Charlie

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It was an ominous glow that chilled the bone – even on the warmest August night. That glow was tied to a tale that left many chilled to the bone.

Partying was a pastime for Charlene– particularly in a small town with nothing much to offer except silence, small town gossip, and hearty woods. She’d awoke at a little after 1pm with dried vomit and blood on her pillow and laced throughout her hair. She was naked and had bruises on her thighs and arms. “What the hell? I better call Luke.” she said in a raspy whisper. Luke was her best friend. They’d dated, but he had not wanted children, so she broke it off. However, he was her person. If she needed something, he was there. The best part was, he never asked questions and was always up for a good time. She got up, threw on the cleanest of her dirty clothes on the floor and walked toward the door. She pushed the door to open it, but it seemed sealed shut. She pushed harder and heard a slight groan. Someone was passed-out in front of the door. Well thank God they didn't decide to enter her room. She pushed the door gently, but harder so she could squeeze-out without waking-up the stranger. She looked across the room. Her mom was passed-out on the worn and tattered sofa with some man half-naked on top of her. Well, that figures, I have been your caretaker for years – I’m 26 now and there you are… passed-out after partying at 45 years old. Charlene scoffed in her head. The wafting stench of urine and cigarette smoke filled the trailer. Trash, beer cans, empty bottles of booze, and, yep, used condoms were strewn throughout the living room, kitchen, and dining room making obstacles on her path to the bathroom. Half-naked people were everywhere. She stumbled through the piles of trash as she tried to quietly navigate herself through the labyrinth of still-sleeping bodies. She showered, rinsing the vomit and blood from her hair, surprised not to see any cuts on herself. Hmmm, that’s odd. Where did all this blood come from? She dried off, again, threw the cleanest of her dirty clothes on and called Luke.

“Luke, it’s Charlie. I need you to come get me.” Luke, who was always ready to jump when Charlene called, dropped everything at his welding shop and jumped in his van. Even so it had been years since he and Charlene had dated, he had never stopped loving her. He would do anything for her - literally. He would even kill for her. She was his person.

The drive took about fifteen minutes, and he saw Charlie waiting with wet hair outside. Good thing it’s summer, he thought as he pulled up. Her long brown hair had wet her t-shirt and he could see her nipples hard under the fabric. He adjusted his pants as she jumped in the van. She gently leaned toward him with a cigarette between her lips and with muffled speech said, “Gotta light? And... I need some Jack? You up for a run to the cabin?” Luke held out his lighter with a grin and Charlene drew in a deep breath as she lit her cigarette. “Charlie, I would be up for a run to the moon with you!” he laughed and threw the van into drive. Two miles down the road Charlene eyed the local liquor store and they grabbed four bottles of Jack and continued toward the cabin.

The cabin was deep in the woods. They started to drive down the road while the wooded scenery began to close around the van masking their presence as if they were the only two people in the world. They were talking about Jeeps, laughing about random nothing, when Charlene told him to pull over at a lake. She grabbed one of the bottles of Jack, jumped out of the van, and lifted her crop top and slid the bottle down between her breasts. Luke needed no further persuasion - he threw the keys to the floorboard, grabbed another bottle and followed her. They both started taking swigs, talking and laughing about pranks they had pulled and all the fun they'd had in the past. Luke knew this was going to be an interesting afternoon, he'd not seen Charlene like this since the last time she was dumped by some dude.

The conversation changed from light-hearted to intense and she started talking about her boyfriend Brady. Luke knew things had been on again and off again with him, but had no idea of the events that had occurred. He leaned forward as she told him about the past six months. He’d had no idea. She had gotten pregnant. Brady would not allow her to have the baby. He told her she had no choice but to have an abortion or he was going to lose the money his grandfather gave him weekly. Luke knew Brady had never really worked, unless one can call a part-time job here and there working; if so, then he did. However, he was not about to lose his meal ticket. Luke put his hand on Charlie’s leg. Suddenly something changed in Charlene’s tone. It became flat. She told Luke that Jonathan, Brady’s brother, had drugged her. When she awoke, she was in a strange city and he and Brady were carrying her into a building. She stopped talking and chugged on her bottle until it was empty.

