The Lone Cabin

When the school bell rings, you were one of the first ones to leave through the front doors. ”That’s not fair, you cheated!” Rainbow Dash says when coming through them.

“When you pushed me aside, I felt that I needed to return the favor.” You remind her of that dirty move not too long ago. She catches you off guard when she pushes you. Everyone else comes out of the school and walks around with their friends. The two of you share a laugh, until someone steps up.

”Um, h-hello.” You look up to see Fluttershy rubbing her wrists together. ”Am I bothering you two?”

Rainbow wraps an arm around you. ”Nah, we’re just messing around. Whatcha need?”

She keeps on rubbing her wrist. ”I was wondering if, either of you would want to come with me to watch the wonders of the forest.”

“Like what?”

Fluttershy stops rubbing her wrists and grabs them. ”L-like the birds that lost their home last week, they should be done fixing their new nest by now.“

”Gee, I would, but I’ve already got shit to do.”

“Rainbow, you don’t even do your homework.” You catch her lie.

”Not until now, the teachers said that I can’t play soccer until I improve in my classes.” Rainbow Dash brings her arm away from you to strap on her backpack. ”I gotta go, Sunset is tutoring me.” She waives goodbye and heads back into the school.

”What about you, Anon?”

“I uh, got some homework to do.”

”I could help.” She suggests.

“It’s not that, I just need a table. Lying on the dirt would ruin my papers.”

”You don’t have to worry about that. I know a place where you can do it.” She seems determined to bring you along.

“Okay then?”

She grabs your arm and pulls you out of the crowd. ”Let’s hurry! I don’t want to miss out on anything.”

The two of you spend half an hour walking out of town to get into the forest. “Are you sure about this? How do you know where we are going in the right direction?”

She climbs over a small boulder that is sticking out of the ground. ”I always make sure to stay in one direction. If I turn around, I’m sure to head back to the city.” When Fluttershy gets to the other side, she ducks. You shrug and jump over the boulder. ”Get down, Anon.” She whispers from the ground.

You lay right beside her and look around. “What are we—“

”Shh.” She points over to a lone fox on a small hilltop. It hears something from your direction. They look away to see a bush rattle around. The fox sneaks its way to the bush, only to be sprayed by a skunk. It runs off, leaving the skunk to hide in another bush.

“Now can we go?”

”No, there is something I need to show you.” Fluttershy stands up and continues to walk forward.

“This better be good.” You say when setting your backpack right.

”Believe me, Anon. It is.” Barely anything peaked your interest for the last hour. You witnessed a stray doe drinking out of a stream, a group of squirrels moved from tree to tree, and a rabbit munching on some strands of grass. ”Are you having a fun time? My favorite was when the mother squirrel pushed her young ones into that tree stump.”

“Unless I’m threatened by a bear, nothing has amused me that much.”

She turns around to pout at you. ”Anon, doesn’t the wonders of nature fascinate you?”

“Honestly, not really, no.” She just stands there and gives you that look. You can only hear the sounds of birds chirping in a nearby tree, followed by wings flapping away. Fluttershy turns back and keeps walking forward. “Listen, I think I should be going home.” She keeps on walking then stops when passing over another hilltop. “Hey, I said—“ When you catch up, a small log cabin is in the distance. “Fluttershy?”

”We’re almost there.”

“Almost where?” She continues to head straight for the log cabin. “So what, this is where you live?” She just shakes her head and keeps on walking without saying anything. “Did you build it?” She shakes her head once more. “What about—“

”Anon, can we just get inside?”

“Sure?”

”I’ll answer your questions once we are completely safe.”

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?” You ask out of curiosity.

”Remember when you said that you wanted to be threatened by a bear?”

“Wait, are you serious?”

”Do you want to find out?” You shut up and stand right in front of the small cabin. She unlocks the door and walks inside, ignoring the fact that it is pitch black. When you wander inside, you can barely see two feet in front of you. The curtains from one of the window moves to the side, letting the sunlight to show the interior of the wooden home. There is a small chimney in the farthest corner, with a couch facing it from the other side and a support beam in the center of the cabin. To your left are a bed and a cabinet in the corner. You look over to see a coffee table and—

“HOLY SHIT!” You jump back from a leaning bear with its teeth in full view that is about to rip your chest open. When you wait for it to do something, you assume that you died from a heart attack. Instead, something does grab your arm, but pulls you up.

”Come on, Anon. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Why is that here?” You point out the out of place statue.

”It’s too big for me to get it out of here. Even I’m still wondering on how to push it through the doorway.” You brush off the dust from your shirt. When she tries to help, you push her hands away.

“Just get your friends to help you.”

”I can’t.”

You cross your arms. “Why?”

”I-it’s just that, this place is my home away from home.”

“Say what?”

