Travis Walker

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. No one saw it that night. A full year passed by before it happened again. It still went unnoticed. In fact it continued to go unnoticed for 22 years. When it was finally noticed it no longer looked abandoned.

When the lost hiker came upon the path illuminated by the candle in the window, it appeared to have been disturbed recently. The tracks led up to the door of the cabin. By the looks of the tracks there were several people inside. The hiker approached slowly, quietly, up to the door when it burst open. Standing in the frame of the door was an older woman dressed in black. She had light brown hair and a warm smile. Her voice was soft when she sighed out, "You're not Cedric!" before closing the door.

The hiker, a young Travis Walker, stood at the massive door. He then turned and looked behind himself in time to see a giant flurry of snow waft in off the trees. If he didn't get inside to warm up soon hypothermia would start to set in. Travis shivered as the snow flurry enveloped him. As a shiver ran down his spine, yet again, it sapped what little energy he had left. He stepped closer to the door and knocked.

The massive wooden door slowly creaked open on first contact. The once warm and inviting cabin had changed into an abandoned cabin once again. Travis paused. Something inside him was screaming "DON'T GO INSIDE!" deep in his soul. He turned to look back at the billowing snow and took a step into the cabin.

After another step in, the huge wooden door slammed shut behind Travis. He tried to open it, but it was sealed shut. He started to panic and began kicking at the door. The only reason he stopped kicking was a loud sobbing started behind him. It was too quiet at first, but with each second that Travis could not hear it, it would grow in intensity. It was soon loud enough for him to hear over his kicking.

Travis paused, again. This time the shiver that ran down his spine had nothing to do with the barren, cold and desolate building he was standing in. He was now terrified of turning around. The crying was now echoing around the room, as if trying to turn him around. His head turned before his body, fear plastered on his face, and a dreary sight filled his eyes. As his body followed his head the sight that laid out in front of him tried to look innocent. Travis was having none of it and pressed his back to the sealed door.

In the opposite corner, knelt down and folded forward, was what appeared to be a woman. She had long black hair that draped over a grey nightshirt. The skin that Travis could see was pale and sickly. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Damn it." Travis whispered to himself.

The crying stopped, abruptly. Nervously Travis looked around the room. To his right was another door, barely open. The small crack let in a bit of light, but it was still a cold light that peaked through. When the silence was then broken by a dark laughter Travis ran towards the new door. Anticipating the door to slam shut before he got there Travis ran shoulder first into the door. The cold light that leaked through before quickly turned into a rich golden sheen. This room was vastly different from the previous one. Where the first was gloomy, this one was vibrant. The previous room was empty, cob-webbed and had a stale smell. This new room was the definition of opulence. The walls were stained dark wood and there was even a chandelier that provided the golden light. There were shining golden light fixtures adorning the walls. In the middle of the room was a large table with several people sitting around it, playing cards.

"This one's had too much to drink." An elder gentleman laughed as Travis stumbled through the door.

"Seems to be a stranger," a middle-aged woman, frosted with diamonds, started, "Do any of you recognize him?"

"You're right, as always Dottie." One of the younger men stated, "Hey stranger, how did you get in here?"

The light flickered and the smiling faces and tidy composure of the group changed. They were now decomposing corpses. Their smiles turned into open mouths stuck in their death wails. Teeth were missing and three of the four heads were broken in different places. The fourth was missing his head entirely. The bodies, now bare of any clothes, showed different injuries and stages of decomposition. With another flicker the card players were back to their lively selves.

"What's the problem, dear?" Dottie asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost." She finished to a round of laughter from the men.

"What's going on?" Travis asked.

"It's okay, darling," Dottie claimed, "You're in good company now, and that's what truly matters."

"Hear, hear!" The three men cheered while raising their glasses.

"We wouldn't mind a fifth player." Dottie started before being interrupted.

"Is he even old enough to smoke, Dottie?" One of the men asked before the lights flickered again and the four turned to corpses.

"He will catch on quick. Won't you, dear?" The bare, scarred and decomposing Dottie seemed to shake as she spoke.

"Do we really need a fifth?" The headless corpse spoke up, which helped Travis find the man's head under his chair.

"Oh Henry, I love it when you do that ventriloquism." Dottie, and the two other men, laughed as the light flickered back to normal.

"What is going on?" Travis asked again, fear in his voice, "Who are you people? What happened to the cabin?"

"So much for catching on quick." The now whole Henry sighed.

