The Colorado Cabin

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

Daniel, do you see that?" Charlie asked anxiously. "I see a candle lit!"

Daniel didn't want to show his nervousness, but indeed he did see it. He absolutely could not believe his eyes. The flame danced around the cabin in the distance right before them almost menacingly.

It took the boys days of camping and trampling around in the dark woods of Colorado to finally find the abandoned cabin. Navigating through trees, low running streams, and their never ending fears to reach there longed destination.

The wind whistled through the night almost as an eary warning to turn back; to let pride go, but they have come too far now.

The fabled haunted cabin up the Grand Mesa had been a tale the now 17 year old boys have heard about since they were little. As young twin boys laying in their beds, night after night they were told the story. Two siblings growing up, it was their grandpa's favorite past time to spill about the words of the haunted cabin.

Grandpa Joe would without missing a beat talk about the cabin he was once taken too. Where a lot of the local children made it too.

Now here it was right before their eyes and mud soaked shoes; abandoned for years right before them.

The windows were all in pieces laying afoot scattered freely on the ground. The wooden walls, cracking and splitting from age in all directions. The roof of a sad green hue was covered by trees and branches, playing camouflage atop the sad lonely building. The cabin gave the appearance that time had gotten the best of it. As time always does.

Daniel and Charlie were both breathing heavily even though they were standing perfectly still.

"Remember what we are looking for?" Daniel asked Charlie eagerly.

"Of course." Charlie replied. " How could I forget?"

The two looked at each other and gave a nod. The twins have been inseparable since the day they came out of their mother's womb.

Daniel, the oldest by three minutes, was the always trusted leader of the group. He was stubborn, determined, and the more cold calculated out of the two. His brown hair and blue eyes combined with his athletic 6'2 built, made him a catch around the small local town they grew up in.

Charlie, the younger of the two, looked up to his older brother even though they were both so incredibly different. He was the soft spoken one of the two; listening to both sides of an argument, and giving a fair final verdict whenever necessary. He was quiet, reserved. Not as brazen and brash as his older twin brother.

For twins, they shared little in common. Of course, they got along together and grew up as each others shadow. For the bond of twin hood is a sacred one, but their differences were always there. Daniel could be seen cruising around town with buddies on a wild Friday night. While Charlie would just as happily be in his room reading a book diving into another exciting world of his own.

Their mother Cindy often said the only thing the twins had in common were their looks. Absolutely identical on the outside, but wildly mismatched on the in.

Now here they were standing real time inside their bedtime story.Lo you think we're going to find it?" Charlie asked his older brother.

Daniel took a deep breath and said," Grandpa Joe said he dropped it inside when he was trying to escape. That's all we know."

Chalie looked irritated but understood his brother.

He just needed to know a bit more, to have a small blueprint of what needs to be done.

"So what are we going to do?" Charlie asked. "Do you not see there is already somebody inside?"

Daniel kicked some small rocks with his square toe cowboy boot while his thoughts raced. He couldn't decide what to do was the problem. The questions started pouring down on him like a monsoon thunderstorm in the Rocky mountains; slow and steady then crashing down all at once with no warning.

Who is inside? Will we be able to find it? Can we do this?

Questions after question popped up inside his head, but only two mattered and stuck out the most to Daniel.

Is the Lady of the Mountain still alive inside? And is Grandpa Joe's pocket watch also inside somewhere among the creepy ruble.

There are two sides to the story. Legend and the story told to the boys by Grandpa Joe.

Legend goes as this:

A father named Bill, a wife named Lilly, and baby girl of 8 lived among the wild mountains of Colorado in a small well built cabin; constantly surrounded by wildlife and the elements. They lived so high and hidden from the rest of the world, they were rarely ever seen throughout the small town. Only the dad, Bill, would make the many mile trek to town to get the absolute necessities when needed down the wary dangerous trail. It would often take days to reach town and back.

One snowy cold night in December, food was dire. They had an unexpected storm pass through days prior piling snow up as high as their cabin walls. Their canned goods they collected throughout the summer were not rashioned properly. All the meat of the animals Bill trapped and killed also had been eaten.

