Unknown

They placed their bags on the smooth wooden floor and took a breath at the pleasant scent of pine. Sara and Tom were newlyweds who had rented a lake cabin up in the mountains for their honeymoon. The two did a quick scan of the two-story cabin. It was beautiful inside, the stairs and handrail carved with perfection. Sara looked down over the indoor balcony, which gave her a nice overview of the living room. Tom opened one of the sliding doors and stepped outside, taking in the surrounding forest. The trees were tall, with thick trunks and a lake several feet across. The home glistened as the sun shone down on it with a twinge of green from the algae in the water.

The couple had gotten to their cabin in the late afternoon, and by the time they had finished unpacking and getting settled, night rolled around. The moon was full and bright, casting a ghastly light over the lake. Bubbles started to pop up in the center of the lake, trailing closer to the shore. As the bubble got closer, a pair of horns started to rise. Then another and another. It walked out of the water on all fours, its arms disproportionately longer than its legs. The creature stood upright, letting out a wheezing groan as every part of its body creaked and cracked.

Sara was finished loading the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, and she thought she heard a strange noise coming from outside. Sara reached her arm out toward the curtain by the window over the kitchen sink and pulled it to the side. There was nothing. She let out a small sigh of relief, moving closer toward the window and pulling the curtain further apart. Sara let out a cry when she came face to face with six small red dots for eyes pierced through the glass. The creature tilted its head with a crack, never blinking. Sara fell back, and Tom, hearing the commotion, rushed off the couch to aid his wife.

“T-T-There’s something out there!” Sara exclaimed, pointing a shaky finger at the window. “Th-There’s a monster!”

“A…monster?” Tom asked, taking a glance at the window and then back at his wife before standing up and making his way over to the window. He took a good look and spotted nothing.

“Looks fine to me,” He said, turning his back to Sara. “You probably saw a bear or a moose or something.”

Sara fearfully shook her head and said, “N-No! It had red eyes, and…and…Well, I don’t know what else! But I know it wasn’t normal!”

Tom walked over to the fireplace and grabbed one of the metal pokers, then headed over to the sliding door. He pushed the curtain to the side, doing a quick inspection before opening the door, peeking his head out.

“Nope,” he said, “nothin’ out here.” Tom leaned his head back inside. “Whatever you saw, honey is gone.”

That’s when he heard a scratching sound on the roof. Tom jumped, letting out a yelp and almost falling over. His heart nearly beating out of his chest, Tom needed to take a quick breather. Sara got up, taking a glance at her shaken husband. The scratching sound happened again, and once Tom regained his composure, he took a deep breath and slowly crept outside.

“Tom, wait!” Sara exclaimed in a hushed tone, racing over to one of their bags and pulling out a can of bear spray.

The two carefully stepped outside. Tom gazed up at the roof, narrowing his eyes through the dark. The light from inside the cabin provided some form of visibility for them. They heard the scratching again. Sara yelped and moved closer to Tom. That’s when Tom noticed a pair of squirrels running along the top of the roof. He let out a sigh, then looked back at Sara, pointing a finger toward the roof.

“That’s what you were afraid of?” Tom said, chuckling a little. He shook his head and continued, “Had me worrying for nothing. Alright, let’s get to bed.”

Sara darted her head around. She didn’t believe it, not for a second. She knew what she saw before wasn’t right. Wasn’t natural. Whatever it was, it was gone. So how could she really prove it? Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. Yeah, Sara thought, that’s all it was. A light fog started rolling over the forest, putting a chill in the air. Tom shivered from the cold and headed back inside, Sara quickly following after.

Tom was brushing his teeth, leaving the door ajar in case Sara needed to come in to grab something. While he brushed, he couldn’t shake this weird feeling. As if something was watching him. Tom rubbed the back of his head, trying to shake the feeling. He glanced up, looking into the mirror that showed the bathroom door behind him. The door was still the same way as he left it. Tom shook his head and went back to brushing his teeth, spitting it out, and rinsing out his mouth. He raised his head, gazing back at the door in the mirror. That was when something slowly made its way through the door. Tom’s face became ashen as he watched the bony hand reach out and grip the door. The hand had six fingers, each one grating against the wooden door. Tom whipped his head back, the hand retreating behind the door. He raced over, opening the door wide open to see what it was.

