A Lumberjack's Cabin | Teen Ink

A Lumberjack's Cabin

October 21, 2014
By Tinakoo_Tinoco, Chicago, Illinois
More by this author
Tinakoo_Tinoco, Chicago, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Its better off to get up and move on, than to sit there and watch your misery go by"


Author's note:

This is my second short story (you can find my first on my profile).

Please tell me how i did, and what you think i need to improve on. I'm always trying to make myself become a better writer

 
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 Nightfall came; the highway was narrow and dark, with leaves falling off the side of the trees. Leading into the forest, Robert and Jenny were driving in their black Station Wagon. It was their 10th wedding anniversary, and they decided to take the weekend off and go camping. Bags filled the back of the car, tents, food, and everything needed on a wilderness adventure was packed and sealed up. The couple thought that they should spend their camping trip away from their hometown, and spend their weekend in a small cabin. Robert, growing tired from their long ride, kept his eyes down the road as they approached their campsite. Robert was wearing his favorite night shirt and was ready to call it a day. His wife Jenny, was already asleep, and never noticed how drowsy her husband became.
As night became darker, the car’s gas quickly drained out. Realizing his mistake, Robert quickly jumped out of his car, waking up Jenny in the process.
    “Rob, what in damn nation did you do my station wagon this time?” Jenny moaned with a yawn.
     “I think we’re out of gas,” Rob replied.
     “Out of gas? In the middle of this here forest? Did y’all remember to fill it with gas?”
     Robert looked at her in surprise; his eyes dilated as she began to stare at him. Jenny’s look was in disgust, her blonde hair blowing in her face from the cool fall breeze of the night.
     “Why I never, been so darn angry at you in my entire life.” Her southern accent gave Robert a chill down his spine.
     “This is why I always, and I mean ALWAYS, have to remind you to do everything. Every time I tell you to do something for me, you never do it! Why? Do you hate me? Do you just not want to take orders from me? Must I have to strap a post it note to your god damn brain to help you remember?”
     Robert couldn’t pay attention to her lecture, as he grew drowsier as the time progressed. He remembered the leaves changed color and fall from the trees as if he were at the town carnival he went to as a young boy, watching clowns and circus freaks perform inside a giant tent at the end of the day. He felt a chill of nostalgia just from thinking about it.
     “ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO ME,” Jenny screamed as she slapped the side of Robert’s head. He snapped out of his day dream and stared into her squinting dark hazel eyes. He began to speak up, although he whispered and groaned the entire time.
     “Look, all of the stations were already closed so I had no time to…” His eyelids dropped before he could finish his sentence.
     “Alright, you’re not driving anymore,” Jenny grabbed onto Robert’s arm and wrapped it around her shoulder as she began to drag him to the backseat of the station wagon. Robert was sleeping like a sloth, curled up in a fetal position in the seats. Jenny placed a blanket over him looked at his sleeping face. She remembered when Robert took her on their first date. The spring of 1999, they stayed up so long watching movies inside of their car; they both fell asleep inside the car all night. Jenny smiled at Robert and grabbed a blanket for herself and wrapped herself like a caterpillar. She looked over at all of the trees and animals running about in the forests. She couldn’t help but notice one a pile of rabbits lying on top of each other. Although they didn’t seen asleep, she decided to get out of the car and investigate the scene. Only to reveal a pile of dead rabbit, piles of thick, red blood poured on top of the rabbits, like maple syrup. Amputated limbs scattered on the floor, a few seemed to be stuffed into one of the rabbit’s mouth.  A wondering wolf flew by and grabbed the pile of rabbits with its sharp claw like teeth. Backing up from the scene she ran back to the car, frightened and confused. What had caused the pile of dead rabbits? Jenny thought to herself. They were not alone in these woods

