Remembering Julia

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The flame flickered through the dusty glass as a cool midnight breeze danced across her skin, and she shivered as she reached for another candle.

Although it had been 30 years since Julia had been to the cabin, it hadn’t changed that much. Frankly, neither had she. Her long, blond hair glistened in the candlelight, and her white summer dress accentuated her figure, much like it did back in 1992.

She ran her fingertips along the walls, admiring the old building for how it had weathered the elements. The old logs had darkened with the rain, and moss hung from the roof’s edges. The front steps were broken, and tattered curtains fluttered behind the cracked and broken windows. Yet just like it did when she was 15, the house possessed an air of comfort and sanctuary for her.

“Good bones,” she laughed as she carefully lit another candle and placed it in the next window.

The one-room building contained remnants of youth gone wrong. Inside, the cabin was drafty, dusty, and heavily vandalized with graffiti. Beer cans and broken bottles littered the floor around a dirty mattress full of holes and rodent feces. A broken-down old table sat in one corner of the room, covered in decades of dirt and cobwebs.

Unphased by the surrounding environment, Julia placed a candle in each window one by one. When she finished, she dragged the large, round table into the middle of the room, took a deep breath and blew the dust from the surface.

Whistling a gleeful tune while she worked, Julia walked to the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and started feeling around blindly for the item she had left behind so many years ago. Within a few seconds, she whispered, “Ahh, there you are,” as she pulled the book from its hiding place under the sink.

She lit another candle and placed it in the center of the table, laying the book beside it. Just then, a flash of headlights darted across the wall, and Julia’s eyes dilated, “Showtime,” she hissed.

She had waited thirty long years for this.

When Trevor pulled up to the old cabin, he smirked. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been here, but foggy memories of nights of teenage drinking, drug use, and debauchery started trickling back.

He turned on the light in his car and looked down at the invitation in his hand.

THE UNOFFICIAL CLASS REUNION

LET’S PARTY LIKE IT’S 1992!

Friday, July 10th

Meet At the Old Party House at Midnight

Although no other cars were there, Trevor knew he hadn’t been the first to arrive. Looking at the old cabin, he saw the candles burning in the windows, so obviously, someone had already been inside.

“Great, as if this weren’t already creepy enough,” he said aloud, silently wondering if he should wait in the car or go inside the house. At this point, he wasn’t even sure who had sent the invitation or was hosting the party. He was there more out of curiosity than anything.

“Screw it, I’m waiting here until someone else shows up. I’ve seen scary movies, and this is usually how they start,” he thought as he reached for the joint in his pocket. Carefully, he sparked his lighter and inhaled as the flame gently kissed the end of the spliff.

Within a few minutes, another set of headlights appeared in Trevor’s rear view mirror. The high beams reflected into his eyes, momentarily blinding his night vision. He blinked a few times and then glanced back toward the cabin, catching a glimpse of a figure in a white dress standing in the dark woods behind the building. He squinted, blinked a few more times, and looked again… there was nothing.

With a sigh, Trevor laughed at himself for seeing things. “Dude, you need to lay off the weed,” he giggled quietly, tamped out the joint, and opened his car door.

His eyes lit up, “JONAH!” he shouted as the second car's driver emerged.

Although Trevor didn’t remember much from their adventures to the cabin, he remembered Jonah. How could he not? He and Jonah had been friends since kindergarten, but after graduation, the two drifted apart when Trevor left town to attend college on the East Coast.

Jonah had always been a little rough around the edges, but time hadn’t handed him any favors. He looked as worn and weathered as the old house but chiseled and well-built for nearly 50.

“I kind of figured you’d be here,” Jonah spouted.

Suddenly, two more familiar faces stepped out of Jonah’s car.

“Ronnie?”

“Hey Trevor,” a timid, feminine voice replied from the darkness. She was starting to show her age, but Ronnie was still demure with a small stature and a tomboy style. She looked tough, but Trevor had never heard her raise her voice.

It wasn’t a surprise that Veronica was with Jonah. They had been inseparable since they started dating in junior high. Although he had heard they split up shortly after high school, Trevor knew Ronnie would always love Jonah.