It was a hard season. Food from their garden didn't grow as rapid and plush as previous years. His fields brought little grain because little to no rain would fall to water his crops; which meant little to no money to be made to provide for his family. His traps were almost always empty upon checking them every morning and night. They relied and lived off the land, and the land wasn't giving an inch. To say it was a hard season was an understatement.

It had been days since they had any food in their bellies. His young girl wept with hunger in her mom's arms, making Bill's heart ache in despair. His wifes once beautiful sparkling blue eyes were now lifeless, sad, and empty; a now empty shell of who she once was.

He could not take it. He felt like a failure. Like he had let them both down. He knew what he had to do.

Bill marched into their small bedroom, and put layer atop of layer of clothing and animal hide to help protect him from the cold. He grabbed his heavy snow boots, multiple pairs of wool socks, and his thick lined winter hat, and stormed out of the room towards the front door. His wife Lilly, scared clear to the bone, knew they had no other choice.

She placed their sweet daughter Laura in her small bed near the fire and caressed her cheek. She then turned and fiercely wrapped her arms around the man she loved.

"Come back to me." She begged into his ear as a tear fell onto her cold rosy cheek meshing with his. "Come back to us. Save us"

He pulled back and gazed into her eyes, into her soul.

"I promise." Was all he could muster as his lips quivered.

They embraced one more time before he kissed her softly and began on his way.

Lilly watched helplessly as Bill closed the front door. Now there was nothing left to do but wait. Sit and wait.

Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, hours became days. There was no sight or sound from Bill.

Sweet Laura had now developed a hoarse cough, and illness on top of her starvation.

"Mama?" said Laura softy.

"Yes my sweet, bug?" Lilly answered back gently.

"I'm scared we won't see Pa again." Laura said holding back tears with all her might.

Lilly stroked her daughter's hair as she lay cuddled up next to her in the cold gloomy cabin.

"He will be back soon, sweetie. Lilly replied. "He promised us."

She kissed her daughter's forehead, and gave her thigh a good squeeze making Laura smile.

Lilly could hear Laura wheezing with every breath. She was sure pneumonia had set in.

Laura then whispered even gentler than before, "Mama?"

"Yes, my love?" Lilly replied.

Laura struggling to catch her breath well enough to put together a sentence and asked, "If I die, will I have friends in Heaven?"

Lilly's heart sank lower than she ever thought possible.

"What do you mean, my sweet child?" Lilly asked holding back tears.

Laura was getting so weak she could only say a few words before having to take long deep breaths to recover.

"I don't want to be alone in Heaven Mama. You and Pa have each other here on Earth, but who will I play with and have up in heaven?" Laura asked in between shallow breaths.

Lilly could not help herself as the tears began to fall.

"Oh my sweet angel." She said as she wrapped her daughter tightly into her arms. "You will never ever be alone in this life or the next, my love. Mama will make sure of it."

She kissed her daughter's cheeks and forehead fiercely as she held her the rest of the night off into dreamland.

Lilly had never felt so helpless in her entire life.There was no food. No water. No more firewood. No hope to say the least.

The cabin was becoming as cold on the inside as it was the outside; easily in the negatives as snow still fell in heavy flakes from the Colorado sky. She could see their breath coming in and out in a constant motion. It's the sad way she could tell her daughter was still alive.

She had faith in Bill, but eventually had given up hope figuring he had frozen to death somewhere in the 8 plus feet snow. It had been almost a week since she had seen him.

There was no chance he could survive she thought to herself.

She was deep in thought when she realized the constant coughing from Laura ceased. The stream of continual steam coming in and out of her nostrils stopped completely. The cabin stood eerily quiet.

Lilly rushed over to the bed to see her baby girl completely still. There she laid ever so peacefully, almost looking doll like. Her eyes closed, her little sweet hands resting on her chest wrapped all up in elk and deer hide for warmth. She looked at peace. At home with death.

"No!" Lilly yelped in agony.

She grabbed her baby girl holding her close to her chest.

