The Cabin that Knew...

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned, it's flicker an eerie beacon for those weary souls that mistakenly thought they had found a safe, warm spot to lay the head for the night. As this true ( and truly frightening ) tale unfolds you will find, much to your own unease, how truly mistaken one of those travelers came to be....

Daylight deepened into dusk as Joseph frantically for the umpteenth time, waved his phone in a somewhat comical manner thinking this time service would magically appear. It did not. He looked back at his beloved now flat "65 Cherry Red Mustang and cursed himself for not replacing the spare tire last time it had his tire had blown for driving too fast around a corner.

His attention, now back to his phone screen was quickly interrupted along with the hairs on the back of his neck, as the sound of a large crack rang out through the dense woods. his breathing quickened, along with his heart rate as his now-enlarged pupils scanned the area for the source of the audible assault. Not seeing an immediate threat, Joseph relaxed while simultaneously coming to the conclusion that he better find cell service quickly before he became somebodies lunch. Do Bears like musicians for lunch, he mused, he wondered what flavor he would be described as.

Giving one last look toward his beloved Lucille, yes he had named his car after Frank Zappas love ballad of the same name, he turned and started trekking deeper into the forest, hoping to find a hill or large boulder he could stand on and perhaps get at least one cell bar, all he needed was to make one call to his manager who he was to meet later that day at 2 pm,to send some assistance and, if need be, change the meeting time. he looked at his watch, it was 10:33 am. Plenty of time, he turned and continued deeper still...

This would be his first mistake, though he would find out too late for it to make a difference.

Beads of sweat made leaves their targets as they detached from Joseph's flushed face, how long have I been walking he wondered as he held his not-so-smart phone towards the unflinching heat of the late mid-day sun, he was starting to feel parched and, having ran out of the house late and without breakfast, a bit hungry as well. He squinted to see if he had service yet; no luck. He'd been walking for hours, and still no bars. He could feel himself start to slide into his own hell of despair, it wasn't hard for him to do, it happens quite easy for him...CRACK!!..Suddenly the stillness was interrupted once again by the snap of, what sounded to Joseph to be an actual whole tree being easily fractured in two rather than a wimpy branch. This thought, or realization rather, sent a cold, yet burning shiver down his sweat soaked spine. "Shit", Joseph muttered as his step quickened,the word escaped his lips more like a hiss of an angry yet fearful snake than an exclamation. He turned toward what he believed to be the direction of Lucille, to get his bearings, then took a hesitant, but confident right turn, letting his intuition lead the way.

This would be his 2nd mistake.

The phone landed with an almost inaudible crunch as plastic and a mixture of wet and dry leaves met. yes Joseph had, like a petulant snot-nosed 3 year old , threw the source of hours of frustration and lack of any discernible help other than a clock face that mocked him, laughing at his stupidity for not fixing the spare tire, laughing at the futility he felt as he seen the hands that screamed IT'S BEEN 5 HOURS! That had been the last straw resulting in the forceful chuck. It had now grown dark, shadows entwined with the forest floor making the task of finding his temporarily banished phone that much harder to complete. He felt bewildered that he hadn't found any houses, he wasn't that deep into the woods. He nervously looked around, and it dawned on him that while in his very un-manly tantrum, he had gotten turned around and now could not tell what way he had just come. He wiped his nervous brow, tongue darting apprehensively across now cracked, dehydrated lips, he'd worry about that in a minute, first he needed to find his phone.

Joseph was on hands and knees now, pants getting wet, embarrassment deepening at his own childishness..relief washed over him as his begging fist closed around the familiar hardness of his android. Finally! His reprieve from stress was short lived as he was so intent on finding his phone, his own rustling covering up the sound the approaching figure...rustle, Joseph froze, was that his imagination? He could of swore he heard, rustle, ackk, he sat up, squinted his eyes against the darkness, he could feel no he could hear the ringing of his strong yet terrified heart beating in his ears almost to the point where he thought he would pass out. Suddenly the figure still cloaked in darkness got even bigger almost like it was being born right out of the night sky itself. Joseph felt the wetness nd realized in his fright, his 33 year old bladder had emptied.

Joseph scrambled backward on all fours, facing up, almost lending his face to an assault that was ready to happen at any moment. Shit, make myself bigger, smaller, fetal position, Joseph racked his brain for what 'Your supposed to do when there is a very loud pissed off 10 foot brown bear standing in front of you'. Then, almost like it was sent from an angel herself Joseph caught the flicker of a mysterious light. He couldn't believe his luck. For a second he breathed a sigh of relief.

