In the Forest of Light and Dark

by Kasniak, Mark

  After arriving at the dance it was exactly what I had expected. A semi-full gymnasium of our classmates segregated off into different groups socializing, every last one of them with a glass of punch in their hands. The wallflowers hiding out in the corner near the bleachers. Some lame-ass pop star babbling on about nothing while being played so loud that you couldn’t hear what the person standing right next to you was saying. And, one lonesome buffoon dancing so terribly that they had reminded me of someone having a seizure, but I’m sure that in their mind they had thought they were the one getting the party started. Yes, the whole scene indeed was a coming of age movie cliché if I’d ever seen one.

  Of course, when we had walked into the room we received the usual murmurs, glances, and all the stares that we had expected. Although I had thought that most of them had been directed at Katelyn given her transformation, and I couldn't blame anybody for that. I would’ve been gawking along with them.

  Once inside, Tucker and Owen had quickly slipped away to grab Katelyn and me a glass of punch during which time I found myself scanning the room for the bitches. It didn't take long to spot them either. All three were on the other side of the gym being showered with attention from all the other wannabes. I didn't see the meatheads with them though, which put me on guard wondering where they were. I didn't have to wait long though to get my answer because they found me. When from behind Katelyn and I came the sound of Harlin's voice uttering the words, “Look at these Fucking Whores.” which was then quickly followed up by Donnie adding, “Yeah, looks like Katelyn's got herself all dolled-up so she can try another run at my cock.”

  Of course, that shit just wasn't going to mash with me, and I was about to send both of them flying across the gymnasium right then and there. But then, it turned out, I didn't have to because right at that moment Tucker and Owen had come back from the refreshment table and had heard everything.

  It didn't take long for my friends to catch on to just who it was at my school that had made my life so miserable recently, and as a result the Southern good-old-boys side of Tucker and Owen came out real quick.

  “Hey, Assholes! What the fuck did you say?” Owen dourly called out with a look on his face that could only be described as stern and contorted.

  Harlin, Donnie, and Erik just stood there looking back at him dumbfounded. Their faces puzzled and locked in frozen masks as if contemplating, Who the hell are these guys, and what should we do or say next?

  Tucker then looked at Owen and nodded towards the meatheads while arrogantly saying, “Look at these fuckin’ jack-offs. So much to say just a moment ago and now all quiet like a bunch of scared little pussies.”

  I had glanced at Katelyn and saw that she wanted to say something before things got out of hand, but I knew that Tucker and Owen weren’t about to do anything here. It wasn't their style to throw down in front of a room full of witnesses, that would surely also get the teachers, and most likely the cops involved in the process. So I quickly put a hand on Katelyn's arm, giving her a little head shake to tell her to just do nothing and let it go.

  “W-Who... Who are you guys?” Harlin stammered, and I relished every moment of the pure fear that I sensed radiating off of him.

  “Oh, who are we?” Owen replied smugly. “We're the guys that are gonna kick the livin' shit outta you and your friends.”

  “What's your problem, man?” Erik sneered.

  “Our problem, Maaan! Is that we don't take to kindly to a bunch of punk-ass bitches givin' our friends a hard time. It makes us want to get real violent, real quick.” Owen threatened, stepping forward and getting into Erik's face.

  “I think you girls need to apologize for what you just said about Katelyn and Cera.” Tucker then said sounding authoritative, reminding me of a cop. “I think you girls need to apologize for all the things you've said about them and have been doin’ to them.”

  “I ain't apologizing for shit!” Harlin snapped, suddenly finding his balls, and I assumed it was most likely because he had by then realized that he’d been surrounded by a room full of teachers and thereby would be protected. And, he was right because a moment later we heard, “Mr. Tapp, do we have a problem here?”

  It was Mr. McLaren, he had walked up after having picked up on the hostilities that were steadily growing between the meatheads and Tucker and Owen.

  “No, Mr. McLaren, there's no problem here.” Harlin said while angrily staring down Tucker.

