Evanish

PROLOGUE

*The secrets of man, nature, and the world cannot be conceived. They must be perceived!*

Eleven years ago Troy Matthews was charged and convicted of the presumed kidnapping and murder of a nine year old girl. Although no incriminating evidence or remains were found, her seven year old sister was catechized by police, and admitted to seeing Matthews in the woods the day Shannon Lawson went missing.

The towns people and authorities disliked and distrusted the reclusive writer who wrote about the long ago injustices afflicted by the Europeans towards the Native tribes. He also wrote a few stories about Native myths and legends. There were many interesting tales about spirits who were said to exist regions of Canada, the Great Lakes, and the Adirondack Mountains.

Troy lived in a secluded cabin surrounded by the Adirondack forest. He was the only child of his unwedded half Seneca mother, and she never revealed to anyone who his father had been. The cabin was built on part of land owned by his mother’s people, and now it belonged to him.

Most of his relatives had nothing to do with him. They did not like his divertive editorials, or his research into things best left unknown!

The sheriff convinced most of the town folk that Matthews had committed a hideous crime against the little girl, and therefore against nature and God.

The seven year old sister of the missing girl had finally admitted that the only other person she saw in the woods that day was Troy Matthews.

He was tried, convicted, sentenced, and incarcerated, with no tangible evidence that he had even seen, let alone harmed the Lawson girl.

Now free from the confines of prison and the closed-minded bureaucracy of a small upstate New York community, he and eighteen year-old Jenna Lawson vow to discover and reveal what really happened that fateful day in the forest.

What they discover is equivocally controversial to everything ever known or imagined…as it applies to nature, man, heaven, and earth!

Olly oxen free…come out, come out wherever you are!

NATIVE AMERICAN LEGENDS & MYTHS

Genetaska: A peacemaker, harmonious and diverse she was able to unify all creatures in nature.

Gyhldeptis: Protector of the forest and all its inhabitants.

The Jo-ga-oh: Little invisible nature spirits who protect the forest and guide people away from evil spirits.

Aientsik: Known as Skywoman who fell through a hole and made earth on the back of a large turtle.

Tekawerahkwa: Daughter of Skywoman died in childbirth but her body nourished the earth and she became Mother Earth.

Onatah: Beloved daughter of Gyhldeptis. She was captured by the evil one of the underworld, but escaped with the help of the Jo-ga-ho. It is said she rises as a phoenix to ensure a good crop, especially corn.

Lelawala: the maid of the mist. Went over Niagara Falls but was caught by the thunder god and she remains as the spirit mist, watching over her people in case the serpent rises from the river again.

Hinum: Thunder god and nature spirit. Ally of Skyholder and revered by the Iroquois as fair and just.

Coyote: Trickster spirit, known for its ingenuity.

Flint; The evil twin. Eventually became a ruler of the underworld.

Sky-holder: The good twin. Creator of all that is beautiful on earth.

Hiawatha: A powerful leader and follower of the prophet Deganawida, the Great Peacemaker.

Pukwudgies: In league with dark forces, they are magical and control the souls of the warriors they have led to death.

Mishibizhiw: A creature of the underworld who drags people into the bowels of the earth.

Lutin: Spirits in the form of pets and animals. They may be good, or evil and are deterred with a barrier of salt.

Shapeshifter: The metamorphosis of an entity to transform into another being or form. Phoenix: A legendary bird of great beauty that represents all things unseen.

Sprites, Tree Spirits, Elves, Fairies, and Nymphs: Supernatural legendary creatures depicted as elemental spirits.

Manitou: The mysterious powers of the earth and universe.

Baykok: Malevolent spirit of the Great Lakes that preys on hunters and warriors.

Maasawu: Native American Lord of the underworld and the dead.

Wendigo: A malevolent, cannibalistic supernatural being.

Listen to the wind, it talks.

Listen to the silence, it speaks

Listen to your heart, it knows

Native American proverb

1. HIDE-N-SEEK

C’mom Jenna…did you see someone in the woods that day or not, Sheriff Bryant asked for the seemly hundredth time! Seven year-old Jenna Lawson bit her lip. She quivered with exhaustion, inequitable fear, and guilt. She turned to look at her mother sitting beside her in one of the rooms used to interrogate criminals, and witnesses. She yearned for the comforting maternal arms to hold her, and let her know that everything was alright. At her age, she could not fathom the impact her sister’s disappearance had on her family, and the mental duress her mother was suffering.

Zane Lawson the ranger of the Five Ponds Wilderness area, was out with at least fifty volunteers and policemen scouring the woods, lakes, rivers, and ponds for any signs of his nine year old daughter Shannon. It was eighteen hours since Jenna had been found by hikers close to the High Falls area. Dirty and disorientated, the younger girl told the police that she and her sister had stopped to pick wild flowers, even though her parents prohibited then from straying too far into the woods. The house where they resided was close the entrance of the Adirondack forest, and the walk to school led them past the trails mapped by the Association.

Jenna, her eyes still brimming with tears, tried to remember every detail of the day’s events. Her lips quivered and she had to bite them to keep from sobbing. She felt unmeasured quilt. It had been her idea to play hide and seek, and her fault that Shannon was lost!