Luke’s bottle of Jack had a few swigs out of it. She grabbed it and took another swig. She continued. “I screamed Luke. I tried to get away. I tried. I tried. I felt a sharp stab of a needle, then everything went dark. When I woke-up, I was bleeding. They had taken me to an abortion site. They took my baby.” Charlene sobbed and curled into the fetal position. She slid her hand onto the bottle of Jack and holding it up, said, “I made them pay. It’s all even now! That bastard and his brother learned their lesson!” She started laughing. Luke went back to the van and grabbed the last two bottles of Jack – it was necessary.

By 6 pm, all four bottles of Jack were gone. Charlene staggered over to Luke and began to take-off his pants. He didn’t resist...even so he knew Charlene’s boyfriend was, more than likely, at the cabin; he also knew giving sloppy seconds when she was pissed, turned Charlene on which made him even more willing to fulfill her desires. He grabbed her into his arms and slid off her shorts. She moaned in pleasure, as did he and they fell asleep (well, more than likely passed-out) in one another’s arms.

When they awoke, it was dark. Luke’s head was pounding. He looked at his digital watch, 1am. They were both soaking wet. There must have been a rainstorm when they were sleeping. The clouds were still low, and the air was thick. Charlene stirred. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Oh man, my head” she whispered. They put their clothes on and stumbled to the van and sat down in their soaking wet clothes. “Charlie, still want to head to the cabin?” Luke asked. She nodded and he started the van. They headed down the road toward the cabin. Luckily, he carried bottled water in the van - hopefully this would help his head. He grabbed a bottle and handed one to Charlene. They each swigged water as they drove.

Charlene was quiet and this was not like her – even with a hangover. "Charlie, what's up?" he asked in a nonchalant manner. "I just really want to be there already" her response was flat. "Well let me just tell you, the dirt-road turn-off is around this corner, and it’s only two miles from there! And well, hell, in this van, that will take less than five minutes!" Luke said as he laughed. This seemed to entertain Charlene and snap her out of her mood. "Well, maybe you should use that accelerator pedal!" she teased. Now that was the Charlie he knew! They both laughed and he pressed harder on the accelerator as he made the turn onto the dirt road.

Deep within the trees, it was pitch black except the low glow of his dirty headlights – no stars could be seen on this cloudy, moonless night. Typically, Charlene would have a tiny candle in the window of the cabin, but since this was a much later than planned arrival, there was only darkness. The air was heavy from the afternoon thunderstorm with all the clouds hanging about. His dimmed headlights caressed the front of the cabin creating an eerie glow as he pulled in. He barely noticed, but it appeared as through the door was open. He stopped the van and jumped-out; Charlene didn’t follow. She stood next to the van fingering the handle to the door. "Hey man, you coming, it looks like the door is open?" Luke said. She stopped fingering the handle of the door and said, "Give me a minute, I need a smoke." Luke started toward the door catching the glow of the stricken match and the scent of sulfur as she lit her cigarette from the camping matches he kept stashed in the door of his van. He grabbed his flashlight from his pocket, as he had frequently been to the cabin and knew it had no electricity. He started to walk up the porch stairs. He thought he heard a muffled moaning. He crouched down and shone the flashlight into the open door. The flashlight died. Well, that figures. "Hey, Charlie, bring a match, I can't see shit." He jumped when he felt her hands slide up his back. She was right behind him. She pulled him down the stairs of the porch and kissed him with her cigarette tasting lips. She fumbled for his zipper and slid her shorts to the side. His back was pressed into the stairs of the porch – but this didn’t stop him. He could not resist her touch and his body quickly responded. She moaned as she was pleasured then pushed him back as she went back to the van. Luke fixed his pants and was now more concerned about the partially open door.

“Charlie, the door looks open” he whispered again. “Can you grab my matches from the van please?” and he started to get up, but she hissed, “Dude, give me a minute!" Rather than waiting, he felt his way along the stair rail up to the door. He then felt his hand along the wall to the cabinet where the candles and matches were kept. He had been there enough times to know the basic lay of the land. Blindly, his hands felt the matches and candle, he struck the match and upon lighting the candle, he immediately jumped-back and the candle fell to the floor next to Jonathan, Charlene’s boyfriend's brother. In the light of the candle, he could see blood - everywhere. Jonathan was shaking and making a low moaning. Luke yelled for Charlene. He heard the quickening of footsteps, and then, he felt a searing pain - and everything went black.

