Butcher In The Cabin - A.E. Stanfill

A Modern Pulp / Slasher Horror Novel

Butcher In The Cabin by A.E. Stanfill

Book excerpt

It was a very warm evening just like always in the Deep South, though something was different. On this day, a man was held up in his one bedroom apartment writing in a journal, not even knowing what had possessed him to do so.

However, his is a very strange story indeed; he was arrested at the age of sixteen for supposedly murdering six adults and over thirty young kids and teens, and no matter how much he told his side of the story, no one would believe him—not the cops, nor the parents of the kids that died.

What was really sad was that not even his own parents believed him. What was also weird was that a few of his friends that he had made over the years that he went camping with had survived. Now why in the world would a teen killer let anyone survive even if they were friends? It didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

What was even weirder was when his so-called friends were questioned, they claimed they couldn’t remember a damn thing at all, and that sure didn’t make any sense now, did it? But it didn’t matter, they had found a suspect, and all they wanted was for someone to take the fall and who better than a sixteen-year-old kid covered in blood and in shock.

They cleaned him up and kept him in the hospital for a few days before putting him in juvenile hall and then trying him for the murders. However, Sam was lucky; at his hearing, he was found not guilty because of insufficient evidence. Even though they couldn’t put him in prison, the judge made a call to have him put in an asylum for the criminally insane until he was deemed fit for society.

He never had a problem talking to people that wanted to know what happened at the campgrounds, but everyone he spoke to would leave and never come back to talk with him again. Asked why, they replied, “The details he gives are just too gruesome and unbelievable.”

What really happened out there in the woods that year? Only Sam knows the real truth. But what’s the point? Nobody ever listened to him or believed him.

Sam seemed intent on writing about his awful past and started his trip down memory lane. It began like this.

I was just your normal teenager, who had just turned sixteen at the time, lost in my own little world—or maybe I wasn’t normal at all. Teens my age had girlfriends and also had their permit to drive, but that just wasn’t me. I didn’t have a girlfriend, and I didn’t know how to drive either.

I wasn’t athletic, and I didn’t play sports; however, I did take karate and that kept me in decent shape, plus I liked to walk. That week I was on top of the world; school was out for the summer, and that meant no more homework and no more dealing with the rest of the ignorant teens either. I remember how the next day started for me. It wasn’t near as good as the last.

The day started off normal, I had my breakfast, and I was ready to read my comic book. And that’s exactly what I did. I was lost in my own little world, exactly what I had been waiting for. While sitting on the couch reading my comic book, I could hear my mom and dad talking in the kitchen, but I paid them no mind.

Then I heard those two words that I thought I would never hear again: summer camp. That snapped me out of that world. Shit! I thought to myself. Another year of summer camp. Really? I mean, come on, I’m too old for that shit now.

Summer camp sure as hell had never been fun for me; every year it was always the same. I got picked on and beat up on by the bullies; they were a year older than me and had always been bigger than me. I just downright hated it. On top of that, there was no TV, you couldn’t even use your cell phone, and if caught with one, they took it away from you. All I would usually end up with were my comic books, which was fine with me when I got a chance to read them, but nine times out of ten some asshole stole them from me, and the counselors could care less. They were either too busy having sex or too busy picking on the nerds, which usually included me.

Yeah, I’m considered a nerd because of my love for comic books—which in my eyes makes the counselors a complete and utter joke! Believe me, I paid for being who I am, so did many of the other kids throughout the years. If you were a jock, you were loved by the counselors and could get away with anything. If you were a nerd, you were guaranteed a long and harsh summer.

So I asked myself, Why would my parents do this to me? What have I done wrong? I couldn’t come up with any answers. I knew if this happened it was going to ruin my summer yet again for another year of my life. But what was I supposed to do?

I decided to calmly wait and listen in on some more of my parents’ conversation before doing anything else. So I just sat on the couch and listened to them talk about me. I was shocked when I heard everything. My mom thought it would be a good idea for me to go one more time, while my dad made it sound like it would be the last time they could get rid of me for another summer. I know they wanted to be alone and all, but why did I have to go through hell so they could achieve it? I started to get upset, so on that day I decided, since I was close to being a man, I would tell my parents how I felt.

