In the Forest of Light and Dark (21 page)

     My grandmother then showed Katelyn some pictures of my mama and of me, telling her all about how my mama just couldn’t handle the taunts and accusing eyes of the villagers anymore. That she had to inure ridicule from them every day, which caused her to become withdrawn and as a result had pushed her to run away down South.
     Katelyn said that my grandmother had told her that
she
could not run away from her problems like my mama had tried. That these sorts of things had a funny way of following you no matter where you went to hide. She had also told her that the feelings she was experiencing towards her friends and the other people in her life might just be because she had felt that deep inside she didn’t want to be like them. That she felt meant for something greater. That she could grow to become a part of something bigger than herself, this village, and all of its small-mindedness.
     Katelyn then asked my grandmother if she’d be willing to teach her more about her religion, to which my grandmother told her she would if she liked, and then commenced in giving Katelyn her first lesson in becoming a witch. It was a spell of self-assurance, which Katelyn could cast upon herself so she wouldn’t be so troubled to do what she thought, was right. The spell would make it so she wouldn’t be so afraid to go against her friends negative influences if she wished. And she would no longer be frightened of what she thought they would do to her when they surely shunned her for her defiance.
     It wasn’t long, but before Katelyn had realized it, dusk had crept up on her and my grandmother. And, she knew that her friends would soon be there with the chickens they’d pilfered from some poor farmers roost.
     My grandmother had told Katelyn to stay in the living room, saying that nothing bad would come to her as long as she stayed within the confines of the house. She then disappeared after telling Katelyn, she would be back in a short while after she’d taught Katelyn’s former friends a little lesson on stealing, vandalism, trespassing, and animal cruelty.
    My grandmother then left the room, leaving Katelyn there alone in the dark with only a few candles, helping to illuminate the surroundings, but still much was left cloaked in shadows.
     After roughly five minutes or so since Katelyn was left alone in the gloom of the soft candlelight. Was when she said she began hearing noises coming from somewhere outside near the front of the house.
     It was the meatheads. They had actually showed up to carry out their plan just as they had said they would.
     After that night Katelyn would find out through rumors that had circled throughout the school that Harlin and Donnie had used Harlin’s ATV to ride over to the Airingdale farm. Then, while the farmer and his family unsuspectingly sat in their living room watching television, Harlin and Donnie had snuck onto the farmer’s property and stole eight of his chickens from their pens. After pilfering the birds they’d met back up with Erik Myers and the bitches in the village square where they all together set off for my grandmother’s house with their kidnapped fowl stuffed into some old pillow cases.
     Katelyn had made her way over to the windows after she’d heard the noises—pushing back the drapes to see if she could make out if it were her friends causing the ruckus.
     Peering off out into the darkness, in the far distance near the end of the whiny driveway. She said that she could make out the distinct signs of beams of light coming from several flashlights as they pierced through the shadows, bushes, and tree branches while whoever it was holding them had approached.
     As the lights had neared the house, Katelyn could tell that it had indeed been the meatheads, Erik, Donnie, and Harlin each carrying a sack. Keri, Laurie, and Hallie were nowhere in sight though, having most likely stayed at the end of the driveway near the street, keeping watch for black and whites while waiting for the guys to return.
     Katelyn said it was Harlin, who was first to pull one of the birds from out a pillowcase. He then gave a nod and an order in Donnie and Erik’s direction, demanding that they do the same. Harlin then pulled out a pocket knife opening its blade with one hand as he held the fowl firmly with the other. He then called out—aiming his words towards the house—demanding that my grandmother be gone. That she be, “Condemned to burn in hell” as he had put it, and then he set forth in stretching out the bird’s neck with one hand while keeping its body pinned between his elbow and abdomen. The bird struggled to break free of the hold Harlin had on it but couldn’t. Then, when he went to place his knife to the birds exposed gullet, all of a sudden, the lights in the house and the ones hidden throughout the surrounding property all at once turned on bathing the area in awash of illumination.
