In the Forest of Light and Dark

by Kasniak, Mark

  “Cera... Cera, stop!” I heard Mrs. Perez call out to me but I wasn't finished yet. I still had a handful of Hallie's hair and I began two-hand ripping it out of her skull as I tried pulling her up from her cowering position on the floor.

  By now I had expected Laurie Altman on me, but she wasn't. She had elected to just sit this one out, either too scared to fight, or maybe not wanting to get in any trouble which I was sure all of us were going to be plenty in when this was over.

  I bent down and hit Hallie again, but she refused to fight back. She just made a series of high-pitched cries as she tried desperately to curl up on the floor in a fetal position covering the top of her head and face with her arms.

  Keri then took another run at me after recovering from the blow I’d given her. She grabbed a firm hold of my hair from behind and began pulling it trying to drag me away from Hallie. I obliged and stepped away, leaving Hallie turtled up and crying on the floor. Even though I was still plenty pissed, it didn't seem right to hit her any longer, not if she wasn't going to fight back. It’s not right to shoot a sitting duck.

  “YOU FUCKIN' BITCH!” I shouted as Keri yanked and pulled my head back trying to jerk me bald-headed. I felt a sudden sharp pain, and then a release as a chunk of my golden-fair hair was torn from my skull. Keri then tossed the lock of my hair aside and I watched as it gently glided down to the ground as if riding on an air current like a feather.

  “CERA, ENOUGH!” Mrs. Perez shouted, this time her voice high and wavering as if she sounded somehow afraid and definitely not in control of the situation. Mrs. Perez then tried grabbing hold of my right arm each time I cocked it back, but failed in being able to keep hold of it as I plunged it forward repeatedly into Keri Mahan's face.

  Things began to seem like they were running in slow motion, and I felt a rush of exhilaration each time my fist made contact with the thin, delicate features that made up Keri's face. In the following few moments as I rained blow-after-blow down on her it reminded me of that scene in Fight Club where Ed Norton’s character kept striking that blond-haired guy, smashing his face in and then afterwards saying that he did it because he wanted to destroy something beautiful. That's how I felt just then, at that moment, only Keri Mahan beauty was only a mirage. Keri Mahan was nothing but rotten and ugly to the core, and I was going to expose her hideousness to the world, even though it meant I was going to have to act ugly to do it.

  I had hit her enough times that blood was coming from her nose, and there was now no real fight left in her, I had knocked it all out of her. But, I didn’t feel like I had crushed her willingness to keep fighting. I felt like I had consumed it, sucking her energy from her like a vampire.

  She clung desperately to my shirt with a failing grip, and when I was going for one last knockout blow to finish it—hopefully for good—was when Mrs. Perez had finally had grabbed a hold of me. Up until this point I had forgotten that she was even there behind me trying to stop the fight the entire time. She had seemed to me, up until then, as if like a tiny gnat that I had been continuously swatting away as I brought my fury down on Keri.

  I threw my last punch, slinging my arm forward with all I could muster. The words Die Bitch! I remember having sprung forth from my lips as I struck Keri with that one last blow. My punch connected with her jaw like my fist was now Thor's hammer and immediately I felt a surge of power pulse through me. At first, it had felt like it been generated from the air and ground, but then it pumped through my toes, feet, legs, and eventually built up like a tidal wave erupting through my fist into Keri’s jowl. There was a flash again like the one that had blinded me when Hallie had struck me in the head with the ball, but this one was a little different. This one been spawned from the end of my knuckles, and accompanied by a surge of electricity and a whiff of ozone. The power that expelled from me sent Keri flying through the air like a villain in a comic book after being made quick work of by a superhero. She hit the floor several yards away and bounced off it only to come back down eventually skidding into one of the blue safety pads that lined the gymnasium walls. She was unconscious and bleeding from her nose and mouth. I then walked over to her and stood above her with my breathing now belabored and I just stared at her.

