The Cabin

…A Creepy Pasta

I knew I shouldn’t have taken that bet. Sue thought as she entered the musty cabin. The dust floated in swirls as the breeze followed her into the main room. There were cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling and a small pile of wood by the fireplace.

She made her way to the room she would be staying in and pulled out her smartphone to snap a quick picture to post on her Instagram. She stopped as she was putting her code into the phone to unlock it.

I just got here and already trying to lose the bet. I have to do something about this. Sue walked out to her car, placed her phone in her glove compartment and returned to the cabin. I have to go 48-hours without my phone, laptop, wifi, or social media. This should be…She looked out the widow to her car. Who am I kidding? I live on social media.

She unpacked books of all types, mystery, puzzle, romance, and stood looking at them for a short while before sighing and getting to work cleaning the dust off of everything.

She found the clothes, cleaners, and two boxes of candles with matches. She tilted her head to one side. How long HAS it been since someone’s been here? Matches? She shrugged and went about making the place more livable.

By dinner time, she had finished the cleaning and taken a trip to the general store for food. She was placing cheese in her sandwich when she heard a thump from the hall. She took a quick look around the cabin to see if anyone else was there and found no one.

She was standing on the porch eating her sandwich when the clouds started to roll in, turning the sky a dark gray. Great, and I can’t use my phone to check the weather. Sue checked the shutters and make sure they could withstand the storm as she closed them.

She grabbed a puzzle book and sat on the couch. The soft sound of the raindrops hitting the tin roof became a torrent, breaking her concentration. She got up and went to change to one of the novels to help her tune out the noise. She jumped when the thunder grumbled and then cracked loud enough to shake the cabin.

Just great. She was almost to the hall when the lights flickered and went out. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember where she spotted the candles and matches during her cleaning. She fumbled around feeling her way to the storage closet in the hall. Opening it she found the matches and lit one to locate the candles and holders.

She took the first candle and lit it. She slowly turned to find a sconce that held candles. She jumped to at another thunder crack and forced herself to take a deep breath. Jesus, Sue, get a grip. You’ve been through these in the city. This should be a walk in the park.

She took out a second candle and a candle holder. She found the light from the first candle allowed her to reach the table behind the sofa. She placed the holder in the center of the table and lit it. There was an audible sigh when the candle lit the room, making Sue turn to see who was there. Again, there was no one but her. She smirked at the next thunderclap and that’s when she noticed something about the shadow on the wall. Although she had turned her head, the shadow had not moved. That can’t be right. I must be seeing things. Shadows aren’t prone to freezing.

She lifted her hand, and the shadow followed suit. She tilted her head to one side and waved. Her shadow did not. She spun around and blew out the candle. There was a moan and an inaudible whisper. She stared at the candle. There was an inky black streak that ran through it from the wick to the base.

Leaving the candle there, she went to the closet to get another to replace it. She looked at the box of candles. None of the others had a streak in them. She picked a blue one and returned to the table to replace the candle. She picked up the candle holder, gripped the candle, and gave a gentle pull. The candle would not come out of the base.

Light me.

She dropped the candle, making it fall out of the holder. She quickly snatched the holder off the floor to put the blue candle into it and found the candle on the table to be the white one with the black streak. Her eyes flew open and she fumbled on the floor to find the blue one she knew she had not dropped. It was under the table. She stood holding both candles. She watched herself as she dropped the streaked one onto the floor while keeping the blue one in the corner of her vision.

Light me.

She picked up the candle holder, taking her eye off the blue candle for a second. She looked over to the candle in her right hand. It was the streaked one.

Light me.

She dropped the candle on the floor and made her way to the closet. She opened the box of emergency candles that sat next to the tapers. She returned to the table with the white candle, and put it into the holder. It would not light.

Light me.

Shaking her head, she retrieved the entire box of emergency candles and tried to light each one in turn. They would not light.

