The Cabin

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It wasn’t close enough for neighbors to see the small sputter of the flame, hidden deep in the wooded mountains of Oregon, but he took precautions with his arrival anyway. They had guided him to the location; not really as a physical place but more of a feeling of where he was supposed to be. He’d even known about the candle, casting a glow a few feet around it. It tried to make the place a bit warmer, more inviting, as if someone lived there, but he knew only they lived there.

With a heave, he lifted the large military issue duffle bag with one arm and the 50 feet of rope he’d bought at a hardware store in Newport, and stepped into the old cabin. The door was unlocked just like they said it would be. In fact, the door seemed to open wider than his nudge allowed. He could feel the air, thick and moody, and he felt as if eyes watched him, though they assured him there were none. His peripheral picked up a movement to his right, and he jerked his head to see what was there. Blue-gray eyes searched the room but he saw nothing, the shadow already beyond his sight.

He shivered, then reprimanded himself. They had told him not to be afraid, not to worry. They had thought of everything. He had sent an email before he left, carefully detailing his sudden departure with a vague cover story, purchased supplies separately in different towns along the way, doubling back so he couldn’t be tracked. He covered his truck with branches and brushed away footprints as he was told. They had said they would be his eyes and ears. Soon, they would let him know his purpose here.

He began to dust off the furniture, sad and peeling from years of sitting alone in the Oregon air, and he began to see it shine as he cleaned. He stopped and rubbed a hand over his eyes, trying to clear them. Looking around, everything was old, dull, and cracked again. He was just tired. They were being quiet, but he felt they wanted him to make the cabin look lived in again. He worked for a while until it appeared an unkempt owner occupied the space, rather than the abandoned appearance of earlier.

“What else do we do?” He spoke aloud to the empty room. They whispered softly, then harshly, “Nothing, nothing…” The hiss trailed off into the silence, broken only by bird calls from outside and the gentle hum of insects.

So, his tasks done, he sat and waited.

~

When Katherine stepped off the plane in Portland, she expected cooler weather than the Texas scorcher she had just left. It was disappointingly hot outside, part of a national heat wave blanketing most of the US. She headed off toward baggage claim at a quick pace, passing many of the other passengers as she went. She was on a mission: get her bags, call an Uber, and get to the small Airbnb she had rented two days ago.

Portland Airport was small, and within minutes, she had her bags and waited on the curb for a 2015 Toyota Camry with a driver named Sunni to pick her up. She fanned herself with a small notebook she carried in her backpack, watching the others waiting for their own Ubers and Lyfts to arrive. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes passed in the multilane pick up zone.

The car pulled up and she hurried over to it, checking the license plate as she rounded the back. The blonde driver stepped out to see if she needed help but stopped short when she saw Katherine only held a small duffle and her backpack.

“Katherine?” Sunni asked. When she saw the nod, she continued, “Is this all your baggage? Sit wherever you want, I don’t have any more pickups today.”

Katherine was immediately at ease with this driver and sat her bags in the back seat before choosing to sit in the front. They pulled out of the airport into Portland traffic, the hot sun beating down on them, chatting about the weather. Sunni was a charismatic personality, recently moved to Portland from Eugene, working her way through college with money made by Ubering.

“What about you? What brings you to Portland?” Sunni asked her, just as her thoughts drifted away from the girls rambling. She snapped back to reality.

“I…” She hesitated. “I’m here to see my brother. We haven’t seen each other for a while.”

“Oh does he live in the area?”

“He was living in Albany. I’m just… coming out to check on him.” Katherine groaned inwardly. Too much. No one needed to know why she was here. Not that it was national security or anything. She was normally a super private person. It had been her and Josh against the world, ever since their parents had died in the accident. They’d been passed around in foster care until they turned eighteen.

“Oh, nice. Well, I just heard about a guy who disappeared from there.”

“Really?” Katherine tried to keep her voice even, but interested.

“Well, he’s been gone for a couple months. Cops aren’t sure if he just split or if it's an actual disappearance. Sent emails to his job that he’d be out of town, but no one has seen him since, and none of his bills have been paid. Must be an epidemic. There’s been four disappearances in the last two months from smaller towns in the area. Like these people are actually missing, no emails or notes or anything.” Sunni made a right hand turn and pulled into the drive of a modest two story house. “Well here’s your stop.”

“Thanks.” Katherine murmured as she stepped out, suddenly a little paranoid. She debated asking if the news had released the missing man’s name. No, she could look it up herself. She shouldered her backpack, grabbed her duffel, and made her way to the door.

“Stay safe!” Sunni called as she pulled out of the driveway. She was waving as she sped away, and Katherine gave her a small wave back, before entering the code for the lock.

