The Frost That Never Left

Ethan had always wanted to escape the city, to find a place where he could be alone, where the noise of the world couldn’t reach him. When he found an abandoned log cabin deep in the snowy mountains, it felt like fate.

“No one’s lived there in years,” the local shopkeeper told him when he stocked up on supplies. “The last man who stayed there… well, he left in a hurry.”

Ethan didn’t ask questions. The cabin was sturdy, remote, and exactly what he needed.

For the first few days, everything was perfect. He chopped firewood, cooked simple meals, and sat by the window, watching the snow fall in thick, heavy drifts. The silence was comforting.

Until it wasn’t.

Night One: The Cold Inside

The first night, the fire in the cabin’s stone fireplace burned bright and hot. But as the hours passed, an unnatural chill settled into the room.

Ethan woke up shivering. The fire had gone out.

He checked the logs—half of them were untouched, unburned.

Strange.

He relit the fire, wrapped himself in a thick blanket, and went back to sleep.

By morning, frost coated the inside of the windows.

And his footprints—where he had walked the night before—had disappeared from the snow outside.

Night Three: The Whispering Wind

The cold grew worse. No matter how much wood he burned, it never lasted.

Then came the whispers.

At first, Ethan thought it was the wind howling through the trees. But it was different—low, rhythmic, almost like words.

By the third night, he couldn’t ignore it.

The sound wasn’t coming from outside.

It was coming from inside the cabin.

He searched every corner, every shadow. Nothing. But when he looked at the frosted windowpane, he saw something that made his breath hitch.

A message.

Written in the ice.

“LET ME IN.”

Night Five: The Visitor

Ethan tried to leave.

But every time he packed his things, the snowfall grew worse. The roads vanished under layers of ice. His truck wouldn’t start.

That night, he heard footsteps. Slow, deliberate.

Something—or someone—was walking around the cabin.

He grabbed his flashlight and peered outside.

No footprints.

Nothing but the endless white of the snow.

And then… the whispering stopped.

Instead, there was a knock.

Not on the front door.

From inside the closet.

Ethan never made it out of the mountains.

And the next person who finds the cabin?

They’ll see the same message on the frozen window.

“LET ME IN.”