This would be his 3rd mistake.

Looking up at the still pissed off glaring beast, he said "ok, this is how we are going to do it, we're going to pretend this didn't happen at all, you're going to go your way and I'm going to go mine. Nobody gets hurt". The bear growled, saliva dripping from its snarled tooth filled mouth. It did not agree with Joseph's plan. That's when he saw the smaller shadow next to him and realized he had come upon a momma and her baby. He knew if he could just run away she wouldn't pursue him, rather, she would go to her baby. And go on her way. Finding a new thrust of bravery at the thought of a possible conclusion in his favor, Joseph scrambled even faster backward, turned around and high-tailed it toward the flickering, life-saving, light.

Joseph looked back , saw momma bear still on her hind legs but not giving pursuit.

As the orange flickering light got brighter he realized it was coming form a cabin. For a moment, he was drawn to an old record he had as a child; it was an old eerie man's baritone voice, narrating a scary story, Joseph recited it out loud to the eager ears of no one...

"in the dark dark woods, there was a dark dark house, and in this dark dark house was a dark dark room, and in this dark dark room, there was a dark dark box, and in this dark dark box there was this dark dark......"

... for some reason he could never remember what was in the damn dark box, perhaps his mind blocked it out of it's own far or preservation, or both. Again, the hairs stood up on Joseph's neck. He looked back at the bear who was still in the same spot and eyeballing him like she could still be easily persuaded to eat him for lunch. He decided to take his chances and continued to the beckoning cabin. This would be his final mistake.

As Joseph got closer to the abandoned cabin, his eyes took in the details; nothing much to look at, a small, what looked to be a one room cabin, just big enough for one person, maybe two if you were really in love. ( He had never been in love, had many girlfriends, they all told him he was too vain, cared about his own looks more than cared for them or their needs.) he again took in the house, looked like it had been abandoned for decades, left to rot in the middle of no where, the windows were boarded up except for one small side window, but it was so small, how could he have seen the flickering candle so brightly so far away?

The large porch showed signs of age and neglect, part of the wooden steps sagged and groaned there protest as his tired feet ascended them, one, two, three....as his right foot joined his left on the top step an unease started to form in Joseph's already knotted up stomach, for a third time he looked back at momma bear, again she dared him without words, baby bear looked amused.

He turned back to the cabin door, took a deep wavering breath; did the air feel denser, he thought, more subconsciously than consciously, he gave a single rap on the door, nothing, he brought his knuckles back to the door, rap rap rap, still nothing, his clammy hand wrapped around the old weather ravished door knob, hesitated once again before he gave it a slow twist.....it was unlocked. He was n't sure if that was a good thing or not. While keeping the handle engaged, he gave a slight nudge, "hello?" he questioned the air so low he could barely hear it himself....again, he asked no one, "hello?"....when no answer greeted him, he pushed the dingy door further, stepped inside, the first object Joseph saw was the tall glass of water that, if he had had time to think about it, seemed to hang suspended in mid-air. He didn't even remember grabbing it, just closed is eyes in an almost pornographic appreciation and gulped down it's cool and necessary wetness. As the end of the long and nearly empty glass was tipped further and further upward, Joseph opened his eyes and for the first time, took in his surroundings; and for a long moment, just stared before asking a third question...Am I insane?

Joseph couldn't pick his still-watered dribbled jaw up off the floor, couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing. He opened the door walked back outside, turned around, peered at the front of the old home, then quickly retraced his steps until he was again standing in the living area, slack jawed. From the outside, his quick trip confirmed, it appeared to be a very small one room cabin, lucky to even have a working bathroom, yet what was presenting itself to his bewildered gaze was quite the opposite! In front of him was a very large living area, which to him did not look abandoned at all. Somehow the slight flicker he saw outside had evolved into a full candelabra with great bright licking flames that seemed to dance eerily, cast long deep shadows on the walls like dancers in the night, calling for a lover to join them on the floor for a melodic embrace. There was a roaring fireplace that boasted bigger flames than the dancing lovers, "who had started the fire?" The sudden thought hit him like a perfectly planned punch to the stomach, someone has to live here! He held his breath, all attention put upon his sense of hearing, concentrating on catching any sound a possible occupant could make, but surely if someone were here, they would have heard him come in, why wouldn't they have come dashing to meet his entrance with questions of their own, he had knocked, had hollered out for anyone to let him know of there presence. No, he was alone, common sense commanded it, but his senses, they sure didn't feel alone. Ever since he had approached the boarded up cabin, he had an uneasy sense of being watched, studied, he shivered though he had no chill.

