“Leora.”
The young girl’s mom, Eliana, carried a playful scold, snapping Leora out of her daydream. “Why aren’t you eating your food?”
This was her second summer at the cabin hidden deep in the nature of Washington. Every year, they’d pack up their things to spend 4 weeks surrounded by the thick scent of pine, the creepy fog, and the sound of crickets instead of cars. For the rest of the year, the cabin was rented out as an Airbnb to strangers. But during the summer, it was all theirs.
“Oh, sorry…” Leora said as she started shoveling food into her mouth, “Hey, Mom, can I go play with Angie outside after dinner?” She asked between bites, her words muffled with mashed potatoes.
Leora’s dad, Robert, spoke up, worry stained his speech, “Chew before you talk, for god's sake. You’re going to choke one of these days.”
Eliana laughed, resting her hand on her chin. “Yes, you may. But, please, eat like a civilized person.”
Leora smiled sheepishly and slowed down. She could feel her parents watching her fondly, like they were memorizing the moment.
After dinner, Leora put on her beat-up Converse that her small, growing feet barely fit into anymore. She then grabbed her digital camera; bulky, red-shimmery; her parents had given her the year before. Her mom had said, “Capture the things that make you feel alive.” — Not like she knew what that meant at the time— But she tried, capturing pictures of clouds, Angie and Andrew's silly faces, her dad asleep in a fishing chair, all of which were crammed on the tiny SD card that held her memories.
Her mom gave Leora a loving hug before she headed off to play outside. “Don’t go too far, bug!” Eliana called from the porch.
“I won’t!” Leora said, skipping down the path that led into the woods.
The forest behind the cabin was beautiful—rows of trees followed the path, the sun spilled through the trees like liquid gold, and the air was musty with the scent of pine needles and wet soil. It was Angie’s and her spot where they did all sorts of things like complaining about parents, talking about school crushes, and what they would do when they were adults.
Leora waited for Angie in their spot in the woods. The trees' canopy over the ground makes the leaf-littered ground flutter with prisms of amber light from the setting sun. A tree, tipped over on its side, makes the perfect bench to admire the beautiful forest. Leora pulled out her camera to capture the scenery.
Before the camera can snap to take a picture, a loud crack and a shuffle can be heard behind the wall of trees next to Leora. She snapped her neck toward the location of the sound, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Angie?” She called, getting up from her seat and carefully walking toward the noise.
No response. The world around her seemed to have gotten darker; she didn't remember being outside that long.
As she got closer to the noise, chills ran down her spine. The air shifted from warm summer air to a cold, bleak mist. A barrier of darkness stood in front of her, as if the leaves above the ground were too full to produce light onto the forest floor, as if the oxygen around her was holding its breath.
Another shuffle announced itself to the right of Leora, closer this time; she pulled out her camera, quickly clicking a trembling finger onto the button of the camera. The flash bursts through the dark, reflecting off the trees, only for a second, before swallowing everything in the darkness again. She lowered her camera, seeing nothing but the outline of trees and black. But when she peered down at the preview image, she saw it.
A tall, black figure loomed over her, its limbs far too long for its frame, joints bent at impossible angles. Its skin looked rough and almost bark-like; the flash from the camera glistened off its skin, like sap was oozing out of its flesh. Rows of stained yellow teeth twisted into an unsettling smile. And its eyes caught the flash like an animal—bright, sharp, and inhuman.
The air turned thick and cold, and the faint smell of damp earth and metal filled her lungs.
The blood from her face drained to her feet, her knees weakened, and her stomach twisted with horror. She stumbled backward, tripping over a rock, and her camera slipped from her hands. She stares into the darkness, eyes wide, face completely stripped of its color.
“Leora?” A familiar voice murmured behind her, the black void quickly retreated, and the sun appeared through the trees, letting the sun shine on Leora's face. She turned around to see her friend, Angie. “What are you doing all the way out here? I’ve been looking for you! Are you okay?”
Leora’s voice barely escaped her lips: “I saw something!”
Angie looked around, cringing in fear. “Like what? A bear?” She helped Leora up, still shaken up. Leora looked around to see no sign of the creature, and she then scanned the ground for her camera.
“Oh no! Your camera!” It was pointed up, with glass lying under the screen. Leora picked it up, and the screen was completely shattered, with scratches all over the red paint. Angie continues, “Let’s go home; maybe my Yéye can fix it.” Angie took Leora's hand, leading her out of the dense forest.
Leora looked at the shattered screen of her camera; she could barely make out the image.
Her heart stopped.
There it was—the same figure, frozen in time, its glowing eyes escaping the cracks on the screen. As quickly as she saw it, the screen had gone black.