“What? No hug for me, you asshole?” a third voice rang out.

Trevor laughed. “Hey Seth, long-time-no-see, buddy,” he said as the two men embraced and patted each other’s backs.

“Guys, I’ve been gone for 30 years; what the hell did you bring me out here for?” Trevor questioned.

Standing in front of his car, waving an invitation in the air, Jonah snapped back, “Actually, we’re hoping you could tell us.”

Seeing the invitation, a look of confusion flashed over Trevor’s face, and it dawned on him that someone else was already here. Someone had lit the candles in the windows before they arrived, and someone had sent them all invitations.

With her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket, Ronnie sheepishly looked down at the ground, kicked the gravel, and whispered, “it’s her.”

“Who?” Trevor asked. “What are you guys talking about?”

Seth said, “Really, Trevor? You don’t remember, do you? You seriously don’t remember the last time you were here… oh man, that’s fucking rich.”

“Does the name Julia ring a bell, you piece of shit?” Jonah grabbed Trevor by his shirt, lifting him off the ground.

Like a tidal wave, hearing her name, “Julia,” the memories came flooding back, flashing across his mind, and Trevor dropped to his knees.

“No, no, nooooo,” Trevor wailed. “It can’t be, it can’t be, it can’t be….” Then he blacked out and fell to the ground.

When Trevor awoke, he was seated at the table inside the cabin, his hands zip-tied to the chair. Julia’s diary lay on the table in front of him. Jonah was standing on the other side of the table, looking down at him.

“We’ve lived with this for too long, Trevor. You left; we didn’t. We couldn’t forget, she wouldn’t let us, and now it’s your turn to remember.”

Seth sat in the corner of the room with his head in his hands, repeating to himself, “How could he forget?”

Ronnie stepped into Trevor’s vision; trembling, she called out, “Julia? He’s here… we found him; we did everything you asked. Can we please leave now?”

“NO!” a woman’s voice shouted. A gust of wind whipped through the cabin, extinguishing all the candles but the one on the table. Julia’s diary flipped open, and the pages fluttered to the final entry.

“Reeeeeeaad it,” the voice commanded. Ronnie started sobbing.

July 10th, 1992

Dear diary,

I am so excited! You will NEVER believe who asked me to a party tonight?! TREVOR MADISON!! I can’t believe it… he just graduated last month and was totally the hottest guy in school, and now he wants me to go with him to a party! I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Just one problem. Mom can’t find out – so I’m telling her I’m going to Sophie’s house. Ronnie’s picking me up while mom is at work, and no one will be the wiser. Then, she and I will meet the guys at some old cabin in the woods where they all hang out, and I can’t wait!

I can’t believe I’m going to go out with Trevor Madison!

Trevor dropped his head. He remembered exactly what they had done. They had lured that girl to the woods. He planned it all and recruited Ronnie, Jonah, and Seth to help him achieve his monstrous goal. He closed his eyes and drifted back into his mind.

“Come on… it will be the coolest thing we’ve ever done,” Trevor laughed. “That chic is so infatuated with me – it’ll be easy to get her out here.”

Dancing around the room, Jonah took another hit of acid and cackled, “Yeah, let’s plan a murder!”

Ronnie and Seth were less enthusiastic, but neither had the guts to speak up against whatever Trevor and Jonah suggested. And so, the teens sat down at the table in the cabin to draw up their plan.

The plan was golden, and the victim was perfect. If everyone carried out their part, no one would ever know.

Julia’s mother was mentally unstable, and everyone in town knew she abused Julia horribly. Her mother made “Mommy Dearest” look like a children’s story. If and/or when Julia did disappear, Trevor knew they would either suspect the mother or that Julia had finally gotten fed up with the abuse and ran away.

The plan needed everyone to play their role flawlessly. Trevor would play the charming young man interested in Julia. Ronnie would help get Julia to the cabin without anyone knowing where they had gone. Seth would forge a runaway note to leave on Julia’s behalf after they left. And Jonah would help bury the body.

