The ones who watched the fireworks

Nightfall Crypt

On the 4th of July, four friends embark on a journey to a secluded Oregon cabin for fireworks, fun, and freedom. But as night falls and the sky erupts in color, something in the woods begins to stir. Tall, pale figures. Whispered voices. A smile caught on a trail cam that shouldn't have been there. This holiday wasn’t just about celebration… it was about survival. Some traditions never die—but some are waiting to be born in the dark.

Transcript

00:00It began, like many foolish summer ideas do, with too much beer and a weak signal.

00:07Jared's family cabin was located two hours outside of Portland,

00:12just far enough into the trees to make us forget that other people existed.

00:17There was no cell service, no neighbors, just the creaking of pine trees, dirt roads,

00:24and a sagging deck that we could pretend was rustic.

00:27Jared had the keys and the trunk full of fireworks he had been hoarding since May.

00:34On the 4th of July, we made the trip.

00:37Jared, his girlfriend Kayla, our friend Darnell and I.

00:43We arrived in the late afternoon, and the heat was already intense.

00:48The gravel crunched beneath our tires like dry bones.

00:52The cabin leaned slightly to the left, as if it knew it shouldn't still be standing.

01:00But that was part of its charm, right?

01:03Rustic.

01:04The scent of pine and damp earth filled the air, and the distant call of a bird added to the serene atmosphere.

01:12We unloaded beer, burgers, sparklers, and Roman candles.

01:19By 6 o'clock, music was blasting through a Bluetooth speaker, and Jared was shirtless,

01:26flipping burgers over a fire that produced more smoke than heat.

01:31Kayla danced barefoot in the dirt, her hair wild, and her eyes already glassy from her third hard seltzer.

01:38Darnell, the skeptic of the group, rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smile.

01:46I, the cautious one, leaned back and watched the sky transition from orange to violet.

01:53Despite our different personalities, we were a tight-knit group,

01:58bound by years of shared experiences and inside jokes.

02:03The first firework went off around 8 o'clock, creating a red burst that was so loud it startled an owl nearby.

02:12We laughed and lit more fireworks, a blue comet and a screeching spinner.

02:19Each boom echoed into the woods, but strangely, it was only a little.

02:26It felt as though something was absorbing the sound.

02:29It sounds strange out here, I said.

02:33The dead trees, Jared shrugged, tossing a lighter between his hands.

02:39They absorb things, I think.

02:42By 9.45, a fuse sputtered and shot sideways, fizzling out before it launched.

02:49Jared, always the hero, grabbed a flashlight and walked into the tree line to check it.

02:54He bent down, I looked up, that's when I saw it.

03:00Behind him, just inside the trees, pale, tall, too still.

03:07I stood.

03:09Jared, he waved me off without turning.

03:13I got it, chill.

03:16I didn't chill.

03:18He came back a minute later, cursing the damp fuse and holding up a dud.

03:22You good? I asked.

03:26Yeah, what?

03:28Thought I saw someone.

03:30Huh, ghost of Fourth of July past.

03:35I didn't laugh.

03:37Near the bonfire, Kayla stood quietly behind a tree, gazing into the darkness.

03:44What's up? Darnell called.

03:46She came back slowly, holding her arms.

03:51I heard my name, she whispered.

03:54You heard what?

03:56Someone whispered it, like…

03:59She looked around.

04:01Right in my ear.

04:03We killed the music.

04:06Darnell picked up the flashlight.

04:08Who's out there? He yelled.

04:10Nothing.

04:12Then faintly.

04:14Leave.

04:15Every one of us caught it, a single word so softly spoken that it seemed to glide past us like a gentle breeze.

04:23The air around us instantly thickened with an eerie tension, as if the whisper itself had reached into our very souls.

04:32No one argued.

04:33We packed quickly.

04:35Music, drinks, fireworks, shoving everything into the cabin like kids caught trespassing.

04:42Kayla was trembling.

04:45Jared locked the door.

04:46Then she gasped.

04:48At the tree line, four shapes stood.

04:52They weren't moving.

04:54They weren't talking.

04:55They were just…

04:57Watching.

04:58Do you see them, she whispered.

05:02I see them, I said.

05:04Jared, for once, was silent.

