Lovely Luna Lake

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

An eerie twilight covers the forest floor and the winding roads within like a funeral shroud. The sun creeps down over the horizon, allowing one last glimpse at the landscape of the dense forest before the darkness sets in. Miles away from any lamp post and the nearest porch light being a glint in the distance, blinding headlights sweep over the greenery.

Weaving through the secluded highways of the woods, a shining silver van stands out from its surroundings. Not another vehicle or sign of human life, this van is the only beacon of humanity in the density of the wilderness.

Casey and Ronan, two young and unsuspecting people, sit in the back of this van. Casey’s eyes have not left the travel brochure in her hands. “Stay and Play at Lovely Luna Lake” is plastered on every open space of this brochure. Ronan’s eyes move lazily from tree to tree as the van turns and curves with the road. Not another car in sight, so the trees must be their only company out here.

“Hey Case?” Ronan’s ever-so-soft and low voice manages to break the fragile silence that hangs in the vehicle. Ronan shifts their gaze to their friend sitting on their left.

“Hey Ro?” Casey’s attention not deviating from her exhilarating read.

“What was it that you said earlier? They’re either kidnapping us for some sort of cult ritual or…?”

“Or…they’re selling us a timeshare!” Both Casey and Ronan chuckled from their seats. “The sales tactics in this brochure are really desperate. They could use a good review… or any tourism.”

“What’s the difference between a cult and a timeshare?” A third voice chimes in. Their driver, Oscar, has mostly kept to himself for the duration of the ride. Occasionally, he’ll chime in with a witty comment or to answer a question of one of his passengers. His comment; however, makes everyone laugh. “For real though, this is purely a nice gesture by the Luna Lake Tourism Bureau. Two lucky winners can stay the night in a luxury cabin right next to the lake. It’ll be good for us to finally have some visitors.”

“You can’t blame us for our suspicions, Oscar. A free stay at a lake-side cabin? A lake that hardly gets visitors? No catch? Sounds kinda culty…” Ronan folds their arms and makes eye-contact with Oscar through his rear-view mirror.

“Or timesharey…” Casey adds in, finally looking up from her brochure.

“I promise there are no cults and definitely no timeshares. This is simply an attempt to try and draw more publicity to Luna Lake.” The van was silent after that, but a comfortable silence. Casey and Ronan seemed too absorbed in their phones to hold any meaningful conversation. Oscar turned up the radio and hummed along to whatever he could recognize.

After a while, Oscar then directs the van down a poorly paved road. The sudden change in traction of the ground beneath the tires is enough to jolt Casey and Ronan away from their phones. They travel down it, seemingly alone. No cars pass the van on the left and none come up behind them. The eerie emptiness of this secluded path haunts Casey and Ronan. The only thing to greet them is the creeping fog in the distance. It looms ominously, like a veil over the horizon.

Oscar makes no attempts to avoid or stop for this obscuring wall of mist. He continues head-on.

“Hey Oscar? Maybe we should slow down. That fog is pretty thick.” Casey raises her alarm at the sight. Oscar pays her no mind and even brushes her concern off like a chill.

As the van begins to plow through this wall of thick mist, the atmosphere grows quieter. The noise of the world fades from Casey and Ronan’s ears. It is silent. Ronan watches Casey’s mouth open in an attempt to stutter out a word in protest, but they hear nothing of her pleas. The faint shimmers of light from the van are swallowed by this oppressing wall of darkness and the unknown. It feels as if a last candle of hope has been snuffed as the van ventures deeper into this suffocating sense of dread.

Then, they begin to hear them. Spectral hands and faces made from this mist protrude from the walls. They reach out for Oscar’s van, wailing in agony as Casey and Ronan watch them appear and get destroyed physically and spiritually by this dark force. They are surrounded by lost souls being thrown around and torn apart like they are this dark power’s play thing. And all they can do is watch and listen to their pain. Voices of all ages and walks of life, crying out for God, someone, anyone to release them from this misty prison. They reach out for the life line that is the vehicle, only to be ripped back to their suffering…

All the while, Oscar seems unaffected by all of this. His eyes never leave the windshield as he drives blindly through this horrifying cage. Ronan can see his mouth pursed, as if he is whistling along to music that they can’t hear. All Ronan and Casey can hear are the voices of the damned, trapped in this mist.

