Do you believe now?

Hello, my name is Jessie Cooper. Two weeks ago, I didn’t believe in spirits wandering our earth. To me, it was pure nonsense. I’m sure half of you reading this right now feel the same way.

But believe me, they are very real. Spirits do roam our earth, lurking, waiting for a helpless body to possess. Are your lights off? How safe do you feel? How are you so sure one isn’t behind you right now?

Go on, turn around.

You can’t see or feel them, but they can see and feel you.

Tuck yourself in, and let me tell you about my paranormal experience.

The night was cold—too cold. My friends and I had planned this camping trip over a month ago, and we all promised to see it through.

The group consisted of five: me, my best friend Carla and her boyfriend Jacob, my crush Daniel, and my sister, Natalia.

All of us go to the same college, enjoy the same things, so it was pretty easy to become friends. Jacob’s father had this cool cabin in the woods that he let us borrow. Though I’m not sure calling it a cabin is doing it enough justice—it’s two stories tall with balconies and a fountain and pool up front. The thing is like a low-budget villa.

It was also enough to make us ignore the signs. A huge amount of people had gone missing in this area recently. These woods had been named “Home of the Forgotten” because most cases had been just that—forgotten.

As we all settled into the cabin, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that something was off. Carla and Jacob had—of course—shared a room. Daniel chose the couch, even though he could’ve had a whole room for himself. And Natalia and I shared one as well.

I flopped down onto the bed, stretching languidly.

“Something feels off,” I said, looking around.

Natalia chuckled, flopping down beside me. “What, you scared?” she asked, nudging me with her shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. “No… but the place has this eerie feeling to it.”

Just then, the lights flickered. “Ugh, don’t tell me we’re gonna have electricity problems.” Natalia stood, stomping through the door.

“Jacob, I swear if I can’t use my hair blower comfortably, I’ll beat your ass!” Her voice faded down the hallway.

“And she’s gone…” I muttered, standing up and rummaging through my suitcase. “What’s wrong with you—an eerie feeling?”

I could hear Natalia, Jacob, and Carla somewhere down the hall talking about electricity, hair blowers, and… pizza?

I picked out a cute little nightgown my mom had bought me for my birthday, in hopes of getting Daniel’s attention.

As I was gathering my shower essentials, someone knocked at the entrance to the room. I looked around but saw nobody. “Who’s there?” I asked.

When no one answered, I sighed and walked over, looking outside.

“Hello?”

Still no answer.

Annoyed, I made my way down the hall and over to my friends.

“Already pulling pranks?” I asked. “We haven’t even been here for five hours.”

They all looked at me like I was insane. “What?” Jacob tilted his head.

“One of you just knocked on the door to my room.”

Natalia chuckled. “No, we didn’t. We’ve been trying to figure out if a pizza delivery guy will come all the way out here.”

I scowled. “I’m not going crazy, I know one of you knocked.”

Just then, a voice came from behind me. “I did.”

I almost jumped out of my clothes; I spun around so fast that if I was drunk, I’d surely pass out.

Standing behind me was Daniel, dressed in low-hanging black sweatpants that made my mouth dry—and a white vest. His wolf-cut hairstyle sharpened his already sharp features in the dim light of the hallway.

“Jesus, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I asked, clutching my heart.

He laughed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But yeah, I knocked on the door while walking to the bathroom.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

I squinted. “You are so random…”

Everyone laughed. Carla and Jacob went back to their room, and Natalia called dibs on the shower.

I groaned. “I was just going there…”

“Too bad!” she said, skipping back to the room. “Hang out with Mr. Scary until I'm done!”

I turned to Daniel. “Mr. Scary…”

He grinned. “I like it. Join me on the couch?”

I smiled, following him. “Straight to it, huh? Inviting a girl to your bed.”

We never made it to the couch.

We got as far as the kitchen when my sister’s scream echoed throughout the cabin—it was spine-chilling. I immediately sprinted back up the stairway.

“Natalia?!” I yelled, knocking on the bathroom door. “Natalia!”

Jacob, Carla, and Daniel were there as well, all calling her name.

I tried the handle. “Shit, it’s locked!” I said, looking at Jacob. “Does it have a key?”

“N—no… no keys.”

“Dammit!” I tried kicking the door open. “Natalia!”

Daniel pushed through. “Let me.” In one blow, he kicked open the bathroom door, and I sprinted in. The shower was still running; the heat from it made the space foggy. I looked around but didn’t see my sister. Her shampoo and conditioner were thrown on the ground, her towel halfway in the toilet, and the window was open.

“She’s not here…” I said weakly, rushing out of the bathroom.

“Jessie!” Carla called out, following me. “Hold up!”

I kept running. We made our way to me and my sister’s shared room.

She wasn’t there either.

“Jess!” Daniel called.

I rushed out. “What?!”

Then I heard it—sobbing. Natalia’s sobbing. I looked over the stairwell railing, and there she was—standing at the cabin’s entrance, naked as a newborn, bruised, and sobbing.

I gasped. “Don’t look,” I told the boys as Carla and I ran downstairs with a towel, wrapping her up.

“Are you okay?” I asked hurriedly. “How’d you get down here?”

