Endless

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

That was the story told around town for as long as anyone can remember.

The old cabin had been abandoned for years, but there was speculation that someone was in there. Some said it was the spirit of the kids that had gone missing in the town. Some thought it was the person who kidnapped them. Others thought it may be something even more sinister…

Kids were dared to search for the cabin. Most said no, but a few daring ones agreed. There was no exact location for the cabin. One had to walk in the woods aimlessly until you found it, or, as some say, till it found you.

One night, a girl ventured out into the woods. She held nothing but a flashlight and a video camera. No cell phones because in the woods, there is no one that can help you. Only a hand-held camera to document your experience. Everyone wanted to see the cabin, but no one wanted to go find it themselves… except for the few who went and never came back.

Standing at the edge of the woods, the girl was apprehensive. Fear had overcome her. She convinced herself that this was all just stories told to scare kids. She had never feared the woods, until now.

Taking a deep breath, she walked through the trees and into the unknown.

“Don’t forget to record it.”

She recalled the other kids telling her this and pulled out her camera and hit record.

There was still light outside so she could still see what was in front of her: a lot of trees.

The woods were silent except for the sounds of crickets chirping and her feet crunching leaves. Then she heard her breath. It got heavier and louder. She couldn’t tell if she was becoming out of breath from the walking or if fear was gripping her lungs tighter.

A clearing appeared. She could tell there were no trees, but it was hard to see if anything was there since it had gotten darker out. She decided to put the camera away for now and pulled out the tiny flashlight from her pocket. She turned the flashlight on and saw dry grass in front of her. She shined it around the clearing but couldn’t make out anything else. She went further into the clearing, shining her flashlight everywhere. The cabin had to be here.

As she continued, she started to see stacks of fallen trees. Then, the cabin. It was bigger than she thought it would be. It looked like an ordinary house made from wood. There was only one window, and she saw no light in it.

“Don’t go in unless you see the candle flame,” she was told by the others.

The girl assumed the candle would be lit when she found the cabin. She didn’t know what to do. She was shaking and tears burned at her eyes. What had she gotten herself into?

She decided that she should leave. She walked back to the trees she had come from and out of the clearing. The house didn’t look scary, but she didn’t feel confident going in.

She walked in a straight line, the same way she had come into the woods. That’s what she thought. It was dark now, and even with the flashlight, hard to see anything. All the trees looked the same. Panic gripped her, causing her to hyperventilate. She tried to calm her breathing, but she was now terrified.

I’m going to die here, she thought.

She was fumbling through trees now, stumbling and falling as she tried to pick up her pace. She tripped and fell onto grass. She lifted her head to see there were no trees. She was free. Free from the woods. She grabbed her flashlight that had fallen in front of her and stood up.

She shined her light in front of her.

The cabin. It was right there.

Panicked, the girl dashed back into the woods. She kept running for what felt like forever, but she was just running in circles. Every road led her to the cabin. She could no longer escape it. It had found her, and it wanted her to go inside.

Stopping in front of the cabin she finally noticed something: a light coming from the window. A soft flame, flickering. Taunting her to come in.

Her feet were glued in place. She heard no noise. There were no bugs or wind. Just silence.

Every part of her body tensed up. She had no choice but to go forward, into the cabin. Fear would do her no good now.

So, she went inside. She opened the door to find everything inside the house was also made from wood. There was a staircase in front of her, made from wood. It was dark, except for the candle. She walked to the window where the candle sat. She stared at the flame, begging this to all be a dream.

Out the window, she saw a flash of light. She fell to the ground underneath the window and turned off her flashlight. Someone was outside. She peered out the window to only see darkness. There was light from outside the window, she was sure of it. Or had she gone insane?

She crawled into the hallway, away from the window. When she was out of view, she stood up. She realized there were no rooms downstairs, just one long hallway that went around the stairs. No defining features to set this house apart. Who would have made this place? She walked around the hallway, back to the stairs.

She did not want to go up into the darkness, but something pulled her up the stairs. It was as if the cabin was controlling her body now. She cautiously went up, still afraid of what was waiting for her. When she made it to the top, she noticed only one room to the right. Inside she noticed a tiny red light. It was from a video camera. The girl quickly felt her pockets to find hers, but she felt nothing. She no longer had her video camera.

She fell to her knees and crawled over to the object. With shaking hands, she picked it up. It was still recording, so she stopped the recording and found the previous footage.

There was one video. It began with someone walking through trees. Then, the person found the clearing and the cabin. It looked exactly like what she had been through. The person went closer to the cabin, also finding no flame in the window. Suddenly, the camera dropped, and she heard footsteps running away. The person had run into the woods, but the camera was still recording. The video continued to show the grass where the camera fell. Eventually everything went dark, and she could no longer see anything on the video. She pushed the fast forward button and stopped when she noticed some light on screen. Someone had picked the camera up and showed the window of the cabin with the candle lit. The video showed the person going towards the house and then inside it. She assumed they walked around the empty house for a while, as she could see nothing but then heard the wood creak under their footsteps. She heard feet climbing the stairs, but she was unsure if it was from the video or if someone was coming up the stairs. Her heart stopped, but she was unable to look away from the video. It was as if she was hypnotized. The person on the video went into the room. She heard a loud sigh come from the recording before the person set the camera down on the ground. A flashlight clicked on, and someone shined it at the wall in the room. Two words were written on the wall in blood: You’re Home. She dropped the camera and shined her light on the wall and saw the same words.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut downstairs. A scream escaped her as she dashed down the stairs and to the front door. She desperately tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Tears streamed down her face as she crumpled to the floor. She was home. Was she really stuck here forever? There must be a way to leave.

She remembered the video camera upstairs and ran to it. Looking at the screen, she noticed it had gone back to the beginning when the first person was walking through the trees. Except the video hadn’t gone back to the beginning, it was continuing the footage. This was a new scene. A new person. She fast forwarded the footage and noticed the same scenes being played over and over, just subtle variations. Different people experiencing the same thing.

She went back downstairs to the candle and noticed it wasn’t lit. A flash of light came through the window, just like last time, but she didn’t fear it. She welcomed it. A disheveled person with a flashlight and a camera was standing in front of the cabin.

The girl understood what she had to do. She lit the candle.