The Cabin

by Matt Shaw

  My voice was shaking, nearly as much as my hands, and my heart was beating harder and faster than it had ever beaten before. So hard, in fact, I thought it was going to burst out from my rib-cage. A quick check behind me to make sure nothing was there before I turned the corner of the cabin and talked myself into heading back in to catch whoever was in there. It was just make-up, I kept saying over and over again in my mind. Just make-up. There’s no such thing as ghosts. The lad just took the opportunity to run into the room, whilst I was outside, to try and scare me. Little fucker succeeded.

  “Come out, I know you’re in here,” I called into the cabin, from the doorway. I waited to hear the laughter of someone who’s prank had just worked beautifully but there was nothing. No laughter. No gloating. Nothing. “Come on...You got me...Very good...Well done...” Still nothing. I raised the gun and stepped in. Weird, it feels colder inside than it does out. Forget about it. A quick look around the first room soon revealed it was empty. There aren’t even any places someone could hide in here. Definitely rule this room out. I opened the living room door which led onto the rest of the cabin...All the other doors were still closed, from where I had closed them earlier.

  Another feeling of unease spread through my body. No. Ignore the feeling. They’re obviously good at whatever game they’re playing. It wouldn’t have been hard for them to close the doors behind them, even if they were in a hurry so as not to be spotted by me. They’re trying to keep everything as authentic as possible, of course they would have closed the doors. They wouldn’t go to all this effort just to ruin it there.

  I opened the door to the bedroom where I had seen the boy. How old must he have been anyway? Hard to pin-point an exact age, given the make-up, but he didn’t look a day over ten years old. I wonder if his mother knows he is out so late. “I know you’re in here,” I said. “You might as well come out...I’m not angry.” Given what they’ve put me through, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t believe me but I felt it was worth a shot. I felt as though I’ve tried everything else.

  Like the living room, there’s not much in here for anyone to hide behind other than...No...Surely not...I dropped to my knees and rested my head on the wooden floorboard so I could get a good view under the bed. No-one is there. Not just that but, considering the state they had left the rest of the cabin, there was nothing under the bed at all; no rubbish, none of my old bits and pieces, not even any evidence of spiders. Who’d have thought it would be the cleanest part of the whole damned cabin?!

  I sat upright and instantly felt the hairs on my neck stand to attention as the feeling of warm air was breathed against my skin by someone standing behind me.

  “I know you’re there,” I whispered. “What do you want?”

  I didn’t dare turn around. I desperately wanted to just so we could finally finish everything but every part of my body refused to allow me to do it; too scared by the stories I grew up with and the night’s weirdness.

  “This is silly,” I said. I tried to sound cool and collected but knew I failed miserably. I sounded as scared as I felt. “We can all be friends,” I continued shakily, “we don’t have to do this...”

  Whoever it was didn’t say anything. They just stood there. I could feel they were practically on top of me. Why weren’t they saying anything? Why? All I could hear were strange gargled noises which sounded as though they were coming from the back of their throat.

  “Why won’t you talk to me? What’s all this meant to achieve?” I tried to take control of the situation but was once again let down by my tone.

  Nervously I turned my head to see who was behind me. I managed to twist my head halfway round before I froze with fear. Out of the corner of my eye I could see all I wanted to see.

  “Please...Tell me what you want...” I begged. I felt my eyes begin to fill up as the fear became too much for me to handle. The sound of my own heart pumping was nearly drowning out the weird clicking noises from the back of his throat - perhaps forming where his vocal chords used to be.

  With no warning he placed his hand on my shoulder and an ear-piercing scream filled the room.

  9.

  I opened my eyes. I was face down on the bedroom’s wooden floorboards. I must have blacked out; the shock of what was happening too much for my body to take. As soon as I realized where I was I sat up and cast my eyes around the room. It’s empty. I’m alone again. I must have been unconscious for some time as daylight is spilling in from the window on the side of the room. Thank God for that. I need to get out of here. It’s over...

  BANG!

  No. It can’t be. It came from the front of the cabin this time. What do they want? It’s daylight now. They must know it’s over. They must do. My dad used to tell me things only went bump in the night.

  I heard footsteps across the front of the porch. Will they ever leave me alone? A knocking on the front door followed. No. I’m not having it. I’m not. I looked to the floor and spotted the gun. Without giving it any hesitation I grabbed it and aimed it at the door.

  “I’m in here!” I called out. “Come and get me!”

  Footsteps across the floorboards in the other room. The door opened and I pulled the trigger.

  BANG!

  I screamed and dropped the gun. It hit the floor before Ava’s body did. My daughter. My beautiful daughter. She fell backwards with blood trickling from the front of her delicate face. What have I done? What have I done?

  “Baby?!” I called out as I scrambled over to her lifeless body.

  More footsteps from outside which sounded as though they were running towards where I was sat, cradling the body of my youngest. What had I done?

  Susan screamed as she came through the cabin’s front door.

  “My baby!” she screamed. “What have you done?!”

  I couldn’t answer her. I didn’t know how to. Jamie came in and stopped in the cabin’s doorway. Her face was pale as she took in the scene before her eyes.

  I screamed out as Susan pulled Ava’s body away from me and cradled it in her own arms.

