In the Forest of Light and Dark

by Kasniak, Mark

  Later on in the day I had gone fishing with my step daddy down by the river. It was his idea, so I agreed to go having figured that it was better than being grounded to the house. I had ended up catching three brook trout while my step daddy only caught two. I had even thought about bringing a couple back with us to feed to the strays, but I figured that my step daddy wasn’t going to have any of that. He would have just said to me, Are you nuts girl? It’s bad enough, we already got one of those damn things living with us, and you want to keep feein’ the rest of ‘em. We’ll be infested with these Godforsaken things in no time, or at the very least have a bunch of rottin’ fish stinkin’ up the yard if they don’t come around to eat. So, I just let it go.

  As we finished packing up our gear and were just about starting to head back for home, I saw something flash through the ferns on the other side of the river. It was hard to make out because whatever it was, kept darting back and forth through the dank, dark shadows that the edge of the forest canopy had created.

  We then had left our fishing spot and during the short walk back I’d been forced to listen to my step daddy as he rambled on about how he used to pull Albacore and Bluefish out of the Gulf by the dozens when he was my age. But I was hardly listening to his tall tale because my attention was still firmly locked on the whatever it was that was zigzagging around on the other side of the river.

  As we neared the bridge on Colmack Road (The one with the graffiti spray painted phallus on its underside.) I had seen it again, just for a moment, and then it was gone, but I saw. It had darted out from behind a pine and then quickly retreated deeper into the forest. Popsicle? I thought to myself, but that couldn’t be. She was dead. I saw her body. Her guts having been pulled from her abdomen and spread over the bedrock like jam over toast.

  I kept searching for her, though until my step daddy eventually said, “You lisinin’ to me?” at which time I snapped out of my daze and replied, “Yeah, yeah, you caught a lot of fish when you were little.” He then gruffly barked, “No, I said it would be nice if we took your mama out to sumplace nice for dinner sumtime this week. You know, get her out of the house for a little while, other than to just run errands.”

  “Yeah, that sounds nice.” I said, agreeing with him and giving him my complete focus. “You got some place in mind?”

  “Don’t have no idea,” he said lighting up a smoke. “But there’s gotta be at least a couple of decent places in this crummy little town we could go.”

  After having not thought of any places we could take Mama we walked the rest of the way home in silence. Which was fine by me because my interest was still on looking over at the Mt. Harrison side of the river determined that I would see the orange and white critter again, but all I saw were a bunch of rabbits running in-and-out of their burrows.

  Once back home, I’d gone straight to my room where I laid on my bed with Casper. I couldn’t help but have my mind weighed down by all the strange things that had happened as of late. I mean, there was the bizarre way that my mama and I been treated so far by most, if not all the other people who resided in the village which was one thing. But I told myself that was only because they all still believed in the hogwash about witches and witchcraft. They’d been convinced that we were directly tied into their superstitions.

  That wasn’t what was truly bothering me though. What was bothering me was the other stuff. The weird way it would downpour every time I got pissed off or upset about something. That was one weird coincidence or a phenomenon which was occurring more and more as of late, and I just couldn’t explain it. But, I did know one thing for sure though. If I was going to keep making it rain every time somebody pissed me off or after having looked at me cockeyed, this whole village was going to drown.

  Then, there was the strange power that seemed to course through me when I was in that fight with Keri Mahan and Hallie Dune during gym class. What the hell was that? I’m not that strong. I mean, sure, I know I could kick Keri and Hallie’s asses combined and maybe even Laurie’s too, if that little bitch had decided to jump in. But, there’s no way I could have sent Keri flying a dozen or more feet across the gym knocking her unconscious, along with Mrs. Perez too for that matter, all with one punch.

