Babe in the Woods

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. As we pulled out of the driveway I looked over my shoulder and thought mother you are insane for wanting to spend six weeks in that cabin on your own. Ever since dad passed away 6 years ago my mother had started to take herself off to weird, random locations to be on her own for a few weeks. She called it her ‘recharge’ time. She would write, do yoga, meditate, walk etc. She was so much braver than me. The candle flickered in the distance as we drove around the corner away from the cabin.

As we turned into the road I put my hand on Ross’s thigh. ‘Thanks for coming with me babe.’ ‘I hate leaving her there, but it's what she wants.'

He glanced at me, ‘she will be fine Katie. It's only 15 minutes to the village, she is pretty self-sufficient.'

I turned up the radio and tried to forget that eerie image of the candle burning in the window. The night was chilly and there was a mist hanging in the air. It was another forty minutes at least before we would hit a major road, I tried to relax and hum along to the tune. Ross was quiet, but that wasn’t unusual. He didn’t say a huge amount but when he did it was meaningful. I can’t believe we had only been dating nine months, it felt like I had known him all my life.

I closed my eyes and lent on to the window. I must have been drifting off when Ross slammed on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt. ‘What the fuck’ I shouted before I saw it. A pram stood in the middle of the narrow road. It was just lit by our headlights, the rest of the area pitch black. In an instance, a chill went up my back, who would leave a pram here? Was there a baby inside it? Why was it on its own?

Ross’s hand was already on the door handle ready to go and investigate. ‘No, something feels off here. I think we should just drive around it.’

‘What if there is a baby inside Katie? We cannot just drive off without checking, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if we could have helped.’

‘I get it but why would it be here just abandoned – the place feels strange.’ I looked around the trees and the foliage alongside the road was all still, with no movement and no sounds, until I listened harder and there it was a faint baby’s cry. ‘Do you hear that?’

‘Yes, a baby is crying out there we have to help, come on.’

Ross opened his door and so did I – safety in numbers I thought to myself.

We slowly walked to the pram…

I grabbed his hand, and I felt scared. The road was so quiet and the mist was closing in. My heart was beating through my chest. As we got closer to the pram Ross slowly leaned forward to look inside…a toy doll lay motionless.

‘What the fuck’ I said trying to stay calm when all of my body was telling me – run, run, run but where to?

We looked around, but nothing. No more crying, no rustling, just stillness.

‘I don’t like this babe’.

‘Yeah, something is off let’s get back on the road.’

We hurriedly, half walked, half ran back to the car.

When we got inside I fumbled trying to make sure all our doors were locked.

‘What the hell…that was weird’ Ross said, shaking ever so slightly.

‘Let’s just get out of here.' I said quietly, shaking with nerves.

He put his foot to the pedal and we sped off.

‘I think I’ll call mum and make sure she is ok’ I said.

‘Good idea’.

I learnt back to get my bag from the seat behind me and that’s when I saw the large shiny knife glint in the shadows of the backseat…