THE CABIN Подписаться

"Are you ready?" I asked both my friends as I pulled on my backpack that had all the needed essentials for a weekend out at my late grandfather's cabin buried deep in the forest. I still couldn't believe I had won the game of cards I played with my two best friends and dared them on a thrilling trip to my grandfather's old cabin. They were looking for a fun night and I knew the cabin would meet their expectations, for there was nothing dull about it. From the spooky look to the surroundings that set the stage for a mystery waiting to unfold. I smiled imagining the look of awe that would ensnare my friends once they set eyes on my surprised cabin.

"Yes, I'm ready," Mary said from my right side. She had pulled on her backpack too. I turned to face Milan, my Asian friend, and smiled when she nodded her head. We all became friends in the early stage of kindergarten and have been stuck together ever since.
Great, I sighed in satisfaction as I grabbed one of the car keys that graced the wall of our garage. I made a beeline for the jeep and got into the driver's seat and put on my seatbelt, then waited patiently for my friends to get in and buckled up too. Once they were done I turned on the ignition and pulled the car out onto the road. Milan was in the front seat with me, and she switched on the stereo tuning into our favorite station that had one of our favorite songs blasting from the stereo. As we sang along to the songs, I wondered what my parents were up to at the moment. I wondered if they were having fun on their business trip or if it was all about business. Well, I hoped it was the former. I drew out of my thoughts and focused on the road, weaving through the streets and avoiding anything that would prevent us from reaching our destination. We stopped only once to ease ourselves and pick up some groceries before continuing on our journey. Soon the city fell away to reveal a sweep of forestry that had my friends perking up in interest.

"Where are we?" My friends asked curiously.

"That's a secret. I promise you girls would love it." I said pulling out of the main road to take a narrow crooked one that would lead us to the cabin. I tried to ease the car down the bumpy road without any mishaps but my efforts went down the drain and before I knew it a sharp piercing sound permeated the air around us disturbing the peaceful ambiance of the forest and making us jump out of our skin in fright. I pulled the car to a swift halt and glanced worriedly at my friends. They were cupping their necks in fright.

"Are you girls okay?" I asked them, my voice coming out on a shaky breath.

"Yes," Milan whispered sounding shocked.

"But...but what was that?" Mary asked from the back seat, throwing furtive glances around. I also took a sweep of our surroundings and noticed a flurry of movements between the trees. It must be some birds alarmed out of their nests.

"I need to check the car. Maybe I hit something," I said freeing myself from the seat belt and stepping out of the car to investigate. I let out an annoyed gasp as I noticed the slash in one of the tires. This was one problem I couldn't fix. I had a spare tire but didn't know how to change one. I doubt any of my friends knew how to. Turning back to the car, I stuck my head through the front window and told my friends to get down and grab our stuff. I told them we would be trekking the rest of the way to the cabin. They weren't so excited about it, but I couldn't ease their annoyance.

We started walking and I advised them to keep close to the road. And then Mary asked softly, with confusion clouding her features.
"What do you think caused the slashes in the tire? I didn't see anything sharp enough."

"Neither did I," I added glancing behind and almost losing my footing. I could have sworn I noticed something staring at us from beside our car. I don't know what it is for it was gone before I could blink. I tried futilely to ignore the fright interlaced with terror that gripped my heart at the incident and forge ahead. My damp skin suddenly broke out with goosebumps and an inarticulate sound emerged from deep within my throat, filling me with misgivings.

"What's wrong?" Milan asked.

"I could have sworn I saw something watching us from the car." I breathed out, my voice losing its luster.

"What!?" My friends glanced behind them and back at me. "There's nothing there," they added.

"I could have sworn there was," I insisted walking rapidly away. "Anyway, let's hurry. It would be dark soon and I don't want to be out here when that happens." Something had changed, and the air around us was suddenly suffocating. It was pregnant with something creepy that poked incessantly at my emotions, making me edgy.

We started walking briskly but half an hour into it felt like we had made no progress at all. It felt as if we hadn't moved and I became more frantic. My friends noticed the same thing and made to talk to me but nothing came out of their mouths. Not a single sound emanated from them, I only noticed the movements of their lips and their alarmed bewilderment. I wanted to ask them what the problem was but before I could a screeching sound traveled through the trees and had us falling to our knees covering our ears to prevent damage to our eardrums. My eyes were shut tight as I waited for the screams to stop. When it finally did and I opened my eyes, we were back where our car was parked. That elicited a scream from us all as our eyes became huge saucers in their sockets and we started to run as fast as our legs would allow. It felt like we were running in quicksand, and our escape then felt like a mission impossible, something unattainable. But we didn't throw in the towel, how could we? When our desperation to escape was thicker and stronger than the force trying to sink us.

I could feel something or someone watching but could see nothing when I looked around. My friends were hot on my trail, fueled by deep-rooted panic and I prayed I would see the cabin soon. My heart was pounding fast, the blood in my veins froze from terror, and as I glanced at my friends I noticed their eyes were clouded with tears. They were ravaged with fear like myself, but I couldn't break. I refused to cave in under the assault screwing with my emotions. We needed to reach the cabin in one piece. I yelled at them to keep up.

Finally, I could see the cabin up ahead and almost danced with relief. My friends were giggling as they could see it too. We were almost there, almost at the doorstep when suddenly a cloud of foggy mist descended upon us, impeding our movements and clouding our sights.

"What the hell is going on?!" Mary screamed at me almost making my ears bleed.

