Midnight Hide and Seek

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Just as quickly as the candle was lit, it went out. Those who knew the woods, where the cabin sat, knew of the local legend and tradition of Midnight Hide and Seek. Midnight Hide and Seek was a high school senior tradition where students of the graduating class summoned the spirit of the woods - the Leshy - and played hide and seek with it. It is said that if you were caught by the Leshy, you'd be dragged away into the shadows, never to be seen again.

No one really knows where the Leshy came from. Some say it was brought over by migrants. Some say it's the spirit of a lost hunter. Others say that the spirit isn't a Leshy at all but rather something akin to a Church Grim - a living sacrifice buried in the woods to act as a guide or its protector. Whatever its origins may be, the spirit now wanders the woods.

Before you can attempt to play Midnight Hide and Seek, two conditions that must be met. The first condition is a full moon. While the second is a cloudy sky with just enough cloud cover to hide and reveal the moon. To summon the Leshy, you need a black candle. Place the candle anywhere in the woods and light it. When the moon is hidden by the veil of clouds, call to the spirit - the wanderer of the woods. The game begins when the moon reveals itself, bathing the woods in its light.

The rules of Midnight Hide and Seek were simple: Use the light of the full moon to find a hiding place. Hide when the moon is covered and stay quiet for the Leshy is on the prowl. The game ends when the light of the candle burns out or when the first light of day touches the woods.

Lizzy was a skeptic. She never believed the local legend nor the tradition of Midnight Hide and Seek. Lizzy believed the legend of the Leshy was an old wives tale told to children to keep them out of the woods at night. In many ways, this was true as the woods were dangerous during the day let alone in the dark of night. However, Beth, Lizzy's best friend, was the opposite. Beth was not completely obsessed but loved watching horror movies. She loved how the stories were told and learning plot twists that could suddenly change the narrative. Things like the girl was actually a boy, he was dead all along or that everything was a lie. It is from this love of horror movies that Beth found an interest in local legends and traditions. Believing the stories of the Leshy was once real - a child going missing in the woods, getting hurt or dying in some horrific accident. But over time, the narrative changed, twisting into some urban legend or warning. And so, before graduation, the two girls decided to attempt Midnight Hide and Seek.

Word soon got around and before long, Josh and Dale had joined the group. The girls weren't against this as they had known the boys their entire lives. Josh and Lizzy were neighbours and had known each other since they were children - spending hours playing together. Their parents always believed the two would end up together but never did for many reasons. Spending so much time together, the two always saw one another as siblings and dating felt like a step in the wrong direction. Furthermore, Josh was your typical playboy. By age 17, he had either made out or had been in the pants of two-thirds of the school's female population. Lizzy, on the other hand, was focused on her field hockey career - winning states and regionals - and dreamt of playing in Europe where she'd fall in love and have a European romance. Dale and Beth were cousins. Being the same age, they attended the same schools and hung around the same people. Dale didn't share the same interest in horror movies, however, coming from a small town, the two bonded over local legends, cryptids and UFOs. It wasn't until the start of high school that they started to find other interests and slowly drifted apart. The two continued to share a strong bond, one built over the years, where Dale knew and kept all of Beth's secrets and Beth knew and kept all of his. Midnight Hide and Seek, was a hit or miss subject for seniors. Students either believed in the legend or didn't. The two boys, much like Lizzy, were skeptics. They knew of the local legend and tradition in the woods but didn't really believe in it. However, they were interested in a night of spooks and fun.

Before long, the night of the full moon came - the forecast calling from cloudy skies - when all four met up by the entrance of the woods. The boys had brought some snacks and a couple of drinks. Lizzy, always the optimist, brought along her field hockey stick. Finally, Beth had brought the black candle and the lighter. Not having decided upon the location of their game, the boys suggested the abandoned cabin that sat in a clearing in the woods. Everyone knew of the cabin but no one really went there because everyone thought it was haunted by its previous owner. Poor Mr McGrady had passed away from a heart attack. No one knew of his passing until his daughter came to visit a month later and found his body. Horrified by what she'd seen and distraught from the loss of her father, Mr McGrady's daughter sold the cabin and the land back to the town and moved away. There the cabin sat. Unoccupied and alone for all these years. Certain that the legend and traditions were a hoax, the boys believed the cabin would be a good place for ghost stories.

