Charlene

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It's been said that it was a young woman who would light that candle, to chase away the dark. It has been said that she has been doing this for years, long before she died. The story of Charlene is not very well known, but I know it by heart.

Charlene lived in that cabin many years ago, first with her mother, then alone when her mother passed. That cabin was Charlene’s world. It was very modern for its time, the logs used to build it were sleek, and the front of the cabin, with its painted cherry door, gave it an air of charm. It almost looked like it had come right from a fairy tale. Indeed, that is how Charlene liked to live, cheerful and carefree. She dressed in the prettiest of dresses, hummed to herself, and brushed her long mahogany hair. Numerous potted plants and flowers dotted the cabin stairs and front of the cabin, while candles would glow in the night, flickering like fairy lights in the dark. I knew the house well, because I used to help tend to it, and would talk to Charlene as I worked. As she sat on her stairs to her cabin, I would help her care for the flowers that lined those stairs. She was always kind to me, and good. She lived alone in the cabin for a few years, but that would not last forever.

Charlene’s world would soon become bigger, for she had a visitor that always caught her eye. It was a friend of her family’s, and one that she grew up with, and one that I have met before. His name was Reid, and he helped light up her world. He worked as a delivery man and when he delivered to her, he would stay to chat, or help move something around outside her house. He was always there to lend a helping hand. But it was said that he was evil, an immoral man with a wicked heart, and she was just too good to see it. I certainly did not care for how often he started to visit. She didn’t see how he stared as she talked with him. She didn’t see how sly he was when she hugged him, to draw her in closer. She didn’t see how wicked he could be when she danced with him. It was all so clear, but it wasn’t to her. She spent every free moment she could with him and soon, he came to stay with her at the little cottage with the candles like fairy lights in the windows. She also stopped paying attention to anyone else around her.

It was so obvious to the world that he was malicious. After they were together for a year though, it became more obvious. One day, he left for a delivery job and he did not come home. A day passed, and then two. Three nights crept by, and then four. Charlene became beside herself with worry. Where did Reid go? Where could he have gone off to? It was so obvious that the man just up and left her, not caring about how she felt. He was just going to move on, and leave her alone to defend herself. She should have been able to see that. Maybe not right away, but she should have seen that sooner. But that was not the case. She pined and moaned, wondering where her love was. Where was he? He moved on. Moved on without her. He hurt her, and yet, she still loved him. As days passed into weeks, she became lost in her worry and despair. The flowers and the plants that dotted the front of her cabin began to wither, and she did not want me to help with them either. She was not carefree any longer. Instead she would sit on her front stairs and wait. She waited for her love Reid to return, whether it rained, whether it shined, whether it stormed where wind bashed against her. Now there was always a candle burning, a candle that she hoped would guide him home. But there was no guiding the wicked back once they had been cast out.

Help was offered to her. So many times was she offered aid. She was offered food, drink, company, a hand around the house, and counseling. She was offered all of it. At first she would quietly accept. Then she started to decline. Then she turned spiteful, spiteful especially at the counseling. She pushed everyone away, including me. It was like she didn’t want to hear that her life would be better without a cruel man by her side. She didn’t want to hear how wicked he was, or hear how others loved her and meant it, where that man, Reid, did not. She became horrid, and pushed away all offers for help. She started to lock herself in that cabin, and she would stare haughtily out of her window. The only light that silhouetted her was the light of the glowing candle she kept burning for Reid. She even began to refuse or acknowledge help at the door, only to scream to be left alone. She wouldn't let me get close anymore.

It became clear that the once sweet Charlene had become wicked too. She had pined for her evil man for so long, some of that had seeped into her. Now with her focus only on him, she lost all of her charm, her sweetness, and her good. It pained anyone that saw her to see how much evil she took in, for it caused her such pain. She just had to be released from it. It was the only way. But Charlene saw to that herself. One day, she put herself in a pretty white dress, the most beautiful of her dresses. On that day, she made it a point to see to her dying flowers, to cook as she used to, to dance around the house, and finally put her candle for Reid out. But that was also that day that Charlene had to die. It was by her own hand that she passed, looking so pretty in her white dress, even as death took her. So pretty even as her house went dark and was closed up, intended never to have anyone be there again.

It has been said that she never really left that house. There are rumors that she still haunts the rooms of that cabin of hers. It was hoped that she would be happy haunting that cabin, walking the floorboards, and dancing to herself. But the rumor is that she screams in those rooms. She screams and cries for things that she lost. Even in death she cried for her lost love Reid. She is still a wicked woman, now a wandering soul, and she still pines for the spiteful man she used to love. It’s said that if you walk into the cabin, she watches you and waits. Then when she realizes that you are not her long lost love, she comes for you. It’s said that she will kill any soul that stays too long, angry that it is not her Reid that has come back to her at last.

Yes.

