The story was posted in 2010 and I read it about six years ago. Today I finally found it again, so, here are some of my opinions on this work - mostly about what can I learn from it.
First, the author made the article as a union of a report and a diary. Totally immersion. People can hardly believe one person's talk, but when it is a report, it'll be different, right?
Then, the invisible horror. Once the emotion can be given vent to a real thing, it's no longer a mystery. In this work, the author just described how everything had been burnt, and they just couldn't get off from their destiny. If you can't describe something in detail while preserving the fear it brings to people, DON'T DO IT. Only put readers' attention on "what's happening", instead of telling them "what's here". Keep your face in the shadow.
But the most important thing is the emotion. The tone of the whole article is very normal at the beginning, even positive. Though some details didn't seem right, everything was going normal. Then, CRASH! "The page was mostly destroyed." We found something wrong, but where?
Everything was burnt. It was confusing and, also, horrible. After we read through almost the whole story, we knew what happened. And we can do nothing since the following diary was burnt away. DESPAIR.
Another creepy detail: Possibly this section was written with the pen in her mouth. The idea was brilliant. Every detail should be reasonable in your writing, and the motivation of the character should be reasonable. It was an unexpected plot but people can understand it.
For the manifestation of supernatural powers in this story, I'd say the handprint was strong evidence, but why it appeared? That's the most clever part of this article: it provides plenty of blanks. The ghost of the cabin's owner? Or just a ghost who likes to go around lighting things on fire? You need to think about it yourself.
(I'm not good at writing in English, so if you can't understand some sentences in my post or have any suggestions, just let me know! I'll be happy to know! And I'm not sure if I chose the topic right... If I made a mistake, sorry for that:(
(I read Ashes for the first time a long time ago, I was excited to read it again today so I write this haha. I love it so much. )