"Are we gonna die here?" Milan asked trying to keep calm but I could feel the fear in her tone. It washed over me and mirrored mine. I had no answer for them because I didn't understand anything myself. I was a kid when I traveled down this road with my parents and the trip had been blissful with no strange happenings. So what was this now? I didn't understand anything. I decided to bring my friends here for some fun time, not to be buried six feet deep in fright.

"No one is going to die here," I say firmly as much to encourage them and myself. "Not on my watch. We need to keep moving!" I say urgently shoving my determination into them. I don't plan on dying here. No way. This forest won't take me.

"But how?" Milan blared anxiously. "We can't see ahead of us!"

"We don't need to!" I shouted back. "We know the cabin is close! Just a few more steps. Come on, grab each other's hands. We mustn't get separated!" I say grabbing Milan's hand as she was closer to me and watching her grab Mary's hand. "Hold on tight!" I yelled above the whirling sound that suddenly invaded the fog and stung our ears. I pull my friends forward in the direction I presumed the cabin to be. The air around us was cold and heavy with something dark, something I couldn't decipher. I just knew I wanted to be out of the fog before I lost my senses. I was shivering and could feel my friend trembling through our connection. I did this to them. I unwittingly dragged them into a well of fright tainted with danger.

I must protect them! I must get us out of this mess and into safety. I trudged on wearily, refusing to succumb to the icy touch of the fear washing over me. Suddenly my body hit a rough wall and I knew it was the wooden wall of the cabin. I used my other hand to feel for the entrance door and frantically twisted at the doorknob, but it refused to budge. I shoved jerkily at it especially when I heard Mary let out a blood-curdling scream that almost paralyzed me. Milan yelled for me to hurry and I knew our survival hung in the balance. Whatever was out there wasn't kidding anymore, and I refused to lose any of my friends to it. "Hang on!" I screamed as I used all my strength and shoved at the door. It gave out under the assault of my body and we tumbled inside in a rush and crashed onto the dusty floor. Quickly I jumped to my feet and jammed the door shut, but not before feeling an icy grip on my wrist. I pulled away and rubbed the spot only to wince in discomfort. The skin around my wrist was bruised.
Weird. I didn't see anything, only felt it. Everything was strange out here and I didn't like it. I glanced down at my friends and noticed they hadn't moved an inch. Mary was curled into herself like a fetus and Milan was sitting with her arms wrapped around her folded knees. They were scared and I was right there with them.

"It was a mistake coming here," Milan whispered into our midst. It was evening now, and the sun had set.

"I know," I said with an exhausted sigh.

"We're gonna die here... we're gonna die here." Mary kept repeating like a broken record, still curled up tight on the floor and I feared the ordeal had broken her.

"No one is dying here!" I exclaimed with effort and as if to dispute my words the window panels started to quake on their hinges, and there was a scratchy sound moving slowly from one window to the other. It felt as if we were being taunted and the notion grated on our nerves and jacked up our fright to a new level. I was trying to be strong for my friends, someone needed to keep a level head but I could feel myself losing the battle as my senses were quivering and rioting from whatever was trying to end us by scaring us to death.

The scratchy sound on the windows suddenly stopped and was replaced by the sound of footsteps emanating from within the cabin.

"What was that?!" Mary gasped jumping onto her feet and rushing to my side.

"I don't know," I responded as Milan joined me at the entrance of the cabin. We hadn't moved from our initial position by the door but now were plastered to the door as we saw the imprinted footsteps on the dusty floor. The footsteps were wet, the sound squishy, and it disappeared into the wall which alarmed us because the wall had no door which meant the invisible thing walked right into the wall. Mary started to scream her 'we're gonna die' mantra fueling my fright even more. I could feel a fainting spell dancing close and brushing at my senses. I could feel I was going to lose the battle to stay conscious soon. My heart was heavy and tight with fear. My mind filled with regrets and wondering why I thought coming to a cabin in the middle of the forest was a fine idea. I was beginning to lose confidence in surviving the night, and I saw no way out. I realized the cabin wasn't any safer than the surrounding eerie forest. It wasn't a safety net for my friends and I. The truth was it was a refined trap and a bigger threat might be lurking in one corner or the other of the room.

That realization almost squeezed the life out of me and I reached out to my trembling friends in a mountain of fright, my eyes swollen with tears.
Regret had never tasted so bitter as it did then.

We hugged each other tightly and screamed out loud as the lights started flickering creating terrifying grotesque shadows in our minds. We became prisoners to our fear as items started to crash against each other, some toppling over and breaking on the floor, and others floating and creating an ominous sound. Our eyes boggled out of their sockets as we didn't understand what we were seeing. There was nothing tangible we could confront. Nothing humane or monstrous we could fight. We were facing an invisible force and it scared us even more, especially when we noticed the same fog we escaped out there slip through the cracks beneath the door and window panes and swallow us.
We screamed over and over again until we all passed out from the exertion and frightful overload.

The next day, I woke up with a start, groaning in pain at the hammering sound in my head as I tried to reorient myself and get a grip. I looked around me and noticed my friends blink open their eyes as they woke up. I realized the moment recognition of our night ordeal entered their eyes and we gasped in shock and together swivel around to take in the mess around us, the evidence that depicts the fact we hadn't dreamt things up.

"We survived! We're alive!" Mary gasped in awe and I was glad she was singing another more positive tune. However, I wasn't waiting around to find out if we were going to survive another night in the cabin. "We need to get the hell out of here," I thought aloud while jumping to my feet. Without another word, we grabbed each other hands and exited the cabin together.

There was no way I was revisiting here again.

Never again!