In a small town in Western Massachusetts surrounded by a forest, that is only broken by a solitary road lies the Loyal Order of Elk fraternity, (the one for middle aged dudes not the one for college kids). It’s here that I work as a bartender and it’s here where something weird is going on.
They have a lodge, which is a small concrete building with an empty field in front of it and a forest flanking from the back and the right. It has been across from my house for as long as I could remember but I never paid it much attention. That was until I spotted a help wanted sign on one of the lodge’s windows. At the time I was unemployed and recently graduated college with a useless associates degree in criminal justice, so suffice to say… I was broke. So I went into the lodge to ask about the sign, and saw the inside of it for the first time in my life. Upon entering the first thing I noticed was a classy cherry wood bar with shelves of liquor behind it. Then I noticed in the back there were a few pool tables and the doors to the bathrooms. While I was taking in the sights I was greeted by an older portly man at the bar. He asked “Hey, are you a member here, hell are you even old enough to drink here at all?”. I replied “No on both accounts, I actually just saw the help wanted sign out front, and I’m looking for a job. Will my lack of membership be a problem?”. “Nah you’re good, I’m not a member either, I’m Don by the way.” He said putting his hand out. I shook his hand and said “I’m Josh nice to meet you, is the job still open?”. He responded “Yeah and the job is yours if you want it, you’d be a bartender by the way.” I asked, somewhat surprised, “Just like that?” and he quickly responded “Just like that”. A bit taken aback I asked “I’m only 19 can I even be a bartender?” He responded “I won’t tell if you won’t.”.
A bit unnerved, but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (I Guess I didn’t learn anything from the Iliad) I took the job. After asking Don more about the job, I learned that the job would mostly be tending bar but would also occasionally include checking on a cabin owned by the fraternity in the forest. I also learned that the staff would only consist of me, Don, and Kyle; a guy a couple years older than me. Outside of occasionally having to throw out underage kids trying to drink (the irony is not lost on me)and getting to know Don and Kyle better. Nothing of note really happened my first few weeks working there. That all changed when I had to check on the fraternity’s cabin in the forest for the first time.
It wasn’t that long a walk from the lodge but for some reason I just felt very uneasy walking there, like some primal part of my brain just didn’t want to go any further. However the other part of my brain was worried about getting fired for not checking on the place so I soldiered on despite those feelings. When I got to the cabin it was actually quite serene as the cabin was in a verdant clearing beside a stream that led to a pond and there were even some rabbits running around. The cabin itself looked very nice as it was made of cherry wood and had a green shingled roof, it looked damn near brand new. Though things got a whole lot less serene when I went into the cabin, because as soon as I did I got a splitting headache. I looked around the cabin for some aspirin to relieve my pain but I realized that the inside of the cabin was bare, no furniture, no supplies, no nothing. The only thing in there was a green hatch emblazoned with an elk in the middle of the floor. I tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge, and there didn’t seem to be a lock on the hatch so I left it alone. Seeing as there was really nothing else I could do at that point, I locked the cabin door behind me, made my way back to the lodge, and made a mental note to ask Don about the hatch.
On the way back I started hearing indistinct whispers coming from the forest to my left, I ignored it at first thinking it was just the wind. Then they started coming from the right and left and started getting louder to the point that I could hear what was being said, whatever/whoever these things were they were saying “stop” in a very monotonous tone. Not trusting weird forest voices I did the opposite of what it said and started running towards the lodge, not looking back for fear of what might be behind me. The voices got louder and seemed to come from more and more directions, until I was seemingly enveloped in voices that in unison were yelling emotionlessly at me “stop”. The second I got out of the forest all the voices cut out at once. Finally feeling some semblance of safety I looked behind me to see what made those noises. All I saw was a lone elk seemingly staring at me but I could’ve sworn Elk hadn’t been seen in Massachusetts for centuries.
Due to a combination of terror and head pain, I asked Don for the rest of the day off when I got back to the lodge. “Hey Don, is there any way I could take the rest of the day off? I went to the Cabin and -” he interrupted me “Yeah no problem, just be sure to come in tomorrow.”. I replied, “Sure thing, see you tomorrow.” He replied “Ok see ya, and I hope your head feels better”. I was a bit surprised by that, so I said thank you and made my home. As soon as I got home I took an aspirin and laid on the couch, I fell asleep instantly. Though it was far from a restful sleep, as I had a nightmare about those cacophony of unfeeling voices yelling at me to “stop”. I looked around and The yells seemed to be coming from thin air, until an elk seemingly appeared in front me and in a booming voice that shook me to my core said “wake”. I did just that, but instead of waking up on the couch I woke up at my back door looking out into the forest bathed in the pale light of the moon, where an elk was looking back at me.
We stared at each other with only the chirps of crickets breaking the silence. I must have been in a trance or frozen in fear because despite every instinct telling me to look away I was simply paralyzed. Then after what felt like an eternity it sauntered back into the forest as if it was bored of me, and I was able to move again. I took this opportunity to clumsily close and lock my back door, with my hands trembling the whole. That brings us to now, where I’m too afraid to sleep for fear of what might happen if I do. Hopefully come morning Kyle or Don could shed some light on what the fuck is going on with that cabin.