As dusk settled over the dense forest, Sarah and Jake had wandered deeper than they intended. With the sun slipping away, shadows twisted around the gnarled trees, and an unsettling silence enveloped them. They had been laughing just moments before, but now a chill crawled up their spines.

“Maybe we should turn back,” Jake suggested, peering nervously into the darkening woods.

“Just a little farther,” Sarah urged, her curiosity piqued by the ancient legends of the area. “I want to find that old cabin.”

Reluctantly, Jake followed. As they pressed on, an eerie feeling crept into the air. The forest felt alive, each rustle of leaves and snap of twigs sounding unnaturally close. Shadows danced in the periphery of their vision, and the laughter that had once echoed around them faded into tense silence.

Minutes turned to hours as they roamed through the thickening twilight. Suddenly, they stumbled upon a clearing, and in its center stood the dilapidated cabin. It looked like it hadn't been touched in decades, its windows dark and vacant. Jake’s unease deepened, a primal instinct warning him to flee.

As they approached, Sarah’s eyes lit up with excitement. “This must be it! Let’s take a look inside!”

Before Jake could protest, Sarah pushed the creaking door open, and they stepped inside. The air felt colder, thick with the scent of damp wood and decay. They explored the cramped room filled with tattered furniture and cobwebbed corners, but something felt off. A strange energy pulsed in the atmosphere.

“I don’t like this,” Jake whispered, his instincts screaming at him to leave.

Just as he turned to suggest they leave, Sarah’s laughter turned into something else—something otherworldly. Her eyes gleamed unnaturally, reflecting the shadows swirling around her. A low growl rumbled from her chest as her form began to shift, limbs elongating, features twisting grotesquely.

“Sarah?!” Jake staggered back in horror.

“You didn’t heed the warnings!” she rasped, her voice warped and echoing, resonating with an ancient hunger. From her mouth dripped dark, viscous fluid. “This forest has awakened me!”

Jake’s heart raced as the reality dawned upon him—his friend was gone, replaced by a wendigo, a creature of insatiable greed and hunger. The cabin shuddered as the once-familiar figure before him revealed its true nature.

Fleeing, he burst out of the cabin, the woods now a nightmarish maze. Desperate, he stumbled through thickets and underbrush, hearing her voice taunting him from every direction.

“Run, little friend! The chill of winter has come for you!”

As night fully descended, Jake’s chest tightened. The whispers of the forest turned sinister, and shadows twisted and lunged. He could feel her presence drawing nearer, the echo of her footsteps reverberating through the trees. Overwhelmed, he tripped and fell, his breath forming clouds of frost in the freezing air.

The last thing he saw before the forest swallowed him whole was Sarah’s monstrous silhouette, lit by the glint of the moon—a grotesque mockery of the girl he once knew, her laughter now a haunting melody.

“Welcome to my world, Jake,” she echoed, blending into the shadows as he vanished into the night, lost forever.
© scott Maddox