Quarry

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Flickered. Flickering. Will flicker. Soon, it will burn out forever and vanish into the eternal unknown.

WHAM!

The thump of an ancient book causes the flame to quiver momentarily but remain steadfast. The book opens and the crinkled pages turned. One. By. One.

A gnarly, wrinkled old hand with unkempt nails skims through the wording, unsatisfied with what she saw. She kept turning the pages. One. By. One.

THWACK!

Her finger fell unto a series of words. Her fingers scan, SSSSLLLLOOOOOWWWWWLLLY, over the words. The flame sees the appearance of a wrinkled, frail arm, cloaked in a swampy, moss-colored sleeve, unto her unkempt, scraggly, gray hair, and unto her pimply, wrinkled, witch-like face. She focuses, ignoring the candle flame’s stare. She smiles in devilish satisfaction.

“AHA!!!!!” She exclaimed, “Here. We. Are.”

Her eyes close, set on her intent; she slowly, softly murmurs with some uncertainty, “One…………………………two……………………..three…………………..……..catch…………………………my……………………quarry.”

Pause. Silence. Nothing. Not even a creek in the rusty, old cabin. She tries again.

“One………two…..…..three…..…catch…….……my…………quarry,” she says a little louder and quicker.

Pause. Silence. Nothing.

Frustrated, she slams her hands on the rusty, old, wooden table and the flame further quivers and moves away from her, retreating as if taking shelter from a storm, but by nature leans towards her. She grabs her hair, closes her eyes and lets out,

“ONE TWO THREE CATCH MY QUARRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

She breathes, seethes in anger and slams her hands against the table again and again and again! It appears to not work. She glares at that candle flame, the only wavering, unfeeling thing that worked in the cabin. She lets out a sigh, clinging onto an invisible something. Hope? Miracle? Change?

She turns the pages lazily. Back. And. Forth. Looking at the faded wording, scanning her finger across them………………………………Tall…………….………………………………Atheticism……………………….Chocolate fondue……………………………………Piano master………………………………………………Hearts……………………………Jewelry……………………………………

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

She bolts up, wide eyed. Briefly looks around with her eyes and keeps her head still. Her hands pause midair. Did she get something? There was silence, did the thing die? She didn’t know and resumes her scanning…………………………………tattoo artist…………………………………….physical strength……………………………………………………….pup-

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

Another one. The scream didn’t shock her as much. She knows something happened. That miracle. Soon her neutral positioned mouth curls into an evil, menacing grin. It. Was. Working…………………..………it. Works…….………………………….…….and it WILL! WORK! Repeating her own motivation, she glanced down and read in the faded, bigger, bolder letters: Youth

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

The third and final scream came and the cabin itself fully lit up, while the candle’s wax shrunk by half and it’s flame still waved, calmer and sturdier as if unaffected.

She turns around and finds herself face to face with three youthful campers. They were chained, held up by the wooden ceiling. Piles of something collected lay everywhere about the room. The campers, yes the campers, scream and shout in horror.

“HELP US!!” “PLEASE LET US GO!!!” “WHAT DO YOU WANT????” “ WE’RE INNOCENT!!!!” “LADY, LET US GO!!!!” “WHAT DID WE DO TO YOU???” “WHAT IS THIS PLACE?” “WHY THE PILES?” “WHO ARE YOU?”

“SILENCE!!!!”

She bellows and slams the book onto the table. Her finger marks the spot she wants.

Satisfied with the stillness in the room, she opened the book, gazed upon the words and……………………………trying to find the spell again…………no not for ridding warts……………….…

“What is she doing?” One camper whispers. “Casting a spell I imagine,” the second camper responds. “Turning us into toads? Probably a joke brought on by one of the counselors,” the third one chimes in.

“SHUT IT, YOU THREE!” the woman snarls. “Now let’s see. Who’s first?”

“First for what?”

The woman sneers and glares upon the three terrified campers.

She looks at the first: hair long, thick and black as the night, young, innocent, and utterly terrified.

Book opened, armed and ready, the woman grabbed the girl’s hair. Ooooooooooooooooooooooo……………………….so soft………………..…………..so thick…………………………..so……..……………..pleasing to the eye. She ignores the girl’s cries and pleas to stop. With confidence and a touch of uncertainty she chanted slowly…………………..………….…“Ugly or beautiful………………… lie or truth…………………..……………..give me back MY YOUTH!”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Her head buzzes and ears began ringing. A shock at first, like a spark of electricity, and the world fell silent. At first a sizzle sounds, then grows into a burning, anguish touch, and then grow into a smoke frenzy with the scent of burning wood. The woman could not hear the girl’s shouts and pleas to stop and the others’ screams. She herself felt her own hair change texture and lengthen. From gray to black, the hair transformed. When the fiery feeling subsided, she let the girl’s now exposed scalp go and smiled and laughed with glee.

The boys turned to their right and screamed in horror at the sight of their friend.