  And, what about Casper? Sure, there are an awful lot of cats in this village. Therefore, it made sense that there would be an awful lot of kittens too, right? But when that little boy Brandon Kolinski died on Wednesday and I had found Casper in the cemetery the very next day and he was so terribly small. There was no doubt in my mind that he should have been in hiding somewhere with his mama and not walking around amongst the graves all by himself.

  Finally, there is Popsicle’s resurrection—if that’s what it was I saw. Again, I couldn’t truly be sure that it was her. She was a long way off and in the shadows. But what else could it have been? A fox perhaps, but I doubt that, and I hadn’t seen any other bright orange cats with a white underside so far.

  I had thought about this stuff as I stared up at my bedroom ceiling and I also thought about asking Katelyn about whatever else she may have known in reference to my family’s history, or about my Grandmother Lyanna. But for the time being I elected to just put it all out of my mind for a while. I didn’t want her to think that her nonsense was beginning to get the better of me. Maybe, it was just stress that was beginning to get to me. My Step Grandpa Sterling (Step Daddy Cade’s daddy) used to say all the time that stress kills, but I never really knew what he had meant by that. But then, one day he just dropped dead of a heart attack at Birmingham Race Course after his 6-3 Quinella, which would have paid more than two grand became voided after the jockey for the six-horse been disqualified immediately after the race’s conclusion. The racing authorities had found out that the jockey didn’t have a jockey’s license and therefore legally couldn’t run in the race. My step grandpa swore up and down about that jockey, turned crimson, clutched his chest, and kissed this world goodbye a moment later.

  Or maybe I was in the beginning stages of losing my mind just like Caroline Hemstock. I could even somewhat picture myself walking aimlessly throughout the village in an overcoat during summer as I muttered obscenities at people while being followed around by a myriad of cats. I already had the being followed around the village by legions of cats’ part down cold.

  The more I thought about this stuff though, the more I didn’t like where my thoughts headed. So again, I tried to block it all out of my mind for the time being thinking that a little break from all this negativity might just be what I needed to refocus myself. So, I decided to concentrate my thoughts on what I needed to do in order to get my driver’s license and some wheels already. I definitely knew that it meant being on my best behavior from now on if I wanted my parents to be the ones to buy me a car. Otherwise, it meant I would be turning to the want ads where New York’s version of Ray Boone might be lurking and would soon be trying his damnedest to slide a finger or two down the crack of my ass. Also, there was college next fall, I had to start thinking about. Ugh, this shit never ends.

  But honestly, at least being able to take my mind off of anything witchcraft seemed to do the trick because the next couple of days went by smoothly and without so much as a hitch. But unfortunately, I had lost track of time and before I knew it, my suspension was over and I was once again forced to go back to school.

  No Turning Back

  My first day back at school was a surreal one. When I had arrived, I knew that I might be possibly walking into a lion’s den after what had happened last Friday so my guard was definitely up. A cold war was one thing, but after I had messed up Keri’s face and split open Hallie’s lip I reckoned at least on their part they’d want retribution and vengeance had.

  I also had no doubt what-so-ever that Keri and Hallie had by now recruited Harlin, Erik, and Donnie to help them seek payback. Especially, given that they’d already thought I was the one responsible for trashing Harlin’s locker with the spoiled milk. So I was pretty confident that they would be
on board with whatever the bitches had cooked up for me.

  Before going into homeroom, I had seen Katelyn and had asked her about what she knew had happened to Harlin’s locker. But, she never really gave me a straight answer. She just talked in circles which ultimately left me thinking she truly was the culprit.

  So great, where did that leave me? The bitches screw with me, Katelyn sticks up for me, and as a result, the bitches screw with me even worse. Isn’t life grand?

  A sure sign of things to come though was when I had walked down the hall on my way to homeroom and my fellow students had showered me with their usual dirty looks, which by now were totally expected of course. But, today I had thought I might have experienced an uptick in the amount of looks I’d usually received. Due to the fact that by now the entire student body had surely heard about the fight that had taken place between Keri, Hallie, and me in the gymnasium. Which I’m sure would have given them all yet another reason for them to hate me because I messed up poor Keri’s perfect pretty face.

