Terrified. Two Nights of my Short Life.

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The group of us, myself Lenny, and Amy, Kayla and Jon were out doing our usual - wandering the back forest behind our run-down project building. Lenny noticed the faint light first, the rest of us thinking he was just pulling our leg as usual; the proverbial prankster. As we all peered closer to the abandoned cabin indeed there was a candle burning in the window. "What the...." we all said in unison.

Now you must understand, we have been running, climbing, creeping through these woods our whole lives and never, I mean never, have any of us seen any activity at this creepy cabin, nor do we know anyone who has. In fact, this cabin is the one where the whole school sends all the newbies on the 'town dare'; of course, none of us locals are actually stupid enough to get too close to it - who knows if his body is still in there, duh. That being said, tonight we are all daring to sneak as quietly as possible as close as we dare to see what the hell is going on.

When we were younger, the stories were rampant about what actually happened to old Mister Fergus and his family. All we know is one misty morning the police, ambulance, coroner, and everyone else you can think of had the forest lite up like an airport, everything was taped off and our parents and all the neighbors were up in arms about the 'murder'. Now, did we actually have solid intell, no. Did we have solid speculation, hell yeah! We were just old enough to be more curious than a farmhouse cat and the four of us couldn't wait to get out there for a closer look.

Getting out there was trickier than we thought. For days we all huddled at each other's houses listening in on our parents hushed voices to get any info we could and then blowing it out of proportion when repeating it to others. Word was, Mister Fergus was grotesquely murdered and Mrs. Fergus and their elderly daughter were nowhere to be found. Now while the community always referred to them as 'old bats', and we never ventured to close while they were alive, we were now itching to get as close as we could to have a peek and if we got there first, we'd also be the talk of the town; or at least the public school. Five days later, with the police tape flapping in the wind in taters, all was finally quiet - this was our chance.

All of us being as close to ten years old without having a birthday yet, had no idea what we were walking into. On yet another misty afternoon, shortly after school let out, we all whispered in Jon's garage trying to decide what we needed to bring on our 'murder adventure'. Packing a pack with a flashlight, duct tape, water, Jon's Dads cigarette lighter and his mom's famous peanut butter sandwiches, we all headed to the woods.

Of course, the wind was up, trees swaying and leaves blowing around us in every direction. The forest floor was soggy from all the rain we had had, and our shoes sunk in just a bit too deep with each step making a weird sucking sound when you stepped out. There are so many creepy sounds surrounding us that we never really noticed before. It seemed as though every few minutes one of us were jumping out of our skin at nothing at all. Needless to say, we were all on edge but for what we could not describe. We'd never been on such an adventure before, planning to get closer than ever before to the untouchable. Would we stumble on the lost women? Was there a madman hiding out somewhere just waiting for the next victim? Was that going to be us? The hairs on my arms were standing on end even though I was wearing a warm sweater and raincoat.

Up ahead, we could just make out the creepy cabin. The forest sounds around us seemed to be getting even louder than when we started. We decided to take a break on a big, downed tree before going any further. On our break we made light of the situation with jokes and dares, but none of us were really laughing; just trying to hold the anxiety inside so we wouldn't be the first of us to high tail it outta there. After what seemed like hours, still trying to pretend we were all cool, our troop of four trotted on. As the cabin loomed closer, we approached it in a circular motion thinking we could see around it better so we wouldn't get spooked by something; or someone. When Amy tripped on a branch sticking out of the moss and went tumbling to the ground, we all screamed bloody murder! Of course, she came up laughing her ass off because she was perfectly fine, not grabbed the ankle of some hidden ghoul as we imagined. What were we doing out here I thought to myself shaking my lowered head.

We were close enough now that we could see the weathered paint on the cabin was an ugly green color, long ago having lost its pairing to the beautiful greens surrounding it. The railing around the back porch was rotten and barely still attached; dead flowers surrounding the place of which I imagined in another time would have looked quite lovely. As the wind picked up, we all stood close together in a line just staring at the cabin. Was this it, could we make it any further? Kayla was the first of us to take a hesitant step to keep going, the bravest of us all. So, as usual, we all sucked it up and followed her closer. We kept huddled together as we moved, eyes darting everywhere at every sound, practically holding hands but not actually; that is not cool.