“What is go-“ the girl camper start to shout, but she could barely get out a croak and her voice sounded raspy and worn.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The woman turns to the second camper: strong, athletic, a pillar of strength as if sculpted by the Greek gods themselves. She slowly walks towards the camper………………………………….……

“Please……please…….please don’t do this to me,” he says, pleading with his eyes.

Showing no mercy, the woman grabs his bicep and chanted slowly, more sure of herself …………..………“Weak or strong…………lie or truth………give me BACK MY YOUTH!”

Her head buzzes once more and suddenly feels her arms and legs grow stronger and stronger. The boy camper screams as he felt fiery burns and heat and his skin burning to a crisp. She feels all of the strength, while his recedes. Her ears do not touch the screams of all the campers once more. She feels it, the strength, the change, the energy, everything. When she feels whole, she lets go of the second camper.

Both of them gasping for air, but the second camper struggled even more to breathe. “What did you-“ he starts to say, and quickly realizes his voice changed. More raspy, more grainy, more fatigued, a lot………………………………………………………..………..older?........................................

She slowly turns to the third and final camper, larger in size, but large in heart and spirit. His character, joke-like and comforting, though she knew him for a few minutes, she knew her final target held the character she so desired to gain back.

“Look, maybe we can say we’re sorry we trespassed and forget about it? And turn my friends back to their normal selves? Please?” he pleads.

She remains silent, deadly, staring at him with those unsympathetic eyes. With one swift movement, she grabs the area where the heart resides, and she slowly, but intensely chants one final time ………………..“A coward or a hero……lie or truth…GIVE ME BACK MY YOUTH!”

One final time, the buzz in her head begins and drones on for what felt hours. The same burning pains, the same intensity, only this time, it felt the strongest of the other two. His screams mute to her, but resounding to the other two campers. The insides run rapidly like a river flowing. Her heart grows more and the heat in her body radiates and intensifies. Before she knew it, she nearly passes out and lets go of the third camper.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Why?” croaked the third camper.

She glances at the candle on the table, the candle had a quarter of its wax left to melt. The candle’s flame watches silently as the three helpless campers shriveled, withered, screamed, tugged, and pleaded with the woman to stop the pain. The flame, calm as ever, continues its silent observation.

She rushes to the full-length mirror on the opposite side of the room, away from the three campers, and gazes into it and slowly gasped……………………………………”Wha-“…………………………”Me?”……………………………….”My hair, my body, and my…………my………………”

Her original form and voice had returned: her youthful appearance, her physical form, and she felt her character rush through her veins. No more an old woman, no more a witch. She grabs the mirror, hiding the reflective surface away from the three campers. In a smug, confident manner, she strolls over to the three quivering campers.

“Thanks to you three,” she began in her youthful tone, “I’ve returned back to my original, youthful form. And now, look at you three!”

She turns the mirror and all three attempted to scream loudly as they saw what they had become. All they did? They croaked. Wrinkly, saggy, droopy, nearly malnourished, almost skeletal like, bones intact, fragile like a porcelain doll, and clothes too big for their fragile state. They all feel their energy vaporize as they scream more and more at their new forms. They are all in their old nature, almost walking skeletons.

“You see, children,” she begins to say, “These woods are filled with old, skeletal like beings, looking for this exact book to regain their youth or some other gift they lost, once they went through what you just went through. They roam about at night only and in the daytime, well, they just……………………………freeze in place, blended with nature. The one who finds the book lights a new candle in this cabin, it lights on its own of course and a new candle appears. Find this book, find what you want, and seek your quarry: three naturally-formed humans, such as you were once. Stupid. Naïve. Ignorant to roam away from your campsite. What fools. NEVER ROAM THE WOODS AT NIGHT! Though I should warn you, once I leave this cabin, the cabin will darken and this candle will only remain lit until I hide this book.”

She edges toward the cabin door. Then, turning around and opening the door, she told the three, “I suggest you hurry and leave this cabin, if you can muster the energy. If the candle goes out before you leave, you will turn to dust. Look at the amount of dust in this place and piles of clothes, if you don’t believe me. Now…………………………………….”

“AWAY I GO AND AWAY FROM THIS CURSED FOREST!!! AHHHHHHHAAAAAAHAAAHAHHAHAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

And she SLAMS the door and the cabin itself rattled and darkened.

A clattering sound of bones fall from the chains that bound the campers. They make their way around the cabin, slowly, slower, and extremely slowed…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….

They all crawl and clatter about the floor, desperate to reach the wooden door that showed a sliver of moonlight. Clatter……………………….clatter………………..clatter clatter………..clatter clatter……………………clatter…………………..clatter clatter clatter…………………clatter……..clatter………

The candle hears the bones, as it slowly dims; it shrinks with little wax left to muster. Did the three campers make it out on time? Will they find the book? The flame’s own hearing diminishes………clatter……clatter………clatter……………clatter………clatter.……..clatter……………………………clatter……………………………………………clatter………………………………………………………..clatter……………………….…………………….………………………clatter………………………………………………………………..…………………..…….clatter……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

POOF! Out the flame went. Forever.