Sunset

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. We had had our cabin for 10 years and had never seen anyone around the old place. We were sitting by the campfire, a nightly ritual for us on a beautiful fall evening. My husband was concerned that maybe kids had broken in and was worried about a fire.

We bought our place 10 years ago and this was our oasis from the hustle and bustle of Monday thru Friday life. It is located in northern Minnesota on a nice sized lake, not too big and not too small. Not a lot of boaters out even on Holiday weekends. We are off a dirt road and so no traffic except for our neighbor 1/2 a mile down the road and they were older and came up less and less. We knew it was only a matter of time before our gem of a hide-away would be discovered by the outside world.

It was just after sunset on a peaceful Saturday night when we saw the candle. "What the heck is that?", my husband asked truly shocked. We have acres of tall pines and we are always careful about our campfire for fear of a fire since there is no way a firetruck could get to us in time of a fire. That was our concern when we saw the candle. Who was in there and lit a candle?

We decided to get our bug spray out and make our way over to the cabin. I was sure I saw movement in the candle light as we got closer to the window. I told my husband but he said it was nothing. I was getting creeped out but we continued on. As we got to the dilapidated front porch we could see it was too rickety to try to enter the house. We could not see the light from this side of the cabin but I was sure I saw a glimmer of light.

We made our way around the side of the house and came to the window that faces our place. No glass in the window. And no candle. Where did it go? We did a quick look around and decided it must have been a reflection from the lake and made our way back home.

As we approached our house we saw movement around the campfire. And could hear hushed whispers. It was 2 men. They were each carrying a garbage bag of stuff they had probably taken from our cabin. We stood frozen. I could barely breathe. I could see my husband was shaken. We had no phone, no weapon, nothing to protect ourselves. We didn't move. The one man said in a louder, angry voice, "I thought you said there was a woman here". The other man barked back, "there is, I don't know where she could be and It is just her and the husband." He waved a large knife around and said, "and this would of taken care of him" with a snarly laugh.

The realization that they had come to rape and kill me and my husband make me shake uncontrollably. My husband hugged me and whispered, "we are okay, stay quiet". They went back into the cabin 2 more times and came out with more stuff. But it was just stuff. We were safe.

After what seemed like an eternity, they kicked the campfire in anger and said, "they aren't coming back for a while so let's get out of here before someone spots our car on the road".

They came within 30 feet of us crouched in the brush and weeds. I thought for sure they could hear my heart beating. It sounded like a bass drum. They smelled of whiskey and cigarettes and obviously did not take any pride in their appearance to put it mildly. The thought of his grimy hands on my body made me shake even more. And his smell made my stomach do a flip flop. Please don't vomit I told myself.

They were up on the road. We could hear the truck door open with a creek. Why hadn't we heard it when they pulled up? We stayed in our hiding spot for a good 30 minutes. Too afraid to move. Too breathe really. My husband told me to stay but I couldn't let go of him, I knew I would lose it if I was alone.

We made it to the cabin. They had trashed the place and smashed stuff out of frustration I guess. Who knows how they think. We found the cell phone, called 911 and friends across the lake to see if they were okay. They said they had seen beat up truck driving slowly around the lake earlier but had not really thought much about it.

The Sheriff came and several Deputies. He told us how lucky we were to not have been here. An elderly couple down the road has been savagely beaten and robbed. The wife was probably not going to make it. And another cabin on the lake next to us had been broken into and robbed. No one was there but they trashed the place too.

We told the Sheriff about the conversation we had overheard about their intent to rape and kill my husband and me too, I guess. He said they have had a lot of cabin theft and vandalizing but this is the first time some one had some assaulted. He told us we were lucky we weren't here that they would have probably done just what they said they were going to do. He asked us where we had gone and we told him candle in the cabin had made us go to investigate. He said it was really lucky that we had gone and to thank whatever forces were responsible for the candle.

It was an exhausting night and we could not stop feeling violated and afraid. We decided we were going to go to town and get a motel room. We went in the cabin to grab a couple things and a toothbrush and there was a candle burning in the window. Not my candle. But it gave off a warm, safe glow. Thank you candle in the window for saving our lives.