The four of us stood staring from the bottom of the steps at the back door; not actually on the step, still on the ground. I was shaking in my boots; I could only guess we all were; well maybe not Kayla. From there we were trying to peek into the windows on our tippy toes, but we were not that tall. What we could see was scary. Curtains torn from the window, food splashed onto the window of the back door, another window with the glass broken out. Looks like a fight happened for sure. I was not going any closer than this. Once again Kayla went to step up, Amy grabbed her by the arm and simply shook her head as if to say no but not being able to speak aloud. Kayla rolled her eyes at her while Jon looked at me with eyes the size of saucers.

One step up, Kayla looked back. Another step and the stairs let out the biggest creaking sound ever and we all sucked in a huge breath. Letting it out she placed her foot on the last step before the landing, she was all right; her shoulders loosened. She turned again and waved her hand to get the rest of us to follow her up, yeah no, we all agreed to stay put. "Give me the flashlight Jon" Kayla asked and he fumbled with the zipper to get it out for her. Handing it up she went to turn it on, no light. She slapped against her other hand a few times and action; the bright light beamed into her face. She moved the beam along the front of the cabin slowly and back again, looking for what I do not know. She seemed satisfied and raised her leg to take the last step up. I guess she did not want to chicken out so as soon as the first foot hit the deck she stepped in further and landed with a mind-blowing crash! We all seriously, no holds barred, screamed as loud as humanly possible especially Kayla whose foot had gone through the rotten deck up to the knee! With serious shit running through my head, I turned to run when Kayla yelled "you can't leave me!", big tears running down her cheeks. I stopped dead in my tracks, turned and looked at Amy and Jon and nodded. We huddled together for a few minutes to figure this out, while Kayla was still screaming from the hole she was stuck in. Heads up, I loudly said "on three"; one...two...three! We jumped up the stairs, grabbed Kayla by the arms and tugged with all our might. No go. Amy started banging around area carefully to try and make the hole a little bigger; Kayla was now quietly sobbing, covered in tears and snot. Another kick and chuck of wood let loose, another tug and Jon and I were able to pull Kayla up. At that same moment, the four us is ran like lightening outta there all the way to the parking lot behind our condos; no stopping, no looking back. We barely spoke of it ever again; that is until now.

Now we were all sitting along the downed tree from long ago, shooting the shit; this tree had forever more silently became the place we stopped at and did not pass. Not even when it was us urging newbies to go up to the cabin on a dare. Outside of the four of us no one knew what had happened that day. The tree had long gotten grooves in it that shaped to our butts as it was our favorite hangout; the moist temperatures of our area lending to quick decomposing. "Decomposing"; now why did that word have to jump into my head, geesh. But yes, sure enough, there was light in the window of that very cabin. We all looked at each other, the blood draining from our faces like we'd seen a ghost; not a ghost but all the feelings from years ago rushing back to the forefront of our minds; it suddenly felt like yesterday.

At seventeen I thought I was going to be the bravest in the now teen group of us but staring from this distance I could already feel my head shaking no from side to side, I was not going over there; and this time Kayla was right there agreeing with me silently with sheer terror written all over her face. It was Amy and Jon that were all set to leap over our protective tree and head right back into the 'murder adventure' that so many years ago went horribly wrong. What were they thinking!

I grabbed Kayla but the arm and started to turn back home saying "come on, let's go guys", but Jon spoke up with " hey, hey, what's the hurry? We gotta check this out." While Amy stayed quiet, she shook head in agreement. While brave, I also considered myself pretty smart so went on the remind them of that day years before when we almost lost Kayla to that place. It seems that only Kayla and I remember it that way, these to yahoos were going over there. Everything inside me said 'no, turn away', but what kind of friend was I; I could not let me best bud and gal trapse over to that haunted cabin, in the middle of nowhere without me as back up - could I?