  “Good. Now why don't you guys get back to your dates then?”

  Harlin, Erik, and Donnie just continued to screw face Tucker and Owen as they started to walk away. But, before they had made it out of earshot Owen called out, “Don't think y’all are gettin’ out of here before we’ve had a chance to dance, ladies.”

  McLaren then focused his attention on Tucker and Owen asking them, “And, just who are you two gentlemen?”

  “They're with us.” I said stepping in claiming mine and Katelyn’s dates.

  “I see, Miss. Singer.” Mr. McLaren then said to me sounding somewhat haughty. “I'm not going to be expecting any more trouble out of you guys, am I?”

  “No, Mr. McLaren.” I said to keep him happy.

  “Good.”

  After that we had kept our distance on the other side of the gym and socialized to ourselves. Then, as the dance progressed into the evening it kind of felt like there was an imaginary line drawn down the floor splitting the gymnasium in half, us on our side and the meatheads and the bitches on theirs.

  By the end of the first hour, I had managed to put past me what had happened between Tucker, Owen, and the meatheads. It also looked to me as if Katelyn had managed to do the same as it appeared that she was having a pretty good time. In fact, at one point during one of the slow numbers, it looked as if Katelyn and Owen were getting pretty comfortable with one another.

  A short while later, between songs Katelyn had asked me if she could use my cell phone so she could call Terra having said that she’d promised her we’d call. She wanted to inform her that we had made it to the dance safely and were all alright, so of course I’d given it to her. But before she had placed the call, the music swiftly picked back up causing her to say that she was going to go outside to make the call so that she could hear better. Owen then said he would accompany her just in case the meatheads or the bitches were to try something, but I really think he just wanted the chance at getting Katelyn alone for a while because when they left he had trotted off with her like a love-sick puppy.

  After Katelyn and Owen had left the gym, Tucker, and I went off to get more punch because the temperature in the room had seemed to skyrocket as the night went on, most likely due to all the people in the room dancing like morons.

  As we sipped on our drinks and people watched Tucker had begun talking to me about Saraland and the future. He even at one point commented about him moving up here to New York, saying something along the lines of there being nothing really left for him in Saraland except for being a grease monkey at his uncle's garage and that maybe he should, “Give-it-a-go,” as he had put it, up here.

  I really didn't want Tucker uprooting his life because of some silly crush he had on me so I tried to discourage such thoughts by pretending what he was saying was just talk and nothing more.

  As we then continued to sip our drinks and watch the other couples dance a few numbers. After a while it had dawned on me that an awfully long time had passed since Katelyn had left with my phone. I then had asked Tucker if we should go look for her and Owen but like any guy not wanting to be a cock block to his buddy he just told me that we should give them a little more time.

  I really didn’t want to give Tucker another chance at getting back on the topic of him moving up here to New York to be with me, so I insisted that we go find them. Claiming that we shouldn’t have our group separated for too long given the fact that Abellona was out there somewhere.

  When we had made it out to the parking lot Katelyn and Owen were nowhere to be seen so Tucker
and I then went back inside and started checking the hallways. I thought that maybe we would find them at Katelyn's locker but they weren't there either. So, we ended up just searching the school for about another ten minutes or so with no luck and at that point I had found myself becoming a little tense. A sinking suspicion was growing within me that something was wrong and panic was now beginning to take hold.

  I had asked a few of the other students—the ones that would actually talk to me that is—if they had seen Katelyn and Owen, but they all had said that they hadn't. So I was about to go in search of another phone so I could call mine, hoping to get a hold of Katelyn that way, but before I could do so, Owen had unexpectedly shown back up. He looked upset and had seemed out of breath.

  “I've been lookin' all over for you guys!” he said panting.

  “Where have you been? Where's Katelyn?” I asked.

  “I don't know. She locked me in a damn janitor's closet.”

  “What?” I inquired, having been stunned by Owen’s revelation.

