Don't Let Go

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

The no-longer young man averted his eyes. He knew the power it had to draw onlookers in and he knew the terror once inside. He rose from where he’d been lying, in exhausted stupor underneath a tree, and attempted to walk away ... head down, staring at the forest floor in front of him. A peek of red suggested a berry and with hunger gnawing he lunged for it. The peek was just that ... a beetle had eaten most of the fruit and was finishing it off. The man popped berry and beetle in his mouth, scavenged around to see if there were more, then stood up. Glancing around just to get his bearings he realized he was even closer to the cabin, as if he’d been walking towards instead of away from it. The candle flame mesmerized his tired brain and he stood staring, remembering ...

A girl with shiny black hair, a walk in the woods, her laughter so intoxicating, her skin so smooth ... he couldn’t wait. A giggled decision to veer from the path just enough to not get caught, the frenzied act of passion, the patches of sunlight coupled with gentle wind rustling through leaves lulling them to sleep in the aftermath. Waking much later than intended, the woods now dark and ominously quiet, their stumbled search not finding the path but finally finding a light ... a candle burning in the window of a cabin.

When they found it empty they were too tired to be leery, too scared of being alone in the woods to wonder about a lit candle with nobody to light it. Did they decide the owner had just stepped out for a minute? Later he could not recall whether they’d discussed that, could not recall discussing much at all ... after hours of walking they were just grateful to be out of the elements.

The cabin was empty save for a chair, a small table and a wood-slatted bed. Politely leaving the bed for the owner they still expected, they sat on the floor with their backs to a wall until, once again, falling asleep.

This time he woke to her frantically shaking his arm and whispering, “something’s here.” The candle no longer burned and he took her hand to let her know he was awake while trying to adjust his eyes to the dark. She was shaking like a leaf and it only took a moment to understand why. Though he could not see a thing, he knew with no uncertainty that something was in the room and he knew with equal certainty that it was unfriendly. He was not a religious person and until that moment would have scoffed at talk of good or evil, but now terror filled his entire being and he knew it was not his imagination ... whatever was in the room embodied evil.

Still holding her hand he slid his back up the wall until he was standing and pulled her up. The door was to their right so he nudged her to start inching that way. She took a few stumbling steps, found the doorknob and when it did not open right away, turned to yank on it. The door opened with a blast of wind that pushed her further into the room but he managed to grab her arm as she started to scream. For what seemed an eternity but was likely mere seconds, he battled the howling wind and the unseen force holding her. Then he sensed more than heard “I only need one ...” She must have sensed it too as her screams got louder and formed words ... “it can’t fight us both, don’t let go ...” the last word tumbling into gasping cries as ... he did.

He stumbled outside, in his mind fully intending to grab a stick or a rock and charge back in to heroically rescue her but ... he didn’t.

By the light of the stars he ran, her screams following him for what seemed like miles.

*****

The flame flickered and he came back to the present with a start. He’d been wandering the woods since that fateful night, never finding the path out. He’d learned to live off berries, leaves and bugs; his clothes were tattered, his hair matted, his shame ... unbearable. The shiny-haired girl haunted his dreams and he often woke in a sweat, her screams fading with the light of day.

He couldn’t go on ... he would allow the flame to draw him in. Wearily he made his way to the door. He only hesitated a moment before turning the knob and stepping inside. It was as he remembered: a chair, a table, a bed. But in a far corner something small and shiny. He crumpled to the floor as he recognized the ring he had given her, only a month before their walk, promising to love and protect, to always be by her side, to never let go.