The Candel

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

Candice never forgot what that cabin meant to her as she was only 12 years old when her family was lost in these familiar woods during a long summer stay. She vowed to never return to face the horror of the woods, but a deep calling within was drawing her back that she could no longer ignore. Candice decided to return to that place that scared her more than anything else.

She started the trek into the deep woods by herself; bringing only a backpack filled with a water canteen, a pack of matches and a candle.

As she retraced the footsteps and familiar landmarks she encountered many years ago when she was frantically running away from the very place that would haunt her for the rest of her life, she had flashbacks to hidden memories that were locked away.

Stumbling over a fallen branch, her face hit and disturbed the mossy earth below. The smell brought back the memory of that night as she lay still on the earth, breathing in the aroma of the forest floor, as something was scurrying through the woods. Something that took away her family one by one until she was the only one left. She had quickly learned that if she stayed still and controlled her breathing, the shadows would protect her from the thing that would haunt her.

As she pushed herself to her knees she grabbed the earth into her hands and squeezed it until earth crumbled between her fingers. She recalled placing the loose earth and leaves of the forest floor over her body, then waiting there until daylight. As she heard the sound of haunting footsteps near and far all around her through the night, until she heard nothing but a breeze as the sun rose in the morning.

She realized that this was the very place she had hid through the night as her eye’s locked onto a large oak tree with half broken limbs on either side. She remembered the shadow of the tree from that night as it looked to be alive with the limbs looking like arms. She would keep her eyes locked onto that tree for most of the night as the footsteps could be heard. However today that tree does not look alive or scary, it looks sad. It has been keeping the secret of the woods to itself all these years, and it has worn the life out of it. Candice stood up and walked over to touch the tree, when her hand touched the outer bark she could feel the pain and sadness it had within. She softly whispered to the tree “Let it go” as she continued to walk deeper into the woods towards that cabin.

Around a clearing there was a brown swampy pond with thick bulrushes filling in the far side from where she stood and lily pads on the side closest to her. This was the spot where she last saw her brother Caleb. The smell from the water was putrid and familiar as it resonated with her memory of Caleb being caught in the bulrushes and screaming out for help. She was uncertain as to how he became tangled as they both were separated before reaching the swamp at separate times.

She remembered being frozen with fear, looking down at the lily pads while her brother’s screams became non-existent. She knew they were running from something but uncertain as to what or where it was. She thought the creature was holding Caleb in the swamp and that she would be safe if she stayed still. Once Caleb's voice was silenced she slowly crept away until she decided to run.

Today, Candice skipped a stone across the pond remembering that Caleb had taught her how to skip as she whispered “I miss you brother” and walked on closer to the cabin holding back her tears.

The remains of rocks from a fire pit were found scattered around on the banks of a beach by the lake. She quickly realized these were the remains of the family camp fire pit where they would roast hot dogs and marshmallows while telling spooky stories to one another.

She knew the cabin was now not far as this was where she last saw her father Charles. The fire was high and wide that night as she thought the creature had fueled it to burn out of control. She remembers as they were all running frantically out of the cabin Charles tripped on a wooden stump that Candice would normally sit on, and his body was thrown into the thick flame. She heard nothing from him after that, her brother Caleb grabbed her by the arm and said only one thing as he pulled her along, “RUN!”

She looked back as they ran away and saw the fire burning white hot, a color she had never seen before from a flame. She then turned her head and ran with Caleb until they ended up separating .

Candice started to pull what rocks she could together to make a circle for a new pit. As she was gathering the rocks, she found that familiar stump that she once used to sit on, the one that her father tripped over. She remembered it was hers from the carving she had put into it when she was a little girl. It was the carving of a flame lit on a candle. She gathered some kindling and logs, took out her matches and started a fire. As she sat on her old stump she took out her canteen of water and drank as she watched the fire build.