The house was a little stuffy. There must have been a few weeks between her and the last visitor, but it was clean, with minimal decor and furniture. It would work. She set her things down on the bed in the first room she came to, and pulled out her phone. She’d try him again, before looking for a rental car. Josh hadn’t answered her calls in a couple weeks, out of the ordinary for him. They had always been close, that twin thing. Dialing a number, she explored the house a bit. No answer, voicemail was full. Josh! Where are you?

Suddenly, she felt a presence. Wildly looking around, she saw nothing. A thump sounded; her phone. Then everything was quiet, too quiet, before a familiar voice whispered behind her.

“Katie… Katie…” She jumped. It sounded like it was behind her but when she turned around it was somewhere else.

“Josh? Where are you?” She said, her voice wavering. The whispers turned to a hiss as other voices joined in.

The cabin… cabin… in the cabin… They repeated over and over. You must go… the cabin… go to the cabin… Overlapping, they began to sound like waves on the beach. She struggled to make out any one voice, straining to hear her brother.

“Where is the cabin? Where is Josh?” Fear had pushed logic out the window. Ghosts didn’t exist, but the voices… She could hear the voices.

Go... go…

Suddenly, she saw it. An inexplicable draw toward an unknown location, but she knew where. She picked up her phone, and walked to the door. As she stepped out in the sunlight, everything went black.

~

“Katherine, wake up.” The gentle voice cut through the fog in her head. “Katherine, it’s time to get up.”

“Josh?” She struggled to sit up. “Where are we?”

“We’re home.” That answer didn’t make sense to her, and she looked around the room. A small, one-room cabin. It looked old, like an old west cabin. Home? This isn’t my home. But as she questioned it, it felt like home, in a weird, second-hand way. Familiar, like she’d been here before, though she was almost positive she hadn’t. She looked back at her brother, standing next to the bed she was lying on. He was gaunt, a bit haggard, looking more pale than she’d ever seen him.

“I don’t understand. Where is home? What is going on?” She shook her head and felt a little less foggy. Placing her feet on the squeaky hardwood floor, she stood slowly.

“They brought me here, and now they’ve brought you too!” Josh said louder than before, excited. “They’ve brought us home.”

“Who, Josh? Who is ‘they’? Where are they?” It didn’t appear that anyone else was living here. No other beds or pallets were present, and she didn’t see any clothes or personal belongings anywhere.

“You’ll see.” The words were ominous, but he seemed like an eager child, holding in a secret. “You’ll see.”

“I can’t remember how I got here. How did I get here? What about my job? Oh, and my dog will need to be fed. I can’t be here, Josh. Why am I here? Everything is fuzzy!” Katherine began to feel panic as she tried to piece together why she was here with Josh. She didn’t remember planning a vacation.

“It’s alright. You are here now. We have a mission. But let’s eat first.” Josh walked over to the antique stove with a pot sitting on top. Katherine noticed for the first time the smell of chicken soup. Or maybe it was chicken soup; it smelled a bit off. Her stomach turned.

“What mission? What are you talking about?”

“Let’s eat.” Josh said more firmly, taking her elbow and steering her toward a table that looked ready to fall apart.

She sat at his gentle, but firm insistence, and stared at the bowl of soup he set in front of her. After a moment, she carefully spooned a bit into her mouth and immediately spit it back out. Not chicken! Her panic escalated as she tried to decipher the weird taste in her mouth. It was definitely not what she’d expected, although she suspected her panic was causing her taste buds to be off.

A whisper caught her attention. She could see Josh, and his mouth wasn’t moving. Not him, but where was the whispering coming from? Josh spoke up.

“She’s going to be ok. She’ll come around. As long as she’s here, she can’t tell. We are the same.” He wasn’t speaking to her, he was speaking to himself.

No, not to himself, speaking to the whispers? Who was there? Katherine wondered if Josh had perhaps had a mental breakdown. That didn’t make any sense; they had always had that twin telepathy. She knew when he was going through something, and he knew when she was feeling overwhelmed. This time she’d had no warning. Or maybe she had, and couldn’t remember? All of a sudden, she knew, deep in her gut, that she needed to get out of here.

“I’ve got to go, Josh. This isn’t my home. I don’t know why you are here, either. This isn’t your house. You have a nice house on the lake in Albany. This place looks like no one has been here in a century. I… We need to leave.” She took three steps in the direction of the door when the whispers started again. An angry hiss that took over the room. The door that had stood open slammed shut, and the sound of shattering glass broke through the chaos of voices.

“Sorry, Katie. They don’t want you to go…” was the last words she heard before the splitting pain in the back of her head and her world went black for the second time.

