Short Story: Cabin in the Woods
DALIA was slightly swinging her head as the music boomed in her eyes. It was a nice autumn evening and she was just chilling on the patio of the old house where they were having their vacation for the holiday. She knew her mother was nagging again, so she just put on her headphones in full blast not to hear her. She was in no condition for a sermon. Her vacation was a mess. She never wanted to stay in this old, creaky house. She was imagining of a beach, or some fancy hotel and not this old cabin in the woods. What would you expect? She is a fifteen-year-old girl. She’d like parties more than stay in this house with her parents and her dorky brother. But she doesn’t have a choice anyway. She is only fifteen and has to follow her parents. “Hey, Dalia. Look at this cool lizard! I saw it crawling under your bed.” She was startled when her brother Joey placed the lizard in front of her. She almost jumped out of the patio. “What the heck, Joey! That is not funny,” she screamed. Joey bursted out laughing. “It is, Dalia. You should’ve seen you face!” “Ha-ha. Really funny. Now get out of my sight. Shoo!” “Dalia, Joey, go to bed. We have a very big day tomorrow, we need all the energy we can get,” her dad called out from inside the house. “Great,” she said, unexcited. THE WINDOW was swinging wildly and nobody seems to notice; except Dalia. She couldn’t sleep at all. The place is creeping her out. She’s been having this bad feeling about this house from the very first time she saw it. It’s like the house is covered in a black aura she couldn’t quite define, and it seems like she is the only one who feels it. There was something evil about the house and she knows it. She decided to get out of bed since she can’t even sleep because of the darned window. The caretaker should do something about that window. As she approached the window, it stopped swinging but she felt the freezing air licking her skin. She was having goose bumps already but she disregarded it. The moon was shining at her. It was a full moon. When she was about to close the window, she suddenly caught sight of a swing on the backyard. She didn’t notice that swing before along with a girl on the swing. Why would a girl be outside at this time of hour? She thought. She just shrugged and thought maybe it is the daughter of the caretaker. The girl slowly looked back at her as if feeling her presence. The girl’s eye were red as blood which made her stumble away from the window. She went back to bed. “Maybe she just had insomnia or something so her eyes are that red,” she said, trying to calm herself. Sleep, that’s what she need. She’d just ask the caretaker tomorrow. “HAD A good sleep last night, Dalia?” asked her father who seems to have a good night sleep for himself. “Great, dad.” She yawned and sat down with them for breakfast. She grabbed a toast and put some butter on it. “By the way, dad?” “Yes?” “Do you happen to know if the caretaker of this house has a daughter?” “The caretaker? Oh, no, he lives alone. He doesn’t even have a wife. How could he have a daughter?” She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise at her father’s statement. Then if the caretaker didn’t have a daughter, then who might that girl be? “Is there any problem, Dalia?” her mother asked. “N-none, I’m just… Nothing.. Don’t mind me.” She could feel the pulsing of her veins. She knew something was wrong. “Could we possibly just have a vacation in a different place? I don’t feel good about this place.” “Are you kidding? This place is awesome!” Joey said, playing with a spider only Lord knows where he got it. “He’s right, Dalia. Just enjoy this vacation. Besides, it has been a while since we have this family bonding,” uttered his father. She let out a silent sigh. They wouldn’t understand her. DALIA set down her book on the garden table and stared out at the backyard where mother is playing with her sister. His father is busy with the barbeque stand. “Psst,” “Who’s there?” “Hey, little girl,” called again a voice from the back of the big oak tree. “Who are you?” She approached the tree when she saw an old woman. She looked disoriented. “What is it that you want?” she asked. “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here!” the woman looked angry, her eyes were burning. “What do you mean? I don’t understand,” she was starting to get scared so she backed out a bit. “Get out of here! That house is haunted, I tell you!” Dalia slowly stepped back from the woman. Her body is starting to tremble and she didn’t like it one bit. “You will all die! You will all die!” She ran to her father and told him what happened. “Don’t mind what she said. The caretaker told me about her already. He said that old woman always scares people having a vacation here.” Maybe her father was right. She should just shake it off. SHE WAS awaken in the middle of the night by a scream. Her whole body trembled and her teeth chattered. She was scared. “Joey? Joey, where are you?” she search the room for her brother but he wasn’t there. Panic, starting to get to her, she made her way down stairs to check on her parents and to see if her brother was there. “Mom? Dad? Joey?” Her feet were like jelly but she tried her best to get downstairs. She got a knife from the kitchen for good measures. She might need it. She slowly opened the door and she was terrified as she saw the girl from the swing standing at the food of the bed, her hands stained with thick fresh blood. Dalia stumbled backwards only to scream when she saw the head of her brother staring at her through the edge of the door. Her parents were dead. Her brother was dead. This house is evil. Nobody believed her. THE POLICE busted the door of the cabin open. They had a call about the house. People nearby were complaining about the bad smell coming from the house. Like the smell of rotting flesh. “We found three decapitated heads here, Sir.” Inspector George covered his nose because of the foul smell coming from the dead bodies. Three bodies were found in the bedroom downstairs without their heads. The heads were found swinging from the kitchen countertop. “Sir! There is a girl on the back yard!” shouted one of the policemen. The girl was sitting on the swing with a knife on her hand. Her body was covered with dried blood. Her eyes were blood red. “Her name is Dalia Autumn, the deceased were her family,” stated one of the policemen. “What could have made her kill her own family?” “This house is evil.” George said as he stared back at the cabin in the woods. END
