The Fire Ghost.

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

It was a warm summer's night and I had been walking through the woods by myself. One night I was walking so much that I got lost in the woods. I took different directions in an attempt to find my way out. I had already taken the turn to the right, however, that was only leading me further into the woods. To my left, I saw a candle burning in the window of a cabin. I thought maybe if I went there, there might be someone who could help me find my way out of the woods. I hadn't been down this part of the woods before, and I didn't know that there was anyone living in a cabin here. I knew that I was taking a dangerous risk, though I was desperate to go home.

I started walking down the left path through the woods toward the cabin. Owls hooted and bats screeched into the night, making the trail through the woods scary. I almost turned back; though I knew if I did that I would never get home, and I was tired so I continued walking. As I walked toward the cabin, more candles started to appear, these candles appeared beneath each tree that I passed. I felt spooked by it, but I decided to keep walking. There were rustling noises and whispers through the woods; I didn't think much of it. I thought that it might be other people making their way through the woods and I continued walking. There was suddenly a muffled whisper calling out my name behind me; I ignored it and walked faster. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was worried that if I stayed any longer, something bad was going to happen to me. The wind had started blowing around me wildly and the heavy gusts made the woods quite creepy. Out of nowhere, the whisper that I had heard turned into many different voices.

I ran as fast as I could to the cabin door. I was scared, paranoid and frantic.

When I got to the cabin door, I felt like the wind had completely knocked my breath out of me. Shaking with fear, I banged loudly on the door several times. I got no reply, so I peeked through the window. There appeared only to be a candle burning in the window; apart from that, everything was silent. I noticed that the latch was broken on the door, and without thinking I pushed it open.

There was no light in the cabin, only the candle that sat on the window. The cabin stunk of beer and there were beer cans strewn everywhere. I drew the conclusion that because this cabin was in the woods, there may have been squatters who had stayed here, maybe who had also lost their way. I picked the candle up and explored further. There was a freshly made bed in the corner, though it looked unused; as I was so tired from walking for just over three hours, I decided to put the candle down and take a nap.

I could find my way home in the morning.

I slept for about two hours when I suddenly woke up sweating and feeling really hot. The candle had died out now, and the cabin was very dark. I had kept a flashlight nearby for safety reasons, and I switched it on so that I could take a look around me. There was nothing unusual, so I put the heat down to the fact that it was summer and had maybe gotten warmer while I had been sleeping. I was thirsty, and I found a small fridge in the corner which had a few bottles of water in it. The water had probably been there for a while, though my mouth was so dry, that I didn't care. I gulped it down fast, then I tried to go back to sleep.

I was restless, and I had a feeling that I was being watched. Sleep didn't come even after thirty minutes of trying. I decided to get up and get some air. As I sat up, a shadow moved fast across the room.

"Whose there?" I called out, trying but failing to hide the fear in my voice.

I got no reply, so I decided that I must be hallucinating due to the lack of sleep.

The shadow appeared again, only this time there was a heavy smell of smoke in the room. Shaking, I turned on my flashlight and checked the cabin for signs of fire.

There was none.

The smell disappeared after five minutes, and I put it down to other campers in the wood setting up a barbecue. However, as I tried to settle, the candle started burning again, and a flame flickered in the corner of the cabin. I jumped and gasped; I quickly turned on my flashlight and looked around once again. Everything was as it was before, and there was no burning candle or signs of flame. I was terrified out of my mind, so I bolted to the door.

I had to get out of here fast. There was something deeply strange about this cabin.

I attempted to dislodge the broken latch which had jammed shut when I had shut the door after entering the cabin. I screamed in agony as a searing hot burning pain entered my hands, fingers and my wrists. I let go of the latch quickly and examined my hands, fingers and wrists. There were no marks, and the pain had disappeared, so I attempted to dislodge the latch again. As I put my hands on the latch, a huge fireball shot towards me, then disappeared into thin air. I couldn't see anyone in the cabin, and while I was looking, another fireball came at me out of nowhere. I was terrified and my breathing had quickened again.

More and more fireballs were being shot at me, yet still, I couldn't see anyone.

I called out again.

Nobody answered my call.

The window started rattling violently, and a deeply burned bloodied hand with sharp nails scraped the glass, causing a loud screech! I screamed wildly, as I started to understand that this was no hallucination.

A human-shaped fire figure had appeared in the middle of the cabin floor. It had a head, body, arms and hands made out of flames. It looked like a wildfire ghost with blazing eyes, though I thought that I was being silly. I stared in horror, wide-eyed and I froze for a few minutes before I booted and punched at the door wildly in a desperate attempt to get out.

"Let me out. Please, I'm begging...anyone, help me!" I screamed as loud as I could.

It was no use. Nobody heard my screams.

The fire ghost put its arms out in front of it and curled them into fists. It shooted continuous fireballs at me, one straight after the other. One landed in my face and I screamed so loud, that I felt my stomach explode. Another landed in my hair, and another hit me in the stomach.

I felt like I was burning inside.

I was trapped and the door was white-hot and unusable. The whole cabin was scorching now. I tried to dodge the fireballs and reach the window, which I attempted to smash by throwing an old chair at it. It was no use as the window was too tough.

My body was burning head to toe.

I had an idea, so I ran across the room toward the fridge. The fireballs kept coming at me, though the fire ghost must have noticed that he wasn't getting anywhere. He let out a bellowing fiery evil laugh, and with eyes blazing, he joined both arms together, sending streams of flame across the room. He aimed too high and hit the ceiling. When the fire hit the ceiling, it headed down toward the fire ghost in one massive big flame. The fire ghost let out one huge evil shriek, then it was gone.

I sat back on the bed terrified and sobbing. I was in shock and I couldn't believe what I had seen. I felt like all my insides were burning up, though the strange thing was I had no scars. I took the remaining water bottles from the fridge and I drank them one by one. I threw the chair that I had used to attempt to smash the window at the door which burst it off its hinges. I wasn't going to touch the latch in case it was still hot.

It was morning when I opened the door, though I was too tired to notice. I found an entrance at the back of the cabin that led me out of the woods, though I was confused because it wasn't there before.

Before I exited the woods; I turned to give the cabin one last look.

The cabin wasn't there anymore. All I could see was a huge pile of ash on the ground. I didn't stop to observe the ashes, I limped all the way home.