  Thunder cracked and crashed above us, followed by rain that came a moment later pounding the gymnasium roof with its violent assault. The air of the cavernous room quickly filled with a roar from the sudden downpour that could only be matched by a freight train.

  Some of the girls ran over to Keri to see if she was all right while others attended to Hallie who was still on the floor looking up at me with tremulous dark eyes. Like that of those battered dogs in a Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial.

  I turned around and pulled my hair back as I checked it to see if any more been ripped out. But that was when I noticed Mrs. Perez lying on the gym floor. A few girls were already crouched down next to her and one was calling out her name as she fanned a hand in front of her face trying to give her oxygen. I looked at her lying there motionless and a sense of dread and shock begun to fill me. Did I do that? I thought. No, I couldn't have. I never touched her unless… Unless she had caught an elbow when I was hitting Keri. I then heard someone say to somebody else, “Go get the school nurse.” and then a couple of girls took off running for the hall.

  When Mrs. Perez started to come around, she was babbling and asking, “What happened?” The girls in the class looked at her and then looked at me, but all had remained speechless, completely shocked and not knowing what to say. Mrs. Perez then began to get up on her thick frame, but suddenly pitched forward almost crashing back down, one of the girls having to catch her to keep that from happening. A second girl then stepped in and tried to help by holding her steady and upright until she had regained her balance, and soon afterwards Mrs. Perez started to get it together.

  Keri was also now beginning to awaken, and I could hear her begin to make a series of high-pitched gasps as her belly hitched up and down like she had the hick-ups. Eventually those choking noises had built into sobs and she began to bawl uncontrollably.

  Laurie Altman continued to hold onto a still frightened Hallie—their faces smushed together as she continued to stroke the side of Hallie’s cheek and hair. To me they looked like tornado victims still clinging to each other long after they’d watched their house get blown away to pieces all around them.

  Soon, the school nurse had shown up along with a few other teachers and Mrs. Coalaski from the attendance office. Then, a tall man in a beige suit and honey-yellow tie came in soon after them and he began to ask questions about what had happened. A few of the girls looked at him bewildered like a deer in headlights. Other's just pointed at me. He then asked the nurse if everyone was going to be all right and she answered him, saying, “I believe so.” then he asked her, “You got this?” to which she just nodded back at him while keeping her attention focused on Keri. He then looked at me sternly and said, “You, come with me.”

  My Step Daddy's Gonna Kill Me

  I had no idea as to the punishment I may receive, but I had reckoned on at least being suspended from school along with a grounding from my parents. And as I sat in the principal’s office being questioned by Mr. Williams (the man in the beige suit) a sick feeling begun to turn my stomach as I wondered if Keri or Mrs. Perez were truly hurt.

  Mrs. Perez had looked somewhat better when I’d left the gymnasium, but who knows just how injured she really was. Keri though, I had figured that I’d at least broken her nose, and possibly even given her a concussion. I dreaded the thought of Keri's parents or Mrs. Perez suing my mama and step daddy for damages. That would’ve surely meant the end of our days of living on high cotton, and my mama and step daddy didn't deserve that.

  In the end, though. I had received a three days suspension. Mrs. Perez had told the principal her account of what happened. At least her account of what she could remember having happened. And, to my surprise a couple of the other girls in the class had actually told the tru
th. Backing up mine and Mrs. Perez's statements that Hallie Dune had started it all by taking a cheap shot at me.

  Later that day when I had talked to Katelyn on the phone, she knew right away that something had happened even though she hadn’t yet heard of any rumors of it spreading throughout the school so far. I had figured that was on account of the fight taking place in the last ten minutes of the school day.

  Katelyn went on telling me that when she had seen the sudden storm erupt from out of nowhere, materializing from what had been a fairly decent afternoon. She knew right away that something was up with me. I really couldn’t deny her hypothesis any longer, that I had something to do with the sudden storm this time. It was really beginning to seem like wild weather was following my mood swings like a dark shadow.