     Katelyn said that she saw that the meatheads were unexpectedly shocked by being exposed. And, as she watched them stand there on the front lawn completely dumbfounded and not knowing what to do next. Whether it be to leave the chickens and run, piss themselves, or carry on with the slaughtering of the birds. A voice—my grandmother’s voice—unexpectedly came billowing up from somewhere in the dark recesses of the yard.
     Katelyn said that she had instantly recognized the voice as being my grandmother’s, but she had felt it was much too loud, too—bombastic—to be hers. My grandmother’s voice having suddenly become so encompassing that Katelyn figured it must have been magnified by an amplifier hidden away somewhere in the yard. But then she suddenly had to dismiss that thought when she saw my grandmother step forward from out of the darkness. She had seen then that my grandmother wasn’t holding any visible form of microphone or wearing any headpiece, but yet her booming voice continued to echo throughout the property.
     “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” my grandmother had asked the boys, her voice now shaking the house to its very foundation. Harlin replied back, “Fuck you… You Witch!”
     “YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE, AND YOU SHALL NOT HURT ANY OF THOSE BIRDS ON MY PROPERTY!” my grandmother told them as she herself seemed to expand larger than her five foot five-inch frame would have ever lead you to believe.
     The winds then started to pick up, and all the tree branches started to bend and sway back and forth as if they were bowing to her. Their remaining autumn-colored leaves ruffling against one another, filling the air with a hum.
     “GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE YOU WITCH! GO BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU CAME FROM!!!” Harlin screamed while Donnie and Erik continued to stand there silent, fowl and knives in hand.
     Harlin then pressed his knife into a bird’s throat and suddenly there was a lightning less clap of thunder that boomed throughout the village like trinitrotoluene, shaking the ground and the house’s windows to their core.
     Katelyn had told me that at that moment of the sudden thunder she had ducked down and away from the windows covering her face in fear that they were going to shatter, bathing her in razor-sharp shards of glass.
     The boys had hit-the-deck too at the sound of the sudden crash, ducking their heads and dropping to the ground as if it were an air raid siren.
     Katelyn said that when she’d picked up her head, she saw that my grandmother didn’t as much as flinch though. She just stood resolved before the boys, her arms outstretched before her as if commanding the weather like a maestro. Then, when she raised her hands towards the sky the chickens were suddenly yanked out from the boy’s grasps all at once. Even the remaining birds in the pillow cases had somehow become liberated from the sacks they were being held captive in. The chickens began to take flight circling round-and-round overhead while being carried by the passat winds as if caught in an invisible twister. To Katelyn they appeared as if they were no longer flightless birds of consumption, but birds of prey, circling a potential kill consisting of three scared shitless boys quivering near the ground.
    
Katelyn intently kept her eyes on Harlin, Donnie, and Erik as they frightfully watched the birds swirl around-and-around high above them. She even thought she saw Erik Myers pissing his pants.
     Thunder clapped again, this time from somewhere in the distance, and Katelyn said that after that my grandmother said to the boys. “BEGONE FROM HERE. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME ON THIS LAND!!!”
   The boys then took off running; Harlin and Donnie still screaming obscenities at my grandmother as they made their way down the crooked driveway and out into the street.
     After they had left the air began to calm back down, and the birds, then just fluttered their wings easing their descent until they had all reached the ground safely. Then, they just began walking around and went back to clucking like good chickens do.
     Katelyn went to the front door opening it wide and peered out at my grandmother. My grandmother then called to her, telling her to come out into the yard, telling her that the boys had left and wouldn’t be back again. That she had nothing to worry about any longer. My grandmother then picked up one of the chickens and began petting it—Katelyn did the same.
     My grandmother told her that in the morning she would return the birds back to the farmer to which they had belonged to. She then offered Katelyn a ride home.
     On the brief ride back to Katelyn’s house, Katelyn said that she wanted to, but never did ask my grandmother about what had taken place out in her yard that night. She said that she knew deep down that what she had witnessed was something more than just parlor tricks done with security
lights on a timer, and a few well-hidden speakers. She also felt that what she had seen was more than what her mind was capable of accurately comprehending and wasn’t quite sure if she could handle what my grandmother might say had actually happened.
