In the Forest of Light and Dark

by Kasniak, Mark

  Crap, I thought. I need to cover my ass better next time.

  “Now, who do we have here?” Step Daddy Cade then said changing the subject right before he came up to me and began scratching Casper atop his head.

  “This is Casper.” I told him. “I found him in the cemetery. I think his mama might have abandoned him.”

  “Well, tell ya what. When I go down to the Walmart tomorrow, I’ll see if I can pick him up somethin’ a bit more suited for a cat than that there cardboard box. But, if ya’ll are gonna keep him. He needs to stay upstairs with you. I don’t want him downstairs scratchin’ up all the nice furniture. And, he’ll be needin’ to get all his shots.”

  I couldn’t believe what the hell had just happened! Step Daddy Cade had let me slide on skipping school, stealing beers, and hiding a kitten, and now he was going to let me keep it. Had aliens kidnapped him? Who the hell was this new guy? But then, as we entered back into the kitchen I caught him giving Katelyn elevator eyes and looking her up and down as she walked past him. So, I knew my step daddy was still in there somewhere. His new soft guy persona apparently wasn’t a case of the invasion of the body snatchers after all.

  I couldn’t really blame him for looking though. My clothes that Katelyn had on were a size too small for her, causing the blue jeans and white cotton T-shirt to cling snugly to her, accentuating her curves around her backside and perky breast. I did however give my step daddy a smack on the arm as I walked past him on my way back into the kitchen while also adding a look of disapproval and mumbling in a low tone, “Knock it off.” through my clenched teeth. But he just rolled his eyes at me as if to say, “What?”

  Gym Class Hero

  The next day it was back to the grind for me at Mt. Harrison High. The day had started out gray and cloudy, lending a somewhat gloomy ambiance to the forest. It had made me feel depressed as I made my slow walk to school. Like the weather was somehow an omen of some sort of something bad to come. And, if it wasn’t for the half-dozen or so strays that helped to lift my spirits as they accompanied me to school, I'd probably would have considered ditching for a second day in a row, damned the consequences.

  Homeroom had gone by fairly quickly as I spent the time once again staring out the window at the squirrels, watching them dig holes in the schoolyard burying nuts for later. But then the bell hit and it was off to physics for me.

  Mr. McLaren had made his grand entrance into the room sauntering to-and-fro while looking gayer than a three dollar bill. I could tell by his demeanor that he was going to be in rare form today, like he had just gotten done taking a bump or two in one of the bathroom stalls.

  “Welcome class, happy Friday to you all.” He said while doing a frilly little gesture with his hands as if he was teaching drama class and not physics. “Miss. Singer, it’s nice to see you on time today, even though you had decided not to grace us with your presence yesterday.”

  Already in a bad mood, and now further irritated by Mr. McLaren’s smug peppiness, I said in my deepest Southern drawl, “Yeah, well… That was because I spent the whole day in my daisy dukes while leaning over the fender of our turnip truck watchin’ my step daddy install a new HEMI.” And, as soon as I had said it, I thought, Why the hell did I just say that? I guess at the time I just wanted to fuck with Mr. McLaren. A pre-emptive strike, for whatever derogatory comment he was going to say to me today. Or maybe I just needed someone to take my foul mood out on. Either way, screw him.

  I did manage to catch a few kids in the class laughing under their breath, but they quickly worked to hide their emotions, not wanting to show that they had thought what I had said was funny. Not wanting to like me in any way. But they still couldn’t help it though. Because I knew they probably thought of Mr. McLaren as being as much of a flamer as I did.

  Mr. McLaren ended up giving me a hard-faced look, and I sunk a little in my seat while hoping he wouldn’t say anything back to me. That he would just go on with today’s lesson. To my surprise though, a little good luck came my way for once, and he did just that, and I made it through the rest of physics class as if we had an unspoken truce.

