HOWAHKAN: Prince of Nature

There is a legend in my village. It has been forgotten by the people, but never the earth. The only ones who know about it are me, and the eldest villagers: villagers who have walked upon this earth far longer than any other. The eldest among us, my great grandmother Maiara, was one of the wisest of us all. She knew the story inside and out. She was the one who told me the story, and the only one to believe it to be true. She was the only one to not treat it like it was just a town legend, meant to bring tourists.

As a small child Maiara, or Gram as I preferred to call her, would tell me stories of ancient Sioux legends. She said they were stories as old as Mother Earth herself, passed on by the very first Sioux people. She told me about a spirit, thousands of years old, named Howahkan. He was a spirit of nature who lived right alongside Mother Earth, healing and bringing life to all creation. The mischievous spirit was kind to all as long as his emotions were kept in check. The poor spirit, forever trapped between youth and adulthood, had a side to him that no one, not even he, knew about. In truth, it was not only Mother Earth who watched over the young fledgling. Alongside her was none other than Father Death, the very bringer of death and destruction.

I used to sit in awe as my gram would describe in full detail all the beauty and destruction the youth caused. She told me how large mountains would topple in his childish fits of anger, or when his joy would cause the birth of brightly colored flowers or of the smallest animals. His "parents" all but worshiped him with love. Even cruel Father Death protected him and loved him as if he really was his beloved son. Gram would run her withered, old fingers through my hair, soothing me for the part I've always hated the most. The poor family's fun times were not to last forever. A wicked witch, who survived off of the fear of children. She snatched the poor child away from his parent's tepee as he slept, stealing him in the night. Gram says no one knows what actually happened to him, or what the evil sorceress did to break him, but he was broken. Gram says that he is the cause of all of the most unexplained storms and of many disappearances around America. He is still, to this very day, trapped by her. Forced to do everything she orders.

I used to lie awake at night, thinking about his poor parents. How sad they must have been to have lost their only child. I like to think that is why Death started to kill in such cruel ways. Sadness can do that to a person. Just ask me. Me now fourteen years old, standing over my only family's grave. My dearest gram. Taken away by Father Death to lands beyond time and space. The other world. I wonder if young Howahkan was the cause of the accident. Did his mistress order him to cause that storm? Was it on purpose that the storm caused the tree to fall? Did he know her frail frame could not move out of the way fast enough? It's raining now. I wonder if he feels regret about her death.

I felt a steady hand atop my shoulder, urging me to step away from her grave. I caressed the eagle-shaped tombstone one last time as I finally allowed Alden to pull me away. Alden, my oldest and closest friend. We've known each other since we were toddlers. He always kept the bullies away from me, even when they picked on him worse. And, boy, did I have a lot of bullies. Even in modern times, not many people took strongly to "half breeds".

"Come on Ava. Let's go get something to eat." Alden suggested, giving my arm a comforting pat. I forced on a small smile, trying to cheer him up as well as myself. I knew he was just as miserable as me. Gram was like a mother to him. She cared for him like her own son when his real mother couldn't care less.

I caught his eyes and when I was sure he was paying attention, I took off towards the crowd of mourning villagers. Alden stayed rooted to his spot, trying to process what just happened. Finally, he got with the program and started to chase after me.

"I'll race you!" I shouted as I pushed my way through the adults.

"Hey! Get back here!" He laughed and howled like a mad man. We must look so strange to the mourners. Two young teens, both related to the deceased in some form or another, running around as though no one had died. As though no happiness had been ripped away from our village forever. But I needed this. This small moment of happiness in my now bleak world.

"Why so glum honey-bun? Don't let old Father Death get you down. Be happy!"

Gram's voice, even if only my imagination, soothed my worries. "I will not let the villager's annoyed stares get to me. I will not. I will not." Like a mantra, I repeated those words over and over in my head as we raced. Eventually, we both reached the end of our race. Alden won, of course, reaching the door of 'Sally's Saucy Saloon'. Sally's is probably the weirdest diner on earth, but it was one of the only ones in the village. It rested right on the crossroad, separating the village from the little town. It was a weird spot: There were four roads, each leading to a different city or town.

I pouted as Alden praised his own win. "Did you see that turn I made? Pretty impressive huh?"

"Sure buddy. No other fifteen-year-old can turn as fast as the greatest, bravest, strongest Alden!" With each sarcastic compliment, my voice rose. I twirled farther and farther towards our usual spot, still singing my friend's praises. The other customers ignored us. They were all used to our craziness.

"Okay, okay. Settle down." He said, pushing me into my neon purple chair. "But, by all means, tell me more about how awesome I am." I rolled my eyes as I waved down a server.

"Hmm. Let's see." I began, "Your loud, you're smelly, sweaty. The list goes on and on and on an-"

"Okay! Gosh! Ask for a little love and get dissed for it." I laughed as our brightly colored waitress bounced up to us. Literally bounced. Her puffy, rainbow-colored tutu bounced along with her. Seriously. What is up with this place?

"Hello!" She sang out bubbly. "How are you guys, today? Sorry to hear about your Gram Ava." Dolly was the sweetest girl, if not the weirdest. Her hair was streaked with bright pinks and blues. Mixed with her outrageous uniform, she outshined any rainbow on the planet.

"Thanks, doll face. Don't worry, I'm Okay. Can we have our usual?" She wrote down our order and bounced away through the kitchen doors.

"That girl is the embodiment of a geek." Alden stated bending to pick up the little "Chibi" charm that Dolly had dropped. "I bet she helped her aunt design this place," I smirked at the thought. I could just imagine Dolly drawing all the anime-like pictures of Howahkan on the walls. The entire diner was based on the legend. Our favorite booth sat right under the drawing of Death himself. Seeing him after Gram dying was just too weird. Even if it was just his picture, he is one creepy dude.

"He's freaking me out tonight. Like he's staring into my soul." Alden's only response was to sing the twilight zone theme song as he shook his fingers at me. I couldn't help rolling my eyes yet again. Boys.

Our food finally found its way to our table and Dolly plopped down beside us as soon as she saw a chance.

"Soooo?" She drawled out the word until the point of annoyance. "You guys gonna go to the memorial sight with me? It's been another one hundred years. Howahkan is supposed to show himself! So cool!" Her excitement showed itself through the form of a shriek. She was a giant supernatural fan. If anything paranormal or strange happened, she got like this

"PLEASE! Can you NOT do that? I think my ears are bleeding." Hey, don't blame me for yelling. You would too if your ears were violently stabbed with her geeky squeals.

"Yeah, Ava! Can we? I wanna go!" Oh Gosh. He pulled out the eyes. Those stupid eyes and now the lip.

"Augh! Fine! Gosh, guys. Don't team up on me like that. Why even ask me? What am I? Your moms? We can go. Maybe we'll see Father Death too." The last part came out in a mumble, neither person seemed to notice it. Well, at least now I finally have something to distract myself from Gram. Who knows maybe I will see Death. Maybe he'll tell me if what happened to gram was an accident or not. Either way, I'll be following these two nut jobs all the way, no matter what happens. Hmm. Now I'm excited.