     My grandmother instinctively had pulled over in front of the second to last house on Katelyn’s street dropping her off in front of her home. Which Katelyn had said she had not pointed out to my grandmother which one was hers. She then said good night to her.
     Before Katelyn had exited the vehicle my grandmother had gone on telling her that she would always be welcome at her home anytime she’d liked to visit, and that she would also be willing to teach her more about her faith if she would like. Katelyn then smiled at my grandmother and said, “Good night.” before heading off into her house.
     The very next day Katelyn said that the meatheads along with their bitches were all quiet at school. That they had declined to talk to any of the other students, especially her, and even had kept their conversations among themselves at a minimum.
     And, it was that day, for the first time, and of many more to follow, that Katelyn found herself eating lunch by herself.

Katelyn and Savannah best of Friends
 

By the time Katelyn had finished telling me all about how she had met my grandmother, and how her friendship with her former friends at school had soured. We had already made it well through the pines and into the rolling hills of maples, ashes, cherries, and oaks. We then pushed on in silence for another half mile or so carving through one of the narrow valleys that nestled itself snugly between a few of the foothills and the mountain of which the village of Mount Harrison had gotten its name.
     If, I listened carefully as we trekked along. I could hear the rush of the Genesee picking up from somewhere below us even though we’d been walking away from the water for a while at that point. But when the sound of moving water didn’t abate, I knew that we must’ve accidentally doubled back on ourselves and had hiked just parallel to the river the entire time.
     We eventually had come to a little clearing where intense beams of light coming from the sun had managed to punch holes through the forest canopy high above our heads. Off to my right was where a large block of sunshine rained down on one of the forest’s old, fallen, and decaying trees. Perched upon it was another one of Mt. Harrison’s strays basking in the sun’s warmth. The cat mewed as Katelyn and I approached her. She then turned herself onto her back so she could scratch herself against the tree’s crumbling bark.
     She was all orange on top with a white belly underside that had reminded me of one of those orange cream popsicles. Moving closer, Katelyn and I did our best to try to not spook her, and when we had finally crept up next to her, she didn’t even so much as move the tiniest bit when we had put out our hands to pet her.
     As I stroked her fur, and while Katelyn cooed at her, I told Katelyn of what she had reminded me of, and suggested that we should call her Popsicle. Katelyn laughed at how stupid of name it was, and then suggested that I must still be high, but ultimately agreed. A few minutes later we kept on with our hike leaving Popsicle to carry on with her nap.
     We had started making our way back down the mountainside towards the Genesee, and when we could see the river again we reckoned that we would just go ahead and follow it until we got back to my house.
     Once firmly back on the banks of the waterway we heard the ripping caw of a crow, causing us both to instinctively look up towards the sky. At first, I couldn’t see the bird, but after a moment it glided into view, circling high above on warm air currents as it searched for prey.
     “It’s after the rabbits.” a small elfin like voice called out to us from further up the escarpment. “I saw two of them earlier today. Each had caught a rabbit for themselves and was ripping the carrion’s flesh apart with its beak and talons as they gorged themselves. It was really quite something to see. How quickly they worked their kill that is. I just wish they’d go after all these damn cats instead though.”
     The voice had belonged to Savannah, and she smiled at me as she made her way barefoot down the rocky outcrops and boulders.
     “Hey, Savannah,” I said as she leisurely approached us. “This is my friend, Katelyn.”
     “Katelyn, it’s nice to meet you.” Savannah said, giving Katelyn a wan little smile. “You must be pretty hot in all that black.”
     Katelyn had on a fitted black T-shirt along with a black denim jeans that would have definitely made me hot, but she just said, “It’s not as bad as you might think—you get used to it after a while.”
     “You look familiar, have we met before?” Savannah then asked.
     “I don’t think so.” Katelyn told her. “I think I would’ve
remembered
you.”
     For a moment I had thought Katelyn was being snarky and making fun of Savannah over the way
she been dressed in a gray button up shirt that was too big for her and a sky blue dress that stopped just short of her ankles leaving her bare feet exposed. But then I saw Katelyn smile sincerely as she said, “It’s really nice to meet you too though, Savannah.”