After several minutes of listening intently to the silence, he felt fairly certain that he could somewhat safely explore the rest of the cabin. Fear released it's icy grip it had had on his muscles, his breath returned to normal, somewhat.

He decided his exploration would start in the bathroom since that was exactly what his still enlarged bladder needed, he left the front door and took a hesitant step in the direction that made the most sense. He took three steps and the resulting pain that shot through his knee caused Joseph to yelp out in pain, what the hell? He silently gasped through clenched jaw. He had never had knee pain before. He figured it was a side effect of the earlier tantrum that had him on his knees in the forest, searching for his phone; he self-soothed with a gentle massage, then stopped mid-rub...his hand!! He stared in shock, the synapses in his brain were in a temporary standstill, not knowing what to think next. Joseph brought his gnarled knuckles closer for his bewildered eyes to scrutinize, they were not the knuckles of a fairly young 33 year old man, these were the knuckles of someone 2o years older. Ok well obviously that was not the case, he must have damaged his hand when knocking on the old door, perhaps it was splintered? Half satisfied, but wholly relived at this only possible conviction, Joseph stood up, put on what could only have been called a bravely desperate face and continued to make his way to the restroom.

The mind-boggling scene did not end with the living room, the hallway was bigger than Joseph's whole apartment. He eye-balled a couple of bedrooms and was tempted to make them his first stop but his bladder would not stand for it, locating the bathroom, Joseph stepped over the thresh-hold.

That's when he saw his face, or what used to be 'his face'. He ran a trembling hand over what appeared to be a week's worth of '5 o'clock shadow'; even though he had just shaved this morning, that was not what was causing his eyes to bulge in sheer astonishment, it was his appearance 'age-wise'! When Joseph had awaken at promptly 6 am this morning per his usual routine, he had been a strikingly handsome, too handsome for his own good, some would say, 33 year old 'er' young man. What looked back at him with watery bloodshot eyes was man more like his father, he really did look 20 years older!! "I am very tired, hungry; I am sure I will be back to my old, (he winced at the accidental pun) self after he ate and slept.

He turned from the mirror, made his way over to the toilet, did his business, which his bladder gave many thanks, flushed and walked back over to the sink to start the 20 second hand washing as he had been taught when he was a child...as he absentmindedly lathered his hands his attention was again on his own reflection...WTF?

Joseph cried out loudly as he stumbled backwards, feet entangling with the trash can, and landed on his ass with a loud crash of metal and tile, the sheer force coming from the realization that he had aged.... AGAIN! He picked himself up off the floor, dazed not from the fall but from he was witnessing! Something was not right! He looked at himself in the mirror, studied his reflection. Where there was usually a full scalp of sandy blond hair, nicely trimmed, though on the longer side, there was now a large balding spot surrounded by hundreds of grey hairs! But not even five minutes ago, he had looked in the mirror and although he had looked weathered, he had attributed it to being tired, but this he could not blame on being tired, no somehow he had actually aged! Taking a couple of steps back from the mirror, almost as if to gain distance from the visual experience, Joseph leaned against the wall, slid down and gathered his thoughts. He thought back to when he had first ascended the steps, had almost imperceptibly, noted the air was denser, that the cabin interior did not match the outer, but most importantly, how his knee and hand seemed to age as well. At first his brain was having a hard time putting it together, but then when he re-visited the mirror experience, it hit him (another well time, squarely planted punch) with such force that his stomach nearly up-chucked in response; every time he interacted with the cabin, he aged. From the looks of it, deducing from how he looked before using the toilet to after, he figured about 10 years. Using the cabin as a sanctuary had been the first interaction, the glass of water the third, flushing the toilet, oh shit, washing his hands!! The sound of the rushing water that was still gushing out of the sink faucet brought Joseph to reality, if he hadn't been so scared he may have thought that was amusing; reality. He got up and went back to the sink, he quickly looked into the mirror in time to see his hairline receding even further...as he watched! How could this be?

Joseph's mind races as he stumbled out of the bathroom, water left to run over the sides of the sink. He did not even register the weight he had lost as he reached down and pull his pants up. He ran into the living room and crouched into the corner, I will just wait it out he thought timidly, yea I will wait until morning comes, daylight will make it possible for me to find my way back to the road, to help, suddenly remembering his phone, he fished it out of his pocket, he was not surprised to see it say 'no service' . Joseph pulled his aching knees up to his chest and whimpered.

