals were made and now Mike was going with him. He took Mike and walked out of the door his tail dragging across the old wood floor, sparks flying I heard Mike screams for what seemed like 30 minutes after a while I could no see either of them, they disappeared. I tried to run but my leg was hurting, I forgot about the pain but suddenly it was back, the blood on my leg was dried up and looked like rust on an old gate.

I called out to Sam, Cassie, and Jeremy. No one answered. I decided to go the opposite direction the devil took Mike. I did not get far, and I found Jeremy. He was hanging from a tree. I heard a faint crying coming from behind the tree it was Cassie. She was in shock she said Jeremy said he had to die for his sins he found a rope and hung himself. She had no idea where Sam went. She was rocking back and forth, crying, shaking, muttering she wanted to go home, “I just want to go home “over and over. I went to her and told her we had to go. I explained what I saw and told her we need to go now.

We found out Sally Jo came from a lengthy line of witches, witches that cast a spell on the whole town and anyone associated with her murder. Deals were made, covenants entered, and sacrifices required.

She said she also saw him the Devil, he told Sam that he was there to collect. Jeremy and Mike had lured Sally Jo to the cabin last summer. They gave her alcohol and marijuana in the hopes she would have sex with them. She told them she was uncomfortable and wanted to go home. They laughed and told her she was safe they were not going to hurt her. They told her to take her shirt off and to squeeze her breasts she said no and started to cry. Mike slapped her and ripped her shirt off. He put his face in her breasts and bit her hard. When she tried to run, they chased her. She fell and hit her head. They thought she was dead and tried to bury her, she was not dead and when she let out a small cry, they beat her to death. They beat her so badly that she was just a pulpy bloody mess, her skull was bashed in, and she did not look human.

Mike and Jeremy killed that small child to offer up, hoping a small child would be enough reward and this would stop. The devil laughed and told him it had to be someone they knew and loved. A sacrifice of something of value. The boy meant nothing to them, his death should not have happened, and they will need to bring another offering. They lured us there in hopes of offering us up bit they could not do it.

The devil showed all this to Sam who showed it to me by just touching my hand. She said the devil told her that he will let her live, but he will be back, and when he returns a soul will be required for payment, a lit candle will appear in the window. When that happens, a sacrifice is due.

If payment is not received, he will unleash an evil so bad it will cause the whole town to commit mass suicide.

There is no escape only compliance. Sam said she was instructed that she will get a vision and once she receives vision she is to go to the cabin and offer a life. It does not matter who but must be someone she loves.