She was visibly shaking, her skin was cold, and her eyes were wide. She kept muttering something along the lines of, “Man… died… horrible… fall from high place.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, concerned.

Carla and I led her to the couch. Daniel quickly made some hot chocolate and brought it over.

“Thanks,” I smiled, taking the mug.

His eyes were narrowed, his posture stiff. I knew that look all too well.

“What’re you thinking about?”

That got him out of his head. “Uh, three years ago, a man named Clyde Dossan fell from the second story of his home, resulting in death.”

I tilted my head, confused. “So?”

He sighed. “His home… in these woods. The house is considered haunted. It’s said that most of the missing-person cases were kids who went looking for Clyde’s home.”

Carla forced a chuckle. “What’re you getting at—you think Nat was attacked by a zombie-man?”

“A spirit,” he said, deadpan.

“Well, Daniel, thanks for the input, but spirits aren’t real. Now can we stop daydreaming and focus on my sister?”

I didn’t mean to sound annoyed, but I had more important things to focus on than spirits. I turned my attention back to Natalia.

“Here, it’s hot chocolate.”

She didn’t take it—just kept muttering. “Clyde… angry… death not an accident…”

My heart lurched. “What?”

Just then, Carla jumped out of the seat. “Okay, what the shit!”

“What happened?” I asked, standing up.

“Something just touched my fricking shoulder!”

My eyes narrowed, pulse quickening. “Not funny.”

“I’m not joking!” She turned around frantically. “Babe!”

Jacob didn’t answer.

“Where is he?!”

Daniel tilted his head. “Left him at the top of the stairs.”

She hurriedly stomped over to the staircase. And there he was.

“Oh, babe! Did you not hear me calling you?”

Jacob didn’t answer; he just stared down at her—emotionlessly.

“Babe?”

I looked over at Daniel. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Could be Clyde Dossan’s spirit.”

I rolled my eyes. “You can be so childish.”

Just then, Jacob spoke. So did Natalia.

“My death… not an accident… teenagers snuck in… pushed me.”

I immediately backed away. “What the hell…”

“Hell not a nice place,” they continued in sync. “I refuse to go.”

Daniel was surprisingly calm, which I was grateful for, because it stopped me from freaking out.

“Carla… back away from him. Both of you, recite the Our Father prayer.”

“What?” Carla and I said in unison.

“Just do it!” he yelled.

We began. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”

The lights in the house went crazy. Cups flew, cupboards and drawers opened, Jacob and Natalia screamed out in pain.

“Do not stop!” Daniel demanded.

Jacob covered his ears. “Stop!” he screamed.

He lost his balance and fell down the steps but kept screaming and begging for us to stop. I looked over at Natalia—she wasn’t any better. Tears streamed down her face as she cried out the same words.

“Stop!” she begged. “Please, stop!”

Daniel rushed upstairs, gathering our stuff and bringing it down.

“What’re you doing?” I asked.

“Keep reciting!”

“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses…”

When he was done, he turned to me. “We need to get them away from here. Wandering spirits cannot leave the area they died in.”

He pointed at Natalia. “Get her dressed, we need to go now.”

Then, turning to Carla, “Sorry, but I’m going to knock out your boyfriend.”

Carla nodded quickly. “Please do!” Then, in the same breath, “For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory…”

And so he did. I quickly got Natalia dressed. We were about to make our way out of the cabin when the doors slammed shut.

Natalia laughed. “You will die.”

My knees felt weak. “Nat, please, snap out of it!”

“Keep up the prayer, Jess,” Daniel insisted.

“It’s not doing anything!” I yelled out in frustration.

He looked at me—really looked at me—and saw that I was scared. Terrified. My whole body shook, my breathing was uneven. He immediately pulled me into a hug.

“It’s okay. We’ll be okay… your crush got an A in exorcism.”

“What…” I found myself feeling flustered despite the situation. “You—you know?”

“Of course,” he chuckled. “Now keep reciting—maybe I’ll take you to dinner when we get out of here.”

I kept reciting the prayer. Natalia screamed out again. “Stop!”

Daniel kicked the doors open. What is it with this guy and kicking doors?

We all rushed out. Daniel hurled Jacob over his shoulder and sprinted to the van. Carla and I helped Natalia over and into the back seat.

Then I looked at the cabin—something peeped out from the curtains in one of the second-floor bedrooms. Not paper white like those movie ghosts. It looked human, but faded—like someone turned the opacity down 50%.

Then it disappeared.

“Did anyone else see that?” I asked, looking around.

But Daniel and Carla were too busy getting everything set.

I looked into the back seat to see my sister passed out. I immediately looked at Daniel. “Did you…?”

“What, no!”

“Sorry, sorry!”

He sighed. “Let’s go. I set a barrier up; it can’t possess any of us.”

We all got in the van and drove off. I looked back one last time at the fading cabin, and relief washed over me. Finally, the nightmare was over.

Looking back at it now, I’m grateful it was short, because if it had been prolonged any further… I would’ve gone insane.

So, do you believe in spirits now? No? Oh boy… you better hope you remember the Our Father prayer. Because now they’re offended. And they’ll find you.