I urged them to come back tomorrow in the light of day to have another look, secretly hoping they'd forget all about it. I tried everything I could think of to get them to back away, but they were not budging; all the while Kayla was deathly silent, so unlike her it wasn't funny. So now the only decision was who was going? The four amigos, the two idiots, was Kayla even capable of moving any closer?

'All for one and one for all' seems like the stupidest saying I ever heard right now, but as it were we were all going to check out the cabin. We slowly rounded our protective tree, a low fog rolling in around us; the wind whistling through the trees. There was somewhat of a path made by the stupid newbies that we could follow; what can I say, a school has gotta have some sick ritual. We continued, slowly, jumping around at every sound, feeling just like I did at nine years old. We came to the small clearing on the outskirts of the cabin, long ago grown over with knee high weeds and other vegetation. Yup, there was light in there all right. What the hell was someone doing all the way out here, and in there; in that place of horrors that was never solved. Those poor women never found.

While standing this close I could also smell wood burning which I hadn’t noticed before. Looking up, I see a small tendril of smoke coming from a chimney. I could not see any more light than that coming from the one candle in the window. Huh. As baffled as I was, I was still ready to get the hell out of there; what did I care who was in there - someone crazy is all I could fathom. How would we get any answers anyway? Go onto the porch, yeah, that went so well last time. Wait out in the cold dark night till morning to see someone - fat chance! No, Jon comes up with the greatest idea ever! He wants to boost me up on his shoulders and have me peer into another window and look around! Hells bells no! "Come on Lenny" he says, "you and I are the tallest and therefore sure to get a good look inside from the ground". I stand there, shaking my head, staring into the night sky praying to Jesus, or whomever is listening, that this guy, my best friend, isn't asking me to do the very thing I can't imagine doing in this lifetime - or the next. Oh my God!

So, this guy jumps off a bridge...... and all his stupid friends follow right after him. Yup, that is exactly where the four of us are right now. Two for, two against this stupid maneuver. Of course, both of us get sucked in to the 'go team' and next thing I know Jon and I are crawling across the knee-high weeds on our hands and knees to get to another window that doesn't have the candle. Once we get to the cabin I whisper to Jon " don't let me touch the house man or else"; or else what, I'm already doing the stupidest thing Ever. He stays bent over halfway so I can sit on his shoulders, and I am holding onto his head for dear life. Slowly, and what feels like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Jon starts to stand up. I am practically pulling his hair out of his head as his hisses in pain, I don't care he deserves every lost follicle. I can sense the windowpane casing a shadow on my forehead and hit Jon hard on the top of the head as if to tell him to stop. He does, and I peek a look up over the windowsill but I am not high enough yet. I give his cheek a little tap as if to says a little bit more; he understands because we are besties like that. I inch up higher, now my eyes can see over the ledge, and I indicate to Jon to stop moving. Mind-speak, so cool. Now that we are here and fine, I can relax a little bit.

Slowly I let go of Jon's hair and gently touch my fingertips to the window ledge. I don't want to get any higher, but I also don't want to be dropped into the wall making, what would surely be, a loud racket. With this providing some leverage, I turn my head from side to side to peer inside the cabin. The candle in the window casts shadows throughout the room I am looking into, but I see nothing; no one, no movement. There looks like two doors leading off to what I can only imagine are other rooms from this one; perhaps the person is in one of those. I start to push away from the edge to get down because there is nothing to see here and why wait any longer for any shit to go down, but Jon gives a shake as if to say not yet; but no, my need to get away is stronger than Jon’s curiosity and I keep pushing back until he bends down to let me off.

I stare at him shaking my head and start to walk away when a sound comes from inside that makes me pause. Jon hears it to and wants me to rise into the window again; no, I’m done I shake my head. After a few steps back towards the girls it looks like he is finally going to follow my lead, then suddenly the back door creaks open – just a crack. Holy shit! We freeze! Do we drop? Do we run? I don’t know!