“Mom, Dad,” I said with a very stern voice, “I don’t want to go back to that place,” I said to them with a hint of anger in my voice. “It sucks and I refuse to go, you can’t make me.” I kept on running my mouth without thinking. “I’m a man now. I can do what I want.”

If only I had used my head, what came next would have been avoided if I had done so. Before I knew it, I felt my dad’s hand land flush on my cheek as he slapped the taste right out of my mouth. It hurt like hell. It had been a while since the last time my dad hit me. I was upset and my face hurt like hell. I was still in shock that my dad had slapped me; I was just telling my parents how I felt.

Yes, I could have handled things differently, but I was young and rambunctious. It happens, right? Still, I don’t feel like I deserved it, but whatever. And I sure as hell didn’t deserve what happened next either, because they both started screaming at me. First, it was my mom.

“What in the hell is your problem?” she asked loudly, “You know what? After that stunt, you’re going whether you like it or not!” I knew not to say another word, I wasn’t about to get slapped again. I could tell by the look on my mom’s face that she wasn’t done with me yet. “Your father busts his ass to send you to summer camp so you can get out there and have some fun! And on top of that, it’s not cheap; these things cost money. It keeps you out of trouble, young man! If it wasn’t for summer camp, your lazy ass would be at home all day with your nose in those damn comic books all summer long.”

Before my mom could get another word in, my dad interrupted her, “Son, we just want what’s best for you, that’s all. If that means you have to get out of the house and go to summer camp, then so be it.” He was being calm about it at first. I could tell he felt bad about slapping me, but I didn’t care. At that moment, I wanted to win the argument.

“Dad. I’m an adult now, don’t I get a say in this?”

He was still trying his best to be calm with me as he said, “No buts this time, son, it’s been decided. And no, you don’t have a say in this, you may be a teenager now, but you’re still a child, and you will do what you’re told. No ifs or buts about it, young man. Are we clear?”

I looked at my dad with an angry look on my face. To me, it wasn’t fair, I deserved a summer to myself, and that’s why I kept fighting against them both.

“Dad, it’s not fair. You know how much I hate that place. Yet you still send me there, and on top of that, you and Mom both find excuses to send me back there every year. Think about how I feel for once.” I wasn’t backing down, but in the end, it didn’t do me a bit of good.

My dad was starting to get upset with me. Man did his face begin to get red. That’s when I decided it was time to ease up a bit, but I knew I was too late. He turned away from me and did his best to calm himself down. It wasn’t good; I could see his facial expression changing. He was really pissed off, and it didn’t take long for him to show it either.

“Our word is final, young man,” he said angrily to me. But he didn’t stop there, and believe me, it was far from over. Dad was letting me know he was the boss of the house. “You’re going whether you like it or not, and that is that. Don’t say another word, young man, or you’ll be in serious trouble.”

I looked at my dad and gave him the biggest “go to hell” look that you could give anyone. I was upset, fighting back my tears because everyone knows men don’t cry. Feeling my anger boiling over inside of me, I yelled at the top of my lungs at my dad and mom, “I hate you both!” I tried and tried to fight back my tears with all my might, but I finally broke down.

With tears in my eyes, I stormed off to my room not saying a word to my parents as I went. I slammed the door behind me. I didn’t say another word to my parents the rest of the night, and my parents never came to my room to apologize or try to console me. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. I was the only child, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone else trying to bother me either.

I laid in my bed, staring up at the ceiling thinking about the day after tomorrow; that was really the only thing on my mind. Yeah, I felt bad about the argument I had with my parents that night. At that moment though, I didn’t care; all I knew is that I felt like they had betrayed me again.

After a while, I knew it wasn’t going to do me any good to be angry or to fight with my parents. I had officially given up and accepted my fate.I now realized I had to figure out what I was going to do for fun on my last day of freedom before I had to go back to that damn place. That’s when it hit me. The next day, I was going to wake up early, eat some breakfast, grab my favorite comic book that I had been reading, and go to my favorite hiding spot.