****

You know mom is gonna be mad, Jenna quipped before she giggled and tapped Shannon’s chest with her hand. She held the bouquet of violets and buttercups she had picked, then turned and ran deeper into the forest.

You’re it, she yelled to her older sister. Shannon grinned and placed her bouquet of tiger lilies on the ground next to a tall spruce. Leaning against the tree and putting her arms over her eyes, she began counting. Once she opened her eyes, it wasn’t hard to find Jenna. She just had to follow the trail of dropped flowers. Her sibling was hiding behind a spruce tree, trying to conceal herself in full-needled branches.

Now you’re it, Shannon had exclaimed, waiting until Jenna covered her eyes. No cheating either, she declared as she circled her sister twice. She squatted and crawled over to a mound of dried brush…just in case Jenna was peeking! Once she was clear, she ran another two hundred feet into a thicket. She held her breath, leaning against a tree as she heard her sister begin to search. It took less than two minutes for Jenna to find her. After a heated debate, the younger girl admitted she had cheated by peeking through her fingers. Shannon had demanded immediate retribution.

One more game, she had declared. "And this time,

included NO cheating!"

****

{Long before the English set foot in the New World, there were five nations of Native Americans along the northeastern region of North America. These tribes the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. After the Tuscarora migrated to this area, they became known as the Iroquois Confederacy of Six Nations. They called themselves the Haudenosaunee…meaning people of the long house, and together they comprised the oldest living participatory democracy known. This governance contained great intelligence, and American government is based on this inspiration. It is dedicated to the pursuit of life’s liberty as practiced by the Six Nations for over eight hundred years. Our national emblem, the bald eagle, was depicted as the guardian of the Haudenosaunee and is often portrayed as the image above the tree of peace.

The Iroquois spiritual beliefs changed over time and varied through tribes. They believed in many deities including the Great Spirit who was believed to have created plants, animals, and man. As it was noted that man was given domain upon the earth, and was to care for all things in peace and harmony. Orenda was considered the magical substance found in people…a spiritual power deemed the source of miracles, soothsaying, divination, prophecy, and legend.

The first person in creation to walk upon the earth was called Aientsik, or Skywoman. Her daughter Tekawerahkwa gave birth to twin gods. Tawiskaron or Flint, who it was said to have created vicious animals, rapid rivers, and winds severe enough to ravage the land. He was defeated in battle by his brother Teharonhiawaka, also known as Skyholder, who created all that was good and beautiful. Tawiskaron was confined in the dark realms of the earth where he ruled over the night and devilish creatures…}

Troy stopped typing. It was a warm day for early spring, and all the windows of the small cabin were open. He sat perfectly still, even casting his dog a stern look to be quiet, when he started to growl. Had he just heard someone calling? Maybe not.

There were not very many people that passed through the area and the (No Trespassing) signs posted throughout the woods usually kept most of the hunters away. However it wasn’t hunting season, and hikers usually kept to the trails. He was sure that no one would bother with him anyway. His mother had passed away seven years ago leaving the cabin and the land. He never knew his father, for his mother never spoke about him to anyone. There were no brothers or sisters, at least none that he knew about anyway. He had a few aunts, uncles, and cousins scattered about, however they in general, completely ignored him.

Not that he minded. He liked the solitude of the cabin located the thicket of the great forest. The Oswegatchie River bordered the private lands in the vicinity of Gull Lake. To the southwest lay the Pepperbox Wilderness area, and Cranberry Lake was the boundary to the north. The terrain was low, rolling, and interspersed with many rivers, ponds, and lakes. The forest held mainly spruce and pine, since the hardwoods were burned over sixty years ago in a great fire.

To the south, around the St. Lawrence Herkimer-Hamilton county line, the forest contained the largest virgin white pine in the Adirondacks. Pine Ridge was located east branch of the Oswegatchie, however a lot of the region was almost destroyed by a hurricane in 1950, and then again in 1995. The Adirondack park agency had decided to leave this area alone, for it was extremely hard to travel through the crisscrossing, where the blowdown of uprooted trees and witchhobble has grown around. These places were rarely traveled or explored. A large spruce swamp existed in the area, intermixed with the blowdown and rock fall.

****

The repeated calling of a child’s voice brought Troy from his thoughts. This time he clearly heard someone. It was probably the ranger’s kids, he thought. It sounded like they were playing hike and seek, or something. He looked down at his typewriter. There was no Internet service out here and sometimes no electricity either. He usually had to rely on his generator and wood burning stove. He didn’t care. He had a roof over his head, plenty of wood for heat and cooking, and most importantly…solitude. Twice a month or more if need be, he would venture into the town of Fine, for supplies, or to mail and pick up his editors revisions. He also frequented the public library. The regional history books held more information than the web sites.

The town of Fine was located in the community of Wanakena which was also the home of the SUNY-ESF Ranger School. Troy had met Zane Lawson and his family there on a few occasions. Lawson was alright, his wife was a bit standoffish…probably because of the ceaseless gossip of the town’s one beauty/barbershop patrons. Lawson’s two girls were cute, although a little mischievous at times he surmised. He wondered if Zane and the girls had come through the forest to check and see if the ice had melted off from the ponds for the fishing season.