She turns around. ”This is the one place that no one but you knows about. It is where I can truly be happy when I’m alone.”

“And it is in the middle of the forest.” You interrupt.

She turns once more to show you her troubled eyes. ”Yes, rarely anyone dares to come by. I just happen to find this place during one of my sightings many months ago.”

“What about the owner, didn’t they ever come by?”

She eyes the wooden oak floor before maintaining eye contact with you. “The owner never came back. When I knocked on the door, it slid open. I waited for a while before entering this place. I found most of the furniture covered in dust and cobwebs covered every corner of this house. It took me some time to clean it up and… to move out some the disturbing stuff that they had. ”

You point a finger at her. “It’s one thing about entering a place that doesn’t belong to you, but throwing out their stuff is another thing.”

She closes her eyes. When they open up, you can see the fear in them. ”There was… little animals standing on wooden platforms. Heads mounted on the walls and….” It looks like she is about to break into tears.

“Okay, calm down. So the owner was a taxidermist?”

She blinks a few times to retract her tears. ”I suppose, but we’ll never know.”

“Didn’t they ever come back?”

”Anon, this place was covered in dust. If they didn’t come back before, what would make them come back now?”

“I guess you have a point. Who knows; maybe their hobby literally bit them in the ass.”

”What do you mean?”

“Since they were a taxidermist, it looks like they were unfortunate in one of their trips.” You look over to the bear.

”Oh, I see.”

“But enough about that, I really should work on my homework.” You say when taking off your backpack.

”You can use the table over there. I’ll just sit by the couch.” Just as you finish up on the last question, you drop the pencil and proudly finish up on your shit. You close the folder and slide it in your backpack. “Done.”

Fluttershy sits right up from the couch. ”Oh, that’s good.”

“I know and in record time too.” You add on.

”You don’t do your homework this fast?”

“Normally no, I would screw around before doing it in the following morning.” She shakes her head in disappointment. “It’s not like there is anything fun in learning the Pythagorean Theorem, let alone caring on what number goes where.” She just sighs when you zip up your backpack. “Whatever, I tend to do better under pressure.”

”Someday you’ll end up in a problem that you can’t solve.”

“I haven’t had it happen ever since Freshman year, and I doubt it will happen this year.”

You put the backpack aside and sit right beside her. ”We can change that.”

“How?”

Fluttershy scoots closer to you. ”Maybe, you could come over here and work in peace. You know, away from all the distraction.”

“I’m not so sure. This place is sort of yours and I don’t want to disturb you.”

”You don’t have to worry about that. I’m actually happy that you came along.” She keeps on sliding to your direction.

“What about Rainbow Dash?”

”She would always push me aside for something else. It's always ‘I’ve got practice today’ or ‘something just came up’ for her. If only she could tell the truth that she doesn’t want to come along, instead of giving me these same excuses.” Fluttershy sadly gazes at the floor in front of her.

“Hey, it’s not so bad, right?” Her disappointment rises as she tilts her head. “Cheer up, you have me.” Just as you finished up your sentence, her head perks up.

“I… do?”

“I guess, yeah. But, you know, I’m not sure that my family will allow me to wander into the forest that is outside of town.”

Fluttershy slides once more to sit right beside you. ”When they see that you are not working in the morning, I’m sure they won’t care.”

“I don’t know, it just sounds too good.”

She rests a hand on your arm. ”Don’t you want to get a full nights rest without waking up in the morning to do your work last minute?”

“I really don’t mind that much, it keeps the adrenaline flowing.” You continue to excuse yourself.

”But you can work without the stress. There wouldn’t be any panicking when getting your work turned in the same hour.” Her hand rubs against your arm.

“I guess.”

Fluttershy leans in so that her other hand slides right by your back, just so that she can grab your shoulder. ”Besides, it will be you and me, alone, in the woods.” She stops rubbing your arm to move her head right beside your own. ”Doesn’t that sound wonderful?” She whispers into your ear.

Something doesn’t feel right. You should make your excuse and leave. “I should go.” You abruptly side away from her and get up.

She looks desponded from your quick reaction. ”W-what? Why?”

“My parents might be worried. I can’t call them from here, and it is getting late.” You grab your backpack from the ground and strap it on.

”B-but, couldn’t you stay a little longer?”

“I can’t, they get worried when I’m not there. I’ll see you tomorrow, Flutters.” You turn around and start to head for the door.

”Anon, wait!” When you turn back around, you take a glimpse of Fluttershy swinging her backpack to your head. You couldn’t react fast enough and fall to the ground. You lay back and hold the part of your face that she struck.

“Fluttershy, why did—“ She muffles your dialogue when she smothers you with the same backpack.

You thrash around to get her off, but fail and struggle for air. The yellow bag shades out until it becomes nothing but black in just under a minute. ”I’m sorry,” was the last thing you heard before fading into darkness.