Cabin

“There are things in life that are inevitable, things that cannot be stopped, things that are bound to happen; things that will surely happen…”-Yani

 

The sky was dark and there was thunder. Any minute the rain will surely fall upon this road of gray rocks that I have walked and known since I was a child. The bus stop was still a few meters away, as I remember, it was a small place that was made by the local people for the travelers who would go to the near city. It was made with logs that were bound together, a roof and a small bench that could occupy three people to sit on. This place hasn’t change from how I left it seven years ago. It still has the lush grass beside the gray road, the tall trees that will lead you to the woods and the wild flowers sitting beside the road. The air still has the smell of soil, grass and of nature.

I really like this place, but I never bothered to return to it after I left it. My father asked me to return to our place as soon as I told him that I lost my job as a door to door salesman of gadgets. I have been in the business for who knows how long, and when I finally thought that I’ll get my promotion for being the ever loyal follower of the company, my boss told me straight to the face that I’m fired for I never attained anything for the past years. He also said that I was just a waste of money and of time so I better look for another job because the company has no use for me. So I was thrown away by my company that I have served for so long.

As soon as I finished my high school years I told my father that I want to work and live all by myself and to make my life. I want to step away from my father’s shelter and I was only sixteen by then, barely knowing the cruel reality of the world. Though that may be, I still took the risk and decided to take the step of beginning to plan for my own life with no one to guide me. My mother died the day I was born, she died while she was giving birth to a boy who turned out to be me, since then my father never really looked at me. I was the spitting image of the woman who he dearly loves; her ebony black hair and emerald green eyes are the mirror image of mine.

I started to walk down the road not minding the little droplets of rain that began to fall. The bus station is still quite far. I heard the thunder rumble and saw lightning cross the dark sky. A heavy downpour suddenly came and I had no choice but to run for the station. The flowers and grass bends humbly due to the heavy downpour.

I started running towards the station when I noticed a small house, but more like a cabin standing nearby the end side of the road. Now that was weird, I never saw the cabin before so I thought that maybe it was built when I left. I run towards the cabin since it will be a much better place to dry than the station which is still a bit few walks away. As I got near the cabin, I noticed that there was a reflection of light through the window which was coming from inside. I thought to myself that I’m lucky today maybe the people inside will be kind enough to let me dry and rest until the heavy rain subsides.

As I got nearer, I noticed the cabin looks quite old; it was made from different logs and has only one window at the front right beside the door. I knocked at the door hoping the people inside will let me in and stay till the rain stops. I knocked a few times more but no one answered my knocks. I went at the back of the cabin thinking that there might be a door there but found out that there was none. It’s very cold almost like freezing my entire body and the rain still continues to fall heavily. My navy blue shirt and jeans were both soaking wet and the inside of my black snickers felt like a pond. My back pack also felt heavy because of the rain, I bet my other clothes were also wet, I wish the rain would spare me a change of clothes.

I winced when I remembered my gadgets that were inside my back, they surely got their own share of water. Feeling annoyed, I went to the window and took a peek not minding about manners or etiquette. Inside, I saw a plain looking for walled cabin with a plain looking table and chair. The chair was placed at the far head of the table and a lighted lamp stood at the middle, its light illuminating the small room. I also noticed that there was a small fireplace made of stones and cut logs were beside it. There were no other things inside the cabin, everything was made of wood except for the fireplace and the lamp and all of them looked plain and simple, buy most of all there was no one inside.

The rain still continues to fall and I really want to feel warm so I head straight to the door to barge in but it was locked. Another sound of thunder rumbled and lightning strikes, after the loud crackle I heard the sound of a chair being moved and a fireplace being lighted all of which came from inside the small cabin. I went for the window to take a look and check out if I heard things right; as I took a peek I was surprised by what I saw. The room somewhat changed. The chair that was at the head of the table was now at the middle of the room, the lamp that was lighted a second ago was now extinguished and was placed at the fire place’s counter top and the fire place was the one lighted instead.