When the group arrived, the cabin was less creepy and more dilapidated. It was a one room cabin with a fireplace and three windows - one by the door, one in the kitchen and by the overturned bed. Much of the furniture had been upturned, or moved, tossed by those who raided the cabin for valuables. Ghostly vestiges of what once hung on walls and sat on the floor, littered the room as a reminder that the cabin once belonged to someone. To those who sought riches saw nothing but junk but to others it seemed, sombre and lonesome. The group decided to set up in the kitchen. It had access to a basin and was close to the door in case they accidentally torched the cabin. As they waited for the cloud cover to hide the moon, the group chatted amongst themselves, consuming the snacks and drinks as the night went on. An hour soon passed, before another and another. Although the forecast indicated cloud cover, the group didn't expect it to clear up so soon. As night drew on, boredom set in. No longer taking things seriously, Lizzy lit the candle.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked with slight annoyance before blowing out the candle.

"I'm bored," Lizzy replied with a huff. "We all are," she continued gesturing to the boys.

Josh and Dale, not even listening to the girls, had proven Lizzy's point by doing what bored boys do. The drinks and snacks had dried up so the boys resorted to messing around and pretending they were in a warzone. They crawled over furniture, using Lizzy's hockey stick as a riffle, and ducked under the table while making exploding noises. Although they would be graduating soon - recognised as adults - they couldn't help but act like 10 year olds.

As the night drew on, Lizzy started humming to herself, singing a crude song to the tune of Daisy Bell and calling to the Leshy, "Hear me, Leshy. Come on out to play. Hide and Seek we'll play from now 'til dawn..." Lizzy then lit the candle and blew it out. It was with this last breath that silence fell upon the woods.

It was as if every living creature was holding its breath - the owls and the crickets. Even the trees and wind were silent. Something wasn't right. A shiver ran down Beth's spine as her heart started racing. Its thumping echoing within her ears. She could feel a knot growing within her stomach with each staggered breath she took. This feeling was something familiar. Something she knew all too well. It was her nerves acting up. Anxiety? No. Fear.

Beth looked to her friends to find some comfort. Some semblance of hope that what she was feeling wasn't real. However, the icy hands of fear that ensnared her had also claimed her friends. Lizzy had dropped the candle - wax splattered on the floor - her hands covering her mouth stifling the urge to cry. Josh had stopped mid-crawl, his eyes fixed on the moonlight that touched his hand. Dale, across the room, was petrified with his eyes glued to the window. Beth couldn't help but notice his face. It grew pale as the blood left his cheeks and his eyes grew wide.

Something had appeared in the window.

Beth wanted to look - to see what had appeared in the window above her. To see if the legends were true. To see... the Leshy. However, something deep inside of her - something primal - told her not to look and to stay silent. It was as if something wasn't right with the situation - that something had gone wrong. Beth obeyed and stayed where she was, silent and still.

Suddenly, a rapid clicking filled the air. The clicking changed in pitch and tone as though whatever was making that noise was moving. As if it was searching for something. Someone. The clicking then stopped. As if the thing found something that caught its attention. Slowly, the thing drew closer to the window. Did it know? Did the thing know they were there, hiding in the cabin?

From beneath the window, Beth could hear it breathing. Its coarse and raspy breath clawing its way into her ears and scratching at the deepest recesses of her mind. Lizzy had shut her eyes. The once fearless girl now reduced to a helpless child as tears began to well within her eyes.

The thing outside the window opened its mouth and the clicking started again.

Snap! The thing whipped its head towards the sound. A poor woodland creature had unwittingly caught this thing's attention. It let out an ear-piercing screech - a cross between children screaming and the scrapping of nails across a blackboard - before running away into the tree line.

It felt like an age before the group regained their senses. "We... we... we need to go," Beth stammered. Her hushed word catching within her throat.

"Where? Out there? With that thing?!" Josh asked. His words echoing his fear and panic.

"We can't just stay here. That thing will likely come back." Beth replied. "Look around, this place is falling apart so there's nothing stopping it from getting in when it does."

Josh shook his head in disbelief, "How do you even know it's coming back?"

Beth took a shuddered breath, "I'm pretty sure that's the Leshy and if it is, we're in the middle of Midnight Hide and Seek. It's looking for us. And if it can't find us in the open woods, it's going to come back here and look inside."

Josh paused for a moment thinking about their options. Beth was right. They couldn't stay there. The cabin was old, the walls were beginning to rot and the roof had started caving in. If the thing did come back, it could easily make its way inside.

"Okay, but what if it's not the Leshy?" Josh asked after a moment of thought, "The moon is still out and candle wasn't even lit when Lizzy called to it."

"I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe the instructions were all wrong and everything we know is a lie. All I know is that we can't stay here."

"Okay," Josh responded after a while. "But what about them?" he motioned to Dale and Lizzy.

Lizzy had regressed into a ball of tears while Dale was still petrified, clinging to the safety of the walls.

"We can't just leave them." Beth exclaimed.

"They'll only slow us down." Josh interjected.

"Rule 1 of horror movies: NEVER split up." Beth proclaimed.

"What do you propose we do?"

Beth thought for a moment before grabbing Lizzy. "Lizzy, look at me! I need you to be the fearless Lizzy I know you are."

