Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, pregnancy loss or termination, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual content, death, racism, and child abuse.

While cleaning salmon, the mother of an Inuit woman named Tapeesa suggests Tapeesa have a child with Hank Ferryman. He is a wealthy man who oversees mining operations, and Tapeesa’s mother believes he will pay them to keep quiet about any child. Tapeesa accidentally cuts herself and goes inside to clean the wound. She finds Pana, her love, waiting. Pana tells Tapeesa that he and some elders are taking Hank Ferryman’s son, Buck, hunting over the weekend. When Tapeesa returns to her mother, her mother tells her that she volunteered Tapeesa to work at Hank Ferryman’s party that weekend.

Hank drives Tapeesa to his lodge, and Tapeesa is amused by neither his jokes nor his advances. Hank asks Tapeesa to tell him a story, and she tells him about kushtuka, spirits that appear as loved ones to lure people away. In the headlights, a figure appears on the road that looks like Tapeesa, with black eyes and a horrifying smile. Hank screams and runs the figure over. At the lodge, Tapeesa looks back and sees the figure in the bed of the truck.