She stood with only the light from the first candle behind her looking at the streaked candle that lay on the table. She went back to the closet to get the box of tapers.

One by one, the tapers would turn into the streaked one when she tried to put them in the holder.

Maybe it’s the holder. Her lips were a thin line on her face as she got four different holders and one candelabra which held four.

She put the candelabra in the center of the table, placed one candle in each spot, making sure none turned into the streaked one. She breathed a sigh of relief as the third one slid into place without changing. Her shoulders slumped and she smiled when the fourth one did not change.

She opened the box of matches and a breeze blew out the candle in the hall.

Wait, I made SURE the shutters were drawn and a breeze couldn’t get in here. How did tha-

The hairs on her arms started to rise along with goosebumps.

Oh, God, please no. Please, tell me it’s not going to be in the candle-

She struck a match and let out a scream. All four candles were white with black streaks.

Light me.

She ran to the door.

I have to get out of here. Damn the bet. They can have the money.

Try as she might, the doorknob would not even rattle. She ran to the back of the cabin. The back door was the same. None of the windows would open. She stood looking at the last window with tears falling down her cheeks and shaking. She put her hand on the latch and pulled. It would not budge. She sank to her knees.

Light me.

“No.” Her voice was small and shook.

Light me.

“No.”

A heavy sigh filled the cabin. It trembled with the thunder outside. Though it was summer, Sue could see her breath when she exhaled or answered whoever was in the candle.

Light me.

She mustered all the courage she could find, “Who are you?” Her voice still quaked, but not as much as before.

“Light me and find out.”

She looked in the direction of the table, “No, you tell me who, or what, you are first.” The quake in her voice was gone.

“I liked you before, when you were afraid. That tasted wonderful.”

Sue walked over to the table and lit a match. Only the candle on the end was the streaked one. She put the flame close to the candle and could feel the anticipation in the air. She pulled it away and blew out the match.

“Noooooooo!”

She tried the front door again. It still would not budge. She froze in mid-turn when the candle in the hall re-lit. Her eyes flew to the lit candle. It was still the taper she had placed there. She sighed.

The house breathed. She jumped.

There was a chuckle from down the hall. She willed her feet to move. One shaky foot at a time, she made her way to the beginning of the hallway and looked down to the end. There was a dim light coming from her room. She tried a switch to see if the power had come back. Nothing.

She heard her own gulp as she crept down the hall to her room. The light was from the tablet she had not put in her car. It flickered and steadied.

I didn’t turn it on. What the hell is going on?

“Light my candle, woman.” The voice, which she couldn’t put a sex to earlier, was now deep and rumbling, “Quit playing games.”

She was planted in place, her legs refusing to cross into her room. The voice came from her tablet. The light would flicker when the voice spoke.

“I… I am not the one keeping someone hostage just to feed off their f… fear.”

The voice let out a satisfied hum.

Damn it, Sue, get a fucking grip. You can’t be afraid. You’re feeding the damn thing. You’re a smorgasbord at this point.

She felt weak. Sue backed away from the door frame and sat with her back against the wall opposite her room. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Her breathing became slow and steady, but she felt herself getting even weaker.

Forcing herself to stand, she stumbled into the kitchen to fix herself another sandwich.

Maybe I need to eat. That’s it. I’m hungry.

The house let out a low laugh that chilled Sue to the core. She stopped reaching for the mayonnaise when she saw her hand. She shuffled to the table and lit a match. Her tanned skin was turning pale and wrinkles were forming. She took the matchbox and went into the bathroom. She let out another scream when she lit a match and looked into the mirror. She did not recognize the woman staring back at her.

Sue’s eyes were sunken inward, wrinkles had replaced her smooth and perfect skin. Her chestnut hair she had pulled into a ponytail was gray.

Glowing green eyes appeared in the mirror, “Light the candle, and it will all be over. You will never have to worry about growing old. I can do that for you.”

Shaking her head, she backed out of the bathroom and tripped over her own feet. Her head hit the wall opposite and everything went dark.