"No! No! No! " she continued to yell at the top if her lungs.

She could not believe it. Her little girl was gone.

Her ears rang and her vision blurred. She was greeted by the cold hard floor as she fainted to the ground.

"Lilly! Lilly!" Was all she could hear as somebody shook her by the shoulders wildly. Her head swirled along with her vision. She had no idea where she was or who she was for that matter.

She sat up shakily, her head bobbing up and down. Once she came too, and snapped out of it, she realized Bill was the one shaking her and screaming her name.

"Lilly, are you OK? What happened? What happened to Laura?" Bill sobbed as he held her.

Lilly stood slowly to her feet. She was still weak to the knees from fainting.

Her daughter was dead, and now Bill had returned back to her like a ghost in the night.

Lilly looked at the supplies he had wrangled from town. Some food and a blanket.

"You promised!" Was all Lilly could scream as she began sobbing into her hands.

Bill looked at his wife with tears in his eyes. She looked half crazed. He had no words.

Lilly hollered, "You promised you would save us. And now my baby girl is dead! All because of you!" She wailed as tears streamed down her face.

Bill's heart shattered.

Lilly had never felt anger like this, pure rage. At the world, at everything, but mostly at Bill.

She had snapped. She ran to the bedroom where Bill's hunting shotgun stood proudly hung above the door.

She grabbed it, her hands shaking wildly. There was always one locked and loaded in the chamber. Just waiting for the moment to be released unknowingly to someone or something.

Lilly marched the barrel pointed straight ahead. She found Bill easily in her sights as he tried to scramble away, but there is no escaping a point blank twelve guage shotgun.

She fired freely towards him, the butt of the gun kicking her hard in the shoulder hitting her backwards.

She clipped Bill in his lower half, knocking him down to the ground.

He wailed in pain as the shot connected unable to move or get away.

Lilly cocked the shotgun, excluding the old shell and including the new.

She walked up to Bill with an evil smirk on her face. She could almost feel his fear radiating off his body.

She would be lying if she didn't say she enjoyed it. What was happening to her. Madness? Mania? Both?

Bill squirmed in pain on the floor, blood pouring from his gaping wound. The shot blew off almost half his entire right calf, leaving his ankle dangling only from his flesh.

"Lilly, stop!" He pleaded. "Just why?" He questioned in agony and despair."

Lilly walked up to him shotgun in hand. She put the barrel end of the shotgun in his mouth while he shook with fear, tears falling heavily.

"'Because I promised Laura she would never be alone." Lilly said as she pulled the trigger killing Bill instantly.

She was breathing quickly, blood splattered all over her and the entire cabin.

Once a family cabin in the mountains of Colorado filled with so much life and happiness, now a cabin of death and despair.

Lilly was now alone.

The flame of the candle still danced in the night inside the cabin while the two boys stood anxious outside.

"What could it be?" Asked Charlie. "Nobody should be up here." Daniel said. "This place has been abandoned for ages now."

The moon casted a pale yellow glow over the cabin, causing a silhouette of trees on the skyline mountainside to be seen in the darkness. An owl could be heard hooting in the distance. The wind circled around the trees whistling all around them. As brave as the boys wanted to be, they couldn't deny their fear brewing inside them.

Their Grandpa Joe had passed away only a few weeks before. They couldn't think of a better way to honor him than to collect his pocket watch he always talked about to display proudly on his grave. The one scattered about the cabin he lost long ago as a small boy.

Grandpa Joe grew up in a small mountain town in Colorado. It was the typical everybody knows everybody, and everybody is always waving hello. Friendliness poured from its seams. There was one cop, one jail cell, and one noose hung on the big oak in the middle of Town Square where people would gather to watch the local hangings. One day out of no where a small boy of 7 went missing while playing down by the local creek. Everyone searched night and day trying to find the young boy.

Then not long after, another child went missing. This time a little girl around the age of 8 walking home from the park. Just like the little boy, people searched high and low with absolutely no luck of finding her. Now the locals were starting to get panicked. Things like this never happened in small town America in the 1920's. Nobody knew what to do.