“Is he mocking me?” Ronan is able to muster up a thought amidst all of the noise in their head. “Does he know we are being subjected to torture as he listens to the radio and Case’s and my screams?”

And like a breath of fresh air, the van breaches the other side. All sound returns to the friends, still screaming in fear and pain. Mist no longer lies in their path. They had managed to keep hold of their souls, as they passed through a prison of thousands.

The darkness of night is now suffocating. Every tree, animal, and shadow is a potential threat. Paranoia hangs in the air, palpable to both Ronan and Casey. Their chests have tightened with the anxiety one must feel right before they die.

“Do you see why Luna Lake doesn’t get many visitors?” The grin on Oscar’s face is too smug for comfort. A conniving glint rolls across his eyes as he looks back at his unsuspecting passengers. His gaze then shifts to the road in front of him, when he suddenly throws the steering wheel to the left. The van swerves violently onto a dirt road, concealed by a thick tree line.

Casey and Ronan exchange frightened looks and panicked whimpers. Casey’s eyes have welled with tears and her lungs have threatened to collapse from her hyperventilating. Ronan has a white-knuckled grip on the handle above their head. Their other hand reaches out for Casey, and she takes it.

“Oscar, what the hell is going on?” Ronan’s ‘fight or flight’ response has obviously chosen to fight, as they become aggressive.

“I’m taking you to the cabin, of course. You were promised a stay in a cabin next to Luna Lake, and that is what you’ll get.” Oscar’s tone is still too cocky for anyone’s liking.

“What was wrong with that mist? Where is Luna Lake? You know I’d never heard of it before today; and now, we’ve won a night at a cabin next to it? ” Casey is stifling cries.

“Luna Lake is off-grid, you should enjoy a nice and peaceful night.” Oscar checks the analog clock on the stereo as he speaks. “Oh, you’re going to be late for dinner!”

“Dinner? No thanks! It kind of feels like we’re being kidnapped right now, so we will not be eating any food you serve us. It could be drugged or poisoned for all we know!” Casey has succumbed to her fear and begins to sob.

“Stop the car!” Ronan has freed themselves from the restraints of their seatbelt and stood from their seat.

An ear-piercing screech is the only response. As Oscar slams on the brakes, they scream out in pain and the van skids to a halt. Casey and Ronan lurch forward, Casey only tethered down to reality by her seatbelt now. And everything stops. Oscar opens the back-panel doors with a press of a button.

“We’re here anyway.” Oscar points up a steep driveway that he has parked across from. “It’s about a five minute walk from here.”

Ronan and Casey leap out of the van as if the forest beyond is their last salvation.

“Enjoy dinner and your stay! I’ll see you later…” The conniving glint from before returns to Oscar’s cocky smile as he winks at Ronan, as they run past the van.

Casey and Ronan run up the driveway, believing that their lives do depend on it. Traveling deeper and deeper into the darkened woods, the night air grows colder. Casey’s sobs and gasps for air echo off of the stillness. Ronan grabs for her hand yet again, trying to lead her away from emanate danger. Ronan bobs and weaves through trees and thicket, with only their safety clouding their mind. Ronan thinks to lunge at any shadow that dares step too close to them or their friend, and to scream at any noise that threatens her. Every sense of theirs is heightened in these moments, as they fear for their lives. Seemingly kidnapped and now stranded in the woods, all hope has burned away from Ronan.

“Ronan, please stop!” Casey is now crying tears of pain and fear. “I think we’re far enough away! P-please!”

Ronan skids to a halt and immediately takes out their phone.

“Of course, I don’t have any service out here!” Ronan paces nervously in the dark, illuminated by an error screen. “That's just perfect!”

“I’m sure everything will turn out fine…” Casey’s tears had lightened up to a small drizzle as opposed to the down-pour before. She slowed her breathing, almost lying to herself to keep a false sense of optimism. “W-we should find somewhere to camp and w-wait ‘till morning to call for help.”

“Wait until morning? Casey, we could die out here! We have no idea what’s in these woods or who’s in these woods! We need to call for help now!” Ronan’s logic is becoming increasingly desperate in their panic. “L-look, I think I remember which direction we came from. If we can find the road, I can try to walk us back to the nearest town.”

“Are we supposed to walk through that mist again?” Casey laughed in confusion. “Ronan, I don’t know where we are or what’s going on anymore. What I do know is that whatever happened when we went through that fog was traumatizing. I also know that traveling in the dark is pointless. We’re tired and we’re scared. Even if we manage to find a cell-signal, no one is going to answer our distress call until morning anyway.”