It wasn’t until the following Tuesday, when no one had heard from Sue, that her friends went to the cabin to check on her.

Marlon went in first, putting a rock at the bottom of the door to keep it from closing. There were cobwebs in the high corners of the cabin. The dust swirled with the breeze of the opening door.

“Ashley, you sure Sue was even here?”

“Yeah, the last text I got from her was Friday afternoon, and it said, ‘And so it begins.’”

“Marlon, where is Sue’s car? I didn’t see it out front.”

“Me either. She wouldn’t lie. She isn’t that type of person.”

Ashley put her handbag in the middle of a table which stood behind the sofa in the main room. Dust flew up, causing her to sneeze, “I don’t think she would stay in a place without cleaning it either.”

Marlon nodded his head in agreement, “She is a bit of a clean freak. Ash, check the kitchen and back deck. I’ll check the halls and the rooms. Maybe she is here and trying to pay us back for the bet.”

There was a nervous chuckle from Ashley, “Yeah, that would be her. Okay.”

Marlon looked down the hall, “Sue? Sue you there? Come on, the joke’s over. We get it.”

His footsteps slowed as he got to the only room in the cabin with a bed. There were no traces of anyone having slept on the bed. He checked the closet, under the bed, and the chest of drawers in the room, hoping to find anything that belonged to Sue. Apart from the furniture, the room was empty.

Ashley opened the refrigerator and found it barren. That’s weird. There should be food in here, if Sue stayed here. I was supposed to come today and clean it.

She checked the trash. Again, not even a liner. She walked out on the sundeck and looked around, “Sue!” Her voice echoed in the woods, but no answer returned.

While I’m here, might as well check to see if I need to buy any more candles or matches. Ashley opened the hall storage closet. The box of emergency candles and the box of tapers were untouched. The box of matches was half empty.

Her brow furrowed. I told her she could use the candles. Why would she waste matches? This is weird.

Marlon and Ashley met back up in the main room of the cabin, both empty-handed and looking worried.

Marlon turned to the window, “Hey, Ash, you think the old guy we rented the cabin from would have seen Sue?”

“It’s worth a try asking him. After all, he runs the general store.”

They got into the truck and followed the directions to the general store. Jaws fell open when they had to park on the shoulder due to the overgrowth.
“Marlon, it wasn’t like this last week.”

“I know. I was with you. Let me get my machete.”

They cut a path to what was left of the general store. The porch, which was adorned last week with handmade rocking chairs and signs, was splintered, weather-worn, and missing boards. The steps they climbed to enter the store the first time they were here, gone. Windows were boarded and the door was off its hinges. There were holes in the roof where the vines had broken through.

Marlon turned to see Ashley who was holding herself shaking, “Marlon, what d..did we do? Wh… where did we send Sue?”

He answered with widened eyes and a slow shrug. They heard the sound of sirens from the road. They turned to see a police officer approaching.

“Is that your truck on the side of the road, sir?”

“Yes, we thought there was a general store here.”

“This one hasn’t been open for over fifty years. I don’t even know how you found it. Everyone just goes by thinking it’s part of the wood.”

“You’re not going to believe this, officer, but…” Marlon recounted the whole series of events.

The officer listened intently, nodding when Marlon stopped in places to see if the officer was still paying attention.

When he was done, the officer took his hat off, “You’re right, son. That is one unbelievable tale you’ve spun, normally.”

“Normally?”

The officer turned and headed to the highway, “I’ve been trying to find that serial killer for fifty years. Every time, the story is the same. A bet that someone can’t live without the technology of any kind, save electricity, and they are never seen again, gone with no traces or evidence except a half-empty box of matches.”

Marlon and Ashley looked in horror as the words of the officer faded, along with the man himself as he put on his hat.

-Anissa Walker
This is an original work. If you wish to use this in videos or other media, please link back to the blog to give me credit.