"I... I can't," Lizzy whimpered.

"Yes you can! You're the girl who led her hockey team to states then won regionals. Not once, not twice, three freaking times! You're the girl who stood up to the guys who bullied me for being the weird girl. You're the girl who broke the Quarterback's nose for getting too handsy! You're a fighter and I need that Lizzy right now." Beth grabbed the field hockey stick from Josh and handed it to Lizzy. "Can you be the fighter I need you to be?"

Lizzy paused for a moment staring at the hockey stick in her hands. Gripping it tightly she replied, "Yeah. I can be... No. I am the fighter you need me to be."

Beth nodded then moved over to Dale and grabbed his hand, "Dale, are you with me? I need you to look at me."

Dale didn't move. His fear had taken control of him. Slap! Pain started emanating from his left cheek. The shock of sudden pain brought him back into the moment.

"Dale, are you with me?" Beth asked in a soft tone.

Dale looked up to see his cousin instead of the monstrous thing in the window. "Yeah..."

"Remember that promise you made me keep? The one about..." Beth gestured to Josh with her eyes. "In a moment, we're going to make a break for it. And if you stay, you'll never be able to ask them how they feel or ever be with them ever again."

Dale paused for a moment and looked at Josh. Josh's eyes were as soft as they had always been but full of fear and worry. He looked back to his cousin, "Okay..." he nodded in response. "If we make it out of here, I'll tell them." For a moment, as the words had left his lips, Dale wished he could take them back. However, the fear of not knowing how Josh would respond to his feelings was more terrifying than what he saw in the window.

With everyone now feeling more themselves, the group decided on a plan. Dale explained that the thing must have been blind. From what he saw, its eyes were milky white and it made that weird clicking as though it were using echolocation. This explained why the snapping of twig caught the thing's attention and why it ran in that direction. The plan was simple. Distract the thing with their phones - blasting music from them and throwing them in every direction. While the thing was distracted, make a B-line to the cars and get out of dodge. All agreed to the plan. All were confident in the plan.

The moment arrived when the group would enact their escape plan. Each had readied their phones, volume on max and ready to hit play. Beth and Josh, the slowest of the group, had their hands on the door ready to be the first ones out of the gates. Lizzy, the fastest was last, her hands gripping her hockey stick and ready to fend off the creature from hell. This left Dale in the middle who'd look out for the creature and yell if he saw it.

Beth slowly counted down. "3..." everyone became tense. "2..." they all prepared to run. "1..." the door flew open and everyone hit play.

Beth and Josh threw their phones to either side of the cabin as their feet touched the ground. Dale threw his phone up and onto the cabin - hoping that if the creature went after his phone that it would fall through the roof and be stuck inside. Lizzy threw hers, clearing the tree line with ease. All had successfully thrown their phones at random to confuse the thing. Now all they had to do was run.

They didn't stop. None of them wanted to stop. Not when they heard the last of the music fade into the distance, not when they heard faint screeching and the crashing of rotten wooden beams. They didn't even stop when their lungs burned and their muscles ached. Nothing was going to stop them. Nothing would stop them from reaching their cars and getting out of there.

Hope soon loomed in the distance. Moonlight piercing the veil of trees and illuminating the entrance to the woods. They had made it. Out of the woods and to their cars. Josh and Dale had made it to their car, their engines revving as they waited for the girls to get to theirs.

Lizzy and Beth soon reached their car. Lizzy jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine. However, Beth stopped. Passenger door slightly ajar as she realised the feeling of dread fading. In a moment of bravery, Beth turned to look at the tree line.

"What are you doing?!" Lizzy cried out.

In that moment, everything seemed to fade away. There it stood in the tree line. The thing that Dale had seen moments before in that cabin. The thing before her could not be described as human or tree but rather some horrific mix of the two. It was no taller than a 12 year old child. It was hairless, emaciated, and covered in patches of moss and bark-like skin. Its face - if you could call it that - appeared as though it were a skull. Its nose and lips had long since worn away, leaving a cavity for a nose and a set of small, pointed teeth for a mouth. Around its milky white eyes, the skin had darkened sunken in causing the eyes to appear to glow in the moonlight. Although the summoning ritual was bogus, perhaps some semblance of the legend was true - a living sacrifice cursed with wandering the woods.

Beth and the Leshy made eye contact. Its brows furrowed into a look of fury as it opened its mouth. Slowly the creature let out a low hiss as it backed into the tree line and disappeared into the darkness.

The group barely spoke of that night and none dared to return to those woods. In time the memory would fade but feelings of terror and dread remained. It is said that to this day, you can still hear the Leshy wandering the woods. The click, click, clicking echoing from deep within the woods as it searches for someone to play Midnight Hide and Seek.