  But as I moved down the hall I slowly realized that wasn’t it. Things were different now, somehow. They were different somehow. They had all started parting the hallways for me as I walked by like I was Moses in the Red Sea. It seemed as if they were truly scared of me now. Not like before when it had seemed they just had a problem with me because of some old legend of witches and witchcraft. Things were different now—changed. I could read it all over their faces. They looked at me as if I was Abellona Abbott herself, or at least on the same level with her. The incident in the gym, having given them some kind of definitive proof that I truly was a witch in their eyes.

  It was sort of funny the more I thought about it, and it was also sort of cool having such power over them. I had gone into the last period on Friday as a hated hick from the South and had come back to school a couple of days later having entered homeroom a feared, powerful deity.

  Homeroom did come with the usual glances and murmurs to though, along with some nervous twitching from the students that sat near me. But for the most part eyes were kept forward at the center of the room as if a lingering glance or an overheard whisper about me would end with me turning someone into stone.

  Physics with Mr. McQueeren… I mean, Mr. McLaren was no different, but I did get to see the damage I did to Keri Mahan face firsthand. She looked like Marsha Brady after she’d gotten hit in the schnoz by Peter’s football. I actually felt a little sorry for her. Across her face she wore a protective, metal brace padded with blue foam that went over her nose and was held in place by white medical tape. Her eyes were also all black and blue and still carried puffiness to them like she’d been crying.

  As I watched her come in the room, she didn’t as much as look at me. It was as if I was now invisible to her, which I have to admit, I liked.

  Mr. McLaren addressed the class first and then had said to me that it was nice having me back. I really wasn’t quite sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but then he didn’t say anything further and just went on with his lesson in one-dimensional motion. So, I let it go, hoping we had an unspoken accord and I began taking notes.

  English, math, and American Government had seemingly gone faster than normal. Maybe, it was just because I was growing more-and-more confident that nobody was going to screw with me, or maybe it was just a positive aspect of my new-found dementia that I’d questioned myself slipping into. Maybe, I wasn’t actually in school at all but was sitting in the park completely naked and feeding Alka-Seltzer and laxatives to pigeons.

  Fifth period eventually rolled around and I was off to lunch. When I had sat down at my table I saw that the squirrels were back. They were whipping around the maples chasing each other in circles. I had wished that I could be out there with them, carefree and whimsical—not forced march through my school day. It was such a nice day too. I had thought we might’ve been experiencing an Indian summer because my mama had told me that autumn comes early to New York. Anyway, my point was that it had become too nice of a day to be wasted in this hell hole.

  Katelyn had showed up at lunch early, which was unexpected. She’s usually fashionably ten minutes late. As she approached, she wore a mirthful, little smile on her face when she saw me and had on a denim skirt that surprisingly wasn’t black but a dark blue. She quickly sat down in the chair next to me and said, “What’s going on slugger?” and I couldn’t help but crack a little laugh, knowing that some kind of smart-ass comment would be the first thing out her mouth.

  “I saw Keri in English today. You certainly did a number on her, huh?” she said as she took a bite of a celery stick.

  “You hadn’t seen her until now?” I then asked her having felt somewhat perplexed.

  “No. This is her first day back too, since the ass whooping you gave her on Friday.” Katelyn informed me.

  “Really, Wow… Well, the bitch had it coming.” I told her trying to sound cool and acting as if I were a sheriff that doubled as an executioner.

  “You think they’re going to come after you?” she then asked me.

  “What do you think?” I answered, hearing myself sound grim.

  “Yeah, you better keep your guard up from now on.” Katelyn then said giving me that coy smirk.

  “Thanks for the tip.” I told her.

  “Look, there they are.” She then said now nodding her head towards the lunchroom doors.

