Let There Be Light

Let There Be Light

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. A solitary beacon of light in the rapidly darkening forest. Jake had been hiking for hours and this cabin was a welcome contrast to the monotony of the overgrown hiking trail.

“I hope whoever they are, they’re friendly,” he mumbled to himself as he approached the dark cabin.

The waist high brush and twisting, naked trees filled the whole area surrounding the cabin. If it were not for the candle in the window, he probably wouldn’t have seen the cabin at all.

Jake stepped up onto the porch, cleared his throat, and gently knocked on the door with his walking stick. The door creaked open slightly, it was not latched.

“Hello?” Jake called.

“Hellooo?” Jake called out again playfully as he leaned through the doorway.

The cabin was dark. The candle in the window was the only light source. In the center of the room was an old couch and coffee table. On the far wall was a stone fireplace with a large stone mantel. To the left, there was a window, a row of cabinets, and a sink. On the right side of the room was another window, a card table with a couple chairs, and a bookcase. The first thing Jake noticed was the strong smell of burnt wood filling the cabin, almost as if there was a fire a while back.

“Well, this place is charming,” Jake scoffed as he set his backpack down next to the coffee table in the center of the room.

“Is anyone here?” Jake asked sheepishly.

He was quickly getting the feeling no one was home, but the single lit candle in the window would suggest otherwise.

Next to the fireplace was a narrow hallway that led into blackness where the candlelight could not reach.

“That must be where the bedroom is” Jake thought.

He pulled his flashlight from his backpack and started down the hall. His flashlight flickered and he gave it a quick slap on the side to force it to stay on. The batteries must be getting low. At the end of the hall was an open door on the left and a closed door on the right. He cast the light into the open room and saw a single bed with no sheets and a small side table. The light flickered off again. Jack slapped the light and suddenly, KKRRABOOOM! a loud thunder crack from outside shook the cabin then trailed off.

“Whoa! Sounds like I found shelter just in time. I’ll get a fire going in the fireplace. I’m sure if whomever was here comes back, they’d appreciate it.”

Outside, the hissing sound of the pouring rain started to grow as well as the frequency of the thunder. Jake began to build a fire in the fireplace. He wondered if the strong smell of burnt wood was the result of a clogged chimney. Then, just as he finished his thought, the fire grew to life and the chimney worked just fine. The roaring fire cast dancing shadows all over the main room. The light was much better than the single candle in the window.

Suddenly, KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! loud knocking came from the door. Jake whipped his head around, startled by the sound.

“That must be the owner, but why would they knock?” Jake thought to himself.

He opened the door and there, standing on the porch, were two young women. Both appeared to be hikers. They must have gotten caught in the rain because they were looking soaked.

“Sorry to bother you, but we got lost and we were hoping for some shelter from the rain,” one of the women said. Her expression was sad and desperate.

“Yeah! Sure! C’mon in!” Jake said as he quickly stepped out of the doorway.

The two women walked right past Jake and towards the fireplace.

“I’m Jake. I just got here too. I was going to wait out the storm and maybe, spend the night. You two are welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“Thanks! I’m Nikki and this is my friend Izabel. We were just, like, hiking, and then we got lost, and then the rain started, and then we saw this cabin with a candle, it was crazy.” Nikki said with a small nervus laugh.

She was a beautiful young woman with long brown hair, a red jacket, gray backpack, black jeans, and a pair of silver hiking boots with small white bird wings sticking out from the ankles.

Jake’s eyes met Nikki’s and they shared a smirk as they both appreciated the silliness of the hiking boots.

“Hey, you guys look soaked. I think I saw a towel around here somewhere.”

“Thanks, but we’re fine” Nikki said.

“Oh, here it is! It’s clean. You can use it to dry off” Jake urgently held out the towel to Nikki and she quickly backed away.

“No, really, I’m fine.” Nikki said sternly.

Jake lowered the towel, remembering he is a stranger to these two. He should act a little less eager.

“Sorry. It’s here if you want it.” Jake stepped back, pretending to investigate the room further.

“So, is this your place?” Nikki asked

“Ummm, not exactly. I was hiking and it was getting late, and I saw this abandoned-looking cabin, so I thought I’d check it out.”

“There is a bedroom down the hall and another room with the door closed.” Jake said, while tapping his flashlight.

“You two can have the bedroom and I’ll just sleep here on the couch.”

“So, what’s in the other room?’ Nikki said.

“I’m not sure, I didn’t check yet.”

