Thru-Hike

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

Beth was the first to see it. They were walking up the path, overstuffed packs on their backs, hair still wet from the creek, when suddenly she froze in her tracks.

“What is it?” Penn asked. He was the more impatient of the two brothers, though they didn’t know that yet. They’d only just met that afternoon.

“The window,” Beth said, gesturing toward the cabin.

The little house sat back into the forest as though it belonged to the trees. It was built solidly of wood, a one-room solace from the elements, but the boards were aged and cracking. Vines trailed along the porch trying to reclaim the structure. And most shocking of all in this weather-worn structure, in the front window, a small flame danced upon a fresh, white candle.

They stared for a beat before Charlie asked the question. “Who could be in there?”

“Did you see any other hikers before you ran into us?” Elise asked, voice dropping to a whisper.

“We saw an older guy this morning, but he was heading the other direction,” Penn replied.

There weren’t many hikers on that section of the Appalachian Trail. They were deep in Virginia–a stretch between Pearisburg and Dragon’s Tooth–where the hikers thinned out in the remote forest and only the hardcore thru-hikers seemed to pass by. Every exchange was memorable. Beth and Elise had only each other for company all 500 miles of their trek thus far, and so when they came upon the brothers wading in the small creek, they were thrilled to have new company. The isolation of the trail will do that to you.

They had scrubbed their clothes in the cool water and picked mulberries from a nearby tree, all while sharing the details of their hikes. Penn and Charlie weren’t thru-hikers, but were home from college for the summer and were taking three weeks to hike a long middle section of the trail. Beth and Elise were hiking all the way from Georgia to Maine. They hadn’t known each other until a mutual friend had introduced them, citing the fact that they were both planning on the same adventure at the same time. From there, they had planned and trained together, and set off on the months-long hike as new friends.

It was Penn who had brought up the cabin in the woods. Beth and Elise had planned to hike to the next shelter, four miles farther, to spend the night, but Penn had convinced them to stay longer by the creek by mentioning a closer shelter. It was set back in the woods so the other hikers didn’t know about it. He wasn’t sure why someone had built a house in the middle of the wilderness, but if they decided to stay the night there, they could continue to enjoy their evening wading in the creek and eating mulberries together. The girls, desperate to talk to anyone outside of each other, had agreed.

“Elise and I haven’t seen anyone since yesterday evening–a couple from Florida,” Beth said.

“We should keep hiking to the next shelter. This place gives me the creeps,” Charlie said. He took a few steps backward.

“We can’t keep going, Charlie. The sun’s nearly set and the next shelter is still four miles out. I’m not walking in the dark. Plus it looks like it might rain,” Penn replied, gesturing up to the darkening sky with his chin.

Clouds moved quickly from the west, their color an ominous greenish-gray.

“Come on,” Beth said. “I’m not getting caught in that storm.”

She furrowed her brow and marched up to the cabin. Penn followed, adopting a similarly determined look. Charlie and Elise approached more slowly, clearly unsure about the turn of events. Beth knocked twice on the door.

“Hello?” she called in a sing-song voice. When no one replied, she pushed the front door open slowly and peeked into the darkness. The others held their breath.

Then she turned around triumphantly. “It’s empty,” she announced, and she pushed through the door and into the cabin.

As she walked through, the clouds opened up overhead and the rain fell down in fat drops. The others followed quickly behind her. Elise was the last to the door. As she stepped over the threshold, she saw three long, brown worms thrashing in a rapidly-forming rain puddle. She watched as their long bodies slowly writhed in the rising water; their fate already sealed.

They all examined the candle when they entered the cabin. It was slender and white. Not much of it had burned away which meant it had been recently lit, though there were no other signs of life inside. The air was stale and thick. Dust laid stubbornly across window sills and across the ground. Their shoes left prints in it across the floor, but theirs were the only ones.

“Maybe a passing hiker lit the candle,” Beth suggested.

“Then why aren’t there other footprints?” Charlie asked. Nervous energy shown behind his eyes.

“Probably lit it from outside,” Beth said confidently. She strode over and pulled on the window frame. It lifted without resistance and the breeze from outside blew out the flame. “See?”