  The bitches had just entered the room and were all clung together in a tight-knit group with Harlin, Donnie, and Erik trailing close behind. Harlin and Erik immediately gave us the stink eye, but didn’t do or say anything though—they just carried on with accompanying the girls to their table.

  “So what was it like pummeling that bitch’s face in?” Katelyn then asked with a look of disgust having taken over her face as she stared down Keri.

  “Good,” I told her. “It felt really, really, really good.”

  “I heard that Hallie needed a couple of stitches to close up her lip, but I can’t really see them. They might be on the inside of her mouth.” Katelyn said glancing back my way.

  “Must be,” I agreed.

  “Hey…” I then said suddenly changing the subject. “Last week when we were in the forest you mentioned something to me along the lines of… That, because my Grandmother Lyanna was a witch, having inherited her powers from the women in my family before her. You said that it might be possible that I may have some of my grandmother’s abilities in me. Do you remember saying that?”

  I had asked Katelyn this wanting to coax out whatever else she still may know about my family’s history that she hadn’t yet already told me about. Anything my grandmother may have told her in passing. But I still tried to sound as fleeting as possible—wanting to keep things light, like I was just making small talk or just vaguely curious.

  “That’s right, I did…” Katelyn responded, giving me that coy little smile again as if she knew already that I had recently started to become a believer.

  “Well, just for the sake of curiosity.” I said facetiously as if it were no-big-deal. “If, I were to entertain the idea that you might be right, which you’re not, of course, what kind of things should I be expecting to see if I were looking for proof of these powers?”

  “Other than bringing on the great floods every time you’re menstruating?” she told me jokingly.

  “Um… That’s gross, but yeah.”

  “Well, I’m not exactly sure. Your grandmother could do all kinds of things, but she was also very powerful. She could summon spirits and make potions for stuff like healing illnesses, sleep aids, energy boosts, aphrodisiacs—”

  “So can a pharmacist.” I said sarcastically cutting her off, but then walked back my comment. “No, I mean, did she have any real powers like superhero type abilities.”

  “If, you wanna know if she ever flew around on a broomstick? No. I don’t think so. At least not that I ever saw, but there was that one time I had already told you about when she boomed her voice getting Donnie Reese to piss
his pants. And, even though you don’t believe it, she did manage to protect herself and the people of this village from Abellona Abbott for many years. She also had managed to protect herself and her property from the villagers too when they couldn’t help themselves from screwing with her on account of the curse Abellona had put on them.”

  “So, I guess not then, huh?” I said disappointed.

  “Well, there was this one other time, but…”

  Katelyn then paused and thought deeply about what she was going to say, but then she just shook her head and said, “Nothing… It was nothing.”

  “What… WHAT?” I demanded of her enthusiastically but then dialed that back a bit.

  “Well, I don’t know how to say this because I’m not really sure of what really happened. I mean, I’m not sure of what it was I really saw.”

  “Tell me.” I whined.

  “Okay, well, there was this one time when I had gone over to your house to visit your grandmother, and she happened to not be home. You see, your grandmother had always told me that her home was my home and that I should feel free to come over whenever I wished, so I did. But, there was this one particular time…”

  Katelyn then stopped mid-sentence again like somebody had literally pushed a pause button on her. There she managed to remain frozen and staring off in a daze at some imaginary, infinite point that only she could see. I leaned forward wondering if she was going to come to or possibly stay like that forever. It was just then when I was about to repeat back her words and, there was this one particular time… that she had finally come back to Earth.

  She went on. “This one particular time I had come over and she wasn’t there so I just let myself in, and as I waited for her I had gone to the kitchen to get myself a glass of lemonade out of the refrigerator. She always had lemonade in the refrigerator because it was her favorite, did you know that?” Katelyn asked me having gotten sidetracked again.

  “No, I didn’t know that. But, good-to-know. Now would you please get on with it, what did you see?” I huffed in a temperamental tizzy.