Then like a bad domino effect more and more children go missing. Parents were living in fear and distress. By summer of '21, 7 kids were reported missing.

Grandpa Joe was forbidden by his parents from playing alone away from the house. He was told to always stay close. They weren't willing to take the risk.

One day while Grandpa Joe was hanging around the house, a buddy of his named Darrel stopped by.

Hey Joe!" Darrel said as he popped a bubble of bubble gum. Want to go down to the swimming hole and skip rocks?"

Joe hesitated and replied, "No sorry Darrel I can't. My Ma and Pa won't let me go anywhere without them now and days since all them kids have gone missing."

Darrel made a face and said, "What if my folks are gonna be down there?"

Joe pondered for a moment. His parents main fear was he would get stolen he thought. So if Darrel's parents went with them, how could they possibly get mad?

Joe hopped off his front porch, and marched along with Darrel to the swimming hole.

Once they arrived, the boys stripped off all their clothes except their underpants, and jumped in feet first into the cool river water.

They splashed one another and created a tidal wave of fun, giggling and laughing the entire time.

Joe wiped the water from his face as he came up for air. "When are your parents showing up?" He asked Darrel once he caught his breath.

Darrel instantly looked nervous and just shrugged his shoulders.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joe asked with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"It means I lied and my parents weren't ever coming along, you big dummy!" He said as he splashed Joe in the face laughing hysterically.

Joe was now noticeably upset. "You know my folks don't want me around town without them! You trying to get me in trouble?" He said angrily.

"Oh relax." Darrel said with a mellow tone. "Ain't no bad guys gonna steal ya!" He laughed hard and splashed Joe again.

As upset as Joe was, he hadn't been outside the house like this away from his parents in months. His young boy soul craved it. He just couldn't bring himself to go home.

"You're dead!" Joe yelled happily as he lunged at Darrel tackling him into the water.

The two boys splashed and played for hours until they finally decided to part ways, and call it a day just before the street lights turn on calling all kids to go home.

The evening was one just like any other. Just another breathtakingly beautiful Colorado summer night among the mountain countryside.

Joe made his way home along the dirt road as the sun began to set in the distance. As he continued to walk home, he felt as though someone was watching him.

Oh you're just being paranoid he thought, and made nothing of it.

He had taken this walk many times with both family and local buddies from school. Around the bend, across the bridge, straight past through the park, then circle left until the small cottage with the lilacs at the end of the quiet road.

The blue and orange sunset in the horizon made it hard for Joe to see.

He placed his hand above his forehead to make a visor to shield off the sun. He continued walking along when out of no where he felt trapped. He couldn't see, he couldn't get out. He didn't know where he was. It was as if someone put a pillowcase over his entire body; stopping him from being able to extend his arms out, but only up or down.

Before he knew it, he was thrashing against the ground with something that seemed like a wild animal. Between the sunset affecting his vision and this thing attacking him, he didn't know what it was. Before he knew it he had duct tape around his mouth hindering his ability to call for help. His hands tied together behind his back along with his feet. He was placed face down on a homemade sleigh. It was reinforced with big tires to enable it gets through the wild to its destination.

A mesh bag was put over his head so he couldn't see.

He hollered through the tape trying to wrap his head around the fact that this is his new reality. It was no use. He could feel whatever it was that captured him pulling him along. Where was he going? He wondered with painful curiosity. He continued to scream into the tape unheard by all as he was dragged by whatever it was into the night. Eventually succumbing to his fatigue from fear and yelling, Joe fell asleep.

Joe awoke hours later to the smell of a campfire and his duct tape being ripped off his mouth. He opened his eyes quickly to notice a sillhouette of someone cooking something on the fire.

The figure seemed short but fierce. Tearing at whatever was cooked with their teeth like a wild hungry animal.

"Who, who are you?" Joe asked shakily with fear in his voice.

The figure wiped fat and griesel from their mouth. A smile imurged as the juices from the meat fell down its chin. It sent a chill instantly down Joe's spine.