They did see, but they also saw the dust waft off the obviously unopened frame as Beth pushed it open. No one had recently opened that window. The rain outside poured down in sheets, stirring up clouds of steam. They opened up the rest of the windows to air out the stuffy cabin as they prepared their things for the night.

They ate their dinner rations and pocketed mulberries without incident. Penn regaled the group with a story that involved him and two fraternity brothers stealing a donkey from the college of veterinary medicine. Elise noted that Penn and Beth seemed to be inching closer to one another as the night went on. Charlie remained jumpy and was the first one in his sleeping bag, ready to get through the night and move on. And eventually, the rest of them followed suit, turning off flashlights and laying down in their sleeping bags on the old wooden floor.

It wasn’t until the storm began in earnest that things took a turn. Lightning struck just outside; the thunder instantly rumbling through the cabin. The hikers sat up, hearts racing, and looked around in the darkness.

“That was close,” Elise said. “It sounded like it might have hit a tree.” She stood up and sleepily walked toward the window to check the damage, but then froze.

“Who did that?” she asked, voice cold.

“Did what?” Beth replied, rubbing her eyes. But when they looked toward the window, they saw it: the candle was lit again. The flame danced in the stuffy air, flashes of lightning occasionally illuminating it from behind.

“Oh my god,” Beth said. “Someone must be pulling a prank on us, right?”

“Where’s Charlie?” Penn asked, standing quickly.

He shined a flashlight toward the spot where Charlie had been sleeping. He was gone–and so was all of his gear. No pack, no sleeping bag, no Charlie. A wide path snaked through the dusty floor from his sleeping spot all the way to the door, as if something large had been dragged along the ground.

The lightning cracked outside again.

“What the hell?” Penn asked, panic rising in his voice. He looked from the candle to Charlie’s spot on the floor. “Where is he?”

“There’s something there,” Beth said, aiming her flashlight at the spot where Charlie had been sleeping. On the wooden planks was a fat, wriggling worm, its long body wet and wrinkled.

Penn ran to the door and grabbed the handle, desperately looking for his brother, but when he pulled on the old door, it didn’t budge. He pulled more frantically and then began banging his fist and shouting.

“Hey!” he yelled. “This isn’t funny, man! Let us out!” Rage crept in, his fists becoming erratic and full of fury against the old wooden door.

Elise backed slowly to the window, eyes wide in panic. She pulled on the window to open it–the same window that Beth had opened effortlessly hours earlier–and found that it didn’t move.

“Beth, it won’t open,” she said in a low voice. Beth turned, eyes wide, and came over to help her. They both pulled with all of their strength, only relenting when Beth fell backwards onto the wooden floor.

Elise and Beth scrambled to the center of the cabin, their breathing intensifying. Penn backed away from the door, still trembling with rage, a tear in the corner of his eye. He stopped next to the girls and they all looked around frantically like trapped animals.

“Penn,” Elise began in a quiet voice, “what do you know about this cabin?”

“None of it’s true. It can’t be true…it’s just a story,” he mumbled. His hands shook and his head whipped from the door to the window and back again.

“It’s just a story!” he screamed into the darkness. “This isn’t real.”

“Tell us the damn story, Penn,” Beth commanded.

He slumped to the floor, holding onto his knees. They weren’t sure if they had lost him to the panic, but eventually he began to speak.

“They say it belonged to an old Appalachian witch lady. She knew a type of witchcraft that was passed down in the hills. Old magic. She lived out in these woods all alone. And when the trail was built, they tried to push her out. They wanted her land. She refused, of course, and then one day she just disappeared. Poof–gone. But there were rumors that she didn’t disappear at all, and that some local law enforcement got rid of her–that she’s still buried on this land.”

Thunder rumbled through the cabin again.

“This is bullshit,” Beth said. “There is no witch here, Penn. That’s just a ridiculous story. Your brother is probably the one playing a prank on us.”

“Charlie wouldn’t do that,” Penn said, shaking his head.

The flash lights went out all at once leaving the three of them in complete darkness, except for the candle flickering in the window. They shook the flashlights and tightened the tops, cursing to themselves, but to no avail. The lights wouldn’t turn back on.

