A Cabin in the Woods
By Shelley Banks
The forest had no beginning. At least, that was how it felt to Clara after hours of walking beneath the endless black trees.
She could no longer remember where the path disappeared. One moment she had been following a narrow trail through the woods, listening to birds chatter overhead. The next, the forest had swallowed the sunlight whole.
Now the trees stood like giants around her, their trunks twisted and wet with moss. Branches clawed at the sky, tangling together so tightly that almost no light reached the ground. Every direction looked exactly the same.
Clara stopped walking. The silence was wrong. Forests were supposed to hum with life — animals, birds and insects. But here there was nothing, the only thing she could hear was her own breath.
And then, behind her, a sound. She spun around, but there was nothing there. Only rows of dark trees disappearing into fog.
‘It’s just an animal,’ she whispered, as she kept moving, though her voice shook.
The deeper she walked, the colder the air became. The torch on her phone had started flickering ten minutes ago, the battery warning flashing red. Then she heard the sound again, closer this time.
Clara turned. ‘Hello. Is anyone there?’
There was no answer.
‘Who are you? What do you want?’
Again, there was no response. But then she saw it, further back between the trees. A shape, tall, thin, standing perfectly still. Her breath caught in her throat.
The figure, which at a distance, could almost be mistaken for human, except that its arms were too long, dangling nearly to the ground, and its head was tilted at an unnatural angle.
Clara took a step backward. The thing took a step forward and so she ran. Behind her came the sound of snapping twigs and slow, heavy footsteps. Panic pounded through her chest as her feet propelled her forward. Then suddenly the forest opened into a clearing.
In the centre stood a tiny wooden cabin. Warm yellow light glowed from its windows. Clara nearly cried with relief. She sprinted to the door and hammered on it.
‘Please!’ she shouted. ‘Please help me!’
The door creaked open and the face of an old woman peered through the gap.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she said quietly.
‘There’s something in the woods,’ Clara gasped. ‘Please, I think it’s following me.’
The old woman peered past her into the darkness. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then the woman’s face went pale.
‘Get inside. Now.’
Clara rushed into the cabin. The old woman slammed the door and locked it with three separate bolts.
‘What is that thing?’ Clara whispered.
The woman didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she walked to the window and closed the curtains tightly.
‘It only comes for people who wander too far,’ she finally said. ‘The forest changes at night. The paths move. And once it notices you…’
A slow knock echoed from the front door. The old woman extinguished the lantern and darkness swallowed the room. Then a voice came from outside. Clara’s voice.
‘Please,’ it called softly. ‘Let me in.’
Clara felt her blood turn to ice because she was still standing in the middle of the cabin. How could that be her voice?
For several seconds, the only sound inside was Clara’s ragged breathing. Then the voice outside spoke again.
‘Please,’ it whispered in perfect imitation of her tone. ‘I’m scared.’
The old woman grabbed Clara’s wrist so tightly it hurt.
‘Do not answer it,’ she hissed. ‘No matter what you hear.’
A shadow moved beneath the crack under the door. Clara backed away, her heart slamming against her ribs.
‘How does it sound like me?’ she whispered.
‘It listens and learns,’ she said. ‘Then it calls.’
Outside, the thing scratched lightly against the door. The cabin walls creaked as wind moaned through the forest. Clara suddenly noticed strange symbols carved into every beam and window frame. The old woman noticed her staring.
‘Those symbols keep it out,’ she murmured. ‘Most nights.’
Clara swallowed hard. Before she could respond, a deafening crash exploded from the back of the cabin.
The old woman shoved Clara toward the far wall. ‘Run!’
A long arm burst through the rear window, skin stretched too tightly over crooked bones. The fingers bent backwards as they clawed at the frame. Then another arm appeared as the creature began forcing itself inside.
And Clara finally saw the creature properly. It was impossibly tall, impossibly thin, and impossibly pale. The face had no eyes, only an enormous smiling mouth. It tilted its head towards Clara and spoke in her own voice again.
‘You shouldn’t have come into the forest,’ it said as it stepped inside the cabin, slowly, patiently, like it had all the time in the world.
Books
If you like my short stories I’ve published twelve books.
Follow Me
Facebook | Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads