3

 She looked at her in disbelief. Even though she knew Ginger for years she never stopped to amaze. She looked like a perfect caricature of a giant hamster with both her cheeks plumped hard. Ginger has just put a whole apple in her mouth and now, slowly, she started to break it down with her gums, palate, tongue, teeth. Whatever could grip the oversized fruit filling up her oral cavity. Ginger must have noticed the surprised look on Sophia’s face since she started laughing, spreading pieces of fruit all over the library keyboard. Miss Kranktopfer raised her look from behind a pile of books on her great walnut desk. Her neck extended comically resembling a spectacled giraffe. She was the head librarian and had already told them to shush a couple of times. Not wanting to risk being expelled from the library Ginger hid behind the monitor they were using, and Sophia made a namaste-like gesture. It worked for now. They have been in the library for the last two hours trying to find something on the Maliseet hood she unearthed.

‘Hey, look at that’. Sophia tried to get Ginger attention to stop her clowning around, however this time she thought she actually found something. There was a clip of newspaper from 1904 Topics of the Town. She started reading semi-aloud:

The town is still scared after the disappearance of the Athanase family. The whole family vanished overnight. Last 10 members of the village once called the Legacy of New Brunswick have mysteriously disappeared. Townsfolk have different opinions on the subject, but there are voices fearing the supernatural have had something to do it. Names like Manitou and Windigo kept being whispered around the town. There is also talk about the neighbors dispute since the mill owners wanted to acquire the land for long now. Although at this stage Police has got no leads and think that the tribe just moved away as a lot of clothing and personal items have disappeared too. The village burned to the ground leaving no further clues. Sheriff Grady believes there was no involvement from the neighbor family, the…

The text ended there. There was a large chunk of paper missing – the corner has been torn off. Sophia looked at Ginger who had two apple seeds glued to her chin. ‘Wipe your beard sunshine.’ Ginger obliged; however she pulled out her incredibly long, lizard-like tongue and devoured the seeds. Sophia shrugged. ‘Told you it was a fucking Wendigo, or some other supernatural shit. Must have killed the poor family’.

Sophia smirked; Ginger have always had the conspiracy theory mindset. Yet she still though about the skinned, spinning squirrel… Maybe, just maybe it wasn’t a figment of her imagination?

‘I’ve got an Idea!’ Ginger was full of them. ‘Let’s go and see my Pops, he will know something about it, no doubt!’ Sophia didn’t want to involve the whole DeVeau family, and she was actually scared of the Pops. Gabriel DeVeau was somewhat of a legendary figure, and his spirituality always made Sophia feel uneasy in his presence. His age was a bit of a mystery, well into his 80s (some claimed he was over a hundred years old) he still stood over 6 feet tall with very little signs of physical aging apart from the numerous scars and wrinkles on his face. He would still chop wood for the fireplace and hunt with his bow.

‘I don’t know, after the last time…’ Ginger interrupted. ‘He just wanted to be friendly, who could have known you have never tried dried skunk meat? Come on girl, we need to get to the bottom of this shit. No fucking around, we go and see him and after that we may do a little more digging at the site of your discovery.’ Sophia just sighted, she knew there was no stopping Ginger now, and she actually wanted to find out a bit more herself. She was a Maliseet in the end.

4

Gabriel was sitting outside his cottage, smoking a huge cigar. Despite it being only 12֯C he was wearing a white tank top and blue jeans shorts. Barefoot. The top and shorts were immaculate, no crease or stain. He wore a trucker cap (Anaheim Ducts for whatever reason…) and his long white hair flowed in the wind like the lady on the first American dollar. Sophia found it funny, yet clenched her laugh inside, just in case. Gabriel wasn’t all there in her opinion. Don’t poke the bear.

‘Hi POOOOPS!’ Ginger didn’t hold back and jumped on her grandad who has just about risen from his bench. He grabbed her in the air and twirled around several times, didn’t even drop any ash from his Cuban.

‘Hi Sunset! I knew you were coming.’ His voice deep and rough, like the late Joe Cocker.

Sophia shivered slightly, the whole scene, including the dialog seemed eerie.

Gabriel stood Ginger down. He looked at Sophia and smiled. This was very calming, just what he needed, as if he really knew what was going on.

‘Come Soph, I believe you’re looking for some answers?’

‘I do but how…’ Gabriel interrupted her, ‘Doesn’t matter how and why, I just feel like you’re searching for something, and you have been for a while, eh’? No time for explanation, please join me in my cabin. He waved them both in. The house was just one big space with an open plan kitchen and a sofa bed in front of a massive TV, must have been at least 60 inches. Everything was immaculate, pots and pans hanging above the stove. Kitchen island with marble looking top and a stainless-steel sink. Sophia has visited before but always briefly and never really looked around, this time everything seemed sharper. She felt as if time stopped so she could look at everything as if for the first time. As if she was the pilgrim in one of the Paolo Coelho books, she slowed down to see everything clearly and inhale the immaculateness of this dwelling.

