You Scream You Die

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. It was the first night out in the woods for Drake, Tom, Sue, Amy, Pete, and Talia, who had decided to spend that Halloween weekend camping. They were a group of friends and residents of the town of Lockwood which was right on the edge of the forest. Tom was the oldest at twenty and Amy the youngest at seventeen.

The forest was home to tiny woodland critters and the occasional deers but there were no wild animals in the area. Hunting season had made sure of that and the few deers left alive were now protected by wildlife preservation laws so most of the town folks liked to go hiking or camping during this time. But the fact that the woods were free of wild animals and other natural predators did not mean that everyone considered it entirely harmless.

Rumors were spreading surrounding the abandoned cabin, primarily by old hunters who swore on their guns that the stories were true and young adults who claimed to be daredevil explorers but could not lead the way back to the cabin they had allegedly found. The stories varied so much that every household in Lockwood seemed to have its version. But, there was one rumor more prominent than the others. It was said that the old woman had been accidentally killed by a group of campers and they had buried her body in secret and never told a soul—which begged the question of how the rumor peddlers knew the story then.

The story did not end there, it was also said that the woman was a collector of some fine porcelain dolls and as the woman was yet to find peace, her spirit had possessed the dolls who now sought vengeance on her behalf upon anyone who strayed into her cabin and they too were never seen again.

This story had been used in attempts to explain cases of missing campers but then the bodies were eventually found and the tale lost whatever hold it had on the fearful minds of the masses.

Now, the tale of the old woman and her cabin full of dolls had faded away, only rising from the dead in the spirit of Halloween as parents told the stories to scare their little ones.

But for Amy and the gang; especially Tom who was basically the leader of their merry crew, the stories had piqued their curiosity and they had decided to go seeking this mysterious cabin.

They were equipped and prepared with camping gear and enough clothes for the weekend. Amy went a step further to bring her wooden doll named Billy with her; it was a gift from her late grandmother that she carried with her for comfort despite everyone saying she should outgrow it. For this, she got teased by the others. In truth, she did not want to be out in the woods going to some dead woman's house but she had no choice if she wanted to continue hanging out with them.

They made camp about a mile away from the stream that ran through the forest; arranging their tents in a circle, but after that was done, they wasted no time in going after their true objective.

Tom's curiosity about the cabin had not peaked overnight. Over the years, he had gathered old newspaper cutouts and tried to make out what bits of the stories were true. It was enough to ascertain that there was truly a cabin in the woods and there was something freaky going on with it, but it was also clear that the truth was overshadowed by the rumors. He had however gathered enough evidence to convince himself he knew where the cabin was.

He led the group deeper into the forest, following an old compass and a map he had plotted out himself.

Amy was starting to think he had lost the way and was bluffing when the trees gave way to a clearing and they found standing before them, a small log cabin. She clutched her doll tighter to herself in fright. It was one thing when Tom was all talk, and another when the cabin was right in front of them.

With Tom leading the way, they went up to the front door. They found it unlocked and went inside.

The interior was dimly lit as most of the windows were closed and the dusty curtains had been pulled shut. They tried to open the windows but they refused to budge. Thankfully they came with flashlights and soon enough six beams of light penetrated the gloom.

The cabin was as small on the inside as it looked from the outside. There was a film of dust over everything, from the furniture to the paintings on the wall. Glancing around the living room personal items came into view. The upholstery choice was of the 1950s at least.

Amy quickly grew bored but just before she could work up the nerve to suggest returning to camp, something caught Drake's attention.

"Whoa! Look at the creepy dolls," he said. "Guess that part of the story was true."

All six flashlights turned to point where he was looking and Amy saw the dolls he was talking about. They were porcelain dolls lined up on the shelf at the far wall and they were staring at them through motionless, lifeless yet very unsettling painted-on eyes.

Amy felt a cold shudder as she stared at the dolls. She did not like the way they looked.

"Guys, we should get back to camp before it gets dark out," she said. She hoped her voice would not reveal how scared she was.

It did.

"Look at that guys," Sue laughed. "Amy's scared."

"I'm not scared!" Amy said defiantly. "I just feel like we shouldn't be here."

"Why?" Pete asked. "You worried the two-foot-tall dolls are gonna attack your kneecaps?"

He flashed his light right in her face, blinding her, and then after a moment, he turned it off. She pointed her light back at him but instead of finding Pete's smug pimply face, the face she found was smooth and ceramic with giant eyes and a painted rictus.

She screamed and backed away, bumping into a shelf in the process. A book fell from the shelf but she was too concerned about her own safety to check it out.

"Don't do that!" she said.

"Why?" Pete asked while waving the doll in his hand. "I thought you weren't scared."

"I... I'm not."

"Cut it out, Petey," Talia warned. She smacked his shoulder hard enough to have him return the doll to the shelf.

"Sorry, Amy."

Talia was the only member of the group who did not bully Amy. She was kind and sweet unlike the others, including her idiot twin brother Pete. She also acted older than the rest.

When Amy bumped into the shelf, she knocked a book to the ground and it was only when Tom bent and picked it up that she took notice. It was a leather-bound diary and it had opened up to a random page where someone; most likely the old woman, had written four sentences. None of the sentences appeared to be in English or in any language Amy knew.

Tom read the words aloud;



tuo ehtaerb ni ehtaerb

evila hself ot dum derif morf

tsefinam dna esira

tuo ehtaerb ni ehtaerb



When he was done, Amy had the sudden urge to look around the room, half expecting something to have happened.