Ronan’s foggy brain takes a moment to process their situation.

“You’re right, Case.” Ronan sighs as they finally stop moving. “We can find somewhere to wait out the night and use the daylight to find our way back tomorrow.” Ronan offers their hand to Casey.

“Let’s get moving then.” Casey lets a smile break across her face.

Ronan and Casey, embracing, walk through the darkness believing they’ve escaped. Every so often, a mocking loon or a cacophonous crow will remind them that they are not alone in these woods. Now that paranoia has released its grip on their hearts, Ronan and Casey can almost feel the forest breathing with life. The sounds of the night life are almost comforting.

Cresting hills and rounding trees, they march hand-in-hand. After a few minutes and one more steep hill, Ronan and Casey finally come upon the namesake of the area. Luna Lake sits petrifying still in the night air. Its water is darker than the sky above it, only faintly glowing in the perfect reflection of the moon. A thin fog lays just over the surface, as if the lake has something to hide beneath the water. It is beautiful to see, but a twinge of fear rests behind Ronan’s eyes.

“I’ve never seen a natural body of water stand so still.” Ronan speaks on behalf of the anxiety in their mind.

“I thought that there was a breeze…” Casey’s observation is only proven correct by a light flutter of bone-chilling wind. Yet, Luna Lake remains still and silent.

“Maybe there’s just a lot of algae build up, and it’s making the water more dense.” Ronan lets out a nervous laugh.

And then they see it.

In a perfect reflection on the crystal-clear surface of the lake, a single-wick flame dances in the darkness. Ronan draws their eyes up from the mirrored lake into the woods. Sitting in a clearing not too far from the shore is a cabin. The charming wood paneling, the rustic theming, and the enlightening feeling of finding shelter. A single candle sits in the picture window, inviting Ronan and Casey to come inside.

“That son of a bitch Oscar was right!” Ronan’s laugh became more genuine. “‘For no man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be.’” Ronan picks up their pace and tightens their grip on Casey’s hand. “That was Bram Stoker in Dracula.”

“Nice quote, but you need to learn how to read the room and pick better source material.” Casey struggles to keep Ronan’s hopeful pace.

“Yeah… My dad was a huge fan of gothic horror. He read it to me all the time. Stoker, Poe, Shelley to name a few…” Ronan trails off, almost entranced by the idea of safety.

Casey and Ronan round the edge of Luna Lake, making their way to their haven. The candle only burns brighter as they grow nearer to the cabin. Once close enough, Ronan and Casey are able to take in smaller details. The exterior of the cabin is worn with age and rustic charm. The wooden shell is tattered with moss and a few scattered cobwebs. The small porch is sunken-in near the front door, from many feet walking upon it. The windows are as frail as thin hair, rattling in the light breeze.

“It’s not the luxury cabin that we were promised, but she’ll do for the night.” Ronan’s judgment seems clouded by hope, and Casey takes notice of that.

“Ronan, don’t you think it’s a little… strange how there’s a candle burning in the window, but this place has been seemingly untouched for a while?” Casey’s tone is full of judgment and worry.

“Maybe this was the cabin that they had set up for us and the interior is nicer. Remember, Luna Lake is trying to attract tourism. This is a start for them.” Ronan wanders up onto the unstable porch.

“Ronan, forgive me for saying this, but since when are you the blind optimist?” Casey stands with her arms folded at the base of the steps leading up to the front door.

“It’s not blind optimism. I found us a place to stay for the night, like you wanted. And we’ll be safe here.” Ronan blinks slowly at their own words.

“Oh good! You realized how naive you sound…” Casey stomps up the stairs to stand next to Ronan. “That’s coming from me.”

Casey’s hand is the first to touch the doorknob in a long time. It groans as she turns it, as if she had woken up from its slumber. The door creaks open, removing a layer of dust from the frame. The inside is darker than Casey and Ronan’s eyes are adjusted to. After turning on their phone’s flashlight, they are able to see the interior.

The front door opens to a hallway, with an open-framed room to the left and more hiding in the shadows. As Casey takes her first steps inside, the old floor boards beneath her feet screech like an alarm. Her shoes leave perfect prints in the dust and mildew covering the floor. Her flashlight sweeps over the abandoned and neglected living space, the only other light coming from the sparse window’s dim moonlight and the single candle in the front window. The room to the left is a kitchen and living room. The furniture in there is moth-eaten and rotting. Nothing in this place has been touched for a very long time. The only sign of life in this cabin is Casey.

