The Legend of Ol' Lester

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years; but one night, a candle burned in the window. Through the dirty, broken glass, the flame shown too bright to ignore. Calista shut her eyes tight trying to do just that. Maybe if she pretended not to see it, she’d be safe.

“I don’t see it! I don’t see it! I don’t see it!” she chanted the words like a magic spell. She felt her eyes open as if the lids were being peeled back against her will. The candle seemed to burn brighter.

Calista had heard the legend surrounding the old cabin for years. Every child in Pine Gap knew the legend by heart – word for word. A man known only by the name of Ol’ Lester used to live in Pine Gap. He was the nastiest sort of man. Word spread throughout town that Ol’ Lester had a particular interest in young girls. Well, that did not sit well with the good people of Pine Gap. The vile man was chased out of town. But he didn’t go far. He built a small cabin in the woods just outside of town.

Months went by. The only time people saw Ol’ Lester is when he came into Pine Gap for supplies. Most people refused him service, of course. Only one storekeeper was cordial to Ol’ Lester. Abram was a widower who moved into town a few weeks after Ol’ Lester was run out. He opened a small mercantile that he ran with the help of his young daughter, Petunia. Petunia was a pretty and sweet girl of eleven. She felt sad for Ol’ Lester and often let him give her a little hug when her father was gathering his order. The old man began visiting the store more often. Abram didn’t think a thing of the man’s visits. He just seemed lonely. Abram invited Ol’ Lester to have dinner with them one night.

That evening, Abram went to the kitchen to fetch dinner. When he returned to the sitting room where he had left Petunia with their guest, he found the room empty and the front door hanging open. Abram ran into the night screaming for his daughter. The townsfolk quickly got word of what happened. They gathered a group of men and went out into the woods – to the old cabin.

As they approached the cabin, they saw a candle burning in the window. The night surrounding them seemed to grow darker; the candle seemed to burn brighter. They approached the cabin carefully. They heard humming. Ol’ Lester was in there humming as one does while completing menial chores. Abram could take it no longer. He flung open the cabin door. The scream that he released is said to have been heard all the way back in town. Abram collapsed in the doorway. He would never regain consciousness. The men hauled him to the side and pushed through the door fearing to see an awful sight. Nothing could prepare them for the scene before them.

There was Ol’ Lester standing naked and covered in blood. A strange smile – more like a gaping slash in his face than a smile – spread across his face revealing sharp, discolored teeth. On a table before him lay poor Petunia, or what was left of her. Her throat was torn out. Her face, untouched, was splattered with her own blood. A look of horror was frozen on her face, her eyes still wide. Mangled limbs dangled over the edge of the wooden slab table. Her torso was ripped open, organs spilling out. Her heart was clasped in Ol’ Lester’s left hand. To the men’s horror, he lifted the heart and bit into it. Some of the men that were there that night swear that they saw the heart shudder one last time before being ripped by Ol’ Lester’s sharp teeth.

The repulsion was temporarily overshadowed by the hatred and anger flaring up in the men. They dragged Ol’ Lester out of the cabin. They beat the monster - as man was no longer an appropriate word for him – nearly to death. Then, they strung him up right there in the nearest tree to the cabin. As they put the rope around the old man’s throat, he laughed. It was a chilling sound; like dry leaves stirred by the storm. He looked at where the girl’s father lay unmoving on the ground by the cabin door.

“Thank you for inviting me to dinner. She was delicious!”

At that, the men hanged him. Ol’ Lester dangled there. His ugly mouth still turned up in a sort of smile. Since he didn’t deserve a Christian burial, Ol’ Lester was buried right under that same tree with no marker. It was meant for him to be forgotten.

The following year, a young girl of eleven disappeared while walking in the woods. They never found her. Another girl, again aged eleven, disappeared the year after. The strange disappearance occurred again two years after that. It was always on the same night that Petunia lost her life. Of course, this caused the horror that had happened to spawn the legend of Ol’ Lester. Parents used the story to keep their children away from the woods.

Children being children, the path by the cabin became a challenge. They said that only the bravest girls would be able to take the path. If there was a candle burning in the window, Ol’ Lester would come out and kill you. It became a rite of passage for eleven-year-old girls in Pine Gap. Although there had been a few sporadic disappearances spread out over many years since the horror occurred, nothing had happened in years. Girls went down the path, and girls came back. Calista had seen the girls herself.

That’s why she accepted the challenge tonight. It was just a story. Nothing would happen. She’d walk down the path. She’d stand in front of the old ramshackle cabin. She’d walk back giggling like all the girls before her had done. It was a piece of cake!

Now, standing there seeing the candle, Calista knew this was more than a legend. Run! She had to run. Calista had never run so quickly as she bolted down the uneven path. She saw the bend ahead of her. All she had to do was run around that corner, and she’d see the lights of town. Head down, running full force, she turned and looked up to see the cabin looming in front of her.

It just couldn’t be. She ran by the cabin and took the turn again only to run right back to the cabin. She stopped, tears running down her face. Panting heavily, her head spinning, her chest aching, she stared at the cabin. The door suddenly opened. She felt herself being drawn against her will through the musty- smelling wooden doorway. She didn’t know what she expected, but what she saw chilled her very soul.

A girl about her age stood there. She was sad and pale. Her clothes hung tattered on her bruised and broken body.

Calista watched in terror as a tear slid down the girl’s face, and she heard her whisper, “I’m free…”

Calista felt the darkness wash over her as the candle went out.

Tonight is that night. The night that Petunia was murdered. The night that Ol’ Lester was hanged. The night of the disappearances.

Calista lit the candle… and waited.