Play with fire

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. I was curious, I had taken this trail after meeting with friends night after night and this was the first time I saw anything alive in that desolate, lonely cabin. Numerous urban legends had been told over the years about aliens, UFO’s and unexplained phenomena being witnessed in the woods but I had taken this trail sometimes multiple times a day and never saw anything strange.

That was until I glanced at the window with the candle and saw the face. It was menacing, warped and was over-eager to see me peering in. No hair or other facial features. Just two big black eyes and a wide toothy smile filled with unnerving glee.

I was frozen, paralysed with fear. I knew I should have left then and there but I wanted to see who it was. I took out my phone and used my device’s torch to shine up at the window. Huh? Nothing? Maybe I imagined it?

I had to see what was inside the cabin. Friends had regaled me with stories of seeing dark shadows, parties and even family dinners when walking by the cabin but I assumed they were joking to get a rise out of each other. Another urban legend concerned a young girl who set the cabin on fire after discovering her lover in bed with another woman.

Superstition aside, I walked to the left of the cabin, inspecting the boarded-up windows and dilapidated condition of the floorboards. The whole cabin had caught on fire during a freak lightning strike ten years ago, this gave it a menacing edge and aesthetic to the abandoned feel.

I steadied myself, walking over the floorboards and inspecting the outside. Suddenly, a creaking noise. I tried to slow my breathing and racing thoughts as I peered around the back of the cabin. There it was… a rocking chair charred to oblivion swinging all by itself. I turned around and was frightened by the glowing blaze of a young woman on fire. I dropped my phone as she reached out to me, smiling with the same toothy grin from the window. “It doesn’t hurt when you’re dead” she whispered, followed by a sinister laugh.

I shut my eyes as I felt the fire burn my skin. “It’s not real, this is abandoned and always has been”, I began shouting out loud. The burning sensation cooled, and torrential rain bucketed down as I felt courageous enough to open my eyes.

There was nothing.

No girl on fire.

No woods.

Just the cabin, pitch blackness and me.

I hurriedly searched for my phone but couldn’t find it. In a panic. I ran into the darkness, looking for my bag and any sense of reality.

I ran into the dark for 10 minutes. When I looked back, the cabin was only a small picture in the distance. The hairs on the back of my neck raised when I heard clicking behind me.

I was determined to get out of this. I turned around, I could still hear fingers clicking but nothing else in this dark void.

“How am I going to get home?”, I wondered.

I wasn’t sure what to do when I heard the voice of the girl behind me. “Don’t play with fire, you might get burned.”, she said slyly.

That’s when I felt it. The click of a lighter on top of my head. Someone had lit my hair on my fire.

I ran straight towards the cabin, I could see the flickering of the candle as I got closer.

It felt hours had gone by and I was running in slow motion. Finally I made it! I raced up the front steps of the cabin and tried opening the door.

It was locked! My hair was quickly burning down to my scalp.

I turned around and saw the dark void was beginning to grow smaller and smaller, outside was a crust of a deep purple glow. I could sense my impending death and knocked furiously at the door.

The door finally opened and I entered as the outer world consumed in itself. It was now just the cabin and I.

The cabin itself was just two small rooms, the candle still burning on the windowsill of the first room. There was a sink, a kettle, a small table and two chairs. I turned the taps on and submerged my head underneath, extinguishing the fire and feeling the immediate relief of cold water on my scalp. I sat down on the chair, unsure what I would do.

Click click.

I hear the snapping of fingers again.

I peered into the other room as a young woman stood up. She began humming and slowly walked towards me. She was holding a lighter. Was this the same girl on fire I encountered earlier? It couldn’t be. This girl was alive, long mousy brown hair, blue eyes and porcelain skin.

“Where am I, who are you? Did you try lighting me on fire?” I shouted.

She ignored me, quickly turning for the front door. When she opened the door, it was daylight. I could instantly smell a strong fuel substance throughout the house. I got up from the chair to see what this girl was up to. To the right I saw a couple, blissfully asleep in the burned bed. Who are these people?

The girl walked around the house, peering through the window into the room with the charred bed and sleeping couple. She let out a huge Scream! Suddenly flames erupted in the other room, the couple had vanished. I made a dash for the door as it shut by itself but it wouldn’t budge. I smashed the windows only to discover thick bars on each window.

Laughing surrounded me as I saw the girl smiling at me from the outside of the cabin as the flames caught my jeans. I was in agony. I tried to fit between the bars but I couldn’t make it out. The laughing echoed into a deafening shriek as my body burned. She watched as I died, the grin remaining on her face.

It’s been four months and I watch with glee from the window hoping one of my friends will walk past and recognise me. Nobody knows where I disappeared to but I have hope that soon I’ll have a fire friend to play with in the cabin. It will just take some time. For now, I’ll just play with fire.