#crypticblr

"’Scuse me, hi.”

“Afternoon to you.”

“I’m not sure how I... " My mind was clouded.

“You lost?” the man peered at me.

“I am.”

“You sure you are?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t.”

The man slowed his rocking. “Your ma’ raised you to reply like that?”

“No, sir. Sorry, I, I don’t know where I am.”

“So you’ve told me.”

He seemed to be discerning something across the road. I looked, and he noticed.

“See that cabin over yonder?”

“I do."

"You just came from there."

I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you ambled over to my porch from over there looking lost like a pup left behind. Several times too.”

I couldn’t stop staring at him. “Why don—”

"They disappear: most folks that go in. Sometimes they come back though. Not as you remember them, or as who they were, but sometimes they come back. You could say that it always takes away something. A small piece of yourself, or all of it. It always steals your memory though... Always your memory." He turned to me, "that’s why I’ve told you this too many times already."

I thought a while. "I went in… Because... That cabin, took something from me."

"Sure did, sure did; and you’re gonna keep losing something if you keep going inside it."

"But, it wants, me—"

"You should leave. That cabin moves. You could say it follows you… " The man kept staring at it in the distance, as one would a headstone.

a house that will never be your home but a home you stole and no matter how much you tune them out the ghosts in between the walls will not stop their weeping.

the scent of decaying grief is not one you can get rid of and as the days pass it only gets stronger.

the road shouldn’t be this long should it? did you get turned around again?

a light from the woods catches your eye.

you walk towards it, your feet moving apart from what you consciously chose to do. a twig snaps behind you. (don’t look behind you)

when did you start walking on asphalt again?

you’ve been walking for hours.

this road cannot be this long.

now that you think about it you don’t even know what road you’re on. or where you began your journey.

all you can remember is walking this stretch of road.

you see a light in the woods.

the sun begins to set.

you’ve been walking for hours.

it’s dark now. you see a light in the distance.

you walk faster. it gets no closer.

you’ve been walking for hours.

how many footsteps should one person make? (don’t look behind you)

has there always been an echo on this road?

you’ve been walking for hours.

the sun should be rising. it isn’t.

you’ve been walking for hours.

why are your footsteps so loud? (don’t look behind you)

you’ve been walking for hours. (don’t look behind you)

a light in the woods. (don’t look behind you) you follow the light.