“You think Charlie did that too, Beth?” Penn asked, incredulous. They couldn’t see one another properly, only the outline of each others’ shapes.

“We have to get out of here,” Elise whispered into the darkness.

Beth marched to the window where the candle still flickered. She blew it out.

Then they heard a strange sound in the cabin; something thick and moist dropping to the ground by the dozens. Two drops landed on Beth’s head and she reached up to her hair, hands shaking, to remove the objects. Lightning flashed behind her, illuminating her image, as she pulled her hands from her scalp holding the bodies of two fat worms. She screamed in terror as the worms fell around her. The candle, ever so slowly, reignited.

The thick moist sounds stopped, leaving the air quiet and the dusty floor littered with brown earthworms. The three hikers were silent for a moment, their panicked breathing escalating and their minds racing.

Penn’s breathing turned to a quiet sob. “Charlie, man, where the hell are you? Charlie!” Tears streamed down his cheeks.

The flash light Elise was still clutching turned on again and she dropped it in shock. It clattered down to the worm-strewn floor and spun once, the beam settling pointed toward Beth who was still standing by the window. Beth’s lips were moving rapidly but she stared down at the floor.

“Beth. Beth, what’s happening? What are you saying?”

Beth looked up, locking eyes with Penn and Elise. Her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks and her eyes were glowing an unnatural shade of olive green. Her mouth continued moving, the words gradually becoming more audible.

“Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven…”

“Beth, snap out of it,” Penn pleaded.

“Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven. Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven…”

The volume and speed of her muttering increased until she was shouting through the cabin. Elise and Penn backed away from her. Penn’s sobs became more frantic.

Lightning cracked again outside. The window behind Beth shattered. The glass sprayed through the cabin, cutting Elise’s legs and knocking Penn backward. Beth remained unmoving. She continued muttering her chant. The candle continued to flicker, unmoved, on the windowsill.

Penn took a deep breath and then charged. He sprinted through the cabin and dove through the smashed window, the glass cutting deep holes in his sides as he wriggled through the small window like a worm. He hit the earth with a thump, mud splashing up around him and the rain pelting his body. He scrambled to get up and then he froze, as if suddenly paralyzed. He fell to the ground again, and then his body, unmoving of its own accord, began slowly inching toward the tree line. As if it were being dragged by an invisible force. As if he were but a worm wriggling through the dirt. As he was pulled out of view, only his lips continued moving–the chant spilling out at rapid speed.

“Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven. Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven…”

He disappeared, swallowed up by the thick forest.

Elise, now filled with terror, desperately tried to snap Beth out of her trance.

“Beth, please. Snap out of it, Beth! We have to get out of here.”

She shook Beth violently by the shoulders. Beth continued muttering, unaffected by her friend’s pleas. Elise ran through the cabin, crushing worms underfoot, and pulled on the door with all of her strength. It still didn’t budge.

She rested her head against the door frame and allowed herself one moment to cry. Then she took a deep breath and turned back to face Beth.

“Please, Beth,” Elise whimpered.

Beth turned slowly and picked up the candle. She held it in front of her face as she continued the chant.

“Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven. Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven…”

Then she dropped it. The old, dry wood of the floor, still littered with earthworms, lit up.

“Beth, no!” Elise shouted.

The flames moved quickly, catching the leg of Beth’s pants. The fire crept up her body as it simultaneously spread through the cabin, but Beth continued chanting, unfeeling.

Elise cried out and pulled at the door again. She was still trapped. The flames were unbothered by the storm outside and wormed their way through the dry wood.

Then, with a loud crack, a beam above the window collapsed, forming a pile of rubble. It left a gaping hole in the side of the cabin. Elise, choking on the smoke around her, seized the moment and plunged to the side of the cabin. She pressed through the hole, head down, and then hit the wet earth. Her sleeve had caught fire, searing the skin of her forearm and burning off the hair. She batted out the flames in the wet mud and scrambled backward away from the flaming cabin.

When she looked back, the whole cabin was engulfed in flames. Beth still stood in the center, unmoving, her body consumed by the fire. Elise turned and sprinted into the woods just as the cabin collapsed behind her, but through the sounds of the fire and the storm, she could still hear the chant.

Bury me with the worms and I’ll make them my coven.