The Cabin in the Cornfield

Eric loved driving fast. He was speeding in his truck down a deserted highway, right past an eerie looking cornfield. It was dusk, and he had just bought his deli fresh meat from the convinience store to have for supper. That's when he noticed that the truck battery was slowly dying as he sped along.



"Damn!" he yelled. It had just occured to Eric that he had left the lights on as he was in the store for his 5 or 6 minutes inside.

His truck slowly came to a stop, as he wheeled his steering wheel next to the cornfield, angry at himself. He pulled his cellphone out and held it up to his face, but he had zero bars out here. He was literally in the middle of nowhere. Eric got out of his truck and let the summer air wash over him. It was a bit breezy out tonight, and there were hardly any noises, except for the crickets and wind. Eric, in fury, kicked his truck, and at that moment an old lady's voice called out, "Broken down, hon?"

Eric wheeled around and looked at the lady. She had a very faint mist about her, and also had a bonnet/hood up that hid her face. Perhaps the moonlight was shining off of her clothing. The cornstalks were pushed aside and a cabin could be seen from within.

"Yes, er,..." Eric started. "...Could you please get me a jumper cable, and..."

But the woman hushed him. "Dear, you look particularly hungry. Please, follow me back to my home. You could do with a nice dinner."

Eric followed her reluctantly, looking back at his truck. "Well, ma'am... I just..."

"Now, listen. You're coming with me, you poor, poor man. And I will help you, then." She said, not turning around. She and Eric pushed their way back through the cornstalks and soon reached a dingy looking cabin. The lights were all off.

Eric was a bit nervous. "Ma'am, do you have any lights?"

The woman stopped walking, and so did Eric, staring at the back of her hood; she was just standing there. She still wouldn't turn around. "Oh yes. I always turn them off when I leave."

Eric squinted his eyes as she kept walking, and followed her again. They reached the threshold, and the woman slowly opened the door, still, again, not facing Eric.

"Here we are, hon. Make yourself comfortable." She slowly started ambling towards her refrigerator, that looked like it was about 20 years outdated, from the early 1990's. The room was pretty dark, but the woman soon turned a switch, that cast a yellow light around the room. She peered into the cabinet.

"Would you like some rice, Eric?"

Eric directed his full attention towards her, breathing hard. She still hadn't revealed her face.

"Excuse me? How did you know..." Eric began, but he was cut off.

"Rice is my absolute favorite thing to cook." The lady said with her head still in the cupboard.

Eric peered to the nearest shelving unit and saw about four, first-place cook off trophies, all of which were inscribed with a date from the 90's. 1990, 1992, 1993, and 1994.

"You won awards for your cooking." Eric said. He again looked at the dates. "Where's... 1991?" Eric also thought it was odd how his year of birth was skipped.

The lady stopped bustling in the cabinet. Her hood was still peculiarly up.

"Martha Swanson won that trophy. I had invited her over shortly after for some of my rice. I was... A bit jealous. But I wanted to celebrate with her." The lady said quickly. She backed herself out of the cabinet, still not turning around to Eric. She went to the refrigerator, and opened it. There was no light on inside, and Eric noticed that the fridge itself was unplugged. A foul smell of rotting food was wafting out of it, making the man's eyes water.

"Ma'am, I think your fridge is broken..." Eric said uncertainly. The lady ignored him and pulled out a pack of completely browned raw meat, with a green tinge to it. She began unwrapping it, still with her hood up, blocking her face.

"Uh, I don't think I can eat that." Eric said. She stopped to respond.

"I am preparing it for us, dear. You will eat with me, and then we will see about your truck."

Eric watched her prepare the meat, practically dying from the smell it was emitting. He moved into the other room to get away from it, to which the old lady did not notice. He thought he heard a soft sound coming from the door to his immediate right. He slowly and carefully opened it, and a cobwebbed skeleton fell out on top of him. Terrified, Eric threw the skeleton off and went gasping back into the other room, going to ask the old lady what that was all about. He didn't see her in the kitchen that she was in a moment ago.

"Ma'am? There's a skeleton in your closet!" He called out fearfully.

No answer from within the cabin, not even a creak of a floorboard. Eric slowly walked towards the door and opened it, only to be greeted by the woman, but something about the woman made Eric's heart almost stop. Her hood was down.

Her face was scabby, and decayed. Maggots were inside of her eye sockets. A few pieces of meaty flesh were hanging off of her decaying face.

"Dear... I cannot hide it any more."

Eric was completely speechless, on the verge of tears. He's surprised he didn't die of shock, as he couldn't move for fear.

"Hey honey, I'm home." said an uglier, more well built maggoty, walking decayed corpse who appeared out of nowhere. He caught sight of Eric, and said, "Why, look who it is, Eric, all grown up!"

Two maggoty decyaing child looking figures were running through the cornfield towards the cabin, laughing with glee. "Uncle Eric!" they were chanting.

The husband started laughing too, and as he did his entire jaw fell off and splattered on the ground like it was a pie hitting the floor. It got all over Eric's shoes, and the husband turned and looked at him. "What's the matter? Don't you recognize your father?" he said, but it sounded like "whaamahher, do hou heckonise yoh hahhur?"

Eric was completely and utterly deathly afraid. He was shaking so bad that his legs seemed to be water. He felt a hot breath on his hand. He slowly looked down and saw a maggoty dog, who gave a lick to his hand, and left some black substance on it. It started panting and one of its eyeballs fell out, which it devoured hungrily.

The old lady started to hug Eric, and planet a fleshy, disgusting kiss on Eric's mouth.

"Welcome home, Eric." the old lady said.

Eric collapsed on the spot... And nobody ever heard from him again.