"You have to survive, dear." Dottie whispered.

"Don't give the plot away, Dottie." The youngest of the men spoke again.

"What plot?" Came the hurried and scared voice of Travis, "Survive what?"

"It's a maze, dear." Dottie half whispered before an unseen force violently ripped her out of her chair.

The fear on Dottie's face was real when she was grabbed out of her seat. She tried to say something more, but her body was visibly crushed and her words turned into screams. She was then slammed on the ground, head hitting hard enough to indent her forehead. It was just like the wound from when the lights flickered. She was then dragged backwards, doing her best to kick the invisible force. Her nails were ripped off of her hands as she tried to dig them into the pristine hardwood floors. Her nails and a trail of blood was all that remained once Dottie entered the doorway and it slammed shut.

The three card players acted like nothing happened as Travis stood there, frozen to the spot. He couldn't believe what he just saw. When his legs started working he slowly backed up into the door behind him. His eyes were locked onto the door that Dottie was dragged into when it dissolved into the wall.

"What just happened?" Travis yelled.

"Pay no mind, boy," Henry said as he discarded and collected a new one, "Dottie loves the drama."

"What the …," Travis whispered to himself before asking aloud, "How do I get out of here?"

"Pick a door." The youngest card player said.

"I pick this door,'' Travis yelled as he slapped the door behind him.

"What door?" the third man asked without looking up.

Travis turned around and the door was gone. This caused him to panic once again. He turned back around and looked for a door. There were two on one wall and two on the opposite. Each was decorated differently.

"Which one should I choose?" Travis asked.

"Whichever, it doesn't really matter," Henry stated, "You won't get out."

"Why can't I just stay here?'' Travis asked.

"You can,'' the young man said.

"But there will be a cost." Henry added.

"A cost?"

"One you will pay regardless. So," Henry said as he pushed out a chair for the young Travis Walker, "Take a seat and we will deal you in."

Travis pushed the seat back in and walked around the large cherry wood table. He started to examine the different doors. The first one was just a regular door. It looked like the door he came through. The wood had a dark stain and the doorknob was shiny brass. Travis then turned his attention to the second door.

This door was heavily damaged. It had slivers missing and it looked like it had once been on fire. There were burn marks lining the bottom of it. The once golden brass was now covered in a black substance, probably soot from a fire. Travis's first thought was, "No," so he turned around to examine the other two doors.

The third door was painted white. The handle was decorative and black. This one called to Travis. He ran his fingers over the white door as he looked it up and down, scrutinizing every inch. There were different thicknesses of paint, imperceptible with Travis's eyes, but he could feel the difference.

Travis took a look at the fourth door, but he had already made up his mind on which door to choose. This one was gilded. It was a dark wood, possibly cherry, like the table. The door knob was shining brighter than the brass on the first door. Travis assumed it was plated gold or something similar, which coincided with the lavishness of the room he was standing in.

Travis grabbed the black handle of the third door, turned it and pushed in the door. He stepped through the door frame and the white door slam shut behind him.

"Wrong door." The youngest spoke up again.

The room that Travis now found himself in was decorated more than likely for a girl. It was painted pink and white. There was a white dresser in one corner, a four poster bed up against the wall opposite Travis, which was draped with a pink and frilly fabric, nightstands on either side of the bed with matching lamps, an old wooden chest laid in front of the bed, a brown armoire to Travis's left and finally a small pink vanity with a regular brown chair sitting next to a window.

"A window." Travis called out slightly as he rushed to it.

Travis tried to open it, but he thought it was painted shut. When the window wouldn't budge he started to punch it. Then he tried kicking it. He was about to pick up the chair when the door he came through opened. It was Dottie. She looked fine. There were no wounds and she seemed … Happy?

"Dottie," Trevor said as he watched the pink nightgown wearing woman climb into bed before screaming, "DOTTIE!"

Dottie reached over, turned off the lamp and settled into bed. Travis continued to call her name, even after he tried to grab her and his hand went through her arm. After she turned her back to him, getting comfortable in bed, he looked around the room again. Travis saw a clock on the wall with the door he, and Dottie, came through and the hands were spinning quickly

A few seconds passed for him, but according to the clock several hours passed. The clock hands stopped spinning, landing on 3:15. The echoing silence was interrupted by a low screeching noise. Travis's attention turned to the window which was slowly opening.