Nothing.

Tom whipped his head side to side, but all he saw was the dark hallway. He heard nothing either, like the creaking of the wooden floor. He turned on the hallway light and made his way toward the indoor balcony, looking down at the living room. Once again, nothing. Tom gulped the lump in his throat. He must’ve been seeing things, Tom thought. It must’ve been the lingering jitters from earlier. Or maybe…

“Ha ha, very funny, sweetheart,” Tom said as he entered the bedroom.

Sara turned her head, furrowing her brow in confusion. “What?” She asked.

Tom moved closer, wagging his finger and said, “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to get me back for earlier, huh?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Sure you didn’t.”

“I didn’t,” Sara repeated, scrunching her brows in annoyance. “I’ve been looking outside since you were in the restroom. That fog is getting thicker by the second.”

Tom scoffed, sitting beside Sara. “Then I must be going insane,” He said, getting under the covers of their bed.

“What happened?” Sara asked. “Did you see something?”

“It was nothing,” Tom replied, his back to Sara.

Sara decided not to push it any further. It was best not to potentially start an argument. She joined Tom under the covers and flicked off the lamp by their bed.

While they slept, the fog had become thick to the point of zero visibility. They had accidentally left their bedroom window open a crack, and some of the fog began to seep into the room. Sara felt the chill from outside, and she woke up, getting out of bed to close the window. She walked over and noticed some of the fog, and coming into the room, Sara sighed and shut the window completely. She turned around, noticing that Tom had left the door wide open. That was when her eyes widened, the color draining from her face as she noticed a nearly dark figure standing in the dark hallway.

The moonlight coming from outside provided some illumination in the hallway. The figure was tall, so tall to the point it was hunched over in the hallway, one of its long, skeletal arms was reaching out, hand placed against the right wall. Its face is still hidden in the darkness, but its six red eyes give an eerie glow. It cocked its head, slowly creeping closer toward their room. Sara let out a horrified scream before she ran over and shut the door, locking it before stepping back.

Tom instantly woke up, letting out a scream of his own. He looked around, finally locking on to Sara, who was taking trembling steps back. He quickly reached over and turned on the lamp, getting a better look at her pale, sweating face.

“What the hell is going on now!?” He angrily asked, rubbing his eyes.

Sara whipped her head to look at Tom. “Th-There’s a monster!” she cried out, “It’s in the hallway!”

Tom was just about to scold his wife when he recalled that hand that gripped the bathroom door earlier in the evening. He got up and went to comfort Sara, glancing at the bedroom door. There was no such thing as monsters, Tom thought. Right? No, it was all nonsense. He made his way over to the door, and when he opened it, there would be nothing.

“No,” Sara whimpered. “N-no!”

Tom chose to ignore her, reaching his hand out to grab the doorknob. There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Tom froze stiff. Another knock, this one, was followed by scraping against the door. Sara was huddled in a corner by herself, shaking in fear. Tom moved his hand back to his side and was just about to step back, but stopped when he heard some kind of wheezing sound coming from the other side. He leaned his ear closer to the door, pressing it against the wood. That was when a loud, blood-chilling scream came from behind the door, and Tom jumped and fell back onto the floor. The scream sounded like a woman…

It sounded like Sara’s scream.

Tom, still on the ground, shuffled back away from the door. It became quiet. The only sound was the couple’s pounding hearts in their ears and their heavy breathing. The quiet lingered for what felt like hours, but was abruptly broken by a distant slamming, followed by a shouting voice.

“Hello?” The voice called out, somewhat muffled by the closed door. “Hello, we’re park rangers!” The voice was a man, quite old-sounding.

“Hello?” Another voice called out, this time a woman.

There was another distant banging, and the man spoke again. “This fog is dangerously thick, and we’re going from cabin to cabin to do quick checks to see if everything is fine!”