His attempt at sleep brought no success. He watched and resisted as the cabin offered ways of aging him.

It was like the cabin knew what he wanted.

A stereo with his favorite albums, a Fender Strat. Still he resisted, although he thought he would die quicker from the boredom than from the lapse of Time.

Again, Joseph tried to sleep, again no success. He looked at the digital clock on his phone and gasped, it was 7 am! Why was it still dark? As this new attack on his mental faculties made itself known, another sense was waking up in Joseph's body, his nose. His thinking stopped and gave way to an almost animalistic 'sniffing' as the smell of breakfast filled the air, but not just any breakfast, as the hungry traveler was about to see, it was his favorite breakfast.

Saliva filled Joseph's mouth, stomach rumbled, but all he could do was stand in the corner and stare. He was afraid to get close, get close enough to the sausage, (patty of course), hash browns, (crispy as he preferred) dry rye toast, and last but definitely not least, two perfectly made sunny side up eggs. He was an admitted yolk addict. No, he could not allow himself to sit at that table, he would no doubt dive into that plate of food like a wild boar at a fresh fruit festival. He knew now what would happen if he did that, he would age another 10 years.

Why was the smell not going away? The plate of extremely tempting food had been sitting on the table for an hour now and it was no less appealing than when it first appeared. His stomach rumbled again, begging for 'just one bite of the food'. Wait, that could be an idea, what if he did just have one bite? Would he age less? His stomach rumbled it's agreement. Joseph put his hands on the floor to help himself stand, his legs felt like they had been holding him up for 73 years instead of the 33 years that he had actually been alive, but he 'had aged 40 years', he hesitated after two painful strides, the thought made him nervous, what if it didn't work? What if taking one bite did not 'trick' the cabin?

He crossed the last 5 feet to the table, to the nourishing yet possibly deadly food. He pulled the chair out slowly, took a deep terrified breath and sat down. His liver spotted hand reached for the napkin, together with his other, gnarled knuckled hand, lay it flat in his lap. He sat up straight, took the shiny (or glaring) silver fork in his left hand, picked up the knife with his right, and sliced into the sausage patty. He dipped the bite of the sausage into the yolk, slowly, watching the now gruesome-seeming fracture of the yolk, it seemed odd now that he had liked that so much before. now it just reminded him of the frailty of life. He had the thought he may have had his yolk addiction beat.

Heart thumping, stomach begging, Joseph brought the bite to his open mouth, searching tongue; he had grown older, he couldn't help but give an inner chuckle at the thought and it gave him the confidence to close his lips around the bite.

Joseph couldn't be certain what happened first, or if it all was instant. The taste was magnificent and exploded on his taste buds, and the loud DONG of a clock, and the loss of one of his eyes.

Using his one good eye to squint at the newly arrived clock, well not sooo good, Joseph came to two realizations, one, he had lost his vision in his right eye, two, time had passed. Now he knew why hours had gone by in the cabin without the sun coming up. He had stopped 'accepting' the cabins gifts. He did not listen to music. He had not drank anymore water, nor used the facilities, or strummed the guitar. The cabin was not going to let him just 'wait it out' to 'cheat'. Once he accepted that bite, the clock had appeared and an hour had passed. There was another issue though, he could not be certain if he aged less, all he knew was that he had lost his vision in one eye. Could he take just one more bite and get more time? He reached out for the fork, realized how weak he felt. At this point death would be a more welcome idea than sitting in this cabin with time at a standstill. He took another bite, DONG, pain shot through Joseph's spine and a tooth fell on the plate. A sliver of sunshine through the window. Another bite DONG, more teeth fell onto the plate, more light in the morning sky. Another, he could not bite this next fork full, only mush the eggs around with this gums, DONG, his one cataract filled eye could see the sun...One last bite DONG, the sun filled the cabin the Joseph could only see a ray, barely heard the ting, his phone!

Joseph was too weak to reach out for the phone, brought his face down to the table to help see, yes! service! Having recognized his pupils the phone opened up, DONG, the last vestiges of vision left Joseph and he thanked God for his voice as he begged the phone to call his Manager, the only family he had.

Joseph could hear Sandy's voice and thought how sweet it was that she sounded so worried, she knew it was him but kept asking his name as if it were a question. That's because Joseph had just accepted his last gift from the cabin and because his life was draining, could not answer. The cabin had won.

The End