  My good luck also continued on through the rest of my classes that led up to lunch. All having gone better than expected. But of course, I still got the typical sneers and dirty looks from a lot of my classmates, and they kept up with their whispers about me as I walked passed them in the halls. I did try my best though to listen in on them as I passed. Focusing on their lips and facial expressions so I could better make out just what it was they were saying about me and hoping that I could recapture that feeling I had the other day. The one I had when I felt like I could read other people’s thoughts, but I failed to do so.

  Fifth period was lunch for me, and I took my seat marooned at my table and hoping that Katelyn would show up before the bitches and the meatheads did, but that’s when my good luck had ended. Because at that very moment was when the assholes came cavorting into the room acting like they owned the place, and as usual, I turned my chair towards the windows so I didn’t have to face them. Figuring that I would just stare at the scenery, or pretend to read one of my books until Katelyn arrived.

  But they apparently had figured that I was in much more of a need of being fucked wit than of being left alone. Because, as I sat there minding my business, suddenly from out of their direction, a half-pint carton of chocolate milk came flying at me through the air. It had landed on my table just before me, exploding on impact. When it hit, it had appeared that a portion (maybe a third) of the container’s contents had been already drunk, helping what had remained left in the carton to splatter out all over me, my lunch, and my books. I tensely shrieked slamming my eyes shut tight when it had struck the table in a bovine lactate explosion. I had then felt the cold, thick liquid running down my forehead and cheeks. When I had opened my eyes, I saw it splattered all over my table, shirt, arms, and books.

  I was too stunned to speak after opening my eyes so I just looked over at the bitches table to see them all red faced and laughing. They weren’t the only ones either. As I glanced around the lunchroom I noticed other students were laughing at me too, at least half the room was.

  I then pulled out the napkins I had packed away in my brown bag with the rest of my lunch and began cleaning myself. As I wiped the milk from my face, my thoughts were about what I should do next. That is, should I just let it go, or should I march over to the bitches table and start throwing wallops? It would’ve been a suicide mission, no doubt about it. Six on one most likely, but I also knew that if I didn't send a message soon that I wasn’t going to tolerate being messed with, this was going to go on all year. Presently though, I really didn’t want to score any more trouble for myself, and I really didn't feel like taking an ass whipping in front of all the other students. So, in the end, I decided to pretend like nothing had happened.

  Nothing happened! That’s what I kept telling myself over-and-over as I worked to hold back my tears.

  “Have a little problem with your milk?” Katelyn suddenly asked me from out of nowhere as she now stood before me perplexed and staring down at me with her coal-black mascara covered eyes.

  It had been the second time this week she had managed to sneak up on me in the lunchroom, only this time I wasn’t hysterically laughing—my mood was a hundred eighty degrees from that.

  “It’s easier to open than it looks. All you have to do is push the little flaps to the side and pull the spout forward.” She continued as if I was too retarded to be able to open my own milk. I knew that she was just teasing, but it stung all the same.

  “I didn’t do this.” I said seething but letting her sarcasm slide as I continued to clean myself up. “It was them.” I said, nodding my head towards the bitches table. “I think it was Harlin, who threw it. I saw him drinking milk as he entered the cafeteria.”

  I'm sure by that point Katelyn had sensed the emotion in my voice, and as a result, she asked, “You want me to go kick his ass?” And, for a moment, I t
hought that she wasn’t even kidding. That she would have seriously gone over there and started a fight with him if I had said the word.

  “No. But, thank you for the offer though.” I told her sounding sullen. “I just want to get through this day without any more problems if you don't mind.”

  Katelyn then sat down next to me and began eating her lunch of carrots, eggplant, and cut up pieces of melon, and as we quietly ate together shouts of “Witch!” came our way more than a few times from somewhere across the lunchroom by some faceless coward.

  When the bell had rung we got up and made our way out of the room after most of the other students had already exited. Since it was most likely having been the last time we saw each other that day, Katelyn had asked me what I was doing later, after school. I had told her that I didn’t have anything going on, so she then asked if she could come over to hang out and maybe see Casper. I told her that would be fine, but to just call me after school before she came by.

