The Story

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. A little ways down the hill, there was a clearing in the woods where five teenagers were camping for the weekend – a weekend that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. It was Saturday night, around 9 o’clock, and the weather was perfect. The sky was clear, the stars were shining bright. But not as bright as that candle…oh no, this candle burned with a strange intensity, brighter than any flame the teenagers had ever seen. Eloise was the first to notice it.

“Guys, hey shut up for a second.” She said suddenly, halting the lively conversation in its tracks.

“What?” Ananya was the camper of the group. Her dad was an outdoor expert, and she had done girl scouts for a few years longer than everyone thought girl scouts was even meant to go for. She could tie a knot, set a trap, and made the best damn s’mores in the Southern Hemisphere.

“Look,” Eloise pointed towards the window about a hundred yards from where they sat around their small campfire. “Didn’t you say that cabin was empty this time of year?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ananya squinted at the light dancing across the grass outside of the small homestead. Her father was good friends with the people who owned it, the Petersons, and they had told her that if the weather happened to turn bad that she was welcome to use it. That they wouldn’t be using the cabin for another month or so, and to watch out for spiders. Thanks for the offer, she’d said, but the weather looks like it’ll be perfect. She preferred to sleep outside.

“Well looks like someone’s home,” Nate was already on his feet, “Let’s go check it out.”

“Wait a second,” Eloise grabbed his hand, pulling him back down, “We can’t just go up there.”

“Why,” Nate teased, “You scared?”

“What if it’s, like, a robber or something?” Eloise glared at him, “We’ve been here all day and there’s been no cars or anything.”

Leslie was sitting on her swag a few feet away from the others. Eloise’s younger sister, she hadn’t wanted to come on the trip. Her parents made her come, and though they were both trying to make the best of it, Eloise and Leslie both knew she’d rather be at home with her nose in a book.

“Alright, alright,” Tommy pushed himself up from the log he’s sitting on. “You girls wait here, me and Nate will go check it out.”

Eloise shook her head, not at all convinced. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know,” Nate rifled through his bag and pulled out his flashlight, clicking it on and off, and then back on, “Knock on the door?”

“Knock on the door?” Ananya hissed, “Of a house that’s being robbed? Ever heard of a burglary gone wrong?”

“Ever heard of not being a baby?” Nate laughed, already starting up the hill towards the cabin.

“We’ll be careful, I promise,” Tommy smiled at the girls and started following Nate up the hill.

“I don’t like this,” Eloise locked her fingers around her knees, “This doesn’t feel right.”

Ananya reached over and grabbed her hand, “I know. Leslie you idiot, come over here.”

Ananya had been Eloise’s best friend since kindergarten. They lived only a few houses down from one another, and the girls had always been like sisters. Leslie stood up and walked over to the other girls. They waited in silence as the boys disappeared around the side of the cabin, heading for the front door. They were gone for what felt like an eternity, when suddenly, the candle went out.

“Oh my god,” Eloise jumped as if she’d heard a gunshot, and gripped Ananya’s hand so hard her fingers cracked.

Before Ananya could respond, they heard one of the boys scream. The most chilling, devastating scream either of the girls had ever heard. Eloise clamped her mouth shut, a short piercing scream escaping her own lips. Before the girls could react, Nate came sprinting around the corner, the torchlight casting shattered shadows across the foliage between him and the dancing light of the campfire.

“Go! Run!” He screamed, reaching the girls before they had had a chance to scramble to their feet. Without stopping, he grabbed Eloise’s hand and all four of them lurched forward with his momentum.

“There’s something in there!” He yelled, pulling them further into the woods.

“Where’s Tommy?” Ananya gasped. Eloise was audibly sobbing, tripping over everything, basically being carried between Nate and Ananya, Leslie scampering behind.

“Stop!” Eloise finally choked out, dropping to her knees, and dragging the other two to the ground.

All of them panting, Ananya steadied herself on her knees. Leslie stayed on her feet, her hands over her mouth, her eyes darting.

“What was it? What’s in there?”

Nate turned to them, his eyes haunted and almost…black somehow.

“I don’t know. I thought it was an old woman, but she…” His sentence was interrupted by a gurgling sound. Nate leaned away from the girls, retching.

“Nate, where’s Tommy?” Eloise said with heaving breaths, tears dripping from her chin onto the ground.

“She got him,” He whispered.

“Nate! Who?” The words had barely left Ananya’s lips when they heard a crash behind them, so close they all thought it had come from one another.

“Quick!”

In a panic, Nate disentangled himself from Ananya and Eloise, grabbed Leslie by the arm and took off again. Leslie jolted forward, a sickening pain shooting from her shoulder to her fingertips. They ran a few feet further into the woods when Ananya let out an animalistic scream behind them. Leslie stopped, started to turn, but Nate pushed her behind the trunk of a tree.

“Don’t look!”

Leslie stumbled, caught herself on the rough bark of the tree. But not before she had seen something that made her heart stop. There was someone else in the clearing with Eloise and Ananya. A hunched, shadowy figure. Someone laughing.