  She also told me not to worry about Mrs. Perez suing my parents. Because it had seemed as though Mrs. Perez had an already somewhat strong distaste for the bitches after they had photo shopped several pictures of her. In them, they had given her male genitalia that hung out the bottom of her gym shorts like a pendulum. They then posted those pictures on Facebook. Katelyn had even joked saying that Mrs. Perez was probably glad that I had kicked Hallie and Keri’s asses.

  Keri did end up with a broken nose, which swelled into duel black eyes, along with matching bruises all over her face, chest, and arms. Hallie had a split lower lip which needed a stitch or two, and had a few fresh bruises of her own, and not just the ones done to her ego. Mrs. Perez ended up being just fine, and after being checked out by a doctor, she was Okayed to go back to work the very next day.

  My step daddy had laid into me pretty good though, while we were in the principal's office, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly for show because once we were out of there and off school property he seemed to simmer down pretty fast. He had already known from my demeanor around the house that I’d been having problems with some of the girls at school, and on the ride home, he had told me that he had reckoned I would've already done something like this by now. Then, he gave me a look like, What took you so long? Which had taken me a little by surprise. I then asked him where Mama was and he shifted his eyes, giving me a completely different look, and I knew right away that she was at home having been too upset to have come down to the school to get me. I didn’t think I could’ve felt any more like shit then I did right at that moment, but in life, things can and always do get worse, and in hearing that I had really upset my mama I felt like the lowest form of scum. Step Daddy Cade then told me that he had told her to stay home—that he would handle it.

  I had spent the weekend in my room watching television and playing with Casper. But, on Saturday I had talked to Tucker, Owen, Lettie, and Marzie and had gotten caught up with them and everything else that had happened in Saraland since I’d left. I found out Eron Durfee and Gerralyn were now hooking up and that one of my old grade school teachers, Mrs. Whitechek, had died. So, sad. I then had informed them all about what’s been happening with me since my arrival at Mount Harrison, minus the witch stuff of course.

  After having heard my story, in typical Tucker fashion, he insisted that he should come up to New York to see me. I had insisted to him that I would be fine and then we continued to argue over the phone for another fifteen-minutes as I told him over-and-over again, Now’s not a good time for a visit before he finally conceded.

  The weekend did go by peacefully for me though, which I was thankful for, and on Monday morning I decided to prepare breakfast for my mama and me while my step daddy still slept. It was my way of trying to score a few brownie points and expiate with Mama after my little mishap.

  I had had my hands full making chocolate chip pancakes along with sausage, bacon, eggs, and toast, all while in the middle of mixing a container of frozen concentrated orange juice into a pitcher of water when I heard my mama say, “Oh, dear.” somewhat somberly while she read the local paper. I of course had then asked her, “what?” and she said that it was nothing. My curiosity had been piqued though, so I again asked her, “what?” this time a little more urgently. She then glanced towards me with shifting eyes and said, “You remember that man from the drug store, the man who yelled at me?”

  “Yeah,”

  “Well, it says here that, Brandon Kolinski, age eight, of Maple Road, died last week Wednesday from a brain tumor.” My mama, then looked up at me from the paper and with a sorrowful look said, “This must be that guy’s little boy. He said that his kid had brain cancer and that it had come out of remission recently. I recall the pharmacist having called out his name when his prescription was ready, and it was a name that began with a ‘K’ and ended with ski, something like Kolinski.”

  I thought of Katelyn and Casper just then. Specifically thinking of what Katelyn had told me about how it was believed around these parts that Abellona Abbott was storing all the souls of the children and other residence of Mt. Harrison she’d killed in the bodies of cats. So, that they could stay in her possession and at least in somewhat her control as they remained trapped indefinitely in a state of purgatory.

