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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

HUNTER'S MOON_WEP Halloween Challenge


HUNTER'S MOON
{1000 Words} 


I unfold the crisp note and read it again.  The words are the same.  They mock me still.




Luke:


Why are we like we are?  Sure, you’re Sioux, and I’m white.  But do we have to be enemies?  

 Can’t we find some common ground?  I know that me and the others have made your life Hell at school.


I’m tired of it all.  I’ve found a way to put an end to it.

 Meet me at the old abandoned Res. Health Center tonight.  Halloween is a good time to put old ghosts to rest, right?


Eric




It was an ambush of course.  The Reservation Health Center – 

where once the white doctors sterilized trusting Lakota girls who came to them for help.


Halloween.   

I sighed.  Leave it to the whites to believe that the dead could only haunt the living one night of the year.


The shadows crept close.   

The Hunter’s Moon seemed impaled on the canine tooth of the pine above me.   

Eric and his pack were waiting for me up ahead.  I smelled their whiskey breaths on the chill wind.


My face tightened.  When coyotes hunt the wolf, it seldom turns out well.  

Even civilized white boys should know that much.


They had not learned the One Lesson:



Growing up is all about getting hurt. Then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. 

You move on, knowing you are going to get hurt again. But each time, you learn something.

Each time, you come out of it a little stronger. At some point you realize there are more flavors of pain than lies in politicians’ mouths.  

 It tastes bad, but you swallow it.  You endure.



Evil was not the real threat to the world.  Stupidity was because it was more common.  But look who was talking? 


I smiled.  Of course, I came here earlier, learning where the pits were hidden, where the nets suspended.


I prayed forgiveness as I dug up the small bodies in the mass grave:


Lakota children who were not given medicine, for the money had gone into the pockets of the white administrator ...


tiny skulls full of nothing like beggars' bowls. 


 I filled them with the tiny gears of broken children toys.  The dry bat wings from the dead creatures in the Center’s attic were a pain to attach.


Now, those winged skulls replaced the nets, hanging from the branches with the dark in their eyes.  

Not real Kanontsistonties of Lakota myth.  But they would do.


Eric and his pack meant to break my bones like kindling upon the rocks of their hearts.


I did not hate them.  To hate the rain does not keep you dry.  


They did not know they were evil.  There is no road sign that marks the crossroads where you damn yourself.


There is music in every wound.  A wound in every season. 


At the end of our path, it will be the footsteps we choose that determines whether the melody of our life was sweet or sour.


I was not facing Eric out of hate.  At school they made life hell for all the small ones who could not fight back.  

 It ended tonight.


I could hear Grandfather:



“Whatever you do, do it for love. If you keep to that, your path will never wander so far from the light that you can never return.”



When Eric and the others walked to the spot I wanted, I looped the twine hanging from the branch overhead around my hand, and stepped out of the shadows.


Nodding to the knives and lead pipes in their hands, I said, “How not surprising.”


Eric, the pupils in his blue eyes seeming to reflect his dead soul, smirked, “Then, why did you come?”


“Because of the truth in the lie.”


He snorted, “What truth?”


“That because you start out one way does not mean that you cannot grow into someone else.”


Eric snapped to his “friends.”  “Gut him!”


I tugged hard on the twine, and a dozen winged skulls twirled and buzzed down upon them.  I watched amused as they screamed like little girls.


Two ran directly into the pits they had dug for me.


Their screams as the wooden stakes thrust up into them were shrill.  They made enough of a diversion for me to slip into the darkness once more.


It was then I noticed the children in the shadows. 


Their eyes were glowing ghost-green like nothing living could.  Something powerful and old burned in them.


Like Icarus, we all fly through life on illusion and candle-wax. But soon or late, our choices loosen the threads.   

And all becomes feathers and the sound of the fall.


Foolishly, I had released the spirits of all those murdered children by digging up their bodies.  I made of them, Teihihan, eaters of murderers.  I was worse than White. 


The tallest husked in Lakota.   

“Go, Big Brother.  We eat well tonight.  The biggest we save to eat one bite every winter.  His screams will warm us.”


They were so fast, so strong, and their jagged nails sharp scalpels.  Eric screamed as they brought him down like a gutted buffalo.


“Oh, God!  Luke, help me.  Help me!!”


“Go!” ordered the leader of the Teihihan.