The others did the same but as if catching themselves in the process, they all shook off the uneasy feeling.

"Well that's a load of nonsense," Tom said. He tossed the book back to the shelf. "There's not much to see here anyway. Let's get back to camp."

They agreed silently and made their way towards the exit. If any of them had turned around at that moment, they would have seen one of the dolls blink.



*****



They returned to the camp and it was soon nightfall. Tom made a fire and they made soup and ate. When that was done, they roasted marshmallows over the fire and made s'mores while Drake told ghost stories.

Amy could not shake the eerie feeling from back at the cabin and announced that she was going to bed. Thinking she was frightened by Drake's ghost stories, Pete, Tom, Sue, and Drake himself proceeded to tease her some more.

With Amy gone, Drake continued his story.

"Let's see who gets scared next," he said.

But a moment later he heard a sound and he paused. It was the sound of dried leaves being trampled on and it came from the woods behind him.

"Did you guys hear that?" Drake asked.

"Nice try buddy," Tom said.

"No, I'm serious. There's something out there."

"Alright, that's enough," Talia said.

"I'm not joking around guys," Drake insisted. "You know what? I'll go check it out myself."

And away he went, taking his flashlight with him.

The others remained by the campfire, waiting for Drake to be disappointed by his failed scare and call it off, but the next moment Drake's flashlight went off.

"What the—" they heard him say.

And then he screamed.

Instantly, Pete and Tom shot to their feet. They grabbed their flashlights and ran after Drake.

"Drake!" Tom called.

"I swear to God if this is a prank I'm going to kill you," Pete said.

They did not find Drake, instead, they found one of the porcelain dolls from the cabin lying on the floor right where Drake was.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?" Pete asked. "Did you steal it from the cabin?"

"Of course not!" Tom said. "Why would I want the creepy thing?"

"You think Drake is trying to prank us with it?"

"He better not."



Tom picked up the doll and inspected it while Pete continued on in search of Drake. And that was when he realized something strange.

The outfit painted on the doll looked very much like what Drake was wearing. The doll's hair was red and shaped just like Drake's. Its skin was painted to be pale and freckled...just like Drake's.

This...was Drake.

Frightened by the realization, Tom threw down the doll.

"Uh Pete, something weird is going on here," he called out. "Pete?"

He got no response. Looking up, he realized that Pete's flashlight was on the ground and Pete himself was nowhere in sight. Rushing over, he found a doll next to Pete's flashlight. Like the previous doll, this one looked very much like Pete.

"What the hell is happening?"

"Retribution," a gravelly voice answered.

Tom turned around and found no one, but movement on the ground caused him to lower his flashlight and there he found a third doll. This one was not one of his friends. He recognized it immediately as one of the dolls from the woman's shelf.

It was standing on its two feet and its lifeless eyes were locked on him.

"What...what are you?" he asked. "What do you want?"

"Revenge," it said. "Payback."

"Revenge for what?" Tom said. "What did we do to you?"

"Revenge for mother. To take from you what your kind took from mother: your life. You awakened us, foolish child. You uttered the spell and now we're here."

It jumped at Tom but Tom raised his leg and caught it with the heel of his boot. He kicked it away and turned to run.

He did not get far before he tripped on something and fell to the ground. Turning over, he found over a dozen dolls all around him. Something in the back of their eyes glowed red.

"For mother," they were chanting in discordant unison.

"No," Tom pleaded. "Please. Help!"

They jumped upon him and suddenly, his body started to harden and his joints began to lock. But his eyes stayed open, and they would never be shut again.

Back at the camp, Talia and Sue heard Tom scream and got up, frightened and confused.

"Do you think the boys are pranking us?" Sue asked.

"That scream sounded real. Something is up."

"Down actually," a third voice added. It sounded sinister.

They pointed the flashlight at the ground and found a doll.

"First you scream," it said. "And then you die."

All around them, red eyes began to appear, dotting the darkness.

They screamed.



*****



Inside the tent, Amy had slept through her friends’ screaming, but a hard slap to the cheek roused her.

She opened her eyes to see Billy her doll standing over her face.

"Hello, Amy," it said.

Amy tried to scream but it moved quickly and put its hand over her mouth.

"If you scream you die," it said. "Your friends are dead. Do you want to die too?"

She shook her head.

"I will take my hand away now. Please don't scream."

She nodded.

Billy took her hand off and quickly explained to her what had happened, including that Tom's spell had awakened him too. Outside, she could hear a strange and inhuman chattering noise.

"Now we must escape," Billy said. "Very quietly."

It pointed at the back of the tent where it had cut a hole open, big enough for Amy.

"Why are you helping me? You're a doll, like them."

"But you're my friend," Billy said.

She grabbed her bag, picked up Billy, and crawled through.

But just as she got out, her phone began to ring. It was probably her mother calling to say goodnight.



She heard the chattering stop. They had heard the sound.

"Fudge," she murmured.

"Run!" Billy yelled.

She took off immediately.

Behind her, the chattering had resumed, more aggressively now.

With Billy's guidance, she raced through the woods.

He led her downhill and eventually she came to the stream.

"Go across," Billy said. "They can't swim."

She dove into the water without thinking twice and waded across.

When she got to the other side, she turned and flashed her phone light behind her. That was when she saw the dolls. Their faces were set but she could sense the aggression coming off them.

She was safely out of their reach and less than a mile away from town, but her friends were gone.

Her phone rang again and this time she pressed 'receive'.



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