Luke's eyes were blurry; he seemed to see a tiny light reflecting in the glass of the window. It seemed surreal. Wait. Is that a candle? “Charlie? "Charlie?" he mumbled weakly. He could now make out the flame of the candle in the window. He saw a silhouette. He tried to speak louder this time "Charlie?!" The silhouette seemed to be coming closer to him. "Hey there Lukey-luke, are you ok?" It was Charlene, she was bending down near him with a damp cloth. "You must have fallen when you came inside. You hit your head pretty hard". Her voice echoed in his very sore head. She held the candle - he could see a deep colored stain, maybe blood, on the washed-out wood floor of the cabin. "Wha.. what is this blood?" He managed to stammer out. "Yup, ya big dope. You fell and hit your head and there's blood fucking everywhere! I have been trying to wake you up for hours." Charlene, in her matter-of-fact demeanor stated. "Didn't...wasn't.. I mean, Jonathan was here. I mean right here - in all the blood?" He rambled. "What the fuck are you talking about? Jonathan? As in Brady's brother Jonathan? Dude he's probably banging some chick since I won't give him a piece of this" she turned around and shook her ass. Luke laughed, ouch, my head! He brought his hand up to his head. Charlene, laughed, “That’s what you get for being clumsy”. She then asked if he was hungry and brought him some crackers. She sat down next to him, lit a joint, and took in a long drag. She smiled and offered it to Luke. He took a long drag. Man, this chick knows how to party - no wonder I would do anything for her! Her warm body was pressing against him, and his eyes began to close from the combination of his head hurting, the warmth of her body and the effects of the joint.

The next thing Luke remembered was the leaf-filtered sun peeking through the window. He was able to make out the melted wax from the burnt-out candle caressing the sill and onto the floor. He was still on the couch. It was so quiet. Charlene was gone.

Thump...thump

What is that? Luke tried to sit-up. His head was still pounding.

"Charlie?"

Thump...thump...thump

"Charlie?" still, no one answered. Luke tried to stand-up. He fell back down. He held on to the couch this time as he tried to get back up. He staggered a bit and felt lightheaded. Again, thump, thump, thump. The sound seemed to be coming from beneath him. In the gentle glint of the filtered sunlight, he saw the trap door to the basement cracked a bit. Dropping to his knees and using his arm to balance, he pulled it all the way back. Slowly he turned his body and rung by rung managed to head down to the basement without falling. It was pitch black. He could smell the stale scent of alcohol, cigarettes, urine, and pot. However, he could not see anything but a strange flickering from the crack of a closed door. Feeling along the walls of the hall, he managed to quietly make his way toward the flicker.

Louder this time THUMP THUMP THUMP.

Luke quietly pushed the door open. He could see Charlene covered in blood. She had a sledgehammer and was slamming it upon some mass of meat on the floor. His eyes were not quite able to make out what was happening… then, he saw it. A hand. A human hand still in-tact. Then THUMP Charlie seemed to have noticed the hand and slammed the sledgehammer on it!

"CHARLIE! CHARLIE! Are you okay!?" Luke’s yell seemed to gain her attention. Charlene looked over at him laughing. Luke was bewildered. He had no idea what was happening. Blood was everywhere. Charlene was now laughing a maniacal laugh and had dropped to her knees and was rubbing the blood on the ground. She looked over at him with a loving smile. “Lukey, come closer” she enticed. He backed-up.

Luke backed into a wall. The darkness and his head-pain seemed to have disoriented him. Was this even happening? Charlene pushed her arms back and stood up. She sauntered closer to him and in a raspy whisper said, “Luke, you love me. Yes?” Stammering he tried to respond “Charlie. I..I… I love you. Hey, are are are you ok? W-w-what happened here?” “Shhhh. Luke. Shhhh.” she mumbled. She slid away from him and walked backwards fondling the doorknob behind her. There was a candle on the table next to the door. Then, slowly opening the door there seemed to be more darkness, but she had grabbed the candle and he could make out that there was mass hanging in the space beyond the opened door. He walked forward to get a better look. She raised the candle: there, on a meat hook was Brady. He was obviously dead. She ran her fingers from his chest stopping at his groin. “Uh oh. No more baby-making for you Mr. Need-Money-No-Worky” she said laughing.