"If you don't behave yourself then you will become victim number 8." The voice replied laughing as it continued chewing up their meal.

Joe felt fear like he never knew possible. Fear that overtook his entire being. All his senses.

Was that a woman's voice? Joe thought. A woman killing and capturing kids?

That didn't make any sense Joe thought to himself. Bad guys you hear your parents talking about or the ones being hung on the big oak in Time Square, are never women.

Now he was full of fear, but full of curiosity.

"I promise to behave." Was all he could manage to squeak out.

The lady looked at the small boy laying tied up on the sleigh. She's taken this route before, and is making excellent time this time around. She already packed him over 5 miles since the spot he was taken from. She marched them straight up to where no one will ever be able to find them. Or hear them.

"Listen up boy, I'm going to take off your hobbles. If you try and run, I will shoot you in the back with this." She opened her jacket to show a rugged old pistol in its holster inside.

Joe gulped.

She continued on, "Simple as this. You run. You die." She said as she took another huge bite of greasy meat. "Understand?"

"Yes ma'am." he said fearfully as she undid his ties. He knew better than to challenge her.

Days passed, the two traveled on making very little talk. Joe was fed only scraps of what the lady felt she wanted to spare, and drank water only a few times the entire endeavor.

Home sweet home." The scary woman said as she pulled him into camp on the sleigh. He was only allowed to not be tied up during the evening for an hour or two depending on her mood.

Joe seen a cabin in the distance. It looked nice in a sad kind of way.

They made their way inside.

"You're going to be over here in this room with the other children." The lady said sternly. "Be sure and play nice."

The lady shoved Joe through the door shutting it instantly behind him. He fell to his knees in the dark room. He scurried hastily to find his feet only to look up and see a grisly sight. Bodies. Bones. Small bodies and small bones.

The children he thought as he began to panic wildly than ever. He looked for an exit, but there was nothing. Not a window. Nothing. One door in one door out. He knew it was his only way.

The only thing he had on him was his grandfather's pocket watch he gave to him before he passed away. He adored his grandfather and the watch just the same.

He knew he didn't have much time, any moment could be his last.

Footsteps begin in his direction. He knows it's now or never.

Once the door opens he throws his tiny frame with all his might against the small woman. As she stumbles back, he makes a break for the exit. Any exit. The lady, coming to her feet, pulls out her pistol and begins to shoot.

Bullets zipped by Joe's 65 pound elusive frame. He seen a window with the glass almost all broken out. There it was he thought, his exit. His escape.

He ran with all his might as bullets swirled by him. Once he approached the windows he dove through only catching his elbow with the glass. He landed outside the porch on his front side, but the adrenaline kicked in and he almost flew off the porch and into the woods. The women could be heard yelling in frustration shooting shots wildly into the dark after him. All he could think to do is run. Joe ran into the Colorado night clear into morning. If it had been winter, he easily would have froze to death. But since it was mid July, the young boys body just kept going. Survival mode kicked in.

He had no idea where he was. He walked all night in Lord knows what direction. But now all he seen is a campfire in the distance. He has made it he thought. He was saved.

Grandpa Joe was indeed saved. He had stumbled upon a family of 4 camping for their eldest son's birthday. The experience was over, but the damage was done and would last a lifetime. Grandpa Joe lived a tough life since then. He had nightmares and night terrors clear until the day he died. He was insanely claustrophobic from being captured in what ended up being a simple giant feed sack. He hated the outdoors and he hated to be alone. He had constant PTSD and panic attacks from the whole situation. His life was a sad and miserable one. The woman nor her cabin were ever found. It was almost as though they came and gone as if by magic.

They did however piece together why the women was taking only children, thanks to Joe. She simply wanted playmates for her daughter.

"On three we go, okay?" Daniel said with certainly in his voice.

Charlie simply nodded even though his eyes showed his fear.

"One... Two... Three!" He whispered aggressively into the night.

The boys lunged forward and made their way to the cabin. They looked inside to see a simple candle sitting on the table, and someone sitting in a chair holding something.

"What is that?" Charlie whispered under his breath."