~

Her eyelids fluttered open, taking in her surroundings. This time she remembered: where she was, why she was here, what had happened. Back in the cabin, where she’d found Josh. She’d been looking for her brother. He hadn’t answered her phone calls in a few weeks. He’d been reported missing if she’d guessed the connection to Sunni’s story correctly. How exactly she’d gotten to the cabin was hazy but that was a minor detail.

Her arms felt heavy, though they were over her head, and she thought something was tightly holding her wrists. Before she could fully assess everything, the door swung open. She shuddered and quickly glanced around to see Josh walking through the door. He was struggling to pull a large bag in.

A body bag! She thought as she began to see the object clearly. Her heart began to beat faster. Josh was bringing in a body bag? With a body?

The bag suddenly made a sound as if someone was yelling and began to twist. Josh kicked the bag on the side and hushed the sound from within, resulting in a squeal but no change in the situation. The living thing inside continued to squirm and yell.

“Hey! It’s going to be okay. You should feel special; they want you.” Josh said to the moving bag. He unzipped it and the girl crawled out quickly, scooting to the far side of the room. Katherine’s eyes went wide. Sunni!

Sunni caught sight of Katherine and let out an exclamation. She began to cry as she took stock of the rest of the picture. Katherine looked up. Her wrists were tied up and the rope attached to a beam in the ceiling. She sat in one of the ancient chairs that had been at the table. Her head was pounding but she was alert now.

“Josh, come on. What is wrong with you?” The hoarse voice broke out of her.

“They want her.”

“What do you mean ‘they want her’?” Sunni continued to sob as Katherine asked the question. “You aren’t like this Josh. Come on. Let us go, we will get you some help.”

“No! They told me who they wanted and where to get her. I am here to make sure she stays.” He rummaged through the big duffel bag on the table and pulled out a knife.

“Please don’t, please don’t, please don’t…” Sunni whimpered over and over. She suddenly jumped to her feet and made a dash for the door. Long fingers wrapped around her arm as she fled, jerking her back, off balance, and to the floor. Josh loomed over her with the knife.

“No Josh!” Katherine gasped. “Put it away! Whoever ‘they’ are, they are controlling you. This isn’t right, it isn’t you.” Her body was trembling and it was hard to suck in. The air had become heavy, and she could feel a presence, like when she was in her rental house. The wind picked up outside, she could hear it whistling through the tall ponderosas that stood just out the front door. The hair stood up on the back of her neck and up her arms.

The scream that Sunni let out in her final moment chilled Katherine to her core. The long hunting knife lodged in her chest and then withdrew, a flow of blood spurting out behind it. Sunni’s eyes found Katherine’s, as the light fled from them. At that moment, everything became perfectly still, no sounds, no movement. Sunni lay dead on the floor, Josh hovered over her, knife in hand, and Katherine sat with a silent scream etched on her face.

This wasn’t her brother. He was brainwashed, or possessed, or something else, but this wasn’t him. She began to see them now, dark shadows dancing on the walls and ceiling. Shadows that writhed and jerked around the room. They were chanting, as another shadow grew from the floor where Sunni lay.

We are growing… we are more… She is ours… Soon we will be free…

Katherine listened to the cacophony of voices and began to understand. These were demons, like she’d heard about in horror stories. They were real.

“Josh!” Her brother turned to look at her when she said his name. “Can’t you see? ‘They’ are demons. Evil! We have to get out of here.”

“No Katherine. They’ve taken me in, as family. I only have to pay my dues by bringing them more friends. They were lonely and just wanted more friends.” He seemed completely dumbfounded by her ignorance. “They’ve been here for a long time, waiting for someone to help them grow.”

“They’re evil,” she hissed back. “This isn’t you, somehow they’ve made you be this way.”

Josh looked at her sadly, “Now I have to kill you. Because you won’t accept them. If you accept them, they will be your family and we can fulfill the mission together.” He moved toward her, the knife held up in one hand, still dripping Sunni’s blood. Katherine began to scream.

As he neared her, she calmed for a moment. Her legs were still untied. She waited until he was closer, raising her legs at the last moment and kicking out as hard as she could. He gave out a roar as he fell backwards, but suddenly became still. His head had hit the edge of the table. He twitched, as she watched, but only for a moment. Was he dead?

Katherine watched him for a moment, wondering. After seeing no signs of life, she went to work trying to get her hands free. Her arms were tired from being held above her head. She stood, giving some slack to the rope, and managed to get her fingers through the loop on one side. This freed her left hand to work on the other. In seconds, she was free. Her head still hurt horribly, but she was otherwise unharmed. She darted towards the door, stopping short to look back at her brother.

She couldn’t leave him. He was her brother. Even if he was dead, she wanted to at least bury a body. The wind began to pick up again with her hesitation. The scarce furniture started moving slowly creating terrifying groans and squeals. The door slammed shut. Just then, Josh’s body sat up. He was alive!