05:08Darnell said it first.

05:10Go.

05:12Now.

05:14We bolted inside.

05:16Killed the lights.

05:17Sat on the floor.

05:19Nobody spoke.

05:21Outside, fireworks still lit up the sky, but they felt distant.

05:27Wrong.

05:28A celebration we'd been locked out of.

05:32The forest had gone dead quiet.

05:34No crickets.

05:36No wind.

05:37Just heat.

05:38Sweat.

05:39And breathe.

05:41Then.

05:42Tap.

05:43The window.

05:44Just once.

05:46Then again.

05:48None of us moved.

05:50Another tap.

05:51Then nothing.

05:53We stayed like that for hours, flinching at every creek until dawn split the sky open like a slow

06:00bruise.

06:02The forest appeared normal again, as if none of it had happened.

06:07We packed without talking.

06:09Jared didn't even lock the cabin.

06:11On the way home, he didn't say a word.

06:16None of us did.

06:18That night, he texted.

06:21He'd checked the trail cam.

06:23Ek bachkar teen minat raat ki sameh.

06:26A pale, emaciated figure, its skin nearly translucent under the infrared glow of the trail camera,

06:33crawled past the cabin porch.

06:35It moved slowly, deliberately.

06:38Its limbs were unnaturally long and thin, and its eyes seemed to reflect the light of the camera.

06:45At the edge of the frame, it came to a stop.

06:49Then it turned, faced the camera, and smiled.

06:54We should have deleted the footage.

06:57I kept reminding myself of that later, lying in bed with my phone screen displaying the frozen

07:03image of the creature, its teeth as thin as bone, its skin nearly translucent under the infrared

07:11glow of the trail camera.

07:13However, Jared didn't delete the photo.

07:16He uploaded it to his private drive.

07:21Darnell advised us to leave it alone, but Kayla blocked all of us within a week.

07:28By August, Jared wasn't responding to texts.

07:33It's strange what our minds choose to forget.

07:36For a time, I convinced myself it was just a prank or a costume.

07:42Maybe some oddball forest dwellers were messing with us.

07:45But then I recalled the sound.

07:48How it didn't echo.

07:50How it seemed to fall flat.

07:52As if the trees themselves were absorbing it.

07:56And I remembered how the air grew cold.

07:59Even though it was July.

08:02Two weeks later, I drove back.

08:06I didn't tell anyone about my plan.

08:08I convinced myself it was to prove that everything I experienced was just in my head.

08:13I wanted to see the place in daylight.

08:16I brought a can of bear spray and a knife.

08:21But I didn't know how to use either of them.

08:24The thought of returning to the cabin filled me with a mix of dread and curiosity.

08:29The cabin was still there, perhaps dustier than before.

08:35It creaked differently.

08:38As I stepped onto the porch, I froze.

08:42The trail cam was gone.

08:43I opened the door slowly.

08:46The whole place stank, musty, with wood rot and something sharp underneath.

08:52The air was cold, unnaturally so.

08:55Like the cabin hadn't seen the sun in weeks.

08:57I didn't stay long.

09:00But just before I left, I noticed something etched into the far wall near the floorboards.

09:08Four lines.

09:09One long horizontal slash beneath them.

09:14Like someone keeping count.

09:16I didn't sleep that night, and I didn't go back.

09:21But last week, nearly a year later, Darnell sent me a message.

09:27No text.

09:28Just a screenshot.

09:30It was from the new trail cam he'd set up in his backyard.

09:35For raccoons, he said.

09:37In the image, a pale shape crawls toward his house.

09:43Its face turned to the lens.

09:46And it smiled.

09:48Every year since that night, someone in our group has had a sighting.

09:53Sometimes it's a whisper.

09:55Other times, it's a figure standing still in the woods, seen from a distance or captured on camera.

10:02But always, it smiles.

10:05I don't know what we woke up out there.

10:09I don't know if it followed us, or if we followed it.

10:14Maybe lighting up the sky was like knocking on a door.

10:18And now, once a year, it answers.

10:22So I don't celebrate the fourth anymore.

10:25I don't look at the sky when it cracks open with color.

10:30Because I know something is watching.

10:32And it reminds me.

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