  Ninth period (the last period of the day) I had gym class. It only came once a week, the other four days being filled up by study halls, so this was the first time that I had to report to it.

  By the time I showed up at the gymnasium with my change of clothes in hand, coming out of the locker room already were Keri, Laurie, and Hallie. All three of them I saw were in the class with me. Oh, how wonderful, I thought. How-the-Hell was I expected to make it through an entire year of gym class going up against the three of them? There was no doubt in my mind that they were going to try to take runs at me every chance they got, and I found out straight away just how right my thinking was.

  Before the class had even started Keri had walked up to me with her fake, bleach-blonde hair now pulled back in a pony tail and she said, “Don’t even think you’re going to get away with what you did to Harlin’s locker?” Confused, and having no clue as to what the hell she was talking about, I of course had asked her, “What the Hell are you talkin’ ‘bout?”

  “Don’t try to play dumb with me, you little bitch. You know what I’m talking about.”

  I really hadn’t any clue as to what she was talking about, at least not at that time. But later I would come to find out that somebody had taken about three gallons worth of spoiled chocolate milk and had managed to inject all of it into Harlin’s locker through the slotted air vents at the top. It had worked its way down through his locker covering his leather school jacket and baseball cap, along with his books, papers, and all of his other belongings in thick, putrefied chunks of curd-and-whey. The stench was so bad it had caused the teachers giving lessons in the nearby class rooms to have to close their doors to the hall and open up all the windows allowing fresh air into the rooms. All of Harlin’s books and school supplies had to go straight into the dumpster, along with his leather jacket that he apparently loved more than anything else in this world. It had been a gift from his father. He had given it to him on his birthday the year before his parents had gotten a divorce. His father had then left Mt. Harrison soon after abandoning him to his neurotic mother.

  The mess in his locker had been so bad actually that the faculty had to even evacuate the two lockers to the left and right of Harlin’s. The stench having been so overwhelming that the school's custodian needed to bleach down those lockers too.

  “Okay, class, everyone up against the wall!” the gym teacher, Mrs. Perez, called out.

  When we all had lined up, our backs against the wall, she said, “Most of you know who I am, and for those of you who don’t… I’m Mrs. Perez, and I will be your physical education teacher for the year. Now, given that it’s the first class, and I don’t have a curriculum made up yet, so we’ll be doing the best sport of all today. The truest test of athleticism—dodge ball.” And, with that there was a bunch of moans, groans, and sighs that came from a few of the other girls who—like me—didn’t feel much like being pelted in the face with a big rubber ball. Especially, if the thrower was the butch bull-dyke wearing the crew cut that stood at the end of the line, which would’ve not had shocked me, if she had the ability to pee standing up.

  Mrs. Perez began pulling us out of line one-by-one, alternating each of us into teams on opposite ends of the gymnasium. Then, as it turned out, I ended up on one team while Keri, Laurie, and Hallie all ended up on the other.

  Great, three on one, I thought, but it wasn't like I wanted any of them on my team anyway. At least the bull dyke that I came to know as Mary-Ann was on mine though, so I figured there was at a least strong possibility that I was going to be able to keep my teeth in my mouth.

  As I watched Mary-Ann make her first throw with one of those red-rubber balls, it sailed scorchingly through the air so fast that it had made a whooshing sound. The missile ended up missing its intended target, though. Which would have been a girl with shoulder-length brown hair, glasses, and poxes on her face named Beth. It did, however, strike the wall behind Beth with a thunderous clang, causing a frightened whimper to be heard squeaking out of her.

  I watched as Keri then picked up a ball and look right at me. I wasn’t scared of her coming after me. Her string-bean ass didn’t look as if she could put much heat on it, and she couldn’t. She gave it her all, and I caught it with ease as it came at my face. She then gave me a look of disgust after she saw that I had caught the ball, and continued to stand there until Mrs. Perez finally yelled out, “You’re out, Keri. Now go sit your butt down over by the wall!” Where she then sulked off—all while continuing to screw-face me the entire time until she had gotten to where the other girls who’d been knocked out of the game sat.

