In the Forest of Light and Dark

by Kasniak, Mark

  After just a few strokes she arched her back as if wanting to make greater contact with my hand, but I quickly pulled away out of reaction, fearing that she may rear up and scratch me. But then she let out anther low meow and I knew that she meant me no harm—she was just saying hello. I then sat down on the steps of the deck that lead down to the lawn so I could be close to her while I continued to pet her along her back. After a short while we became pretty acquainted with one another so she then hopped up onto me settling down into my lap, and that was when my mama came out on the deck.

  “Oh, I see you’ve found another one.” she said with a wan little smile curling up from her lips.

  “Looks like it.” I told her as I continued to caress the cat along her back down to her tail.

  “One thing we never had around here was a shortage of strays, that’s for sure.” She then said as she sat down next to me on the deck’s steps.

  Suddenly then, without warning the black cat jumped from my lap into my mama’s, and began rubbing herself up against my mama’s chest while letting out another one of those soft purrs.

  “Hey…” my mama said, now wearing a much brighter smile that took over her face as she began playing with the cat. “You’re certainly a friendly one, aren’t you?”

  It was at that moment. After I had noticed my mama’s spirits having been lifted by the cat that I decided to take advantage of her good mood by asking her the question that had been on my mind ever since we’d left the diner. “Hey, Mama, who is Abellona Abbott?” I asked.

  “Oh… Um… She’s nobody, dear.” My mama said as I’m sure her mind raced to come up with a way to avoid the question. She then delayed answering me even further by holding up the cat tightly against her chest while cooing at it. But finally, after seeing that I was becoming impatient, and that I wasn’t going to give up like I had with that thing in the basement, she said, “She was just some innocent, young girl, who the ignorant bastards around here called a witch for befriending an old woman who had lived in a cottage somewhere out in these woods. It was almost three hundred years ago and the people around here still talk about it like it has some relevancy.”

  It was weird hearing my mama swear. That was something she almost never did, except for when she was either really upset or angry enough to fly off the handle. It tempted me for a second to chide her about her language, like she had done with me back at the diner, but I elected not to say anything.

  “Well, I still would like to hear the story behind it.” I said beseechingly while trying my best to coax more information out of her. “I mean… If I’m going to live here I outta know its history, right?”

  “It’s… It’s… Really nothing, sweetheart.” She then began while shaking her head side-to-side as if deciding whether she wanted to get into it. And, as she paused to gather her thoughts, I watched as the black cat settled herself down deep into my mama’s lap as if getting ready for a long story.

  My mama, then began with, “There was this teenage girl named Abellona Abbott, who supposedly lived around these parts back in the 1730’s. She was about the same age as you are now, and apparently she had become friends with this old woman named Alcina Wilcott who had lived out in an old, rundown cabin somewhere in the forest high atop Mount Harrison. Alcina was thought of as being not all there anymore in the mind on account of her age, much like that woman at the diner, my old math teacher, Caroline Hemstock.

  “Anyway, like most of the isolated villages back then, all the uneducated people who lived here in Mt. Harrison thought of Alcina as being weird, strange… Perhaps deranged because of her senility. So, not having anything better to do with themselves, they spent a lot of their time gossiping about her and creating rumors about what it was she might be doing out in the forest all by herself.

  “You see, Alcina didn’t have a husband. He had died years earlier. Which back then, was like the worst thing that could happen to you if you were a woman. Because in reality, life back then for a woman without the security a husband provided or if she wasn’t receiving any help from her community, was that she had to learn how to manage all by herself. She had to learn how to live off the land to survive that is. That meant figuring out what plants she could forage for food, or which ones were good to use as medicine, things like that. It wasn’t easy. Think about how hard life must’ve been for her with no modern technology and nobody to help her.

  “But she had managed. And, of course, the citizens of Mt. Harrison just couldn’t leave the old woman be. They thought it was bizarre. Her living out in the forest all by herself—that it wasn’t possible for a woman as old as Alcina was to still be able to do that. They thought that a woman of her age could only survive and thrive within the confines of the village. But the mere fact that she was surviving and doing just fine all by her lonesome in the forest, had some of the villagers on edge—thinking that she had gotten some sort of ungodly help out there. So, they had started calling her names like witch and sorceress and spreading rumors that she had sold her soul to the Morning Star—Satan—and was now forever married to the Devil.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty fucked up.” I said after hearing what my mama had to say, but then quickly apologized for my language fearing that she wouldn’t go on with her story. But she still gave me a tongue-lashing anyways by saying, “Cera, your language, please.” even though, like I’d said, I had apologized. And, on top of that she gave me her patented look of disapproval.

  “Anyway,” my mama, then began again. “So during the time that Alcina was known to be living out in the forest there was also this girl from the village named, Abellona Abbott, who by all accounts was just your normal, teenage girl. You know, she would go out into the forest with friends to play and hang out, gossip with other girls about the boys they liked. Normal stuff like that for a girl her age.