  “Daddy?” said Jamie from the doorway where she’d just stopped in her tracks. Her voice was shaking.

  “My baby! My baby! What have you done!” Susan kept wailing over and over again.

  “I’m sorry,” I wept with my head in my hands; tears flowing uncontrollably.

  “Call someone!” Susan demanded. “Make it better! Make it better!” she screamed.

  Jamie dropped to her knees and started to weep, her black mascara running down her pale face, as what happened slowly started to sink in.

  “Don’t just sit there!” screamed Susan. “Call someone!”

  “I’m sorry,” I cried as I tried to put a comforting arm around Susan.

  “Don’t fucking touch me!” she screamed. The anguish and hatred in her voice flowing through every syllable.

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated.

  I stood up and staggered out of the cabin, into the bright daylight of the warm Saturday morning. I didn’t even manage to get off the porch before I threw up over the side, into the foliage below. I’ve killed my daughter. I’ve killed my daughter. I desperately wanted to forget...Block out the pain...But the screams of Susan’s pain and the whimpering of Jamie, from the doorway, refused me the luxury of forgetting and pretending it never happened. I need to call someone. I need to get help. I ran over to the car...I didn’t even hear them pull up...It was an accident....Had I known it was them...I opened the car door, which must have banged shut when they climbed out, and reached into the passenger seat to grab my cellphone. I flipped it open and pressed ‘9’ on the keypad. I stopped.

  Who am I supposed to call? Who can make this all better? No one can. There’s no one. No one can bring little Ava back to life. No one can erase the pain Susan, Jamie and I will feel for the rest of our lives. No one can take away the image of the bullet piercing the front of Ava’s face and the look of shock in her eyes. No one can fix this. They’ll never forgive me. I’ll never for
give myself. Our lives will never be the same again. I’ve destroyed them for good. People won’t believe what happened during the night to make me feel on edge. They won’t. They’ll just know I killed my daughter. And, if I did that, I must have killed the store clerk too. Josh wins. He’ll get away with it. They probably won’t even know he was even in the store when the gun went off. They’ll pin it all on the city-man. I’ve lost everything. I’ve destroyed everything.

  I’m not crying anymore. I’m in shock. Nothing can fix this. Where do we go from here? How do we move on? I sat for a moment with only the sounds of the girls screaming keeping me from being in complete silence.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  Moments later I knew what needed to be done. I know how to take the pain away. It’s the only way. I climbed from the car and walked back to the cabin. I passed Jamie who was still crying in the doorway and I tried to block the image of Susan cradling Ava as I stepped past them and across to the bedroom. With no hesitation I picked the gun up. This is the only way I know how to take their pain away. This is the only way. I’ll have to be quick. I’ll have to make it quick. They don’t deserve any of this. The least I can do is make it so they don’t know what happened.

  “What did you do?!” Susan screamed from the other room.

  I walked back to where she was huddled over Ava and apologized once more. I raised the gun to Jamie first and pulled the trigger. I shot her straight through the head; the force of the bullet sending her out of the cabin’s doorway and onto the porch. Susan screamed.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. The shame oozing through the tone of my voice. “I’ll always love you. I’m sorry.” I turned the gun on Susan. Her final scream was cut short with the sound of a bang. She slumped over Ava’s body. I just stood there, for a moment, as I took in my actions. Seconds later, without even realizing I had started, I was screaming at the top of my lungs.

  This isn’t my fault. This isn’t my fault. It’s whoever was tormenting me through the night. Whatever was tormenting me. If they had just left me alone, I’d have had no reason to have kept the gun so close to my side. Ava would have run into the room and into my loving arms. Susan and Jamie would have followed. Why did they even come back? Why? They weren’t supposed to come back. They were supposed to wait for me to call them. Susan must have known I didn’t have the numbers because my phone was on the seat. She must have come back to find me. She must have come back to make sure everything was okay. To make sure I was okay. Maybe her mum and dad weren’t in and they had had no choice but to come back? I screamed again.

  “Please forgive me...Please...”

  I walked through to my dad’s office and slumped down in his old chair. I looked down to the picture of my dad and me, for one final time. The picture had been changed again. My face had the eyes crossed out too, along with a scar drawn down my neck. I didn’t care how or why? Not anymore. I was past caring. I raised the gun to my head. As well as the cold metal of the gun, against my temple, I felt the horrible feeling of warm breath against the back of my neck. I didn’t care anymore. I was numb to it all.

  “Please forgive me,” I whispered.

  I squeezed the trigger.

  CLICK!

  “NO! PLEASE! NO!”

  I pulled the trigger again.

  CLICK!

  No. It can’t be. It can’t.

  CLICK!

  It’s empty. It can’t be. Please God no. Let me finish it. Please. I frantically started squeezing the trigger again and again and again on the off-chance there was, somewhere, one final bullet in the chamber. I know I hadn’t fired them all. I know I didn’t. There should have been one left. There should have been one left. I wept as I realized the gun couldn’t have been fully loaded in the first place. Come on, keep squeezing the trigger. There must be one left. There has to be one left. Come on, please. Please don’t do this to me. I’ve been through enough. Please...

  CLICK!

  CLICK!

  CLICK!

  I screamed as loud as I could.

  ~ FIN