Candice turned her head from her gaze at the fire to look at the lake as she sat on the stump and placed the canteen next to her feet. The sun was starting to set, the lake was as smooth as a sheet of glass with a mirrored reflection of the evening sky mixed with the tree line from the other side of the lake. Much similar and dissimilar to the night she last saw her mother Rachel for the last time.

The wharf that her mother was last seen on was now gray and crooked. One of the main pillars was snapped at the very end of the dock which drooped the side of the walkway into the lake and most of the boards were half broken or cracked all the way out to the end.

Candice remembered her mother was running with fear that night to a wooden boat at the end of the dock. She never made it to the boat, as she was running frantically her foot got caught in a rope that Candice, Caleb and Charles were using earlier that day while fishing on the dock. Her ankle twisted making her fall while at the same time hitting her head on the very last pillar at the end of the dock. As her head bounced toward the lake her body hit the boards on the dock and she was hanging over the side. Her body slowly slipped into the dark still water making a ripple across the lake.

As Candice was reminiscing the last moments of her mother she was holding onto a gold necklace that she was wearing, her mother had given her that same day. Candice stood up from the stump, tore off the necklace, and threw it into the lake only to see that same ripple cross the water when she last saw her mother. She looked down to the stump and threw it into the fire to see the same white flame she saw when her father fell in. Her senses were telling her the same creature was near, maybe even watching and hunting her at this very moment.

Candice set her sights on the cabin and started to march towards the place where everything changed.

That cabin in the woods was evil. As the sun gave its last glimmer of light for the night, Candice could now make out the detail of what was the remains of the old cabin. Like the wharf, the wood had turned gray with broken and cracked planks on the steps leading to the front door. Only one window was unbroken on the lower level, and only a few wooden shingles were left dangling on the roof. The whole cabin looked as though it was all slanting to the right and the shutters were all hanging in crooked positions.

As Candice started walking up the front stairs she could feel the air around her getting cool at an unusual rate as every wooden step creaked with each footstep, her heart started to pound as her hand reached out to touch the front door which was already opened a crack. She swallowed her courage and pushed the door open with a loud creak, she looked inside to see nothing moving then looked quickly behind her on the path she had just walked. Something moved in the shadows, her body felt a chill run up her spine as she turned to look inside the front room of the cabin ignoring the shadow behind her.

There was old faded caution tape on the floor draped over pots, pans and plates that were scattered around from the supper they were having that night. It was as if nothing else had touched anything inside the cabin since that night. There were no signs of animals living anywhere around or inside the cabin either.

Candice walked to the window that was not broken to find a carrying plate for a candle that she remembered lighting and setting there that night. She picked up the plate, there was some old wax which must have finished burning off long after they all ran out of that house with fear in their hearts.

She looked around the room, and to her surprise the long mirror that was her mother’s was left unbroken and still standing the way she remembered that night. She quickly remembered being afraid of that mirror, there were sounds, and shapes that would come out of it when she was little.

She remembered lighting a candle that night and looking into the mirror to see red eye’s looking back at her.

That was the moment her life would change forever.

As she was reminiscing these thoughts the sun had now completely disappeared and there was no light to be seen from anywhere. There was no moon out this night and most of the stars were hidden behind scattered cloud cover. The wind started to pick up giving an eerie sound and chill to the already cold night. One of the crooked shutters started banging against the house with a repetitive rhythm.

Candice opened her backpack and took out her candle, took out her matches, placed the candle into the candle holder. She struck a match and lit the wick of the new candle. As she held onto the candle holder and blew out the match she turned to look into the mirror only to see those same red eyes looking back at her.

With a confused look on her face she stared deeper into the red eyes in the mirror until she got close enough to realize those red eyes were not some creature that had been chasing her. The eyes she was looking at, were her own.

She closed her eyes tight, turned her head towards the window, opened her eyes, looked at the window and placed the candle on the ledge.

The cabin had been abandoned for years, but tonight as the candle burned in the window, Candice sat in the corner, facing her fears, and awaiting her fate as she looked in the mirror.

Tonight the candle burns.....