Stories and rumors always circulated about the Ashford place in the woods, a remote cabin the named family used as a summer home for the kinds of people that could afford such luxuries. Ritual murders, cult suicides, possessions, human sacrifice; whatever myth you could associate with a haunted house was there, and it was just layered on, year over year. Officially, the land was fenced off for safety concerns–the amount of damage that the building had come under over the years was unable to to be repaired–because the ownership of the property was constantly under question, and thus abandoned. Knowing all these things, you and your friends ventured forth to see if you could communicate with any lingering spirits. Half of it was genuine curiosity, but the other was just looking for fun and something to do. You researched methods past and present to determine your course of action, making sure to have certain redundancies for what you could attempt. Your circle of companions had their opinions, of course, but they all seemed to agree enough to accompany you and see what they could find.

Against the best of intentions and your attempts, you didn’t get to the fence line until nearly dusk, though the setting sun was obscured by the mountains, casting the woods into a softer darkness prior to the cold black of the approaching nightfall. The commentary started with how night has a better chance of contacting spirits and ended in jokes about which among you were still virgins and would survive the horror movie this was becoming. Humor was good, it kept spirits high and eased any tension that you felt, but didn’t vocally acknowledge.

Because of the known and established history of the cabin, there were no surprises about what any of you saw when you first came upon it in the dark. A single story wood structure, but unusually vast in its breadth, the building was practically falling apart as you visually inspected it with your flashlights. The broken windows were boarded up, any metal in sight showing obvious signs of rust and fatigue. Single file, you and your friends approached the heavy wooden door, stained with rot and decay, and it opened after some effort on the stiff hinges.

To your surprise, many of the furnishings inside were still present, even if worn from time and exposure to the elements and vandalism. A couple of your friends cleared a nearby table, and opened a few tablets to set up displays. Orders were given by another companion, coordinating the set up of some cameras and sensors throughout the cabin as you all spread out to explore it. You flipped through your notebook, reviewing some of the details of your research, checking names, specific areas, and so on. After a few minutes of setting everything up, you all regrouped at the table, checking all the feeds. Small electric lanterns were set up in some areas to make up for the lack of night vision on the majority of the cameras. Each of you decided on particular details to investigate, checking temperatures, scanning EMF signals, one of your friends even using sage smoke and crystals. A radio crackled with static as you called out the first name that you had on your list. No response. Gathering around, you read off your notes, and your friends agreed to spread out, checking specific rooms with associated names.

It did not take long to get some reactions. The first call out was the temperature drop; even in the summer seasons, night time in the mountainous woods chilled the air to a cool forty degrees, but according to the digital thermometer, the cold spot of that room was well below freezing. By the time you and your friends arrived, your breath bellowed out of your mouths like fog machines. The still air returned to normal just as quickly, but not before everyone present could feel the change. While you took a moment to check your notes and investigate the room, there was a brief flicker of light from the hallway. All of you turned your attention, and when questioned about the batteries, they were confirmed to be fresh, installed in the lantern earlier today. Silence washed over your group, and it took more than a few moments to break people out of their frozen state and return to checking other rooms.

In another room, the high pitched whirr of the EMF meter wavered and peaked, prompting a call out from another of your companions. They managed to follow the signal into another room, and your friend with the radio stopped, focusing on the static as it ebbed to a near silence. Anticipating something through the speaker, one of your other friends shouted in surprise and horror, talking about whispers in their ear. Real panic started to wash over you all, some voicing their concerns for the circumstance, others, including you, hoping to push it just a little further. An understandable hesitation hovered over the group, but finally an agreement was made to keep going.

For awhile, it seemed as though things had settled, but everyone was still cautious, wary of the events only minutes ago. Temperatures were steady, EMF was calm, and the radio rolled on with the sounds of low static. From the main room, there was a call out to regroup at the table, and everyone gathered after a momentary delay. Pointing to one of the displays, your friend called attention to the far end of the hallway shown. Slowly, a shadowy figure lumbered from room to room.

For most of them, that was enough. A couple of them closed the tablets and snatched them up, making their argument to leave without allowing reply. Something bothered you though, just enough to respond, hoping to stay a little longer. When you opened your notebook to check your research, whole pages were scratched out with black, grainy charcoal, and others were written over with a reddish brown ink, the words varied between “LEAVE NOW” and “GET OUT”. The end of your notes, where you had open space to continue writing, were already filled with the repeated word in all capital letters “DIE”.

That was enough for you.

When you looked up, the other two companions still with you met your eyes as they witnessed the writing themselves all wordlessly agreed to get out immediately. Grabbing what you could immediately, you all made your way towards the exit of the cabin, abandoning the few lanterns and cameras in favor of keeping your lives. Following up the rear as you moved, your blood flooded your limbs with warmth from the flight response of your panic. Approaching the front door to leave, there was a harsh whisper in your ear, a hushed voice calling for help. Your skin crawled at the sensation, but when it called your name, that was when you hesitated and turned. In that space between you and your friends, the door slammed shut, pulling everyone’s attention to the door separating you from the group.

The few lights in the room began to flicker without rhythm as your friends shouted for you. Your breath shuddered as the room grew cold, and you immediately threw yourself against the entrance. On the other side, the EMF meter whirr squealed its high pitch, and the radio rolled in and out with static-buzzed words repeating “kill” and “die”, before the electrical circuits popped and broke each device.

As you shouted for help, rattling the doorknob, and pounding the door with your fists, your friends called out to you from the other side. They couldn’t unlock the door, it wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard they kicked the hinges. Tears welled in the corner of your eyes as the fear sank deep into your skin, gathering into a sickly, heavy ball in the pit of your stomach. You’d seen enough tonight already to make you a believer, and you prayed to gods you hadn’t uttered a word to in ages if only you could live through the night. The sound almost faded into itself, a blurred cacophony of shouting and the impact of limbs on the unbending, unbreaking door. No breeze on the wind swaying the trees surrounding the cabin, no crickets serenading each other in the unseen shadows. The only sound was the shouting, the fighting to stay alive, to save you.

It was when the lights stopped flickering, leaving the cabin in an endless black vacuum, that your friends’ panic reached fever pitch and their shouts grew their loudest. It was then that your strength left you, though the tears continued to pour from the fountains of your eyes. It was then that you stepped back from the doorway, when you turned away. It was then that you finally saw me.