My thoughts went from thinking about the next day to thinking about summer camp. The more I thought about it, the more I started to feel uneasy about it all. I just had a very bad feeling about camp that year, it was like a warning coming deep from inside my soul—it scared me. I had a million things running through my head at the moment; however, my eyes were starting to get heavy.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. That night, I had one of the most horrible nightmares you could ever imagine.Something was chasing me. I couldn’t exactly see what it was; all I knew was that it was after me. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was running around in circles. For no reason, I decided to stop and look around, but there wasn’t anything there.

Then nothing but silence. I stood there in the darkness all alone and waited for whatever was after me to jump out and show itself. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I yelled out into the darkness, “Hello! Is anyone out there? If so, please stop. It’s not funny anymore.” Then it began; screams started coming from all around me. It wasn’t just normal screams either, it was some of the most blood-curdling screams you could ever imagine, I was paralyzed with fear.

I could also see something in the dark; all of a sudden it leaped out at me. At first I couldn’t make out what it was; however, I could hear a creepy laughter, as whatever this thing was it had a hold of me. I screamed out into the darkness, fighting against whatever had me; then I heard a faint voice. I really couldn’t make out what it was saying, and I was honestly too scared to pay attention. But I do remember the constant laughing.Before I knew it, I woke up screaming bloody murder.

It was horrible, and I had a cold sweat all over my body. I jumped out of my bed and started looking around my room as if I was looking for what had me in my nightmare. I guess I was making sure that I was really safe in my own room; it didn’t take me long to decide that it was time for me to jump back in my bed and hide under my covers. Yeah, it was childish of me.

After the nightmare, I barely got any sleep the rest of that night. For me, it was definitely a sign of things to come. It wasn’t long before the sun started coming up. Little rays of light shone through my curtains. I lay in bed still partially under my covers; to be honest, I didn’t want to get out of my bed because I knew this would be my last day of freedom.

But at last, it was time for me to get up and get myself ready because I could hear faint sounds of footsteps and the sound of dishes clanging together, which let me know that my mom was up and more than likely cooking breakfast for my dad before he went to work and for me also. I was sure that they were both still mad at me, so yeah, I was somewhat scared to make my way downstairs.

Before long I didn’t have a choice, as my dad yelled for me, “Sam! It’s time to get out of bed and eat! You have a long day ahead of you!”

Damn, I thought to myself. I really didn’t want to get yelled at again, so I did the smart thing. “Okay, Dad!” I answered back nicely. I got out of bed and got myself dressed. “I’m on my way down now, Dad!” I ran downstairs and stopped right at the kitchen entrance as I had an idea. I was going to try and pout my way out of this whole summer camp thing. I slowly walked into the kitchen with my head held low and a sad look on my face. Nobody could resist my sad face.

Or so I had thought. Clearly it didn’t work, because my mom and dad completely ignored me. Oh well, I thought to myself. It’s not like I could do anything about it. So I took a seat at the table after trying to suck up by giving my mom and dad a kiss on the cheek. That too had failed. I gave up and started eating the food that was on the table in front of me, at least the breakfast was good.

I even tried to talk to my mom and dad, but they kept on ignoring me and talked to each other as they ate like I wasn’t even there. All I could do was sit there and listen in on what they were talking about. My mom looked over at me, “How do you like your breakfast?” she asked.

“It’s really good, Mom, like always.”

We pretty much just sat there eating and talking. I still didn’t say a whole lot though. I tried to think of things to say, but my mind had gone blank. Afterward, I helped clear the table, then I started my chores without so much as a word.

It took me longer to finish on that day than most, my mind was elsewhere. And I figured, what’s the point? Like I said before, it took me a while to finish my chores, and before I knew it, I was finally done. I decided to make my way to the living room and catch up on some reading before my journey into hell the next day. Just as I was about to take a seat on the couch, my dad told me to go outside because my mom and he had some things to do and discuss.