  My mama went on. “It says here that he had suffered from a tumor called a Glioblastoma Multiforme, an extremely aggressive form of malignant brain cancer. It had been in remission since the fall of 2006 and it suddenly returned just last month. The wake was held at the AMIGONE funeral home on Sumner Road yesterday and Saturday, and the funeral will be held today.”

  “That’s terrible.” I said as I pulled pancakes off the stove top, and then followed that up with, “You really should stop reading the paper all the time. It’s only full of bad news that seems to upset you.” But what I really wanted to say to her was—You really should stop reading the paper. Because every time you do, I find out that someone else in this village has died, and then the next thing I know another weird stray shows up. Which kind of backs up Katelyn’s there’s an evil witch collecting everyone’s soul theory, and that’s really creeping me out.

  I sat down at the table and we began to eat, and as I poured syrup atop my pancakes I tried to count back the days in my mind as to when I’d found Casper in the cemetery, and then I remembered that it had been on Thursday, the day Katelyn and I had ditched school. Brandon Kolinski had died on Wednesday, the day before and Katelyn said that she thought Casper might have been only a day or two old at the most when I’d found him. So, that would put Brandon’s death right at the same time of Casper’s apparently motherless birth. The thought had crept me out. But what did Katelyn know, really? She’s a vegetarian not a veterinarian. Still though, there were way too many coincidences going on as of late to keep me from not having a serious case of the Heebie-jeebies.

  After we had finished breakfast I began to clean up the plates, and that was when my mama had asked me if I was feeling okay because I hadn’t eaten all that much (Usually I would’ve wrecked me some pancakes and bacon.) but I just told her that I wasn’t all that hungry for some reason that morning, but I would save the leftovers for Step Daddy Cade whenever he got up.

  My mama, then gave me a worried look, but then left the kitchen to grab her purse and car keys wanting to take a trip into the village to pick up some sweet tea, Cokes, and cigarettes for Step Daddy Cade.

  I continued gathering the dishes and as I did so I heard a meow that sounded like it had come from the other side of the kitchen, near the patio door. It was soon accompanied by the faintest sound of nails taping and being swept down the smooth glass of the door. I walked over to that side of the kitchen to find that it was Midnight the all black cat with the piercing green eyes. She sat staring at me with an almost mischievous smile as I approached.

  I squatted down petting her, and she arched her back like she had a tendency to do when I touched her and then let out a low purr. I then asked her softly if she was hungry, deciding to give her a little of the left over pancakes. Not that I knew if cats ate pancakes or not, but I was certain it was better than the mice or rats or whatever it was she caught for herself must be. So, I cut away part of a panc
ake that didn’t have any chocolate chips in it and placed it on the ground in front of her. She wasted no time taking it in, so I then gave her a saucer of milk to wash it all down with, which she then finished just as quickly. After she had eaten, we then hung out on the deck while she jumped back and forth on-and-off my lap like I was a jungle gym. To me she seemed happier than a dead pig in sunshine.

  After a while I put her down and told her that I would be right back. I then left her there as I went upstairs to my room and retrieved Casper from out of his new bed that my Step Daddy Cade had made good on by picking up for him down at the Walmart like he said he would.

  When I had gotten back to the deck, surprisingly, this time Midnight was still there, and I introduced her to the little, white kitten I called Casper. And for a moment there I thought that I should’ve maybe introduced her to Brandon Kolinski, but I rather quickly dismissed that idea.

  I had put Casper down and watched as he interacted with Midnight while I thought again about what Katelyn had said. What if these strays were the trapped souls of the villagers? Who might Midnight be then? Who might Popsicle have been, and what happened to her soul when the crows had slaughtered her? What about all the others, who were they, what was their story?

  My mama came back downstairs just then and had peeked her head out on the deck telling me she was leaving and I told her, “Okay.”

  Step Daddy Cade then rolled his lazy ass out of bed about an hour later settling down on the couch next to me and together we watched Jerry Springer. Jerry had on a group of midget Klansmen who blamed all the other races for them being little—it was quality television, if there ever was any.