  “Yeah, we were about to go outside to the parking lot so she could make her call, but before we even got out of the building, she said, ‘Come here’ pulling me close and layin’ one on me right there in the middle of the hallway.”

  “Nice.” Tucker quipped with a stupid grin taking over his face.

  “After that, she took me by the hand and led me over to this janitor’s closet full of mops and buckets, cleaning shit, all kinds of stuff like that. I thought I was about to get lucky so... You know, I was game. But, then she… She says to me, ‘Wait here for a second, my locker is right down this hallway. I have some protection in there. I'll grab one and be right back.’ and I figured, okay, no problem. So I just stood there in the closet waiting for her to come back.”

  “Really, Owen? You really thought she was going to bang you in the school’s custodial closet?” I asked him, surely sounding disgusted, but yet not at all surprised given how stupid guys can be.

  “Well, it seemed that way. A guy can dream, can’t he?” Owen pleaded.

  “Hello, Penthouse forum.” Tucker then said, chiming in his own worthless two cents.

  “Alright, whatever, perverts. Then, what happened?” I asked.

  “Well, after a while, when she didn't come back, I decided to go look for her, but when I grabbed for the doorknob I discovered that I was locked inside. I was stuck in there for at least another ten, maybe even fifteen minutes yelling and pounding on the door before somebody finally let me out.”

  “Well, where did she go?”

  “How-the-hell-do I know?” Owen said in a huff as if he was becoming even more agitated than he already was. “That girl's a little squirrely, isn't she?”

  “You don't know the half of it. But we gotta find her.” I told him right before taking off down the hallway, heading for the nearest exit.

  On the way out of the school, I had seen Billy Lambert with his date and I’d stopped to ask him if he'd recently seen Katelyn. He told me that he had, that she had run out of the school in a hurry, but he didn’t know why or where she was going.

  “Cera, what's goin' on?” Tucker then asked me as we began to run through the school’s parking lot, and I told him we had to get over to the historical society as fast as possible, which only seemed to confuse him and Owen even more.

  I knew that Terra would be closing the place up for the night soon and there was a chance that she might no longer be there by the time we got there, but I had to try. She was my only hope at this point.

  A little ways away from the school, I had stopped for a moment to catch my breath and in doing so I told Tucker and Owen to head back over to my house to retrieve their truck. I had reckoned we were going to need wheels if we were going to find Katelyn before she’d gotten herself killed and running through the village was just taking too damn long.

  I then carried on alone (my shoes in hand) to the historical society, and when I had gotten there, like I’d figured, it was already closed with no signs of Terra anywhere.

  According to the village clock located in the square across the street, Terra had closed up twenty minutes early which told me she was definitely involved in whatever it was Katelyn had planned.

  I didn't know what to do next or where to look. But if I had to guess, I kind of had an idea as to where Katelyn was most likely headed—the forest.

  I looked off in the distance at Mount Harrison and was just about to start making my long trek over to it when I heard a loud meow that came from somewhere off in the shadows to my right. Then, in the row of bushes that lined the historical society’s front walkway there was a sudden movement. I focused in on the area, but couldn’t make anything out at first. Then suddenly, the vociferous little creature came forward, stepping into the wash of a streetlamp. It was Midnight, and she seemed eager to get my attention. She ran right up to me arching her back up against my legs like she had a tendency to do, so I picked her up clutching her close to me.

  “Hey, where's Katelyn?” I asked her. “Did you see Katelyn, Midnight, where is she?”

  Midnight mewed loudly again and then began to squirm her way out of my arms, so I quickly put her down, not wanting to drop her. She then took off running for a few steps, stopped, and paused for me to follow.

  She knew where Katelyn was alright. I could feel her trying to tell me like we shared a consciousness.

  I followed her as she headed northward towards the forest and Mount Harrison. As she guided me up the back side of the village I found myself struggling to keep up with her, which forced her to periodically halt, then look back and ruefully meow at me. I kept going though, and when we had approached the bridge on Camron Street, which spanned the Genesee I had to stop momentarily again for a breather.