KKRRAABBOOMMM! Another huge thunderclap shook the cabin and the three occupants jumped with fright.

“Nikki, tell him!” Izabel said, still soaked and shivering.

“Tell me what?” Jake said looking at Nikki with a nervous smile.

“Well, when we were hiking, we saw a strange guy with long hair and a long beard. I think he was following us.” Nikki said.

Then, suddenly, Nikki’s demeanor shifted to an almost trance-like state. “I think he wants to kill us.”

“Whoa, hold on a second!” Jake said, startled by Nikki’s grisly assumption. “Why do you think that? He could be just another hiker.”

“He could be the one who lives here!” Izabel blurted out. “He’s gonna come back here and kill us!”

Izabel’s eyes widened as she stared off into space.

“Okay, okay, calm down. Everyone just calm down! I’m sure we are safe here. You two just keep drying off and I’ll try and lock the door or something.”

Another thunderclap hammers the cabin along with the bright white lighting flashes outside the window.

“We should hide!” Izabel called out with terror in her voice.

“Ok, I got the door locked. It’s a thick door and the lock is a big block of wood. No one is getting through there. Let’s just relax and I’ll go check out the rest of the cabin,” Jake announced as he started walking towards the hall.

Jake slowly approached the closed door at the end of the hall. His dying flashlight continued to flicker. With a couple more smacks on the side of the flashlight, Jake opened the door.

Jake’s nostrils were instantly filled with the strong smell of burnt wood mixed with an unrecognizable foulness. He immediately noticed a narrow stairway leading down and concluded that this is the source of the fire that happened some time ago. Jake slowly descended into the cellar. He reached the bottom step and stopped as if stepping off would lead into nothingness.

The entire small stone cellar was pitch black and the weak, flickering flashlight was little help. He slowly scanned the space from left to right. The walls, floor, and ceiling were completely black with soot. Jake held his hand to his nose and mouth attempting to lessen the thick smoky odor.

“Find anything Jake?” Nikki and Izabel called out in unison from the main room upstairs.

Jake called back, “No. Nothing. It appears to be an empty cellar. I think there was a big fire down here.”

Jake continued to slowly scan until he reached the far-right corner.

Suddenly, he notices some kind of black form, on the floor in the corner. As his dying flashlight continued to betray him, he gave it a hard slap on the side. The light flickered and then revealed a horrific sight.

A charred body, sitting on the black stone floor, its arms over its head, shackled to a black pipe. As Jake continued to stare, trying to make out the tragedy before him, he noticed that it wasn’t one body, it was two.

Two body’s, charred beyond recognition, both shackled to the wall. Jake’s hand slowly fell away from his face. His eyes widened as he stared in disbelief. The flickering light slowly traveled down along the body’s crooked, outstretched legs to reveal a charred pair of silver hiking boots with burnt bird wings protruding from the ankles.

“What? It can’t be!”

“What’s wrong Jake? Do you need more light?” Nikki’s calm voice drifted down from the top of the stairwell.

Jake slowly turned around, still standing on the bottom step. His eyes wide and full of fear.

He saw Nikki at the top of the stairs, holding the candle from the cabin window. Izabel was next to her, and both were smiling. An open gas can was under Izabel’s foot. She suddenly kicked the can over, and the gas rushed out like a waterfall flowing down the stairs.

“NO!” Jake screamed.

“Let there be light!” Nikki announced as her eyes turned into black chunks of smoldering charcoal.

She dropped the candle towards the gas-drenched stairs. The small flame collided with the rising fumes and ignited. A giant burst of blue and yellow light filled the stairwell, engulfing Jake in flames. His screams of agony filled the entire cabin.

The two smiling figures, at the top of the stairs, each with solid black eyes, suddenly faded into wisps of dark gray smoke.

Jake's smoldering body lay motionless in the darkness on the black cellar floor.

The cabin is silent once again. Abandoned, except for a single source of light from a candle in the window. The light barely illuminates an old newspaper on the card table near the window. The 13-year-old headline reads “Search Called Off for Two Missing Hikers.” The article continued, “The New Hampshire State Police Department announced today that they will be officially ending the largest coordinated search in New Hampshire’s history for two hikers who went missing on October 3rd of this year. Izabel Salon and Nikki Atkinson disappeared on the dense Black Mountain Hiking Trail without a trace. Carl Channon, a local drifter, was interviewed by the police and released due to lack of evidence.” The article went on telling the sad tale of the missing women. Two bright lights, snuffed out by the dark forest.

THE END