The sun slowly rose the next day, flowers began to bloom again. Birds began to chirp, crickets slowly began to fade away from the morning sunlight. The sun shined on Robert’s smooth, hairless head as he slowly began to wake up. Waking up he watched the sun with his squinting eyes as he checked his phone, his screen was cracked and he was unable to see the screen. But he could tell that the morning was still young, being only seven o’ clock, he stretched his arms into the air, like a gorilla and gave a soft yawn. He noticed Jenny was still asleep.
     “She looks so young, just like on our first date, even if she’s 32” He thought to himself. He folded the blanket and hopped right out of the car, he took a big whiff if the fresh fall air and took a look at the colorful scenery. Looking back at the car, he noticed scratch marks on the side, the back was beaten, dents as round as Robert’s head. The scratches seemed to be made from a rusty old blade.
“No pocket knife is able to cut metal this deep,” He said to himself. The side windows on the other side were cracked smack in the center. No tracks of any animals were left behind, nor were tracks of anyone were to be seen. Jenny awoke from her sleep and noticed the large, web like, crack. Horrified from the scene, she threw her blanket aside and left the car.
     “Robert! Did you see this giant ass-” Stopping in her tracks, she noticed the giant scratch, and dent on the car. She stared at the scenery a while, all Rob did was stare and nod, looking back at Jenny’s horrified face, and back at the damages made.
     “Surprised?” Robert asked sarcastically. Before Robert could speak another word, a sudden thought came to Jenny’s mind. “ROB, CHECK THE OIL TANK OF THE CAR,” She cried. In utter confusion Robert got onto his back and scooted under the car, only to be splashed by drips of oil when he looked up. He soon realized that he was lying in a puddle of oil; the puddle wasn’t formed too long ago. Neither was the rest of the damage to the vehicle. Robert got out from underneath the car. His back was covered in slick black oil. His glasses smeared with oil as well, he looked at Jenny and began to speak up.
     “This station wagon isn’t going to be running anymore,”
     “H- How are we goin’ to get movin’ now!?” Jenny said scrambling her words. “Well, our best chance now is to wait for someone to come along and find us,” Robert got up from the concrete road and wiped his glasses off on his shirt. He stroked his neck beard and stared at the far road ahead of them. Wondering if any cars have passed through the area when they were asleep. As he was pondering, Jenny watched the forest creatures roam around in the trees, raccoons, squirrels, and bunny rabbits hopped around. A loud thud came from the forest, trees were being cut down. The two heard the sound get closer as the sound of more trees fell to the ground. A figure began to grow closer to them until it came out of the forest area.
     A large lumberjack man came out of the trees; he was much taller than the two and seemed to be in his early 40s. He had a thick beard going around his entire face, and long thick wavy hair, it seemed as if it hasn’t been combed in years. He was wearing a blue pattern button up shirt that tucked into his khakis with a belt that kept his pants from slipping off. His cloths seemed dirty and old; stains with saw dust, sweat could be seen from his large round belly and armpits. He had an axe strapped to his shoulders like a hunting rifle. He had what looked like a glass eye in his left socket that was misplaced, causing it to look down to the ground. There were no eyebrows above his glass eye either.
     “Are you two lost?” He said in a deep, distinct voice. Robert looked at the large lumberjack, and began to speak up,
     “Y-yes, w-we’re supposed to be on a camping trip out in the woods,” He stuttered.
     “A-And our station wagon broke down.” Jenny followed up.
     “I see. If you two would like, you may stay in my log cabin, if you need a place to stay that is.”
     “N-no thank you, we can just call up a friend,” Jenny said as she pulled out her cell phone. She noticed that her phone had been cracked and her touch screen damaged, her phone was useless. Staring at her phone in rage, she banged it on to the car window until it snapped in half. Giving a short pant, she dropped her phone, now broken in two, on the ground and looked down on it and did look away from it.
     Jenny turned around and asked,
     “You wouldn’t to have a telephone in you cabin do you?”
     “What is a, tell-e-phone?”
     Jenny attempted to keep her anger inside, looked down to the ground again and began to fiercely grind her teeth. She looked up with a smile, her eyes still twitching in anger. Clenching her fists, she spoke, “Where is this ‘log cabin’ of yours?”
     Leading them towards his log cabin, the lumberjack introduced himself,
     “My name is John; I’ve lived in these woods my entire life. What are you two called?”
     “My name is Robert, and this is my wife Jenny, we were out here for our wedding anniversary.” Robert couldn’t help but stare into John’s unblinking, misplaced glass eye. As it stared down to the ground, it gave Robert a chill down his spine. John was a very large man, he panted from every step he took up the hill. On the way, Jenny noticed a small cabin on the side of the hill, it was spreading mold and vines around the sides and roof, the porch was broken in two, with a rocking chair lying upside down right outside. The cabin was on a slope, so it was almost like it was almost about to slide down the side of the mountain.
     “Hey, what’s in that there cabin over there,” Jenny asked. The lumberjack simply ignored here and kept walking up the forest.
     “Excuse me, but do you mind if I see if what’s in that cabin? Thanks” Before she could get away, John quickly grabbed her, clenching his fist, his arm was shivering.
     “You don’t go in that cabin, EVER!” he said in a vicious tone. His face was red, face filled with rage, and eyes bloodshot red. Jenny tried to grab her arm free, but John’s arm was too big for her to squeeze through. John released Jenny’s arm, giving a large sigh, they continued to walk up the hill. They walked for a while until they reached the top of the hill, there laid John’s cabin, it seemed large enough to hold two rooms, and had a small green truck on the side. The trucked was already old and rusty, as if it was about to fall apart within seconds. The lumberjack walked towards his log cabin and opened the door for the two, and closed the door behind them.
     The cabin had a tiny fireplace, a rug around the living room; there was a table in the center of the room made from birch wood, as well and a black stove with a metal pot inside on the side. It was a very old 1860s style cabin. Almost like the one Abraham Lincoln lived in as a child. Very different from the kind Robert and Jenny were planning to stay in. Unlike their cabin, this one was isolated from the rest of society.
     “Well make yourself as home, I’ll prepare ourselves some tea and make some bread, you two can sit back and relax,” John said. He went through his cabinet next to the stove and pulled out flour and tea-bags, started up the stove, poured the flour into a bowl and began cooking. Robert examined the room and noticed very strange paintings and portraits on the walls.
     This doesn’t seem right; these portraits seem very out of date, Robert thought to himself. The portrait’s eyes seemed to follow him. No lights besides a few candles lit up the room, with only one window by the stove with no sunlight that couldn’t light up the room. The two waited for 10 minutes until the bread and tea was ready and ate lunch. They all shared small talk until nightfall came. There was an extra room for Rob and Jenny to sleep in. While Rob fell sound asleep, Jenny couldn’t help but look at the night sky, the full moon was out and Jenny took the time to admire it. She got out of her bed and looked outside of the window, upon looking outside; she saw a large humanoid figure, roughly the same height as the lumberjack sitting right outside the porch. It looked directly at jenny, with its glowing eyes then slowly walked off into the woods. Walking towards the same direction as the old cabin on the slope of the hill.