  As I sucked in lungful-after-lungful of the brisk autumn night air, I felt my blood pressure begin to ease, taking with it the fast-paced tempo of my pounding heart that was banging wildly in my chest and ear drums.

  Midnight cooed an impatient meow at me as if she was becoming annoyed with my needing to rest, and then she suddenly turned from me to stare across the bridge at the forest. She quickly arched her back high, drew her fangs, and then snarled into the darkness. I couldn't make out just yet what had her so upset, but I had a damn good idea of what it was.

  From out of the night’s darkness Abellona appeared before us stepping into a streetlamp’s illumination.

  I stood frozen, not knowing what to do or say. I had fooled myself into thinking I was ready for a confrontation with her if it ever came down to that, but at that moment, I knew I wasn't ready. I was completely scared shitless.

  Abellona stared at me for a long moment in silence, her long, black hair gently blowing back around her face in the night's mellow breeze.

  “Do you think I don't know what you are trying to do?” she called out to me. “Did you think I would not see this coming, you stupid little bitch?”

  I didn't know what she was talking about, and my mind raced to catch up with what she’d said.

  I tried to speak, tried to say something, anything, but I just remained silent, completely deadlocked in terror.

  “I can’t believe you have the audacity to come after me with these pretend witches, and in MY forest.” Abellona belabored me. “I'm far stronger than all of you put together, and you think you’re going to take me on?”

  Just then it had dawned on me, Katelyn locking Owen in the janitor's closet, then suddenly taking-off from the school with my phone. My phone with that picture of Abellona's grave on it. Then Terra, having closed up the historical society early along with having mentioned before that there were other witches in Mount Harrison who were willing to help me. They were all going to find Abellona's grave. They were going to destroy the seal etched into it, thereby destroying Abellona's ability to protect herself here in Mount Harrison.

  “I... I don't want any trouble with you.” I said back to Abellona, my voice shaky and weak. “Just let me find my friends and we'll leave
the forest. You won't have any more trouble from us.”

  “I won’t have any more trouble from you and your kind, huh! You stupid Barretts are all the same. I’ve had nothing but trouble from you and your kind for almost three hundred years, and I've had just about enough of it! I told you before that if you wanted to live, you and your mother needed to leave Mount Harrison—go crawl back under the rock from which you came. And, take that stupid hick step daddy of yours along with you. But, NO! YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN!”

  At this point Abellona was clearly seething with me and I felt myself shrink a little inside, as I looked for an Inscape, a place to hide within my mind. But then she went on, “You had to be so brave by not adhering to my warning. By not running like your mother had done all those years ago. Or... Are you nothing more than just a stupid, ignorant, little bitch that’s too damn foolish to leave? You really are just a dumb hick, aren’t you? Just as dumb as your mother was for coming back here and just as dumb as your grandmother was for coming into my forest and thinking she could take from my Mountain. Now your friends are going to die for your stubbornness, for your ignorance, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  “Leave my friends alone.” I told her barely managing to get the words out, the effort taking everything I could muster.

  “Or, what?” she snapped back at me derisively like a parent scolding a child. Her black inkwell eyes fixated on me to the point that I felt like I was suffocating.

  As I struggled to keep myself from hyperventilating there was a crack of thunder in the distance. Abellona then turned to look back in which direction it came.

  “Really, Cera?” she said now refocused back on me. “Enough with the rain crap already. Do you think I’m the wicked witch of the west or something? I'm not going to melt if I get wet, you know? I’m not going to spin around in circles saying, What a world… What a world!”

  Abellona then paused for a moment, looking back up at Mount Harrison.

  A moment later I caught on to what it was she was looking at pitched up on one of the mountain’s slopes. Through the trees I could make out a little glimmer of light—fire—it was small, but it was steadily growing.