He walked out onto the porch and saw the younger girl searching, presumably for the other, in their game of hide and seek. He thought her name might be Jenny or Janey. She waved at him and then put her finger to her lips in a gesture to be quiet. She didn’t want to give her position away. Troy made the zipper, key lock, and throw-away motion, before he turned and went back to his work. She was the only little girl he saw that day, however she was not the only thing he viewed.

****

It was several hours later when he saw the search team combing the woods for the girl. The deputies had come, questioned him, and then persuaded him to join the search. He did, continuing even when the others had stopped when darkness fell.

It was near midnight when he saw…or thought he had seen something strange in the woods. He was just exhausted, he thought to himself. He had spent most of the day researching until he joined the search. No, he thought…He must have imagined seeing these bizarre oddities in the darkness…his mind playing tricks!

The next day when they took Troy into custody.

The deputies found a wilted bouquet of wildflowers scattered on the southwest shore of the Oswegatchie River, about four miles east of Troy’s cabin. The sheriff had grabbed him by the arm and almost dragged him to the spot where the flowers lay in the mud along the shoreline. There were no footprints, or any visible evidence that the girl or anyone else had been there, besides the dying flowers.

It seems to me as though someone maybe pushed or threw the girl into the river, doesn’t it, the sheriff speculated. Maybe she was alive then, maybe not. Could be someone did something perverse to her, and then got rid of the evidence by getting rid of her, he continued casting a baleful glare at Matthews.

Troy shook his head in bewilderment. The flowers had not been there earlier this morning. He had gotten up at first light to continue searching for the girl. His dog Jaya, derived from ji`yah…a native term for dog, had accompanied him. He remembered how Jaya had sniffed around the same area, and then dismissed it, trailing deeper into the woods.

The sheriff took Matthews stunned silence as an acquisition of guilt. He nodded at the deputy who cuffed Troy and led him back through the woods to the patrol car. Matthews refused to answer their caustic questions. He wanted to talk to his lawyer. This was not the first time people had disappeared from this area, and he had been accused and questioned before! Besides he was still puzzling over witnessing the strange occurrence he though he witnessed earlier in the day!

****

We know who it was Jenna. All we need from you is his name, Bryant implored. Once he knows you named him, he might tell us where your sister is! She looked at the tears streaming down her mother’s face. What would happen when she found out that they disobeyed and were playing in the woods, and that it was her idea? Why did they need her to tell them his name, if they already knew who the man was? She put her hands over her face. She had seen a man…the one that lived alone in the cabin. He was the quiet strange man that nobody really liked. Her dad said it was just because he was a little eccentric…whatever that meant, but he had always nodded at her when he they saw him in Fine. Mom said he was weird, but she listened to all those ladies at the shop that dad said had nothing better to talk about.

Jenna remembered she had waved at Mr. Matthews when he came out on the porch of his cabin. She had put her finger to her lips because Shannon might be hiding close by. He acknowledged her gesture by pretending to zip his lip and lock it shut.

Now out of pure exhaustion, fright, guilt, and the possible hope that maybe he knew where Shannon was, she announced.

I saw Mr. Matthews when he came out on his porch. His dog wagged his tail and started to bark, but I was afraid Shannon might hear and Mr. Matthews… Bryant stood suddenly interrupting her.

Thank you Jenna, he said. That’s all we need to know. You can go home now.

****

Garret Evans sat back in his chair, throwing an exasperated glance at his client. He had been the Matthews attorney for as long as he could remember. Raymond Matthews had been his first client when he opened his office. He had helped the old man with retaining his rights and privileges on the land that the government wanted back for the Adirondack park region. When he passed on, Annette Matthews had retained him. The state wanted her land still located in the forest. Since Raymond Matthews was a full blooded member of the Seneca tribe, the land had been given to him in province back in 1928. He won the arbitration and Annette had lived in the secluded cabin with her son Troy, until her own death seven years ago. By then Garret was already representing the young man who wrote about the Iroquois, and their beliefs, culture, and customs. The injustices of the early European settlers and the Native American people were utilized by the council of Native Americans and the government, with the hopes of retaining some of their culture, and traditional laws. However within the past few years, Troy began researching and writing about old legends and myths of the Iroquois tribes. Thereafter he was not popular in the small town of Fine, in fact many people disliked and feared him altogether, including the Native Americans too!

Garret cleared his throat and Troy looked up at him. He raised his eyebrows.

I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything Troy, he explained. "You claim you saw Jenna Lawson in the woods earlier in the day. She was playing a game of hide and seek with her nine year old sister Shannon. She saw you and waved, and a few hours later you heard people searching for Shannon. You joined the search and continued after the others halted because of the dark. You then returned home for a few hours rest, and went out again at first light. Your dog Jaya led you to the shore of the Oswegatchie…but you didn’t see any sign of the girl. A few hours after you returned home, the sheriff brought you to the shore of the river. Wildflowers Shannon had been carrying were scattered in the mud. But that’s not all you saw in the woods, is it