  “But it’s said that at some point, Abellona ends up meeting Alcina out in the forest and the two of them allegedly became good friends.

  “Well, this friendship goes on for a while without anybody from Abellona’s village finding out about it. And, legend has it… Well, at least from what I’ve managed to gather from the stories I’d heard when I was a kid. Is that, Abellona and maybe even a few of her friends kept on visiting Alcina out in the forest, even though they were forbidden to do so. It is believed that they had even started bringing Alcina things from the village that she may have asked them for. In return, Alcina would tell the girls stories and share with them her knowledge about the forest whenever they’d come to visit her.”

  “What kind of knowledge about the forest would she share with the girls?” I asked.

  “Oh, stuff like what plants could be used in stews, and which ones were good for healing cuts and scrapes, and even things like which flowers’ scents could be used to get the village boy that they had a crush on to notice them. It was mostly hogwash stuff, but considered absolute truth at the time.

  “But eventually, one day, Abellona goes off to visit Alcina at her cottage and it just so happens that one of the village boys—whose name I can no longer remember… had been spying on her. He had seen Abellona leave the village, so he decides to follow her into the woods to see where she goes, and what she’s up to.

  “After doing so, the boy discovers that Abellona has been visiting Alcina at her cottage. So, he runs back to the village to tell his father. His father then goes and tells the village pastor, or vicar, or whatever it is they called the local priest back then—some guy named Joseph Baker. The boy’s father and the pastor then rounded up the village’s lynching crew and they head out into the forest in search of Abellona and Alcina.

  “One story goes that some of the people of the village believed that Alcina had put Abellona under some sort of spell or charm, and that’s why she had defied the village elders and went out into the forest seeking Alcina. They thought of Abellona as having become some sort of servant for Alcina or a slave even. While others thought that Abellona had given herself up to Alcina of her
own volition.

  “But either way, the men trape off into the forest on their way to find Alcina’s cottage, and when they get there they find that Abellona is still there with the old woman. They were both just attending to Alcina’s small garden, she had for herself.

  “The men immediately take Alcina and Abellona into custody and then commence with searching Alcina’s home for signs of witchcraft, Devil worshiping, or any other types of hocus-pocus they could accuse her of. But they find nothing, just some jars of herbs and Alcina’s writings that she’d kept in a journal. Still, they weren’t going to let a lack of evidence stop them and spoil a good lynching though.

  “So the men right away condemn Alcina and Abellona of being guilty of witchcraft. Claiming that the things which Alcina had written in her journals—mostly recipes and other knowledge she’d obtained from her time in the forest—was actually magic spells and thereby evidence of her sorcery.

  “The villagers then accuse the two of them of being cohorts of the Devil, and the ones solely responsible for the poor farming season the village had recently experienced.

  “The truth was that the northeast that year had experienced an exceptionally wet spring and beginning of summer, which had caused the crop’s roots to rot in the soil. They had also even blamed Alcina and Abellona for being responsible for the acute bout of influenza that had swept through the village taking out several community members during the past winter.”

  “What a crock… That’s ridiculous.” I said interrupting my mama as I was completely incredulous to just how stupid people could be.

  “Yes, well, it was a much different time back then.” My mama then said as she let out a plaintive sigh. “People believed in evil spirits, the boogie man, and all sorts of weird stuff. In a way, things haven’t changed all that much around here in the past two hundred eighty some-odd years.”

  I had watched my mama for a moment as she paused and thought deeply about what she’d just said to me. I even thought for a second that she might have been reminiscing about her childhood. Growing up around here and all the tough times she must have had with some of the people who ultimately caused her to want to run away.

  After a while though she started to freak me out a little when she seemed to linger on a little too long in her hypnotic state. Soon I began to feel like I should do something—raise my voice at her, or snap my fingers, maybe clap my hands, or even just give her a hug. But I didn’t do any of that, I just ended up saying, “And then what happened?” which seemed to do just fine breaking her out of her daydream.

  She went on. “Well, like I said, Abellona and Alcina were both arrested and charged with practicing witchcraft and Satanism. Alcina, was never even given any sort of trial what-so-ever, and was immediately sentenced to death by fire.”

  “Awe, that’s awful…” I chimed in again feeling emphatically appalled.

  “And, as for Abellona, since she was a child of the village, and since some of the people of the village felt that she was under Alcina’s control. She was given a chance to repent, or face her own form of corporal punishment.

  “The very next day, Alcina’s execution was carried out, and she was subsequently burnt at the stake somewhere, right here in the village after the Honorable Pastor Joseph Baker condemned her to die. Then, right after Alcina’s execution had transpired, Abellona was given her fake trial.

  “During her pre-trial, which was kind of like a little arraignment they had for her, Abellona refused to admit that she was a witch or that she’d ever practiced witchcraft or Satanism with Alcina. But that didn’t matter, because the pastor had decided to go through with her trial anyway, and it was to be carried out the next day at sunup.