     After introductions, I took a moment to tell Katelyn on how Savannah was a home schooled girl who lived on the other side of the mountain. I also told her about how Savannah and I had met back when I was hiking by myself a few weeks earlier. We all then sat down together on the bedrock overlooking the river where Katelyn and I commenced in asking Savannah questions about the forest and people from the village she might know.
     During our casual conversation we had also told Savannah all about how most of the other kids in our school were such assholes, suggesting that she was lucky to have been home schooled and not having to go to Mount Harrison High. Savannah had sympathized with us by telling us both about how some of the people she’d been friends with had also ostracized her for no good reason other than just being a little different.
     Katelyn had then asked Savannah for some specifics of  just what her friends had said and done to her to make them former companions and I had thought that she might be a little out-of-place asking Savannah such a question. But to my surprise Savannah obliged, and she went on telling us her story about how the other kids had called her names and had accused her of things that weren’t true. That they would spread rumors about her like that she was a little strumpet who liked to spread her legs for unsavory drifters and that she was a troublemaker and a liar.
     Savannah went on saying that things had eventually gotten so bad for her and her family that she had no choice but to leave the village and move out to the other side of the mountain, to the seclusion of the forest just to get away from the taunts. Katelyn then asked her if she still ever saw any of those kids any longer, the ones who had tormented her, to which Savannah replied, “No. I don’t. Not anymore.” Katelyn then asked what their names were figuring that they must still go to our school. Savannah just answered her by reiterating that most of the kids that she’d been friends with were no longer around anymore. That they had either left Mount Harrison long ago never to return, or had died in one of the all too common epidemics that had swept through the area.
     Katelyn, now sympathetic to Savannah then said, “It must be hard for you? You know, dealing with being lonely all the time, not really having someone to talk to.” Savannah just shrugged her shoulders saying, “It’s not as bad as you might think—you get used to it after a while.” which made me have to hide my grin.
     Katelyn then asked her if she had ever seen anything weird out in the forest since she spent so much time in it, and Savannah replied, “Like what?”
     “Like, I don’t know… Like, anything you can’t explain, like anything that might relate to Abellona Abbott?”
    
“Abellona Abbott?”
Savannah replied back sounding somewhat in a malaise. “Yeah, I’ve seen some things out here in the forest that might be related to her. Things I can’t really explain myself.”
     “Well, you do believe in her, don’t you?” Katelyn then asked beseechingly. “You don’t think that the legend of her is all
bullshit
like, Cera here thinks?”
     “Hey, I didn’t say it was bullshit.” I snapped cutting in on them and giving Katelyn a contemptuous little smirk. “I just said that it’s a little hard to believe that in this day and age, there was ever such a thing as a witch, and that poor girl was one of ‘em, or
had
become one, or whatever. And I also find it a bit farfetched that she had put a curse on the village, and that’s why the people around here have had such bad luck all these years. I mean, the whole story makes about as much sense as tits on a boar hawg.”
     “So… You don’t believe in her then, huh Cera?” Savannah asked me sounding inquisitive. “You should, you are a Barrett, aren’t you? It was your family who had betrayed her. And it’s your family that she wants revenge on so badly that she was willing to swear an oath to the Devil to do so.”
     “
Now Hold Up!”
Katelyn snapped, her voice ratcheting up to a derisive octave. “The Barretts did no such thing. What do you think Emma Barrett should have done that night when the villagers had put Abellona in the stocks? How was
she
supposed to find a way to break Abellona out and do so without getting caught, without waking anybody up in the village?”
     “Emma Barrett refused to help her!” Savannah shot back at Katelyn. “She refused to take what the village elders were planning on doing seriously. Those sick fucks. And, all the other villagers… They
also
refused to help her. They turned their backs on her. They were happy to see her drown in this river. All those people were just as guilty of murder as Joseph Baker was. I’m glad she cursed this place. These people deserve it for their ignorance and their wickedness.”