“Ananya!” Nate grabbed her as she stumbled past. Even in the faint moonlight, Leslie could see she was covered in blood. Steam was rising off her from head to foot as the fresh blood seemed to turn darker by the minute, rotting before their eyes.

Leslie looked around the corner of the trunk and stumbled backwards as if she’d been hit. There, caught between the firelight and the moon, was Eloise’s body, suspended, strung up between the trees. She looked as though she had been gutted, as if wild animals had ripped her open, with pieces of flesh and insides hanging from her stomach.

“Who was that? Who did that?” Leslie shrieked, her knees buckling.

“We have to keep moving!” Nate hauled her up, dragging her tiny body forwards.

“We have to go back,” Leslie sobbed, though she wasn’t really fighting it. She was so tiny that her limp body was easily propelled forwards in Nate’s strong, youthful arms.

A snarling noise bounced off the trees around them. They had gotten so far from the campsite that Leslie couldn’t see more than a foot in front of her. The moonlight was being shattered through the trees, and she held on to Nate to guide her footing. She closed her eyes as she heard Ananya’s screams.

“We have to go back,” She sobbed.

“We can’t.” Nate whispered, his voice defeated, “It’s too late. She’s got her.”

………………

“That’s it?” Leslie broke the silence as it took a minute for the group to realise the story was over.

“Okay, first critique,” Tommy threw his empty beer can into the fire. “It got way more descriptive after I died. Before that the storytelling was lacklustre, at best.”

“Yeah, that’s because you died. You’re not the easiest character to bring to life.” Nate laughed, running his fingers through his hair.

“Literally all I did was cry,” Eloise stood up and reached for the cooler. “Anyone want one?”

Tommy nodded, “Yeah, chuck us one.”

“Shut up I think I described my own scream as ‘devastating’. How gay is that?”

Ananya flicked the twig she had been twirling in her fingers, “Don’t use that word.”

Nate shrugged, “Sorry.”

“I think “Strong, youthful arms” was maybe where I drew the line, before that it was great being "gutted" like a fucking deer,” Eloise took a swig of her beer, her eyes dancing in the firelight. She had always had a crush on Nate, despite her self-proclaimed reputation of only dating smart guys.

“Hey now, the pretty one always dies at the start of the movie, right?”

“Please,” Leslie griped, “At least you didn’t get stuck with the lame tag along character. This trip was literally my idea.”

“There always has to be one character that’s, like, out of the ordinary or whatever. To give the audience someone to sympathise with.”

“It’s a ghost story not a thriller novel,” Leslie hit back, “I’m giving it a three out of ten.”

Nate laughed, “Whatever kid. I’m going to grab some more firewood, when I get back let’s see you do better.”

Nate headed to the woodshed a few yards away.

Tommy stood up, “I need to take a leak.”

The girls sat together, Ananya poking the fire with their designated stoker branch. “I think I’m gonna head to bed soon, we should probably pack up early, I’ve got-”

“Ananya!” Eloise grabbed her shoulder, sharply cutting off her sentence.

“Jesus, Elly. What?”

Leslie had frozen on the other side of Ananya, her body rigid. “Look.”

She pointed towards the cabin. Although Ananya’s eyes knew what she was looking at, it took her brain a second to catch up. A single candle was flickering in the window.

Nate dropped an armful of firewood next to the fire, the thud breaking through the silence like a punch to the head. “When Tommy gets back maybe he can take a crack at it. I feel like he’d tell a good Western-”

“Nate did you just do that?” Eloise snapped.

“What?”

“I’ve got the key,” Ananya said softly. “How did you get in?”

“To the woodshed?”

“Look,” Eloise pointed towards the cabin, at the light softly dancing along the windowsill, spilling on the veranda.

“Yo, what the hell.” Nate squinted, as if his eyes were playing tricks on him. “Wait where’s Tommy?”

“Miss me already?” Tommy walked back into the circle of light, sitting back down on his chair. “Who’s up next?”

“Tommy, look,” Ananya jerked her finger towards the cabin.

“Holy shit, that’s messed up. Nate, you can’t just break into people’s houses.” Tommy stood up, shielding his eyes to see clearer through the smoke from the fire.

“Dude, I didn’t do that.”

“I’ve got the key,” Ananya said again, her voice shaking.

“That’s not funny, Nate,” Tommy said again, loudly. As if assuring himself. “Don’t be disrespectful, you can’t just go anywhere you want.”

“I swear to you I did not do that,” Nate said, his voice also rising.

“Did you break a fucking window?”

“I’m telling you that was not me.”

“I’m going to check it out, I swear to god if you broke into that house,” Tommy didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to.

“I’m not letting you go up there by yourself,” Nate walked to his tent and pulled a flashlight from inside.

“Guys, don’t,” Eloise’s voice shook. “I don’t like this.”

The boys had already started towards the cabin, but Leslie gripped her sister’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry Elly, it’s just Nate being a dick. They just probably left a window open or something.”

“Either way Tommy’s going to kick his ass,” Ananya said, “And my parents will do the same to me if they find out.”

The girls huddled together for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the boys to come back. For a sound. For anything. And then, the candle went out.