  “They had planned on tying Abellona down into a dunking chair, which they would then lower into the Genesee River, and if she drowned, she would be exonerated, and if she didn’t, well… Then, she’d be declared a witch and would be burnt at the stake just like Alcina had been.”

  “You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me, right?” I said, after yet again being astonished and affronted by how cruel the villagers could be.

  “Cera, please, that language.” My mama said brusquely.

  The black cat in my mama’s lap, then stood up and spun around in circles before settling herself back down.

  My mama, then went on.

  “So it’s believed that during the night while Abellona was locked away in an old storage shed that the villagers had used as a makeshift jail, she began praying to Hecate—whom she’d learned about from Alcina. Hecate being the Greek goddess of sorcery and witchcraft. While, others say she had made a pact with the Devil that night by selling her soul to him in exchange for powers that would allow her to exact her revenge on the villagers for what they had done to Alcina, and for what they were planning on doing to her at first light.

  “And when the darkness lifted at sunrise, the villagers came to pull Abellona from her improvised cell and then before the entire village, Pastor Joseph Baker grants Abellona one last chance to repent and admit that she’s a witch. To which it is also believed that Abellona then spits in his face and says something in a language that nobody there to witness it could even remotely comprehend. It was an action that had frightened the villagers and ended up sealing her fate.

  “The pastor and the villagers then quickly convicted Abellona of her guilt. Soon afterwards, the Joseph Baker commenced in blessing her with Holy water as some of the village’s strong men began strapping her down into the dunking chair all while she kicked and screamed.

  “They then carried her in the chair down to the edge of the river, but before throwing her in, the pastor asked Abellona one more time if she would like to repent. And, it is believed; that Abellona, then for a second time said something to the pastor in that strange tongue nobody could quite grasp. But then, speaking in English she told the villagers that it was they who were the ones guilty of witchcraft, and that they would pay dearly for what they had done to Alcina and for what they were about to do to her.

  “Abellona then spoke in riddles again, and afterwards she told the villagers that she had cursed their children. That she would come for them, for their souls, and that the village of Mt. Harrison would never know peace again until they’ve repented for their sins against her and Alcina and have denounced their wicked God.

  “Well, at that point, Pastor Joseph Baker had heard about enough from Abellona and he says to her, ‘May God have mercy on your soul.’ then the sanctimonious jerk pushed her as she sat locked in the chair backwards into the cold river waters.”

  “So then what happened?” I asked my mama in anticipation. “Did she drown?”

  A smile then curled up from my mama’s pursed lips. It was acknowledgement to me that she knew she had me eating from the palm of her hand. She then said to me, “What do you think happened, silly? They tied the poor girl to a chair and pushed her backwards into the river, of course she drowned. There’s no such thing as witches.”

  At that point I was feeling pretty sheepish for having asked such an obvious question. But that feeling quickly subsided when for a reason unbeknownst to us the black cat cradled in my mama’s lap suddenly reared up and started baring her teeth while letting out a hiss like she’d felt threatened.

  My mama panicked and quickly tossed the cat from her lap and I watched as it ran off through the yard and into the scatter of trees behind our house before heading straight for the Genesee River and the forest of Mount Harrison.

  “Well, I guess she didn’t like that story.” I said, feeling somewhat startled myself by the cat’s sudden outburst.

  “Either that or she was a critic of my storytelling.” my mama assented.

  My mama, then took a few deep breaths to help her collect her composure, and I paused, giving her a moment before saying, “So, since Abellona’s death, many years have passed and the world seems to have wised up to the ridiculousness of witchcraft being real. So why then do so many people around here still seem to believe i
n this nonsense?”

  My mama, then answered me by saying, “Because people will always look for a scapegoat to blame their problems on, that’s why. Also in part because of Abellona allegedly having said that she’d placed a curse on the children of Mt. Harrison, and that the village would never know peace and prosperity again until its people repented. Since then, for over the past two hundred eighty years the people around here have had a tendency to believe that every time something goes wrong in the village, it’s Abellona’s doing. When the surrounding farmers yield a bad crop, it is Abellona’s curse. When someone got sick and died, it was Abellona who had killed them. When another high school’s football team beat ours, it was Abellona working her sorcery again.”

  “Sounds like a coward’s excuse.” I said.

  “It is.” My mama agreed.

  “So, whatever happened to Alcina’s and Abellona’s remains?”

  “Well, the story goes that there was nothing left of Alcina’s body to bury. She’d been reduced down to just ashes, which they then gathered up and threw in the river. And, as for Abellona… They had refused to allow her burial in the village cemetery. So, she was laid to rest somewhere out in the forest high atop Mt. Harrison in an unmarked grave. Just a large stone left in place atop of her gravesite as a marker.”

  Our Visit to See Grandma

  A week had passed since we’d moved into my grandmother’s house, and my mama and I had figured that it would be nice to finally pay her a visit and give our respects.

  The village cemetery wasn’t far from my grandmother’s house—well, I guess I should start referring to it as our house now—so we decided to just walk there.