Bullshit, I thought to myself. As I turned around and proceeded to walk out the front door, I knew they just wanted me out of their way. Their excuse was that I needed to be outside more and get used to being more active because I would soon be outside more than usual. I wanted to yell and scream as I walked out on the porch, but all I could muster was a “Yes, sir.” And I quietly closed the door behind me.

The way I looked at things was, why start another argument? I was still angry though. This sucks; I’m sixteen years old, and I’m still being treated like a child, I thought to myself as I stomped down the porch steps and down the sidewalk. But then I remembered I had plans for today, I already had my comic book in hand, so I was ready to go.

What seemed to start off as another bad day started to look up just a bit, but for some reason, my anger boiled over inside of me. And I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling of rage. I started muttering obscenities to myself at first. Before I knew it, I was yelling at the top of my lungs, “How much longer do I have to take this shit?” I kicked at the sidewalk. I kept on walking with a pissed-off look on my face. Hoping that when I got to my favorite spot, I would have calmed down some.

Still a few blocks away from my destination, the sun was beating down on me. It was hot as hell that day, and I was sweating bullets, but all I could think about was going to that hellhole, and that spurred on my anger. Then out of nowhere, I heard a noise; it sounded like someone was following me. I stopped walking and quickly turned around. There wasn’t a single soul around, so I just chalked it up to my imagination and blamed the heat and my anger as well, and I kept walking on.

My thoughts then turned back to having to go to that wretched place the next day. I snickered as I thought to myself, Guess I could run away. Then I wouldn’t have to go. It wouldn’t do me any good at all though, my parents would just call the cops. And I knew they would find me, then my parents would kill me. Or I would just chicken out even if I tried; either way, I wasn’t willing to take the risk and find out.

I walked a little farther down the sidewalk and noticed a huge tree in the distance; I was finally there. I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way toward the tree. It was nice as I needed a break from the sun and the heat; I smiled as I sat under the tree.

It was definitely my favorite spot in the world to sit and read my comic books. The tree was an amazing one, it was big and beautiful, the leaves were full and green and hung over you as if trying to cradle you from the sun, and the grass was soft to the touch and nice to sit on; it felt good to sit down relax and forget about what was to come.

I leaned back against the tree and stretched my legs out to get as comfortable as I possibly could. I opened my comic book and started to read, but I found myself somewhat distracted by my own thoughts. I couldn’t help but think about the next day. Believe me when I say that I tried to forget and read, but I couldn’t; the only happy thought that came from it was the thought of seeing my friends again. Yes, I missed them, that part I couldn’t help.

I just hoped they would be there. I couldn’t get through it alone. And another happy thought was the fact that after this year, my parents could no longer force me to go back to that damn place. Before I knew it I could feel my eyes start to get heavy. I fought it the best I could, but with the cool breeze and my body tired from my restless night, my eyes started to close.

That was when I had my second nightmare.My dream started off decent at first, it was my friends and myself at camp, and we were actually having a good time. Then that dream turned into a horrible nightmare; one by one my friends started to disappear into a darkness that suddenly surrounded me. It wasn’t long before I found myself all alone. I ran around in the darkness frantically searching for my friends or any other sign of human life.

I realized that there wasn’t another soul around; the more I searched, the more I found myself engulfed in the darkness. All of a sudden, the hairs on my arm stood up straight and a cold chill slowly ran up my spine. The air around me became thick and ice-like. I found that it had gotten a lot harder to breathe. There was nothing but pure malice and hatred everywhere I turned, and I knew I wasn’t alone.

Out of the darkness came a creepy and sinister laugh that shook me to my core. I tried to scream out. Hell, I even tried to run, but I was paralyzed with fear and could not find the strength to do either. After a brief few seconds, the laughter ceased. Shadows in the distance could be seen along with sounds of footsteps. It was too dark to see exactly what was going on or what the shadows were. I myself was still too scared to even think about moving. Then it happened: the laughter was back, but it was different, somehow playful.

Book Details

AUTHOR NAME: A.E. Stanfill

BOOK TITLE: Butcher In The Cabin

GENRE: Horror

SUBGENRE: Slasher / Pulp Horror

PAGE COUNT: 268

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