Sara got up and sprinted toward the door, but Tom sprang forward and grabbed her left wrist. “What’re you doing?!” He asked, panicked.

“There are people who can help us!” Sara said.

“Are you insane?! Whatever is out there mimicked your scream, who’s to say it can’t mimic over voices?”

The banging continued, and this time the woman’s voice was heard. “We will come in if you do not let us in!”

Sara whipped her back and said, “Maybe they scared it off!”

“It’s too risky!” Tom rebutted.

Sara ignored him, ripping her hand out of his grip and stumbling over to the door. She unlocked the knob and swung the door open, quickly flipping the hallway lightswitch. To their surprise, there was nothing there. Before Sara could make a run down the hall, Tom grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Hold on!” He barked. “We can’t be too sure it’s gone.”

The two waited in silence for a moment, wanting to see if those rangers would knock again. But they didn’t. In fact, there was no more sound coming from outside or inside, apart from the couple’s shaky breathing. The window to their room, which had been shut by Sara, had its lock suddenly pop open and slowly begin to slide up. Fog flooding into the room. Tom and Sara were too busy figuring out a plan to notice. However, Tom did feel a chill cut through the back of his neck, and he whipped his head around. His eyes widened when he saw what was standing in the bedroom doorway.

Hunched over, its right hand gripping the upper doorframe. The creature was wrapped in a tattered and torn brown cloak. Long, skeletal arms with hands that had six fingers each and goat hooves attached to its legs. Its head was the skull of a goat, but with six eye sockets, each filled with glowing red dots. The top of the skull sprouted two thick bases for horns, but these were not normal horns. No, three horns were growing out from each base, each horn curling up. It let out a weak moan as it began moving out of the room, its body creaking and cracking with each movement.

Tom, his face ashen, quickly grabbed his wife’s hand and bolted toward the stairs. He didn’t say a word, so Sara looked back and saw the creature coming out of the room, and she let out another scream of terror. The creature, having originally shown to be very slow, started jogging after the two, catching up in only a few strides. It stuck out its arm and managed to grab Sara by her collar, pulling her back. Tom came to a screeching halt, turning around as the creature held Sara in its grasp. She started thrashing in a panicked frenzy.

“Tom!” Sara cried out. “Help me!”

Sara continued to cry and beg for help. Tom was ready to rush over and help her, but the creature began to open its jaws wide. It lowered its jaw over Sara’s head, and in one swift motion, slammed its jaw shut. The creature crushed Sara’s head instantly, blood dripping out from the sides and the empty nasal hole of the skull. Tom stopped dead in his tracks, quickly turning on his heel and sprinting down the stairs. He missed one of the steps, falling hard onto the wooden floor. Tom quickly scrambled up, reaching the front door and rushing outside.

Tom never bothered looking back and just kept running. To where he didn’t know, Tom didn’t even have the slightest idea as to where he was. The fog was so thick that he was running completely blind. At least, anywhere was better than being with that monster. Tom stopped and decided which way to go next, just so he wasn’t running a straight line. That was when he heard a distant scream.

“Tom!” The voice called out. The voice of Sara.

Tom ignored it and bolted off to his right. The voice called out over and over again, varying in distance. He kept running, his lungs heavy up and down, feeling ready to burst. Tom continued running for an unknown period of time, eventually collapsing on his knees. He was drenched in sweat, the frigid cold air filling his lungs with each deep inhale. The mimic of Sara had stopped quite some time ago. A few minutes? An hour? Tom didn’t know anymore, but that must’ve meant he had escaped the creature. He stood up and was ready to breathe a sigh of relief. That was until he heard the creaks and cracks of the creature; it sounded close, but far, not too close. Tom stood completely still, holding his breath, hoping the creature would pass by and he could run off again. The noise becoming more distant, Tom tensing every muscle, readying to bolt.

“Tom…”

Sara’s voice spoke right behind him, the color completely draining from his face. A skeletal hand emerged from the fog and was placed over Tom’s mouth. All he could do was let quiet tears run down his face as he was pulled back into the fog.