The Woman in the Window

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Liz frowned and looked back at her husband.

“Hey babe? Do you see that light? I thought the cabin next door was abandoned. I mean, I don’t know who would want to stay there in the state that it’s in.” her brow furrowed with the question floating between them. It had been a few years since they had come to stay in the cabin, maybe someone had purchased it since the last time they visited. But why would anyone want a dilapidated old cabin in the middle of the woods? It wasn’t big or even ornately built, just a run down old shack really.

As if having heard her thoughts her husband, Adam, responded, “Well, maybe someone finally decided to fix up the old place, it’s not like it has much potential though.”

Liz tried to shrug it off, but as she turned back to the window, she swore she saw a woman behind the candle. Her silhouette was barely visible in the flickering dim light, and when Liz blinked, the woman was gone. She decided it was nothing, a restless imagination and some uneasy lighting turns anyone into a ghost hunter after all. Rolling her eyes at the ridiculous thought of a ghost, she returned to cleaning up the cabin. It had been unused for a while and if she was going to stay for their two week camping trip, she would need to get things tidied up.

That night, Liz went to bed restless, the flickering candle was still bothering her. Why only one candle? Who was that woman? Was it still lit? Before she could fall down a rabbit hole of questions, she heard it.

thunk

thunk

thunk

The sound of heavy work boots thudding on hardwood floor. Liz sat up in bed. Her husband was asleep beside her. Neither of them even owned work boots. She must have imagined it, or maybe there was a tree branch hitting the window. She lied down again, determined to sleep.

thunk

thunk

thunk

There it was again. Liz got of bed, and tiptoed to the door of their bedroom. She looked down the hall and saw… nothing. No intruders, no boots, nothing. Sighing, she returned to bed, but that night she knew, this had something to do with the woman in the window.

The next morning Liz had breakfast, and over a bowl of cheerios she casually asked Adam how he slept. He excitedly told her it was the best he had slept in a while, and as Adam chattered on about how they had really needed to get away from the busy sounds of the city, Liz decided it was best if she kept her suspicions to herself. As they got up from the table, she dared to look out the window, and the candle was still there. It didn’t look like it had burned even a little since she had last seen it. But this time, no woman.

With a shiver, Liz forced herself to turn away. Obsessing over that cabin wouldn’t do anything for her. She decided to go about her day. Adam went fishing at the nearby lake, and Liz decided to finish cleaning up the cabin.

She began to notice some strange things. Like her sudden inability to stop losing things. She must have placed a washcloth or spray bottle on the counter top dozens of times, only to never once find them where she had left them. Or her little lapses in memory, had it been 4 hours since Adam left? What had she been doing? Then there were the noises. Never the same thunking as the night before, but she swore she could hear the sound of someone striking a match and lighting a candle over and over again.

Finally, she couldn’t take it. Liz knew this was somehow tied to the woman in the window. She grabbed her computer and did some research. It only took her about an hour to find the horrible story. Years ago, in the very cabin where she sat, a woman had been thrown down a flight of stairs by her abusive husband, the fall had killed her, and her husband buried her beneath their storage shack. She was only ever found because the cabin was sold after her husband passed and the shack was torn down and replaced with a small cabin.

Liz lowered a shaking hand. He had gotten away with it. The woman must have unfinished business.

That evening, when Adam came home, Liz told him everything. She told him about what she had found, she told him about the banging, and she told him about all of the strange happenings of her day.

“You can’t be serious. Honey, that is probably just some stupid story to scare tourists away. Please tell me you don’t believe that.”

Liz laughed half heartedly. “Yeah, you’re right, I can’t believe that I let it get to me.” but even as she said it, she looked behind her out the same kitchen window and saw the light. Behind the light she saw the woman. The woman in the window.

That night, Liz couldn’t sleep. She waited for night to fall, waited for the sounds to come, if only to prove she wasn’t crazy. Both to her joy and dismay, after a few moments, she heard it.

thunk

thunk

thunk

This time, she pretended not to hear it, pretended nothing was wrong. Then she heard it again, only closer.

thunk

thunk

thunk

The sound of work boots walking up the stairs.

thunk

thunk

thunk

The sound of work boots walking down the hall towards her bedroom.

thunk

thunk

thunk

The sound of work boots right outside her door.

Liz was frozen in fear. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, and then

It was morning.

She had no recollection of what happened next, it was like she blinked and it was morning.

Liz jolted out of bed, “We have to get out of here.” she sternly told Adam before starting to collect their things.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing?” Adam asked

“I know that you don’t believe me, but there is something wrong with this cabin. There is something happening here.” Liz replied sharply.

“Liz, please. Just sit down and talk to me.”

“I can’t talk anymore! You aren’t listening, and we aren’t safe. There is something wrong and I am telling you it has something to do with the light and that woman in the window. I’m leaving, with or without you.” Liz cut him off and stormed down the hall.

Adam caught up to her right in front of the stairs, “Liz stop. What are you talking about?” He grabbed her arms to halt her.

She looked at him. There was fear in his eyes. He thought she was losing her mind. Maybe he was right.

After seeing the feral look in Liz’s eyes, Adam let go, “I don’t even know what you are making a big deal out of. Nothing has even happened. You are just imagining things, but if you are in such a rush to go, then leave. I’m staying.”

Adam stormed back up the hall towards their bedroom. Liz turned to follow him, but a force was stopping her. She couldn’t move. Then she heard it.

thunk

thunk

thunk

Work Boots on the stairs, right behind her. Then a quiet and rough voice whispered in her ear, “Did you really think that you could escape me?”

Fear gripped Liz’s whole body, she tried to scream, run, fight, or do anything, but she couldn’t.

Then she was falling.

No, she hadn’t fallen, she was thrown down the stairs. Like the woman in the window.

She heard a large crack, it echoed around her like the entire cabin had cracked in half.

Then it was over.

Liz stood up, but it was so dark around her. She couldn’t remember where she was or how she got there. She saw a small candle in the window in front of her with a box of matches. Hoping to get a better look around she lit the candle and took a step back. She was in a run down cabin, more of a shack really. She turned back to the window and that’s when she saw the cabin next door. The cabin that she and her husband shared. The cabin that she was staying in.

The cabin where she died.

The memories came flooding back, and then through the kitchen window of her cabin, she saw a woman.

No, she saw herself. Looking alarmed at a light in a dilapidated shack.

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. A candle that burned for the woman in the window, doomed to relive her death year after year. Attempting over and over again to save her life from the murderous ghost that had once owned her cabin, doomed to death.

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, yet the woman of the window never left.