     As the next day arose once again, Rob and Jenny awoke from their slumber and walked downstairs, only for the lumberjack to be missing. Not in his room, the kitchen, yet his truck was still parked on the side, he wasn’t in the old outhouse behind the cabin either.
     “Where do you think he ran off to?” asked Robert.
     “I’m sure he just went to chop down more trees for wood or something,” Replied Jenny, she began to laugh at her own sense of humor. It was then that jenny had a sudden realization; she remembered seeing a large figure walking outside of the cabin. Perhaps that was john out there after all, she thought to herself. “Come on Rob, I think I know when he went,” she began running down the hill, Robert tagged along confused. Rob was still tired and could not run. They eventually reached the small cabin, the smell of filth quickly came from the inside; vines and mold were still growing on the side of the house. The two were reluctant to go inside. Jenny’s skin grew pale from the sight of the cabin; Robert looked over at the wooden door and slowly walked towards the moldy, broken bench. Pushed his hand along the door and walked in. Robert was looking around the room, and saw nothing but waste and bugs. There were blood stains on the ceiling that seemed to still drip into the floor boards, as if the blood was still fresh.
     The two noticed a very disgusting odor coming from right above them, the attic. Jenny found a string and pulled it, revealing a staircase the lead upwards. The odor became stronger as the two walked up the staircase. Jenny popped her head inside; there was a single candle on a table that lit up the whole room. A large figure lied on top of it. Getting closer made Jenny and Robert grew horrified, not only was the odor awfully strong, but the figure was of the lumberjack himself. His arms and legs where cut off, and his gut sliced opened, revealing all of his internal organs rotting inside. The socket that used to contain his glass eye was gone and had maggots crawling inside and out. His neck was sliced open with blood stains on his neck and all over the table. His legs were replaced with wooden sticks jabbed into his torso, and arms completely removed from the torso; his bones fully exposed. The body was already decomposing from fungi and bacteria, the lumberjack had been killed long ago. Before Robert and Jenny arrived to this forest area. Jenny Let out a scream and ran away from the scene.
     Before she made it outside of the cabin, she was stopped by a figure grasping onto her arm. Upon turning around, she saw nothing but darkness in the room, making it impossible to make out the figure’s face. It held a blood stained axe in one hand, and a large blade-like item on its back. Slowly raising its arm, it swiped downwards; Jenny let out a blood curdling scream and fell to the ground with a thud. When Robert caught up to her, Jenny’s arm laid next her, blood already flooding with the room. Her skull was cut deep, her brain exposed from the inside of her had. Rob was horrified by what he saw, but before he could rush for the door, he felt a sharp metal blade run through his body and, through his stomach, carrying his heart with him at the end of the large blade. He fell to the floor, blood gushing through his chest His ribcage ripped through his chest as the blade was slowly removed. The sound of guts and blood dripping broke the silence. The figure grabbed Robert and Jenny by their feet and dragged them both up the staircase, closing it up behind him.

