Week 7 Story: Goblin in the Woods

Markus had been wandering through the woods for hours now. It was getting darker, colder, and creepier as the sun started to set. He started to regret his decision to find the famous “goblin of the woods” that supposedly hunted in this forest. Every time someone vanished in the woods, the whole town blamed it on a horrifying, man-eating goblin.  Markus totally didn’t believe in it, not at all.  There are tons of totally normal, realistic reasons for people disappearing in the woods. Like, starvation or just plain ol’ getting lost. Hell, even getting attacked by a bear was more likely than a goblin!  There was no reason to believe that a cannibalistic goblin existed in these woods. Once Markus proved that the goblin didn’t exist, the rumors would be put to rest and his buddies would owe him 200 dollars. It was a win-win for him.

It seemed to be around midnight when Markus found a little cabin in the middle of a clearing. Normally, he wouldn’t dare to go in, but it was colder outside than he expected, and he didn’t know how to build a fire. He was a polite boy, so he knocked on the door before barging in. Slowly, the door opened, and inside was an old woman—her hair was gray and matted, and she smelled like smoke. But she looked mostly harmless.  With a scratchy voice she said, “Hello, young boy. Are you lost out here?”  What a kind woman, Markus thought to himself. I bet she’ll offer me a meal and a place to sleep for the night.

“Please come in and make yourself at home, dear boy”, the old woman said. “I haven’t had a visitor in a long time”. Markus and the old woman, named Gladis he learned, had a great time together, chatting and eating some kind of delicious stew. Gladis wouldn’t tell him the secret ingredient, but it was amazing, unlike anything Markus had tasted before!

When it came time for bed, Gladis got him out a little blanket. Before she left him, she gave him one rule of the house. She warned, “Don’t go into that closet, dear boy. It’s my sacred room and I don’t want it messed up.”

While Markus laid down to sleep, all he could think about was the closet. What’s in there, he wondered to himself. Why can’t I go in there? He started to get a bad feeling. Did he seriously just decide to spend the night with a stranger? Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea.

As quietly has he could, Markus got up from the couch. He crept over to the closet and gently opened the door.

Oh crap, he thought. The room was filled with bones. There were skulls on the floor and glass jars filled with tiny bones of all kinds. One jar had all thumbs, another had teeth. A rug in front of the door was still soaked with blood. He suddenly knew that the man-eating goblin was real, and he was in her cabin!

In the darkness behind him, he heard a shrill laughter. It was the goblin! He tried to run, but before he knew it, he was grabbed by a bony hand. “Please, let me go!”, he begged the goblin. But, it was too late.

Gladis the goblin took the first bite of the boy and was delighted How lovely and tender, she thought. It had been a long time since she feasted on such a juicy meat. Gladis prepared her meal, feeling glad that foolish young boys existed.

Author's Note: This story is based off The Goblin of Adachigahara from the  Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit.  In the original story, a priest is traveling through the woods when he runs into an old woman. This woman turns out to be the cannibal goblin! I kept that part the same, but I changed the priest into a dumb teenage boy, mostly to make it fun and modern. In the original, the priest survives the encounter after he prays to Buddha. Since it's October, I was ready for a creepy goblin story. So, I changed the ending so that the boy loses to the goblin and gets eaten. I think when I edit this story, I'll had more detail and imagery. I want to make it a bit more spooky! Happy October everyone!  

Image Information:
Cabin in the Woods
Found on: The line-up.com