Once the window was open far enough a figure, shrouded in shadows, entered the room. The shadowy figure crept up to the bed. Travis tried to intervene, but his attempts to strike the thing were met with air. He could do nothing to stop what was playing out in front of him.

The living shadow weightlessly climbed onto the bed. It turned Dottie onto her back and lightly caressed the sleeping woman's face. Travis tried to catch a glimpse of the shadowy face, or any actual feature, but the phantom was completely black. Travis threw up his hands in frustration and walked over to the vanity's chair. Instead of flopping down on the seat, Travis fell through the object. It was then he came to a conclusion

"Nothing is real."

He quickly got back up and walked over to the door he came through. He tried the doorknob, but it too was not solid. His hand went straight through the simple black handle. He shrugged with an exasperated sigh and leaned backwards on the only thing solid, the wall. He then slid to his knees and covered his eyes with his hands. He didn't want to watch what was about to happen to Dottie.

"Wake up, Dottie," a distorted voice sang out, "Wake up, Dottie."

Trevor looked up in time to see a large kitchen knife appear from the shadow's hand. The blade reflected the light from a non-existent moon, which Travis tried to find through the glass of the window.

"Dottie!" the shadow sang out again.

The distorted voice continued to sing out Dottie's name as the unknown shadow person started to caress her skin with the knife. Dottie quickly stirred and her eyes popped open. Before she could make a sound the shadow's other hand jumped to cover the young woman's mouth. Then the mystery intruder leaned in, only inches from her face, and whispered something to her. Travis didn't catch the words, but whatever was said caused the blood to drain from Dottie's face. The last thing Trevor saw, before closing his eyes, was the gleaming blade rise above the shadow creature's head.

Travis squeezed his eyelids shut as Dottie screamed behind the shadow hand. The next sound was disturbing. Travis could have gone his entire life without knowing what it sounded like when a knife entered supple flesh. He could have also gone his entire life without hearing the screams of agony Dottie was fighting through. The squishing sound as the shadow entity continued to stab, remove and then stab again was mixing with the muffled screams and echoing off the walls. Travis grabbed his ears and started to hum. He tried everything to stop the sound from reaching his brain, but it was proving difficult.

Travis couldn't take the sounds and began screaming himself. He was attempting to drown out the sounds of Dottie's death. It was now that a new sound crept into his ears. A loud banging replaced the sound of metal plunging into flesh. Travis could not help but look for the new sound effect. The figure had picked up one of the lamps and was now smashing it into Dottie's face. Travis couldn't take listening anymore. He got up and yelled, "Stop it!"

"Why would I stop?" The distorted voice asked.

"Please stop." Travis cried.

The room went dark and when the light came back on he was back in the original cabin. The light changed from the eerie light of a moon that wasn't there and back to the cold freezing winter light. The room was now empty. The woman from earlier was also gone. When Travis looked around he was standing in front of the four doors once again.

A sound started to echo in Travis's ears. He soon realized it was the woman's laugh bouncing around the room. Panicking Travis turned and saw the candle. It was only there in reflection. His first reaction was to run, head first towards the snow covered window frame. Instead of breaking through, Travis hit the window like a brick wall.

The reflection turned from just a candle to a fire starting to spread over the table, which melted the snow on the glass. Travis's reflection showed his feet on fire. It took a few seconds, but the heat started to rise. He jumped towards the doors, all on the opposite wall, and patted down his legs. The invisible fire was getting hotter, the reflection showed the fire jumping to his arms. As the heat rose and his skin started to blister he looked over the doors for a few more seconds.

The last door, burnt and peeling, seemed to call him. A winter air, crisp and uncaring, was invading through the fine seal around the soot covered doorway. Travis grabbed for the door before he was close enough and the repeating laugh turned to a desperate, "NO!". The air in the cold, desolate cabin began to collect as the word seemed to summon it. Travis felt a pull. The vacuum started to drag him backwards, just slightly. He made quick leaps forward and jumped for the door knob. His feet left the ground but his hands landed on the door. After a flick of the wrist the door opened.

Travis flew out into the snow drenched shrubs in front of the building. The burning instantly stopped and his skin, hands and feet were almost burnt to a crisp. They had no feeling, but there was enough meat that he could still use them. After making fists with his mutilated hands he passed out, only to wake up a few hours later. The cabin was silent and dark and housed him, undisturbed, for two days. When the sun rose on the 3rd day he walked out of the cabin, vowing to destroy the evil that lurked in the abandoned cabin in the woods.