A week past, and the case of Jenny and Robert’s disappearances still went on. Police men and crime scene investigators stood by the untouched, damaged car. Authorities surrounded the scene, sketching down notes, and picking up droppings around the car.
     “Another disappearance case gone unsolved,” One police said as he checked the time on his watch, and sketched down notes on his notepad.  He was wearing a thin sweater, and his badge read, ‘Todd Macaw.’ The chief walked over, placing his hand on Todd’s shoulder.
     “Well, it’s not like they’re never cracked,” he replied.
     “Well, I got a family to attend to; I can’t waste all my time all the way out here, but hey, let’s hope you’re paying me overtime for this right?” Todd gave a light chuckle and stared at the chief, waiting for him to laugh back at him. The chief looked at him with no facial expression, aggravated at Todd’s sense of humor. Before the two could finish their conversation, a police officer rushed out from the forest, panting as he ran down the steep hill the steep hill.
     “Chief, come here, you’re going to want to see this.” The chief followed the police officer up the hill until they both arrived at the small, moldy cabin on the slope of the hill. They both examined the cabin with hesitation to go inside. The two eventually gave in and walked in, finding nothing inside but a large black garbage bag in the center of the empty room. They walked towards the bag, with only the sound of creaking from the floor boards. Neither bothered to notice the door slowly shut behind them. They walked closer, the chief grabbed a hold of the bag, and the chief forcefully opened the bag, only to rip it open and to have its content fly out.
     Body parts; legs, hearts, arms, and even brains flew out of the bag. Still covered in blood, and maggots, a strong odor slowly filled the room. The body parts were already starting to decompose. With the parts swimming in a puddle of blood the smell became worse, yet there was another source of the horrendous odor coming from the attic. The two noticed the hidden stairs and walked upwards, but the room was dark, all that stood in the room was a blood stained axe being held up all on its own. A large figure stood next to the axe at the far end of the room. There was someone else inside the room.



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