     “Whoa, calm down.” I said interjecting and trying to ease Savannah’s temper and maybe even mitigate the tension I sensed forming between her and Katelyn. “No matter how ignorant the people around here are, nobody deserves to die, right Savannah?”
     “
What?
How can you say that, Cera? Didn’t you just tell me that these people have been cruel to you ever since you got here and have accused you of things you’re not?”
     “Well, yeah, but—”
     “But, Nothing… These people deserve what they get! They deserve whatever Abellona
gives them.
And,
she will get even with them. She’ll get even with every last one of them.”
     “What are you talking about? Abellona is the evil one here.” Katelyn said completely incredulous to what Savannah was saying. “She sold her soul to Satan. She made a pact with the Devil for Christ’s sake.”
     “SHE HAD TOO! Don’t you understand that?” Savannah bitterly snapped back at her again. “What was she supposed to do? Just let these people get away with accusing her of stuff that wasn’t true. Let them unjustly murder her after they’d thoroughly ruined her reputation and burnt her friend at the stake.”
     “But, I thought Alcina was a witch?” I asked feeling somewhat confused.
     “She was nothing of the sort!” Savannah said, turning her hostility now on me. “Alcina was just a sweet old woman who had begun to lose her thoughts after years of isolation out in the forest. Her illness—which was actually caused by the people of Mount Harrison. By the trauma she had suffered through after they’d collectively kicked her out of her home in the village. All because a couple of gossipy bitches thought she had set her sights on stealing their husbands after they’d shown her a little kindness. They were envious of the bit of attention Alcina had received from those men. Attention
they
themselves didn’t receive at home. So, they conspired and made up all those lies about her.”
     “So she wasn’t practicing witchcraft out there in these woods?” I asked, still feeling somewhat confused but also fearing I might get my hand bit.
     “
Hardly…
After she’d been banished to the forest she had spent her days collecting firewood and foraging for food just to survive. But because the villagers didn’t want her living with them any longer, and since they didn’t like the fact that she was living out in the woods by herself—probably because it made them feel guilty for banishing her to live out there in the first place—they started spreading those rumors about her. That she shared her bed with Satan. That she worked black magic and conspired to cast spells against them. This way they could hate her and accuse her of anything they wanted without feeling guilty about it. And, the cowards hid behind that same self-righteousness when they murdered her too.”
     There was a sudden awkward lull in our conversation as Katelyn and I thought about what Savannah had said. But it was soon broken when I heard a few crows let out a series of ear-piercing caws above us. I looked up to see if I could spot them again, and when my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I saw that there was a lot more of them in the sky now, too many to count. They looked almost cartoonish, like black silhouettes punched out on a blue canvas. Their wings stretched wide and casting shadows many times larger than themselves onto the rocky banks of the river. A few cawed out again, and then one after another, they started to dive out of the sky as if having had corralled a group of small, helpless animals and were now going in for the kill like a pack of wolves.
     “Well, if that story is true, that’s terrible.” I said not really knowing what else to say. “But, that was almost three hundred years ago. Things were different back then. People didn’t know better.”
     “What do you mean,
People didn’t know better?
” Savannah quickly came back at me derisively and with a soured, disgusted look taking over her face as if she’d just watched her dog eating its own turd. “Of course they knew better. They knew better back then as they still know better now. Things don’t change. People
don’t
change. They knew exactly what they were doing. Just like how they know exactly what they’re doing to you and your mother. Just like how they knew
exactly
what they were doing to your Grandmother Lyanna, the way they tormented her when she was alive. And, they knew exactly what they were doing to your family members that had come before her.”
     “Yeah, well, I believe with a little compassion, empathy, and understanding we can all live in peace. That’s what Cera’s grandmother taught me.” Katelyn then said to Savannah while still sounding somewhat dismissive herself, and I thought Savannah might go off on a tangent again.
     “You knew Lyanna Barrett?”  Is what Savannah had actually ended up saying to Katelyn though, sounding somewhat surprised.
     “Yeah, Lyanna was a friend of mine. She taught me all about the craft and helped me to protect myself from the lack of understanding shared by the people of this village.”