Event

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The night was a new moon, so this out of place flame was the only source of light amongst the trees. No one was around to see it as it burned through the night, and when the sunrise came, it went. This would continue every new moon night through the next three months; the flame was lit just as the sun started to descend, and was extinguished just as it began to rise. Even though it was summer, and more people found themselves in the woods, no one ever saw the candle, since the cabin was in such a remote part of the woods which no one ever visited. Despite this, when the sky was absent a moon, the candle would be lit.

It was a hot night in July. The candle was lit for the third time. That was when someone first saw it. Jake was camping with a small group a short distance from the cabin; drinking was illegal in the woods, and they planned to do a lot of it, so the group wanted to make sure that they were somewhere that they would not be able to be found, at least not easily.

After a long night of partying, a drunk Jake left to relieve himself. On his way out of sight, he tripped, falling to the ground and hitting his head against a tree as he did. He rose, disoriented and dizzy, now unsure of what direction he had come from. He continued the way he thought he had been going, and found what he thought to be a good tree. He did his business, then started walking again, in the direction he assumed was the way back to his campsite. After walking for what he felt to be far too long to have been going the right way, he sank against a tree, sitting on the ground in an effort to gather his bearings.

He had left his phone back at the site, since he expected to only be gone a minute, and he had no idea where he was. In his peripheral, in the distance, he could see a light. Thinking it to be his campfire, he made his way towards it. After a few seconds of walking, he saw that it evidently was not his campsite. Rather, it was a decrepit-looking wood cabin, one that clearly had not been maintained for at the least several years, and one which there was no way that anyone could be able to live in. And yet, there in the window, was the flame of a candle, indicating that someone had been present inside at least recently enough to light it without it smoldering out.

Sobered by the bizarreness of the situation, Jake began to cautiously make his way towards the cabin. If he was wrong, he figured, and someone was living in it, then maybe that someone had a phone he could use to get back to his campsite.

He reached the door, which looked even worse than the rest of the building. The paint was peeling off, where there still was any, the wood was starting to rot, and the doorknob was long gone. He sighed, figuring that nothing would come of it, but knowing that he had to at least try, and raised his fist, rapping it against the door. The minimal force caused the door to swing open slowly with a loud creak, but there was no reply.

"Hello," Jake called. Still no answer. He decided that the only natural course of action was to enter; even if they weren't home, this was an emergency. He only planned to see if there was a phone and then leave. As he entered, the temperature dropped significantly. It went from the wet heat of a July night to suddenly feeling as though he was standing directly in front of an air conditioner on maximum power.

In the corner of his eye, he saw something move. He called out, whirling to look in the direction it had come from, but still received no answer. A few seconds later, once again, something moved in the corner of his eye, and again, he turned to face it. He was now looking directly at the candle, which almost instantly flickered as a silhouette rushed by, then vanished.

Jake turned to leave, and as he did, the door slammed shut, sending splinters of rotten wood to the floor with the force. Suddenly, the entire cabin lit up, as though the entire room he was standing in was covered with florescent lights. He shut his eyes, covering them with his right arm. as the blinding light continued to shine. After a few seconds, he removed his arm to try to look about the room again. The light was still blinding, but a shadow moved across the back of the room.

Jake again turned to the door, and as he reached out to push it open, a sinister shadowy face appeared on it, portraying the head of a decaying old man. The mouth opened, and an indescribable low-pitched sound emanated from it, shaking the very foundation of the building, like a supernatural perversion of a man's dying groan. Jake fell to the ground, looking around frantically. As he did, the apparition appeared on every wall, and all four of them began to make the same noise as before. Jake clutched his chest, feeling his heart beating rapidly. The noise rang out again, and the beating stopped.