I know this story by heart. I was there when it all happened after all. I watched over her when she was left to live alone after her mother died. I tended to her lawn, and helped in any way I could. She was so kind and thoughtful back then, so sweet. I was a bit leery at first when Reid began to appear more often at her home. He was a worker like I was, but she paid him more attention than she gave to me. I wanted to give him a benefit of the doubt, and maybe he was a good guy, like I was. But there was nothing natural in the way that she liked him. Reid was just wrong. He and I both met Charlene with our jobs, but somehow she liked him more? That wasn’t natural. I tried to tell her that, but she wouldn’t listen. She was too sweet, she didn’t understand.

She stopped having me come by to tend to her lawn, and I had been speechless. She was allowing him to infect her life with his existence. The first time he brought her a bouquet of flowers, I scoffed. It was an obvious thing to do, to buy her love, to distract her. I hated the way he stared. Hated the way she got to hug him, hated the way they danced together. Something had to be done. Reid was scheduled to go away for a longer delivery, which he ensured he took his time on. He took his time to buy a ring, a ring I knew he would use to imprison Charlene forever. I made sure he didn’t come back. He took a wrong turn on his way back, and he moved on. He moved on without Charlene, and moved on from this world. Being weighed down in a river assured that, with that golden ring of his lost in the riverbed. It was exciting, because then Charlene might be able to see past the wickedness that blinded her and move on herself, move on to better and grander things.

But she did not. She turned wicked herself. I tried to reach her, tried to reason, tried to show her that I was there. I tried to offer her a life of goodness that she could have, but she decided to turn me away! I couldn’t understand how she could not see that the love she had for Reid was wrong. She kept saying I was wrong, that I wasn’t understanding or seeing clearly. She blocked me out and stayed inside, just to try and stay away from me and the truth. But couldn’t she see? I was the truth. I was all the good she ever needed. It was then that it became clear that she was wicked, too evil. She needed to be saved.

It was the day that she was in her pretty white dress. I let myself into her cabin that day, right through the window. She yelled at me when she saw me, yelled spiteful things at me, but I did not allow anything to bother me. She came after me with a knife. That wickedness hurt me, but I already knew that she was too infected by evil to know better. This was the moment I would save her. It was the knife that saved her, really. The blade of goodness cut into her chest like butter, slicing right into her heart. I delightfully remember her still screaming, but I did not worry. It was wickedness pouring out of her, spilling out like a red wine onto the floor. I remember her growing quiet, and it was done. She was good again, just so good. I was happy, for the Charlene I remember, MY Charlene, was back. I took her by the arm and sat her inside to rest while I tended her flowers. We cooked together, with her leaning on the table while I made the food. I held her close while we danced together, awkwardly trying to keep to the right rhythm. I remember leaving her sitting on her front porch, and I kissed her forehead goodbye that night. I was so happy that the good Charlene came back to me in the end.

Oh, but it was not for very long. Her body was taken away, which upset me at the time. But when I would stare at her little cabin, I would see her pass by her window. She was still in her white dress, and long mahogany hair framed her face. She even carried a candle with her, one that she used to light to make her house look like it had fairy lights. I had thought of visiting her when I first saw her, but I decided against it. I did such good work making her good again. She deserved a little time for herself. But that was when rumors began to spread. People would enter her house. Whether that was to do maintenance, try to sell it, appraise the house, or even break in to try and steal things, it did not matter. It was rumored that all those people who would enter would not come back out. They would be found dead, dead with a knife stuck in their chest, sliced right through the heart. The rumors haunted me. They died in the same way Charlene was purged. Was she the one doing that? Was she still so wicked? After all of the good I have done?

I know this story very well. I have now watched the cabin for years. So many people have now met the same fate she has. I have been wondering for years why. Why would she do such awful things? Why would she wait for Reid to come back, the long lost love that all of the rumors spoke about? No one should ever wait for someone so evil and spiteful.

But of course, the answer was in front of me this whole time! It was in front of me with every new body she provided. She wasn’t being immoral at all! I realized, after all of these years, why she did what she did. She was trying to spread goodness too, like I did with her! My good, sweet Charlene. All the people who have visited her must have been wicked, and she wanted to turn them good each time. She wasn’t waiting for a long lost love. She was spreading goodness.

As I stood outside of her cabin once again, I relished in that thought. I closed my eyes, I cherished it so much. My Charlene was trying to spread good. She may not be able to tend to her potted plants any longer, or cook or sleep. But she still tried to spread good, and she could still dance, and light candles in her windows. I opened my eyes and saw her standing at her window, with a candle still on the sill. The light of the candle illuminated her skeleton face with her pallid flesh, brought to focus her sweet, wide lips peeled back into a grimacing smile, and brought to relief her gaunt, glowing eyes. A dark stain had blossomed on her chest, the same stain that I had marked her with. She stood there with that grimacing, horrid, beautiful face, and the unblinking stare called to me. Yes, tonight was the night I would see my good Charlene again. Oh how I missed her so.