Daniel couldn't believe his eyes as they grew wide with disbelief.

He grabbed the handle to the front door and rushed inside.

There stood a man holding something. The boys couldn't make out what it was until they moved closer to the light. When they seen what it was they couldn't believe their eyes. It was a head. A decapitated human head. Grandpa Joe was standing in front of them holding the head of the Woman of the Mountain.

"Grandpa Joe!" Daniel hollered! You're alive? What's going on?" Shock was starting to set in for the boys.

"Why hello there boys!" Grandpa Joe exclaimed happily. "What brings you up the mountain on this beautiful evening?"

The boys were absolutely stunned silent.

"Nobody would listen to me. I was just the crazy old man making up stories. Well who's crazy now?" He said as he raised up the women's head.

The boys stood still in awe as Grandpa Joe continued on.

"I never wanted to step foot in this cabin again unless I was the only one coming out alive. I tried for years to find it again. To dig deep into my 8 year old selves brain. It took me 40 years. But I finally did it."

"We came for your watch." Charlie managed to peep out.

"Don't worry boys." The old man chuckled. "I got it back from the old witch!" He said as the pocket watch now dangled from his proud hand. Grandpa Joe then laughed and laughed triumphantly into confusing the night.

"But why fake your death? Mom has your ashes on our mantle! I don't understand!" Daniel finally exclaimed.

Grandpa Joe took took a deep breath and said, "If this woman heard I was dead than she wouldn't be expecting me."We've been waiting to see each other for a long time. To finish unfinished business."

The boys looked at each other co fused as Grandpa Joe continued on, "I was the one that got away, that exposed everything. And even though she was never found, I always felt we were connected. She felt apart of me, like even though I had escaped she still won. So one night while sitting in bed, it hit me. If I wanted peace for the first time in my life, she would have to die at my hands."

The boys gulped as they continued to listen.

"I knew nobody would help me with such a crazy task. Everyone would have tried to talk me out of it. Even you boys. What's the one thing Grandpa Joe could never do or try?

"Swim?" Charlie answered quietly with a question.

"Exactly". Replied Grandpa Joe. "I can't swim." "Or can i?"

Now the boys were really confused.

As long as they could remember Grandpa Joe hated the water. He never went inside the swimming hole with them. Never gave it a second thought. He was always seen basking on the shore in safety. He had told the boys time and time again he did not swim and had no desire. So the boys learned to never push him.

"So when I went fishing and got drug down the current and drowned a few weeks back, no one thought otherwise."

The boys couldn't believe their ears. Only weeks ago were they told by their mother the heartbreaking story of their Grandpa's passing. How he innocently went fishing with a buddy, fell in, and was swept away in the current never to be seen again.

Now they were being told something completely different, the truth.

"Once I went down the river bend I managed to swim to the bank."

From there I had everything I needed packed and placed neatly for survival."

The twin boys blue eyes were opened wide as they listened.

"I knew there was a good chance I wouldn't survive the trek to find her. Or if I would even be able to find the cabin for that matter. But once I started, it was as if something was guiding me along.

Grandpa Bill still had the decapitated head in his grip as he talked; swinging it wildly about.

"Once I finally seen the cabin again after all these years, I instantly felt like a scared boy again. A scared boy who had lost so much, and had so much taken from him."

The boys studied Grandpa Joe as he continued on. "She didn't have a chance." He said with a big belly laugh yet again swinging the head around wildly. "I ain't a little boy anymore!"

The boys still in shock, managed a smile.

Charlie looked at the dead woman's head. Her salt and pepper hair, teeth yellow stained. Blood ran and dripped from her mouth in a pool onto the floor. She was pale, almost ghost like. She didn't look human.

"Well, Grandpa Joe." Charlie said as he scoped out the dead head, "At least you got your pocket watch back!" He exclaimed with pride and a smile.

Daniel chuckled and replied, "You didn't need us at all, you crazy old man."

The three embraced, the women's head making it four. What a night it had been.

A once scary lonely cabin in the Colorado mountains filled with fear and death, was now yet again filled with family and love.

The End.