Fighting against the overwhelming fear, Katherine stood still, staring at him. He blinked, looked around, and his pale face lost any trace of color left in it. He shuffled backwards until his back pressed against the wall, looking around wildly. His eyes moved around following an unseen target with an expression of pure terror. He finally locked on Katherine.

“Help me!” he begged. “You were right. I can see their true form. They are angry!”

He slid up the wall and got to his feet, his expression one of a cornered animal, sure it was about to die. He had come to himself. Katherine lifted a trembling hand to him as a force suddenly sent her flying into the door. The wind blew out of her and for a moment, she was unable to breathe. She was moving as soon as air returned to her lungs, crawling toward her brother.

He reached her just as the door opened and slammed again, the house shuddering, furniture jumping. He motioned toward a broken window to their right, and she gave a quick nod. He stumbled toward it, pulling her with him. A chair flew past them, and they ducked, but didn’t stop. The soup hit the wall, running down to the floor, and then Josh grunted in pain. Katherine looked at his back with horror. The knife had found a target in Josh’s right shoulder.

“Keep going!” Katherine screamed as she grabbed the window sill. She ripped a molded and disintegrating curtain from the holder and put it over the broken glass. “Climb through, Josh! I’ll push you from this side.”

Josh bailed through head first, turning immediately to pull his sister through, despite the pain shooting through his arm. As he turned, he had just grabbed her arm to pull, when a force jerked her from behind.

No… you will not leave us…

The demons hissed at them in many voices, pulling Katherine back. She writhed, twisting from left to right, attempting to free herself. Josh held tight to her hand, pulling with every muscle that would work. Katherine looked at him, the pain shining through her expression.

“Let me go, Josh. They won’t stop, just let me go and save yourself.” She said it so calmly, that Josh blinked and loosened his grip for a second. That second was costly. Katherine flew back into the cabin with a scream. He stood in shock, then ignoring fear and pain that grew worse each second, he ran back to the window. He peered inside, looking for his sister. She lay still in the center of the room, crumpled in a heap.

A force pushed against him as he tried to climb back through the window. He began to get angry, his mind racing. He rushed to the door, but it was locked tight. This last sacrifice had strengthened the demons, and brought them to their last goal. One more victim and they would be free of this place. Free to go wherever they pleased; they would not have to rely on humans again.

Nothing lay nearby for him to use to break his way back in, but Josh knew he had to stop them from taking the final life. Think, Josh, think! He frantically searched for a plan, some way to get in. Finally, it occurred to him. There was one thing that might work.

~

Katherine heard a roar above the whispers and hissing of the demons. They were gaining strength, growing bigger and stronger with the new sacrifice consumed. Soon they would take her as well. But the roar was louder now, and moving toward her. She couldn’t place what it was until the wall shattered.

Josh braked, jerking to a stop in the middle of the cabin, just a foot from where Katherine lay. He jumped out of his Dodge Ram pickup, and ran to her, scooping her up. The demons were in chaos, nothing sat still in the cabin. He dodged rusted pans and pieces of wood as he threw Katherine into the truck, jumped in, and threw it in reverse. The Dodge jumped back, rolling into the yard. He continued to reverse down the hidden drive until he’d reached the main trail, then he drove, as fast as the road allowed, toward town.

Katherine lay heaving against the door. We made it! She choked out a small laugh. “We made it, Josh! And we have to go back.”

Josh looked at her with a glare. “Why?”

"We have to burn the place down. No one else should go through that.” She grabbed his arm frantically. “We have to rid the world of that evil. I think they are attached to the cabin. No cabin, no demons!”

Josh groaned. She was right. “I have a gas can in the back.” he said as he slowed to a stop, and began to turn around. They headed back to the cabin, a new mission in mind. They drove back to the place the cabin had been.

Pulling into a clearing, Josh gave a confused look at Katherine. “This is where the cabin was. I know it was here.”

“This looks right to me too. How is it gone?” Katherine asked, just as confused.

“I don’t know. Maybe without the final victim…” Josh shrugged, not really knowing how to finish the sentence. They sat in silence for a long while, before heading back to civilization.

~

“Jace, I’ll race you the next half mile!” the eighteen year old boy called back to his friend that trailed behind. They were running a trail in the Oregon mountains. “Bro, I’m so much faster than…” He stopped short.

“What’s wrong, Kayden?” Jace called.

“Come look at this!” Kayden said, before hurrying off ahead again. Jace broke the ridge and saw what his friend had seen. An old, dilapidated cabin sat in the clearing. Kayden approached it, and Jace jogged to catch up.

“Wow, that place is old!” Kayden said, Jace nodding in agreement. As they got closer, the door began to swing open and along with a quiet, inviting whisper, a candle suddenly lit up in the window.