Gabriel allowed few seconds for that, and gestured Sophia down the stairs into the basement.

‘Sunset, could you please put the kettle on as the English say?’

Ginger surprisingly obliged without hesitation.

Sophia went downstairs, lights went on as soon as she stepped on the first step. The basement as immaculate as the upstairs. This log cabin was something else. She reached the bottom. This was a smaller room with a pair of doors on the far side. Small, glass coffee table with a very ornate shisha stood in the middle. There was an L-shaped sofa around the rectangular table. Numerous books sat on mahogany looking shelves. She has never visited this room before. Mesmerised she approached one of the shelves, she glanced at the titles, she managed to read ‘Biblia Latina . . . 42’ the rest was faint, could it be? No. There were some Shakespeare works, looked at least 300 years old but still in good shape. She knew a thing or two about the books. There was also a book which must have been fiction. The title read ‘The Vermis Mysteriis’.

“Ok, time to do the deed!’ Sophia almost fainted. Gabriel voice seemed to have echoed around the wooden walls.

‘Gabriel’ – he insisted everyone close called his that, and informed Sophia she was in his circle of trust before. ‘What is this all about, I haven’t said a word, and…’ Gabriel smirked somehow annoyed. ‘I don’t need to know the details; all I know is you’re looking for some answers and I will provide you with the canvas. Your brain, and your ancestors, will do the rest. I will set it all up and leave you here. If you feel drowsy or panicky, just press the button below the table, the small red one underneath.’ He added noticing how baffled she looked. ‘Ima go and get the tea going, you sit down and relax. Shisha is full of the necessary medicine. Just fire it up with the matches.’ She only just noticed a box of long, grill firing matches on the arm rest of the sofa. She looked back at Gabriel to further enquire, but he was gone already.

Sophia coughed a couple of times after a hit from the shisha. It wasn’t weed, must have been something stronger. It tasted almost sweet. Suddenly smoke started coming through small jet diffusers placed on each wall. It filled the room and seemed to be filling Sophia’s brain. She felt as if she was swimming in an ocean. So light, almost as if there was no gravity, nothing pulling her down, she started floating around the room, swirling faster and faster like a small tornado. Then she looked down at… herself. Sitting firmly on the couch, hands squeezing the cushions.

Her spirit left the room, the cottage and flew across the vast fields of green. She noticed someone running through the tall grass. Red, veil-like head cover flying quickly through the greens. It looked exactly like the Maliseet hood she found in the forest. Red-Hood, clearly a woman with her dress flowing behind, was being chased by a party of four, all men. They moved quickly gaining ground with every step. The woman managed to finish her race through the grass first placed. She run towards a native settlement which seemed covered in fog. Sophia flew over it just to find out the wooden houses were actually on fire. There were bodies on the ground, mainly women, some children scattered across the village. Men must have been out hunting, the woman screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a piercing sound reaching the depths of Sophia’s flying soul. She felt a horrible, unimaginable striking pain in every piece of her bodiless spirit. The woman noticed the party reaching the village. She stopped screaming and took for the forest bordering the west side of the village. One of the women on the ground was still alive, she tried to raise herself up, left hand pushing her up from the ground. One of the men, his chin covered by a massive silver beard, reached behind his back and produced a long bayonet. Without even stopping, he slit the wounded woman’s throat and kept running. The other three, must have been his sons, young looking lads, stopped. Their faces grimaced, but it wasn’t a sign of disapproval, more of an itch, as if they just witnessed a pig slaughter. The woman in the red hood kept running, she reached the first trees. The old man stopped and pulled a revolver out of the holster attached to a heavy looking leather hip belt. He aimed quickly and a loud bang filled Sophia’s head. She heard everything in her head as if she was wearing her ipods. The woman flew a few feet between the trees and hit the ground. Silver Beard reached the red hooded woman and the bayonet appeared again. Up and down, up and down the blade swung, blood splattering the trees and moss. The forest lost all of its innocence, became a tainted ground bound by the laws of the corrupted humanity. Sophia cried loudly, everything seemed to vortex around her, there was a swish and she found herself sitting in the cottage basement again. She opened her eyes. They stung, she closed them again and screamed in agony. Flashes of women faces started running through her brain, her closed eyes seemed to be projecting images on the inside of her eyelids. Names appeared quickly: Annie Mae, Shirley, Lisa, Tina. They all had dark hair and hazel eyes, Sophia felt a very strong spiritual bond with them. Tears started watering her face. She sat in silence trying to comprehend what just happened.

Gabriel appeared as if summoned by the women spirits. ‘Its time for tea Soph, lets talk’.