I left, leaving behind a piece of myself.


Each year I return, withdraw Eric’s letter, unfolding its worn creases.   

The words are the same.  They mock me still.  

The night is dark, the fires long gone, and the reason why is the only doubt.



I try to remember the boy I had been.   

Would he approve of the man I became, the choices I made, what little I had learned from the past?  

The past ... where the road behind is clear, but the bridge is closed ... where you learn the dance just as the music slows. 


Then, the children in the shadows bleed from out of the darkness. 


The leader titters, “There is meat on him still.  Go.  See you next Hunter’s Moon.”


I leave before the screaming starts.

46 comments:

  1. Whoa Roland, a powerful entry to the WEP challenge. I especially liked the references to how the powerful culture overwhelmed and often tricked, the more powerless. Every indigenous culture around the world has a bitter, grim story to tell. '...the children in the shadows bleed from out of the darkness.' Powerful, creepy stuff. Perfect for the challenge.

    Thank you, as always, for participating in the challenge!

    Denise :-)

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    1. Sadly, every indigenous people are shabbily treated by the more powerful visitors -- which does not bode well should we ever encounter aliens from the stars. :-(

      I tried to craft a shiver of a ghost tale. I am glad you liked it. :-)

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  2. Perhaps one day we will learn.
    Loved the line 'There is no road sign that marks the crossroads where you damn yourself'. but wonder. I suspect on the dark days and the darker nights we do know..

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    1. Yes, I think they do know, but it is like Luke said: the road to the past is clear but the bridge is closed. No return trips across the Rubicon. :-( The bets are off but the odds were fair.

      Thank you so much for liking my story. :-) May your load always be light and your feet never stone.

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  3. Roland, you did, as you wanted. You constructed a real shiver of a ghost tale, with lots of truth in it. The horror of what man does to man is unimaginable and yet way to real. The sterilization of the women beyond horrific! But something tells me when the aliens arrive it's the innocent that will pay the biggest price. Evil exists and goes on because they understand their kind.

    Thanks so much for participating in the WEP Halloween Challenge. This is a winner in my book.
    Happy Halloween!

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    1. That you think my story a winner means a lot to me, Yolanda.

      Mankind is NOT kind. The politicians have bunkers deep underground with food and water and filtered air enough to last them 30 years. Sigh.. Yes, the American politicians will survive longer than the common man they pose as serving.

      I am so very happy you believe this is a shiver of a ghost tale. :-)

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  4. Excellent creep factor with those children raising from their graves. Loved the nostalgic ending too.

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    1. Symmetry of horror, right? I'm glad you liked my ending. I've missed your visits. :-)

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  5. Baby cannibalism, what can I say? I hate the idea of any children suffering. Mankind is most cruel to his own kind. A good choice of creepy story,Roland.

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    1. Yes, children in our society are helpless -- and the helpless make easy prey. Sigh.

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  6. Really love this. The mythology is cool and those ghosts.. Creepy and awesome! One thing that threw me out of the narrative was when it's said the guts screamed like little girls. Girls though, really? Couldn't it be like children? Like a child frightened by the dark? I don't know. Other than that, such a fluid read! Loved it!

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    1. Luke is Lakota and not in the same galaxy as Politically Correct -- for what has politics ever done for him or his People? The formerly swaggering bullies screamed high-pitched and shrill when faced with fear so to Luke it seemed as if they screamed like little girls.

      Glad you visited and commented. :-)

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  7. This is a great piece, I wasn't expecting that ending! I love their green glowing eyes :)

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    1. To me, the best horror tales have an unexpected twist at the end -- so I am really glad you didn't expect the ending :-)

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  8. Creepy and awesome. That was absolutely amazing--and super engrossing culturally.

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    1. Your comment made my weary afternoon so much better. And that you twittered your liking of my posted story only made me smile wider. Thanks.

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  9. "At the end of our path, it will be the footsteps we choose that determines whether the melody of our life was sweet or sour." So, so true!

    And so sad that an invading culture almost always annihilates the local one. Always the innocents, the weak, the children who suffer.

    Cool, creepy and a hidden lesson in there as well.. Well crafted and perfect shiver quotient.

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    1. Thank you so much, Nilanjana. I try to lace my stories, horror or fantasy, with things I've learned along my dark way.

      Yes, invading cultures seem so full of themselves that they do not see how cruel and selfish they act. :-(

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  10. That was stunning! Standing O, my friend :-)

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    1. Standing O? That makes my weary evening lighter to bear. :-)

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  11. I liked all the cultural references. I don't think Luke needed the help of the Teihihan and they made things so much worse for him. I wouldn't want to run into any Teihihan any time soon.

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    1. You're right: Luke didn't need the Teihihan's help. He had set up things to teach those bullies what fear felt like. Sadly, he inadvertantly released the Teihihan by digging up those murdered children.

      Supernatural entities always make things worse not better.

      Luke learned that sowing his revenge to the winds reaped the whirlwind.

      And no, I wouldn't want to meet those critters either!!

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  12. I have chills! Especially from that last sentence. On a side note (literally), I love seeing all your paperback covers over there on the right! I feel honored to have been a part of bringing those to life. :)

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    1. I feel honored for you to have designed those paperback covers and interiors! Your work on THE LAST SHAMAN TRILOGY is especially grand -- and the upcoming DEATH IN THE HOUSE OF LIFE cover you designed is stunning.

      Its sequel, THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT, is my next request if you are up to it. :-)

      I'm very happy my story chilled you a bit -- that was what I intended.

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  13. Fantastic story, very powerful, although it takes the school yard bullying a bit too far.

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    1. Sadly, school yard bullying now sometimes end in the disappearance of the victim ... as Eric planned with Luke. America is becoming more and more violent. :-(

      I'm glad you liked my story nonetheless. :-)

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  14. What a story! So well written. I love how you weave Native American lore into you tales. Well done.
    Nancy

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    1. I try to make my stories distinctive -- threading Native American lore into them is one of the ways. :-) Thank you for your kind words. Luke thanks you, too.

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  15. So many amazing lines in this piece! " Like Icarus, we all fly through life on illusion and candle-wax. But soon or late, our choices loosen the threads. And all becomes feathers and the sound of the fall." LOVE! Incredible atmosphere and cultural creepiness!

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    1. That means a lot coming from you. I loved your own post with the evocative music. :-)

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  16. Oh, very nicely done Roland! That was a chilling story.

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    1. I'm glad you liked it. Luke is in another story in my latest, TALES TO BE TOLD AT MIDNIGHT. He never seems to catch a break. :-)

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  17. screaming souls
    from ghostly deeds
    evil done that night
    as someone bleeds
    does right make wrong
    or wrong make right
    who will know from
    that one sided fight

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    1. Excellent, evocative poem -- that you wrote it for my small tale is a gracious gift. Thank you. :-)

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  18. I'm glad I read this in the morning. Still, I won't sleep too well tonight just thinking of it. Great job.

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    1. Thanks for such nice words about my spooky effort. Yours was a fun one. :-)

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  19. You had me from that first sentence. You do know how to suck a reader in, don't you? Genius. Super symbolic. Loved everything about it. My uncle loved Native American everything. I wish he were still here to read this. Good on you.

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    1. I wish he were, too. :-(

      I'm glad you enjoyed it. Luke appears in another suspenseful tale in TALES TO BE TOLD AT MIDNIGHT.

      I worked hard on this, and your words and the words of others make me feel as if all the effort was worthwhile. :-)

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  20. Replies
    1. Many times when we stand up to the bullies in our lives it does not turn out as we plan. :-(

      I'm really happy you enjoyed this. :-)

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  21. Very creepy. Horror and folklore are wonderful companions.

    At first I thought it would mostly be spooky in terms of atmosphere alone, but then the ghost children showed up.

    I also loved that Luke became an unwilling accomplice to the massacre, and ended up on a sightly darker path than he'd started on.

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    1. Yes, Luke stated none of us knows what crossroads is the one that will haunt us and ended up meeting one himself.

      This experience taught him the smart wolf ignore the yapping of coyotes. It is why he is so against revenge in his tale in TALES TO BE TOLD AT MIDNIGHT.

      I am happy you enjoyed this tale I spun. :-)

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  22. Replies
    1. With a little wisdom I hope sprinkled in. Good to see you here. :-)

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  23. Fantastic. I really enjoyed this piece. Great job.

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    1. I'm glad you liked this one. I hope you have a great new week -- and that all the haunting is past you!!

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