Behind You

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

Many years ago, there was a girl named Gloria, and she was the sweetest thing. Gloria had the most playful laugh and the biggest smile, and everyone thought she was just an angel. Her family lived near a river in a cabin, and, each day, she would walk an hour with her big brother Daren to get to town and go to school.

One day Gloria, her mother and her big brother stopped by in the town’s Market. She bumped into her friend Lilly, and the two girls began talking about school. Gloria then asked her mother if she could go and play with Lilly. Her mother needed some convincing, but after pleading and begging from the girls, Gloria's mother agreed.Mid afternoon, Gloria's mother was ready to head home. She told her son to call for Gloria and bring her back so they could leave. After twenty minutes, Gloria's brother returned but not with his little sister. The mother got a sinking feeling; she knew something was wrong.

Daren tried to assure his mother that Gloria would return and helped her pack up to head home. With tears blocking her eyes and regret trapped in her chest, Gloria's mother crawled into her bed and lit a candle by her window. The mother left a candle in one of the windows each night, hoping her daughter would find her way home in the middle of the night. Each night for months, there was no sign.

One year later, Gloria's family had just gone to bed when the mother heard a loud cry. She was startled, and her blood froze over. She sat up in the bed and turned slowly to the bedroom window. There was nothing, not even a shadow from the tree. The mother didn't break her stare. Suddenly, another loud cry was so sharp and screeching that it seemed like the glass would break in the windows. Yet, the mother is the only one who seems to hear this. She lifted the covers gently off her to not wake the father and put one leg down after the other onto the cold wooden floor. She slowly made her way to the window and began focusing on what was on the other side. Turned left...turned right... nothing and no one. Looking back in the center, she squints. She brought herself closer to the window, trying to figure out what she saw in the woods. She pulls her head more towards the glass... "What is that?" she thinks... her heart is pounding as if a drum is beating in the room boom, boom, boom... then silence...

Suddenly, it's running at her full speed, breaking through the night, cutting through the trees. By the time Gloria's mother could jump back, it was already at her window staring at her. Each breath is a growl, deep, wet growl. The mother tried to scream, but no sound came out. She tried to move, but her legs were cemented to the cold wooden floor. The thing was staring right at her with its cold eyes. There was no life in them.

It SLAMMED on the window and let out a screeching sound once again. It looked at the mother and said, "He is behind you."

Every year, campers near that cabin say they hear loud cries in the night and see a small light burning in the window far away on the anniversary of Gloria's death. It is said that if you stay in the cabin that night, you will see him... and he will be the last thing you will see.