We stay frozen in time, standing there, listening for the slightest sound. Over my shoulder I can hear rustling in the grass behind us. The girls had seen the door open and were now sneaking over to us to see what was happening. They were going the wrong way! I had a really bad feeling about this. They finally make it to Jon and I and start whispering; I shhh everyone, I am trying to hear any sounds from inside. After a few more minutes and we have still heard nothing, the collection of us silently decides – we are going in.

Two by two we sneak up the back stairs, this time sticking to the edges where we figure the wood would be the strongest. At the top we can still make out the hole where Kayla fell through all those years before; we would avoid that area for sure. I raise my hands slightly for everyone to stop; I want to have a listen again from here, perhaps we missed something from before. The silence is deafening, so we creep on. Tonight we have no flashlight so we are creeping along by the dim light from the candle. Jon is the first to peer in through the open crack in the doorway.

He sees nothing, hears nothing; he puts his hand softly on door to give it a little push. My heart is racing – what the hell were we doing! It opens a little further without a sound; we still see and hear nothing. Huddled together as close as possible we go to take a tentative step inside, but then freeze as a whispering sound comes out of nowhere. As fast as it came all was silent again. We stare at each other trying to read each other's minds; ‘are we going through with this?’

Apparently so with two nods and shoulder shrug from Kayla. I can’t leave them now. Again, we go to take that step inside, silence. Ok, our imaginations were just running wild before; adrenaline pounding in my ears. We all take a few baby steps and suddenly we were all standing inside just past the door, far enough to be able to take in the whole room. I see the candle on the window to my right, the two doors from before. The entire space is covered in a thick layer of years old dust; rat droppings everywhere. The stench in here was less then desirable. Years ago from the window we could see signs of conflict but standing here now it is all confirmed. Furniture is broken, dishes broken on the floor, dark red stains on the floor in what looks to be old dried blood pools. Shit. This is crazy.

The four of us are silently taking in all this information but the cabin is still silent, seemingly undisturbed after all this time. So where did the candle come from? We take a few more steps inside now standing farther away from the door then I’d like. Our eyes widen as we start to hear the whispering again. We start to back up towards the door but a whoosh beside us slams the door shut! Ah shit!

Once again frozen in space, frozen in our minds, ‘what was happening?’

We stare off to the other side of the room as the knob on one of the doors leading away starts to jiggle. The need to run away is so over powering I cannot believe that my legs are not moving! And why isn’t anyone else running! The jiggle stops, we hear the whispers, and then we see it. See what – I am not totally sure. I am shaking all over now, my mouth dropped open; being outside as a peeping tom was a way better idea now than this situation; but still our bodies are not moving.

Out of the corner of my eye something catches my vision; I blink and again and see nothing. I grab Amy around the shoulders and pull her closer to me, I sense Jon doing the same to Kayla. Holy shit this is bad! My senses feel movement in the air but I see nothing, the noise silent again. Thinking I am now making shit up in my head I start to scan the room with my eyes slowly, I don't want to miss anything.

All of a sudden this being, ghost, creature pops up right in front of our faces and we whale out loud like a bunch of babies – still frozen still. Jon and Kayla are swaying back and forth but their feet do not move, eyes bugged out of their heads; I am sure ours are to. I am staring into this thing, though it as it isn't whole, and my mind cannot process what I am seeing. I see long white hair, big grey holes where eyes should be, a see-through night gown billing as if its windy in there, skeleton hands and feet - and nothing else. As my mind reels at the realization that I must being seeing the Ms' ghost, or the daughter, I am covered in sweat, my head suddenly dizzy. I start to sway and feel myself tipping backwards Pulling Amy with me. ‘No, no!’ I seem to shout in my own head, I cannot check out now!

The ghost, spirit, whatever it is, seems to be swaying back and forth between the four of us; what did it want and why now after all these years. It looked to be studying us very closely.