I rearranged my thought and tried to remember the places of the now rearranged things the first time I saw them. Then I froze, my heart nearly stop beating as I heard the door slowly opening at my side making creaking sounds as it did. I went to the fully opened door, now staring straightly at the lighted fireplace. I stared blankly at the fire licking the wood as it slowly turns them to ashes. The warm color of the fire filled my entire being making me feel warm inside, without noticing it, my feet dragged me toward its warmness as if hypnotizing me.

I went back to my senses as I heard the door slam behind me with a loud bang as another roar of thunder rumbled the earth. I ran towards the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Panicked surged in my body making my palm sweaty. I tried to recollect myself and relax. Breathing slowly, I tried to calm down and analyze my situation. I thought maybe the door was just blocked from the outside making it hard to open, I also said that in here will be much safer than the outside since the rain became stronger. I slowly walked away from the door towards the fireplace.

I searched inside my bag for any dry clothes that I could wear, luckily, I found a white shirt that was slightly wet at the sides and a pair of shorts that was also slightly wet but can still be worn. I removed my wet clothes leaving them at my side and changing into new clothes. I removed my other clothes from my wet bag to hang them next the fireplace to make them dry. I also took my gadgets examining them for any major damage. My laptop was a bit wet on the outside but there wasn’t much water since it was buried under a pile of shirts, my cellular phone on the other hand almost soaked itself since it was placed on the side pocket.

The gadget that took the most amount of water from the hard rain was my music player, it was placed right on top of the pile of clothes for I usually use it as to not get bored while riding or walking, my player was filled with water inside and out for it was soaked on the wet clothes. I tried to open it to see if it still runs but it was way broken. I gathered all my wet clothes to make them dry and tried to reach for the clothes that I have just removed to hang it also, but as I reached my hand to my side, I was surprised not to find my clothes. I thought I placed them together with my other wet clothes but they were not there.

As I turned to look at the fireplace, I saw my clothes hanged neatly on the side. Now that was weird, as far as I know, I only placed my clothes beside me but never hanged them; I shrugged the idea off thinking that I only forgot that I hanged them on there minute ago. I went near the fireplace to hang my clothes and bag; as I did so, I heard my favorite song “Still Doll” a gothic music with a spooky opening of a sound of a music box and the deep sound of a baroque cello, a typical music from horror movies or a gothic movie when something creepy or scary comes play from my player on the loudest volume as possible; I was startled at the sudden sound that I nearly jumped. I dropped my clothes on the floor and ran towards my player to see if it was working and as I got near it, the music stopped and there was deafening silence inside the cabin. I took my player from the floor and looked at it trying to open it, and as it was before, it did not show any signs of being okay to use.

I went back on hanging my clothes not trying to think about what had just happened. After I finished hanging my clothes, I went to the side to rest and look for something instant to eat from the things that came from my wet bag. I found a flash light, a match box, magazines, my favorite book, my toothbrush and toothpaste that was half used and some instant snacks and chips and a small mirror and comb that I always brought with me. I pried open a potato chip and began to eat. I was waiting for the rain to stop and was thinking about the things to say to my father as I arrive in our place.

The next thing I knew I was inside a strange looking room, like that of an operating room inside an old hospital. There were white tiles all over the place, a steel bed like that of the thing that people who does anatomy use and there were also tools that were used for operating like scissors and scalpels. There was also a steel table with wheels like that of a trolley used in hotels when they deliver food from room to room and a steel basin was placed atop of it. I went to look at the table and what was inside the basin.

As I started to walk, it felt like my feet were heavy and the weight of heavy shackles are on them. I looked down at my feet but all I saw under me was plane darkness like the shadows had enveloped even the slightest hint of the shape of my feet. I was terrified at first thinking that my feet were gone, but as I tried to calm myself down and feel the presence of my feet, I figured out that they were still there. I dragged my feet towards the table to take a peek what was inside the basin, I do not actually know why I would want to take a peek at the basin, but that was the only thing inside my mind at that moment that I could not control the urge that I feel to do so.

As I reached near the table my heart started to beat faster, I felt like I was hyperventilating for no reason. I reached out to the table and took a peek on what was inside the basin. There I saw was clear water and a pair of crimsoned red eyes filled with blood thirst from the face of a pale looking girl were staring straight at me. The color of crimson started to spread consuming the clear water that was now the color of blood. I tried to scream and pull away but then a pair of thin pale looking hands soaking with blood came out of the basin reaching out to grab my neck. I was so scared and suddenly my eyes flew open. I was dreaming and was covered with cold sweat. My heart beat was still frantic and unstable; I was catching my breath that as if I ran a hundred miles. I swallowed and I felt a pang as I did. I tried to touch my neck and I felt a bit pain as I did. I went to my things and got my mirror. I held it at the reflection of my neck and was surprised when I saw bruises on it. It was as if someone grabbed me so hard on my neck trying to choke me to death that the force even made a bruise.

I looked around the place to see if I got company, then I ran to the door trying to pull it open but it still didn’t. I went to the window to see if there was any possible way to open it but there was none. I tried to search the small room for any hints of it being able to be opened to come inside but I found nothing. I was still locked inside the cabin and the rain that seemed to last for eternity still did not stop.

Then I remembered my dream. My palms broke down in cold sweat as I tried to vividly remember my dreams. The room, the steel bed and table, the basin and the water, the red eyes staring at me and lastly the pair of pale crimsoned hands squeezing the life out of me through my neck. Panicked surged in my veins as I tried to remember the feeling of those cold hands wrapped around my pulsing neck. Then I heard thuds that were coming from the floor like someone was approaching and walking towards me from my back. I turned around and saw footprints made from blood coming towards me, each step taken easing its way near me. They were small like that of a child. I pulled away from the foot prints as I got stuck flat on the wall and the foot prints are only but a few steps away from me. My heart was thumping and beads of sweat were oozing down from my forehead, breathing became hard like the oxygen inside the room was taken away and sucked out.

My chest was rising and falling as I tried my best to stop myself from screaming my guts out as the blood stained foot prints were coming nearer and nearer. Then they stopped right in front of me. I stared at them and as I raised my head to look up from the foot prints I saw a vision of a little girl standing in front of me, her beautiful dress made of white satin and silk were stained with blood. Her feet were filled with cuts and bruises like they were slashed by knives, her hands were stained with bright red blood that was dripping down the wooden floor. Her long golden curls cascading down her tiny figure were also stained with blood and her small face was splattered with blood and when she opened her eyes, the hairs of my body began to stand for they were the same pair of blood thirst red eyes that I have seen in my dreams.

They are the kind of eyes that were filled with hatred, anger, sickening sadness, excruciating pain but most of all they were the eyes of a cold-blooded killer that were filled with the passion and wrath to kill. They are eyes that are not fitted for this fragile looking child that was bathed in blood who is now standing in front of me. The little girl reached out her crimsoned hand and was staring straight at me. Her small lips began to move as she slowly tried to reach for my hand then I heard a deafening scream that seems to come from the depths of hell, I shut my eyes closed and covered my ears with my hand and when I opened my eyes again, the girl was gone and so were the foot prints.

I ran towards my clothes that were drying up at the fire place and frantically shove them in my bag then I ran towards the door trying to open it. No matter what happens I need to live this place right now. I can no longer take all the creepy things that were happening. If there was not someone then something is trying to kill me and I have no wish to be killed. The door would not budge no matter how hard I tried to kick it and hit it with the chair. Then I ran towards the window ready to smash it hard with the chair. But no matter how fast I ran I can never reach the window which was actually a few paces away from me. It’s as if it’s drifting itself away from my reach.

I stopped myself from panicking and tried to regulate my breathing. I tried to think of other things on how to escape the forsaken place. I closed my eyes and started to think. Then I found myself in a scene seen only on old movies. The color was faded almost gray but the picture was clear and felt so real. There was a river and the setting sun colored it orange. A tree was there and a girl was standing beside the tree, her long hair and white dress being blown by the wind. I could only see her back, her small features that looked so weak and fragile. She was staring at the river as if waiting for someone to come.

Then the picture changed, the wind was blowing and there were red petals being blown by it. The color of crimson was so bright that it attracts attention in the color faded picture. There was still the river and the tree, but there was something different in it. The bark of the tree had a bloody rope tied on it. The river that was supposed to be orange from the setting sun was bright red. The color of fresh blood. The little girl was no longer there. Then I felt my vision move towards the river and look into it. I could see nothing but the red water, I dipped my hand into the water but I felt something wrong as I pulled it up. It was not clear water that was left on the hand that I soaked, but it was blood. Fresh, crimson red blood. The river became a pool of blood.