However, the one thing Trevor didn’t plan on… was Julia’s determination to exact revenge – even from beyond the grave, if necessary.

Now, with the four of them back at the cabin, it was time.

- - -

Still sobbing and trembling with fear, Ronnie ran for the door and cried out, “I am so sorry, Julia – please forgive me!”

She grabbed the handle and pulled with all her might, but the door would not budge. Jonah ran to her side and started violently tugging at the doorknob, but to no avail – Julia would make sure the door would not open tonight.

Seth began to panic, pacing the floor. “We are all going to die, and we fucking deserve it. Did you hear me, Julia? WE FUCKING DESERVE IT!” he shouted.

A cold burst of air swirled through the room, quietly answering, “yessssssss.”

Trevor’s hands were freed from his restraints, and he rubbed his wrists, looking around the room at his traumatized friends. Jonah was sitting against the door, holding Ronnie. Seth sat motionless, wild-eyed, and confused.

“Julia, what do you want? How can I fix this?” Trevor pleaded into the night air.

The page turned in the diary, and blood-red words began to appear on the page.

July 10th, 2022

I, Trevor Madison, want to confess to raping and murdering Julia Stevens on July 10th, 1992.

“Fine! I’ll confess, Julia… just let them go!” Trevor begged. But as he pleaded, more words started to fill the page.

My friends helped lure her here, and Jonah and I buried her body 50 yards behind this cabin.

“OK! I will tell the whole story; I remember everything now, Julia! I’ll tell the whole truth,” he cried out. But the words continued.

Tonight, I lured my friends back to the cabin and slaughtered them all.

Trevor froze, his eyes staring at the paper. “But, but… Ju...Julia… I haven’t killed my friends,” he whimpered.

Sensing a different silence in the room, Trevor closed his eyes and dropped his head; he was afraid to look around. Facing his feet, he slowly opened his eyes and began sobbing.

He was covered in blood. Dripping in it, actually.

Trevor turned toward the corner where Seth had been, and he gasped. Seth’s lifeless body lay twitching in a pool of blood, with a baseball bat broken beside him.

“NO!” Trevor screamed. “I didn’t do that! Julia, I didn’t do that!”

Then, he spun around to look for Jonah and Ronnie. Like Seth, their bodies lay in a puddle of their own blood. Jonah was still holding Ronnie, their throats slit from ear to ear.

Trevor collapsed back into the chair, and the final entry started to appear on the page.

I cannot live with the guilt, knowing what I’ve done, and I must take my own life.

Trevor closed his eyes again and took a deep breath; the air permeated with the metallic smell of freshly spilled blood.

When he opened his eyes, a noose hung from the rafters in the cabin. Julia was standing in the corner with her hand pointing to the rope. Suffering from shock, Trevor quietly and willingly walked to the chair below the rope, slid the noose around his neck, and only cried, “I’m sorry,” as he prepared for his fate.

Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was guilt. Whatever it was, Trevor didn’t notice that Julia’s ghost had aged. But after securing his hands and tightening the noose, Julia stood in front of Trevor.

Revealing the truth, she removed the long blond wig, wiped the pale makeup from her face, and smiled as she roughed up her natural hair.

“You only thought you killed me, Trevor… but I crawled out of that shallow hole you threw me in. I crawled back home, bleeding from head to toe, only to find my “runaway note” left by Seth. I saw an opening, and I took it, Trevor," she said nonchalantly.

“Oh, believe me, Julia died that night, but Sadie, was born to take her place,” she shrugged. “Well, Trevor, it was the best thing for me.”

“For the last thirty years, I’ve lived as Sadie Somersby and continued with my life, just like you did. But unlike you, I didn’t forget; in fact, I planned for the moment we would be reunited.”

“And Trevor,” she patted his cheeks, “You made our reunion everything I had always imagined it would be.” And Julia kicked the chair out from under her killer.

Then, after gathering her personal belongings, Sadie turned and walked away from the cabin, putting Julia, Trevor, Jonah, Ronnie, Seth, and the whole nightmare behind her forever.