Ronan is not far behind her though. They were bewildered by her boldness and mocking comments.

“So much for this idea, Ronan.” Casey’s head lulls back to look at her friend, investigating this setting of nightmares. “This place gives me the creeps… So I’m gonna stay in the main room until morning.”

“Yeah, I don’t care to see the rest of it either.” Ronan plops down onto the infested sofa near the center of the room, and a plume of dust flies into their face. “This should be fine for tonight.” They say coughing and spitting this cabin’s decay up. Casey walks back over to the front door and locks it with the rusty deadbolt.

“Just so no one can come in and get us.” Casey waves her hands in a mockingly scary way to match the sarcasm in her voice. Both Casey and Ronan laugh as they settle onto the decaying furniture. Casey laid a jacket on the couch beneath her, like a shield from the rot of the cabin. Ronan set up shop in one of the chairs sitting across from Casey. They got settled in their respective sleeping spots and Ronan seemed to drift off rather quickly. All of the adrenaline and fear from before wore Ronan’s heart and mind out. The world began to quiet in their ears, and they could finally get some peace.

“Hey Ronan?” Casey’s voice jolted Ronan out of their partial-sleep like an electric shock. When Ronan opened their eyes, they were not immediately focused on Casey. Instead, Ronan was able to clock the retinas of another pair of eyes staring at them from the darkness. It was like an animal was stalking them from the shadowy corners of the room. Panic gripped Ronan’s heart fiercely. “Ronan?” Casey’s voice stirred them back to reality; and with a hard blink, the corner was empty again.

“W-what Casey?” Ronan was trying to recollect themselves.

“Do you think you could sleep with me on the couch?” Casey avoided making eye contact with Ronan.

“Y-yeah sure.” Ronan was more dazed than flustered. They very tiredly got up and settled onto the couch with Casey.

From their new position, Ronan could clearly see the front window. The candle still burned brightly, trying to remind Ronan that they are safe here. Ronan smiled at the thought. Maybe they were just over-reacting and still on edge from before. Now, Ronan could relax. They were cuddling with their friend, the doors were locked, and the candle stayed burning. Ronan let their guard down, because this candle was a beacon, an omen that they truly were safe. And as Ronan started to drift back asleep, now feeling comfort and Casey wrapped around them, they heard something creak. They immediately played it off as the age of the building, but their tired eyes did not deceive them.

A clawed hand, now glowing in the warm light of the candle’s flame, extends two gnarled fingers. They snuff Ronan’s flame of hope, as Casey and Ronan will not need to see what happens next.

As Ronan’s eyes adjust to the darkness, they can perfectly see the retinas of a predator, shining in the darkness. It's not restricted to needing the light of the candle. This is something apex in nature. It is large and looms in the corner of the room, still hovering a hand over the candle. The eyes of this creature have locked on to Ronan and Casey like prey. Ronan’s breath quickens with the tension of being hunted. Anxiety clouds Ronan’s mind. Their heart begins to pound, threatening to shatter their ribs. They have made intimidating eye-contact with the very thing that is threatening their life. They try not to wake Casey into this horrible nightmare. All Ronan can do is lay there, helplessly, waiting for the monster to strike. Everything physically and mentally about Ronan is racing as they are a cornered animal in this cabin.

‘We’re late for dinner…’ Is all they have time to think before the inevitable happens.

After Ronan and Casey are fully exsanguinated and devoured by the monster of the cabin, a match is struck. It shatters the darkness with its rays of light. A bloodied and horrific beast holds the match delicately between its dirtied claws, chunks of the friends stuck underneath them. It reignites the candle in the front window, and backs away into the darkness.

The imprisoning mist begins to fill the woods again. Ronan and Casey’s souls now intertwined in that hellish purgatory. The beast summons it to hold the souls of his victims, and to scare the next. Dinner always tasted better when it was scared first.

The cabin had been abandoned for years, but every night a candle burns in the window. It is a signal to its caretaker, Oscar, that the monster is ready for another meal. Oscar, seeing nothing but the retinas of the monster, acknowledges the signal. Oscar hops back into his van, prepared to find the beast’s next guests at its cabin next to Lovely Luna Lake.