I moved away from the river but then a small hand came from the river and stopped me. As the owner of the hand slowly emerged, I knew it was the little girl I saw standing by the tree. She was now dressed in blood, and her features covered with red. But what scared me the most were here eyes; they were the color of blood itself and were full of anger and hatred. Her lips opened and this was what she said. “I don’t want to die.”

As she said this flashbacks began to play right in front of me. There was a town where the girl lived with her father who was a private doctor of a rich man. His father did allot of research about maintaining youth. The rich man wanted to look young forever, he wanted to live forever. There were beautiful maidens from the village and towns that were invited in the house of the rich man, but those ladies never came out from the house. They always come in but never come out. Inside the house, the little girl was hidden. There was a closet like door in the doctor’s bedroom that turned out to be the girls’ bedroom.

The next scene I saw was horrifying. I was again inside the operating room, but this time I was not the one who was on the steel bed. A pretty young woman was laid on it, and there were tubes and needles stuck all over her body. Her blood was being drained through the tubes and was sent in a tub. The girl became paler and paler until no more blood could be drained from her. Next, the doctor got his scalpel and opened the woman’s chest; he got her internal parts out and drained their blood. He made sure that no blood was left. When the tub was filled with the blood of the woman, the rich man came, removed his clothing and soaked into the tub filled with blood bathing himself with the fresh blood drained from the beautiful woman.

I shut my eyes closed too shocked from what I saw, the next scene that I saw when I opened my eyes was, the doctor being beaten by the rich mans’ men. There were no more maidens available in town and in the village, so the rich man ordered the doctor to kill his own daughter and offer her blood to the rich man. The doctor beaten to death refused his master, because of the rich mans’ anger, he ordered his men to capture the doctors daughter and bring her to him while the doctor was locked into the dungeons.

Again, inside the operating room, the doctor was helplessly watching his daughter slowly being killed. His beautiful daughter, the young girl I saw, was stuck with tubes and needles, her blood being drained out, her life being taken away from her body. The doctor shouted and shouted for the men to stop but they would not listen, the rich man gave him a smirk and killed him by shooting his head. The body of the girl was placed inside a bag and was carelessly buried.

The flashback ended with that scene and I found myself inside a dark room. The girl was there, she was staring at me, but she was no longer dressed in blood. She was clean and neat and was very beautiful. She was pointing at something I do not know, her index finger pointing downward on where I sat. I looked down and when I looked back at her, she was gone and I was once again inside the cabin. I thought about what the girl was trying to say; maybe she wanted to have peace. She wanted to have a proper funeral.

So I got up and went toward the door hoping nothing weird will happen again. As I got near the door, I tried to open it but it was still locked, I tried to speak with the spirit of the girl who locked me inside the cabin telling her I’ll just look for something to break the wooden floor and I’ll come back inside, I promise. I went at the side of the cabin and luckily found an old ax; I got it and went back in. I started breaking the wooden floor where I was sitting a little while ago. I started digging at the soil and found the exact same bag that I saw in the flashback. I got it and went outside, but this time the door was not locked. I went at the side of the cabin where the flowers grew and started to dig. I buried the girls’ body and said a short prayer. I also laid flowers that I picked at her burying ground. As I was about to go back inside the cabin, I saw the little girl standing beside the tree, her hair and dress being blown by the wind. Her face was at peace and so was her crimson red eyes, her lips moved and all I heard was “thank you” and she was gone.

I went back at the cabin and got my things. The storm was gone and the sun was out. Once again I started my journey towards home leaving the cabin behind. I saw an old lady passing by and greeted her, I asked her about the cabin but she said there was no cabin built near the road and there will never be because the soil; would not hold erect any building even if it were made of wood. I was surprised by what the old lady said. She went along her way bidding me goodbye and as she did a little girl was walking behind her back. The girl was wearing a white dress and her golden curls were hanging down at her back. She had a big hat on her head, but I saw her peek from the hat and saw a pair of crimson red eyes staring right through me.

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