Suddenly with one super fast jut right towards us the ghost opens its inhuman size mouth and screams out loud. The candle in the other window blows out as I feel the group of us lift off the floor, floating in the air, and we start flying backwards! Shit it is going to kill us! We are going to be smashed against the inside of the door never to be found!

But no, we keep flying, floating, however you would describe it and suddenly we are actually passing through the closed door, the sensation is all weird throughout my body but I do not let go of Amy. We keep going past the porch, past the rotted steps, and the four of us land in a big heap of arms and legs way out in the tall weeds. All around us now is darkness, shear black; I cannot see anything around me, but Amy is still tight to me chest. I feel dizzy, see bright flashes of light and I black out; my head hits the ground hard.

I cannot say how long I was out, laying in the hard wet weeds at the cabin but I do remember coming in and out of consciousness at the sensation of being dragged by the arms; but I am not awake yet. Time drags on and now I feel myself being lifted by three people, one on either leg and someone holding me under the armpits. When I finally come around I am back at the tree I love so much, the tree that says that's far enough Lenny. Jon, Amy and Kayla are all staring down into my face with shock and horror, tears running down their cheeks, Jon yelling "I'm sorry man, I'm so sorry"; over and over again. As I try to sit up my hand instinctively go to the back of my head, yup, that's gonna hurt. Bit by bit my brain is flooded with the memory of what just happened, and I lean off and punch Jon right in the face! I scurry to get my footing, but my aching head just won't allow it just yet and I fall back against the tree; now they are staring at me in shock.

Amy sits down beside me and snuggles in close, shock still written all over her face. She whispers, "what the hell was that?" Kayla and Jon turn to sit against the tree to join us, letting gravity slide them along the wet bark to the mossy floor; just as shocked as the two of us. Jon is still holding his jaw as if it's going to fall apart but that punch did not make me feel any better.

After reliving the experience together hiding behind our protective tree, no one is feeling any better. We are all shell-shocked, white-faced, and silent; how can we comprehend what just happened! If we had been drinking, boy, pass it off as a bad trip; but we were not. No more answers were going to be figured out tonight sitting in the soggy moss, the fog and mist eating into my bones.

Finally, I was feeling steady enough to get to my feet and the four of us slowly made the trek back to the complex. Lost in my own thoughts I am still having a hard time believing what just happened - what just happened?! The group of us were as silent as the cabin was. We got to the entrance way of our project, and it seemed as though we could not let each other go. As if, if we did shit would really start falling apart. Each of us at seventeen we were still expected home even though our folks knew we were all together; we could not just stand here all night.

It was Kayla who finally broke the silence that had encapsulated us. She shrugged away from Jon reluctantly and turned to face the rest of us. With a light flirty smile she says "Hey guys, how about we keep this little excursion to ourselves - again". We all force a chuckle and nod. With a big group hug we go our separate ways for the night, but would we get any rest; I sure wouldn’t.

In the light of day, I sit at the kitchen table in front of a soggy bowl of corn flakes. My skin was still ashen, big dark rings around my eyes; I hadn’t slept a wink. My mom was giving me accusatory looks from the sink but she did not say anything. After what seemed like forever I dump my cereal in the garbage, put the bowl in the sink, kiss mom on the cheek and say thanks. I’ve got to get out here and find the others.

To my surprise I find Jon, Amy and Kayla in the stairwell on my floor waiting for me. We pretty much all still had the same look on our faces as we did last night; they had not slept either. They silently stand as I walk out onto the landing and we all head down to get out of the building. We slowly stray out the front door and make our way across the parking lot to head into the woods as we would any other day; but today where the pavement ends we all stop. No one says a word, we just stand there staring into the unknown.

After a few minutes I speak up and say “Hey, why don’t we hit the mini mart today and play some video games, get our minds off other things?” As fast as they could the others turned around to walk away from the woods. I sigh in relief, I could not go in there today, would I ever be able to again? Trying to act as normal as possible I grab Amys hand and start making idle chit-chat with my friends. As a group we would get through this together, or pretend like hell that it never happened in the first place.