The Lullaby

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The hare a few feet from the cabin stilled, as did every other animal within a fifty-foot radius. The sound of bugs buzzing, a birds wings fluttering, and even the wind through the trees seemed to be instantly paralyzed. In this quiet, a faint hum filled the air, a melody lost to time.

As the moon came into view, the hare’s eyes widened.

The candle in the window flickered, but not from a gust of wind that was currently nonexistent. A shadow moved over it, enveloping the small dilapidated kitchen space the candle occupied, then away towards the ramshackle front door. The humming grew louder, a song starting to eerily fill the air.

The door opened slowly, creaking as it went, and a voice hummed “Here we lie as darkness falls….”. A figure now loomed in the doorway, barely visible against the light of the candle.

Bare feet glided over the broken wooden porch, the hem of a once white smock grazing the figure’s ankles. As one foot reached the porch, the smell of decay and something…burning, filled the air.

The hare couldn’t move, rooted to the spot, every instinct telling it to remain frozen so this predator wouldn’t notice it.

But oh, did the predator notice it, and continued its crooning, “long and hard, your day is done…”

The hare’s nose twitched, eyes dilating, its fear palpable. Above it, the tree line near the cabin sported words etched into the trunks, whether carved centuries ago or yesterday, its eerie message still held the same caution: BEWARE. Because neither human or animal was safe.

Yet as the figure reached the grass, it was suddenly once again enveloped in darkness. Silence fell yet again and seconds passed, until…

“As I lay you down to sleep, bereft of any sun…”

The next sound was a WHOOSH through the air, and as if this sound broke the spell immobilizing the hare, it made to sprint away.

But too late. The song continued now in earnest, “Sleep is sweet so don’t you wake…”, and as the whooshing sound ended abruptly, so did the hare’s life.

The hare hung limp, spiked to the nearest tree with a sharpened bone through its eye socket. The shadow moved towards it, still humming its lullaby, as the moon once again came into view illuminating the area. Illuminating a graveyard.

“You aren’t alone, you’re here to stay…”, and in truth? The hare wasn’t alone. Because dotting the trees surrounding the cabin were the skeletons of various animals, some still suspended against tree trunks and others long since fallen to be buried in the grass below. And if you looked hard enough, peeking out of the ground nearest the cabin, human bones also littered the ground. Forgotten to all, except the one who resided in the cabin.

“So, in the moonlit night I’ll sing…until the break of day”. The figure arrived at the tree and after viciously ripping the body clean from the hare's head still attached to the tree, slowly made its way back towards the cabin, humming as it went. Beware indeed. And as the moon illuminated the figure’s frame in the doorway of the cabin, a nightmare whose sharp teeth were born of an unnatural hunger and its blackened and burned body riddled with blood and dirt, the door slammed behind it and its song died with it.

As if the ground itself exhaled, ambient sound once again filled the forest, and the birds, bugs, and wind went back to fulfilling their natural duties. Reminded once more of the unnatural evil that resided in their environment.

The candle in the cabin fluttered against a non-existent draft before it extinguished itself in front of the window. But not for the last time. No, the creature thought, as the audible crunch of bones and squelch of blood and dripping guts filled the cabin, not when there was more company to be had.