{"id":6076,"date":"2019-10-30T12:57:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T12:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/phillippines?p=6076"},"modified":"2019-10-30T12:57:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T12:57:28","slug":"the-cabin-story-entry-young-authors-scheme-competition-batangas-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/the-cabin-story-entry-young-authors-scheme-competition-batangas-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cabin | Story Entry Young Authors Scheme Competition Batangas 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“YOU CAN\u2019T RUN, AMA.\u201d That voice… it filled her mind with true fear. Fear that made her want to grovel and curl up into a ball in the corner. She tried to move her body. It didn\u2019t respond. It was like she was completely paralyzed. Her body was stuck lying down. Her back was stuck to the bed. It felt like she was being held down by chains. The world felt cold. She felt like she was helplessly being submerged into freezing waters, he<\/p>\n

\u201cYOU CAN\u2019T RUN FROM WHAT YOU\u2019VE DONE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her vision was tunneling. Blurry. It was slowly being taken over by darkness. She tried to scream for help, but no voice came out from her lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet away!\u201d Ama thought.<\/p>\n

She tried moving her head to the right. It worked. Her sights landed on a single gray door about 10 meters away from her. Outside the door was a gray-haired girl wearing pink-colored pajamas designed with white vertical stripes. Ama may have been far away from her, but she could see the girl\u2019s eyes clearly. It was abysmal, filled with nothing but pure glistening black, like obsidian.<\/p>\n

\u201cHanna…?\u201d She thought happily. It was her. Hanna, her best friend since childhood. \u201cHanna? Is that you? Oh, it\u2019s…\u201d She faltered when Hanna slowly turned her back on her and walked away from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, no…\u201d Ama tried to move. This time, she was successful. She successfully sat up. The female could feel her spine straining from the weight of her own body. \u201cNo, please…\u201d She tried to stand up and walk to her, but her body felt heavier than before as she set herself on two feet. She fell down to her knees and lay on the floor on her chest. She tried to get up. She couldn\u2019t. It felt like gravity was pulling her down stronger than before.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, don\u2019t go…\u201d Ama looked up and watched Hanna walk away from her as if she was nonexistent. \u201cHanna, please!\u201d Tears formed around her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. She didn\u2019t want her to go. She wanted Hanna to be with her. \u201cDon\u2019t go! Don\u2019t go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAma?\u201d<\/p>\n

The world of darkness cleared as the lights of her room turned on. The gray door disappeared. Hanna disappeared. The gray door was replaced with a white door, and standing outside was a rather petite teenage girl. The girl was wearing a white tank top, paired with black cycling shorts and white sandals. \u201cAma…?\u201d the small girl asked, visibly concerned about the condition of her roommate. She set her backpack down on the floor and knelt down right next to Ama. \u201cAre you alright? Wait, stupid question. You\u2019re definitely not alright…\u201d She wiped the tears off Ama\u2019s eyes with her thumb and grabbed her wrists.<\/p>\n

\u201cCassiopeia?\u201c said the young female.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, get up,\u201d Cassiopeia helped Ama up and set her down on her wheelchair, where she sat and calmed herself down. \u201cWhat happened, Ama? It\u2019s 5:31 in the morning. It\u2019s too early for you to wake up like this…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDream,\u201d Ama spoke. \u201cHanna… I miss her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cassiopeia had a sorrowful look on her face as Ama mentioned the name of their lost friend. \u201cDon\u2019t think that I\u2019m setting guilt on you for leaving her behind, back in that mountain. We know it wasn\u2019t your fault for locking her in. It was my fault for setting that mountain as our venue. I should have listened to the rumors that were surrounding that place. Haunted, filled with contemptible ghosts… I should be blamed, not you. Do you really want to go back?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m… I can\u2019t. I can\u2019t bear it,\u201d Ama couldn\u2019t stop the river of guilt and melancholy from breaking down her dam. She shed tears and bawled miserably, grieving for her precious friend. The memory of Hanna, as well as that wicked phantom… has haunted her for two years straight. \u201cI can\u2019t go back there. No.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was two years ago when Ama and her friends decided to go on a vacation at a lodge up in the snowy mountains to celebrate the end of their school year as seniors. The place was labeled as off-limits by many, due to certain \u201cghost\u201d rumors that surrounded the cabin and its surrounding area. Many locals warned the group, but they decided to spend their time there anyway. For the first two days, everything was alright.<\/p>\n

It was their third day in the mountains when Ama woke up earlier than she expected herself to wake up. Hanna was usually up earlier than she was, but that time, Ama was up earlier. The female sat up and looked down at the pretty girl that was lying down beside her. Under the bright sunlight that shone through the window, her face was so… beautiful. She couldn\u2019t describe Hanna as anything else. Ama could only manage a smile while she admired the future doctor for a few more seconds. She got up from the bed, wore her dark green parka jacket and left the cabin silently so she wouldn\u2019t wake anyone up in her exit.<\/p>\n

Despite her parka jacket protecting her from the cold, Ama could still feel the wintry atmosphere against her skin. The snow crunched and squished against her feet as she walked and followed the road. It was always nice to take a walk early in the morning. It felt refreshing, and it also gave Ama a bit of an exercise. She strolled around the surrounding forest blindly, occasionally stopping to admire the radiant sunrise that shone in the sky until she came across an isolated cabin out in an opening. It was broken down. The roof had numerous holes through it and the windows were barricaded by planks of wood secured by rusty nails. A few spiders could be seen crawling along its walls, along with numerous termites eating away at the wood that built the cabin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d Ama asked to herself curiously. She remembered coming into that same area before. Last she remembered, there was no cabin standing here. That piqued her interest. \u201cWas this here before?\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquisitive female walked towards the mysterious cottage. She was curious as to what might be inside. Ama set her hand on the doorknob and opened the door slowly. Loud creaking filled her ears as she opened the door. She walked inside and set her eyes on the things that were inside. It was abandoned, which was expected from what it looked like from the outside. A red couch was toppled over and ripped to shreds. A television was lying face flat on the ground. Pictures could also be found hanging along the walls, but they were too worn out to even be seen clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello?\u201d she called out. \u201cIs anyone—\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cThere?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At that moment, Ama felt empty, as if her soul was drained right out of her body. She felt as if she was walking right through a hazy dream. Her face was as blank as a porcelain doll\u2019s as she walked right out of the cabin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“YOU CAN\u2019T RUN, AMA.\u201d That voice… it filled her mind with true fear. Fear that made her want to grovel and curl up into a ball in the corner. She tried to move her body. It didn\u2019t respond. It was like she was completely paralyzed. Her body was stuck lying down. Her back was stuck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[93],"tags":[81,78,75,76,103,83,95,94,91,96,89],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6076"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6121,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions\/6121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catherinekhoo.sg\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}