2017 was the last year my family went on our yearly ski trip. It was a family tradition, and one of the few times I’d see some of my siblings, as most of them are all much older than me and have lives of their own. I remember my mom suggesting we’d stay at an Airbnb that year, as it was cheaper and not far from the ski hill, and we all thought that was a great idea, so my mom, my dad, my younger brother Jackson and I piled into the car to meet my older brother, Isaac, and my older sister Megan, and her husband Drew, I was so excited to see them.
Jackson and I jumped out of the car the second we arrived, eagerly looking forward to picking our shared room.
“Race ya!” Jackson screamed, while barreling ahead of me.
“Hey! No fair!” I laughed, chasing him, but just barely keeping up. He pointed to a room on the top floor and motioned for me to follow him to it. I followed him to the room, it was amazing. It had a big loft with our beds on it, and a huge tv, plus there was a giant window on the loft level.
“This place is awesome!” Jackson shouted while climbing up the ladder to the loft, I followed and peered out the window into the enchanting winter forest just behind the cabin, I had the feeling this trip was gonna be amazing.
I was wrong.
A few hours after we arrived, my 18 year old brother Isaac came, he marveled at the cabins beauty and charm, and so did Megan and Drew when they arrived. The first few days were great, we all drove to the ski hill together, my dad would take us boys skiing, while my mom and sister relaxed in the lodge, since my sister was pregnant with my first nephew at the time. It was on the 3rd night that something strange began to happen. I woke up at around 2 in the morning, to the sound of sticks or something being thrown at the huge window in Jackson and I’s room. I sat awake and listened for a few moments while staring at the window, even though there was a thin curtain covering the window, the light from the moon allowed me to watch the silhouette’s of the sticks hitting the window, they weren’t big, they were thin and small, but big enough to make a distinct tapping noise every time they hit.
tap
tap
tap
“Dylan..” Jackson called tiredly. “Stop with that noise.”
“It’s not me, look!” I whisper shouted to him while pointing to the window, now he was watching the sticks hit the window.
“What is that?” He whispered.
“Let’s find out.” I whispered while creeping out of bed, I turned back to see if Jackson was following me, he hesitated, but curiosity overcame him and he crept after me. I rolled the curtains up, and gazed down into the darkness, I couldn’t see anything despite the big bright moon, just a stick being tossed from the darkness below and hitting the window every few seconds, Jackson and I opened the window, the stick tossing ceased.
“Hello?” Jackson called, for a few moments it was quiet, but then someone responded.
“Hey Jackson, Hey Dylan!” The voice called, I recognized it immediately, it was Drew. Drew has a very thick Australian accent, as he lived there most his life, so it wasn’t very hard to conclude it was just Drew pranking us.
“Funny prank Drew!” Jackson said playfully, then he closed the window and climbed back into bed.
“Isn’t that kinda weird?” I asked Jackson.
“Eh, he’s just playing around.” Jackson replied nonchalantly.
I agreed, and went back to sleep. The next day was normal, Drew didn’t mention anything about the prank, but it was in the back of my mind now, however that night I was awoken again by the same tapping on the window, at the same time as the night before, I immediately looked over at Jackson, we both got up and opened the window, again, all I saw was darkness, but this time I could hear Drew giggling.
“Hey Drew.” I said, a bit aggravated.
“Guys..” Drew said between giggles, “come out here!”
Jackson and I exchanged glances. “We can’t, mom and dad will get mad.”
Drew’s giggling stopped, his tone got urgent and serious quickly. “You gotta see this, come down here.”
“No.” I said.
“Come down here!” Drew screamed angrily, a rock flew from the darkness, it just barely hit me, it fell through the window onto the floor, Jackson and I looked at each other in fear. Normally Drew was a polite and calm guy, he’s always been kind and loving towards Jackson and I. He never raised his voice, he never took things too far. I knew him as a voice of reason, and he had become even calmer after learning he was going to have a baby.
“I’m getting Megan!” Jackson cried, he rushed away, Drew’s screams grew louder and more aggressive.
“Get out here now!” Drew screamed louder than ever, I fell to my knees and balled up on the floor in terror while tears flowed out my eyes, that’s when I heard Jackson come running into the room with Megan.
“Dylan come down here now!” Megan called from below the loft, quickly I went down the ladder and ran into my sisters arms, Drew was still screaming from outside, I had my eyes closed while my sister hugged me, when I opened them I realized the terrifying truth.
Drew was standing right there
But who’s was currently standing outside our cabin screaming then? The person was still screaming for Jackson and I. Thoughts swarmed my mind, who was out there? How did it know my name? And why did it sound just like Drew?
We all stood in fearful silence, the voice stopped, but then a huge jagged rock as big as my head flew through the window, off the loft and straight at my sister, her real husband pulled her back quickly. She still screamed at the top of her lungs, which made my parents and Isaac rush into the room, they comforted my sister, and that’s when I noticed this humanoid thing climbing through the still open window, I screamed while everyone else began noticing it, that’s when we all booked it to the car, everyone piled in my parents car and we left the other cars behind. My mom was on the phone with the police for a lot of the drive, they searched the whole house and woods outside the house, to no avail.
It’s been years since that happened, the baby my sister was pregnant with is in school now, but I still wake up in a cold sweat at night, thinking I heard a voice call me and tell me..
“Dylan, come out here.”