  Mary-Ann then went on making mincemeat out of the girls on the other team, and I had to keep myself from laughing when she sent one ripping off Laurie Altman’s kneecap causing a pause in the game because she was in tears.

  As the period progressed, the bitches only kept trying to go after me, as if I was the only girl on my team, but I was too fast and swift for them. Years of hanging out with boys in the swamps of Southern Alabama along with playing sports down by the Gulf had given me an edge on them. I could almost feel their frustration of not being able to hit me building up inside them and radiating out as if it were an electric current in the air. And, it felt good too. It felt like their anger was feeding me somehow and it was making me grow stronger, faster, and more agile.

  As the time in the class drew low, the bitches tried hard-and-hard to hit me, becoming more-and-more angrier and red-faced as if not being able to do so would’ve been a colossal failure on their part. I could almost feel their malevolence for me. Not only because they thought of me as a hillbilly descendent of a witch that was responsible for everything that sucked in their lives, but also because they now thought that I was the one responsible for what had happened to Harlin’s locker.

  It wasn’t until there was only about five-minutes or so left in the period when, finally, one of the other girls in the class took me out with a well-placed shot to my hip. And as I walked across the gym on my way to sit down after being tagged out. I suddenly found myself having been blindsided by Hallie when she struck me on the side of my face with a ball. It had caught me so off-guard that I still don’t know to this day what had completely happened. All I remember was a sweeping flash of searing light that took over my vision completely blinding me. I then felt myself strike the gymnasium floor. My elbow impinging off it only to send shoots of pain coursing up through my arm, which then radiated throughout my entire body. As my vision and my thoughts slowly came back to me as if my brain had just been reset. Everything that I could see was seemingly in black and white like I was suddenly knocked straight into an old photograph. I felt dizzy and a bit nauseous like I had just gotten off a long ride on a fast-paced merry-go-round. I tried to focus in my vision, but it was difficult because I was still seeing double. With my head still swirling, I also hadn't noticed it at that point, but I had temporarily lost my hearing. Because, when I had looked up to see Mrs. Perez standing above me while reaching out a hand to try to help st
eady me while I tried getting up. I could see her lips moving but all I heard was a droning buzz that filled my ears.

  My vision refocused a moment later, and I clearly saw Hallie high-fiving Keri behind Mrs. Perez's back, and I instantly knew then what had happened. My hearing began to return, and I heard Mrs. Perez asking the class, “What's her name?” Obviously referring to me, and someone else said, “Cera, she's a Barrett witch.”

  “Cera, just take it easy.” Mrs. Perez then said to me as she applied pressure to my shoulder encouraging me to sit back down, but I wasn’t staying down. I had figured out what had happened. Keri and Hallie high-fiving and laughing at me. Blacking out and becoming semi-unconscious for a moment only to find myself on my ass. The ripping headache pulsating through my skull as my brain worked to reorganize itself. The bitch had sucker punched me, and now there was going to be Hell to be paid.

  I set upon her ferociously like a junkyard dog and Hallie never even had time to react to me coming. The little bitch had barely gotten her arms up in time to cover her face when I pounced on her. I struck her with a right hook to her temple and she went crashing down to the floor, the flesh of her back thighs and buttocks squeaking across the hardwood as she skidded. The floor tearing and ripping up her skin, surely giving her a nasty brush burn. I then grabbed her by her hair, pulling her towards me as I threw myself into her leveling her again with another right hook. Her head then snapped to the side while spittle mixed with blood flew from her mouth and dribbled down her chin.

  “Get Off Her, Bitch!” Keri screamed at me as she tried grabbing me from behind, doing her best to pull me from her friend. I turned, swiveling on my hips to face her, and as I did I gave her a backhand catching her in the face somewhere on her cheekbone just below her right eye.