Luke fell backwards and slid down the wall. He put his hands in his face. The stench of death, urine, and blood was permeating his nostrils. He was shaking his head. He felt Charlene’s warm body slide down next to him and lace her slimy, blood-stained fingers with his to pull them off his face.

“Luke. He made me. He and Jonathan made me! You don’t understand. Brady forced me to have an abortion. There were bright lights. I was bleeding for six days. He took it. He took my baby.” She was hysterical. Luke held her. Her voice deepened. “I made them pay! I made them see. I lured Brady here. Him and his Straight Edge self. I stabbed him with a tiny needle from my mom’s stash and night night. That big boy was asleep. I dragged him to the basement hole. I showed him! I hoisted, I pulled, I got him on that hook.” She was not making sense, but she was. She was rambling. She continued “Jonathan came to get him. He’s not Straight Edge. A sip here, a smoke there. I let him fuck me. He was so tired, he fell asleep. How easy. I whacked him in the head with the back of the axe. I got in his car and drove home and drank until I could not remember anything else.”

Luke’s head was whirling. She did this. His love. She did it. That was why Jonathan was in the cabin? Why did she call him?

His mind was whirling.

He thought about the nights he’d come to the cabin to see her: the glow of the candle in the window so he knew she was there waiting for him; the lingerie she would wear; the laughter and fun they had while in one another’s arms.

Who was this woman? She was a mere shell of who he knew. Then, he seemed to become more aware. The stench of the room – blood and urine; her warm body shaking next to him. It was a surreal moment. He slid his hand down along his leg on his cargo pant. He could feel his cell phone in his pocket. He began to slide it out – holding the power button to alert Emergency Services. Slowly, so slowly, he needed help – and Charlene needed help.

Charlene glimpsed his hand moving. She quickly grabbed the sledgehammer and swung it. All went black.

Luke awoke in a hospital with police guarding him. His head injury was severe. He’d been asleep, if you want to call a coma sleep, for three weeks. He was not able to speak nor move his hands. He went through years of speech therapy. As his speech began to develop, he was visited by detectives asking about the happenings that night at the cabin. Brady and Jonathan had been well-known throughout the community and their family was on a mission to find their murderer. Luke told the story and the detectives told him there was no sign of Charlene and she had not been seen since. They had placed APBs out on her, but nothing. No one had seen her.

Ten years had passed.

The story of her passion killings were well-known. Parents made sure their teens never wandered up toward the cabin. The road had become overgrown and the cabin mostly boarded-up.

Luke had recovered enough to have a mostly normal life. His heart ached for Charlene. He decided to take his van and drive toward the cabin to see if all the rumors were true. He passed the lake. He smiled to himself with the memories of drinking Jack, laughing, and passing-out in her arms. He kept driving. The dense trees enveloped his van as he slowly drove down the road. Ironically, it was August and about midnight. The darkness seemed to swirl silently all around him.

He neared the cabin, yet could barely make out the road as the overgrowth had taken over. It seemed that no one had been there in years. His heart was pounding. He began to have a fluttering of butterflies in his stomach as he began to make out the gentle glinting of a candle glowing in the window. He stopped his van. He was about a quarter mile away. Was that really a candle? He got out. He quietly walked toward the cabin guided by the light. As he neared the cabin, the gentle glow of the candle began to intensify. He could see the silhouette of someone on the porch. Then, he heard her voice, “Lukey, I knew you wouldn’t leave me long.” Five steps to the top of the porch. He counted each as he steadily planted each foot on the riser: one…two…three…four…five.

He smelled the familiar scent of Jack and cigarettes. He felt her hand touch his cheek. Her lips pressed against his. His body began to respond to her touch, then, as he pulled her closer, he felt a sharp pain and a warm sensation flowing down his back. Luke fell to the ground. “I will always love you, Charlie” he managed to gasp before his eyes closed.

Luke was neither heard from again nor was his body ever found and there has not been a candle in the window in over three decades, until tonight…