Things that go "bump" in the night.

 *I'm skipping parts of my memory because it's stuff that's going in my book.*

I was 3 years old when I met my Best Friend. I was 8 when I met my other Best Friend. Both are of the male anatomy. Both were neighbors. I was a TomBoy. We had quite the adventurous childhood, when we could all get together. B & S.

The year before we met S, B and I discovered an old still road that had a derelict moonshiners still. We were so excited!! It had rusted through and was no longer in use but it was our first big find!! B's dad forbade us to go back there. But we went back there plenty of times, just to rummage in the dirt and wonder how life had been, back then. 

See, we lived near Lake Lanier and the still discovery was on the banks of the lake. Times were different. We could ride our bikes everywhere and not have to worry about not making it home before dark. We knew the family that had owned thousands of acres around us. They used to own the land for our neighborhood. We've been well versed in the "Towns underneath the water", when the lake got low, you could see things like roofs, in other parts of the lake. In our part, you never saw a house roof. Nope, what you saw were daggers made of trees. Trees that are underwater. Trees that killed people if they jumped in too far. It's not hearsay when it's been proven. My dad used to say " That lake is as haunted as a three dollar bill." It is.

(I don't like "things that go bump in the night", never have. I don't do "scary". but " mean"? "Mean" I can do. I don't really like being mean, but I do it so well.)

At the ripe old age of 10 years old, my friends and I were building forts and playing war/ cops & robbers/ etc. We owned a good 1 mile radius. We spent a lot of time constructing "the greatest fort known to man!" We had many of them. One such construct was a fort we had to cross a busy highway, to access. It was on a spit of land, lots of old men would fish from the bridge, not far away. Seeing a stranger wasn't uncommon and we were never in fear for our lives, although we would go out of way, not to interact. 

One day, I woke up. Got dressed. Ate some sugary cereal for breakfast. And asked a very sleepy mother if I could go play with B, to which she said "yes". I flew out of the house as fast as my legs would go! The anticipation of our upcoming adventure for the day, flashing in my mind. I saw something from the corner of my eye. My yard was mostly hilly, it flattened out at the back of the house. I had just run down my front yard that was all downhill. I should have noticed a man standing in my yard. My feet came to a dead stop. The air around me, stilled. No breeze, no buzzing of bees. It was a beautiful sunny day. I barely noticed the red & white shirt, the cutoff denim shorts. I've seen people like him before. Their skin is flimsy almost see through. His eyes are different. He's holding a pretty weed. Something I would have called a flower until taught what it really is. He's a good ball field from me but I hear him as though he was standing next to me. He's crying. Says " I hate the day I died." 

I am completely terrified, I can barely breathe! Next he says "Don't play across the street today. Do you understand me? Nod."

I nod my head. I never took my eyes off him until that first nod. In a blink, he was gone! I peed on myself before I moved. Twenty minutes had went by. I saw my friends mom (M) watching me. She was standing on her porch. I went in the basement door to change my clothes. Then knocking on the basement door got my moms attention and after screaming at me for a few hours, I was permitted to go to my room and lay down. I didn't feel well. That mornings excitement had completely worn off. All I felt now was confusing exhaustion. My hearing has always been extra. I can hear radios in cars, if their windows are down. I'm laying on my bed, I hear the screaming of brakes. My body jerks straight up. My feet hit the real wood floor. I hear the thump of a car hitting a dirt mound, then the loudest boom. I see a plume of smoke! I jump across my bed, grab my shoes and sit in the floor putting them on. My door violently is thrown open, mother didn't have a chance to say anything because I dart under her legs. "Get Back Here! Where Are You GOING??!!" I run outside and down my driveway. Cars are starting to stop on the side of the road. My mom is starting to walk down the drive, with a drink in her hand. I can hear the ice in her cup. I run in front of a car, I don't want my mother to catch me.

I run up to the car and my transparent visitor says "you don't need to see this." He's standing next to me. His eyes were completely black. I see my friend B. I feel lightheaded. I hear a radio. I know that I'm standing next to a demon. My transparent friend is typically called "a ghost" but his black eyes are what my mother calls demons. 

I don't remember walking home. I do remember the beating I received for "running into traffic". It's not that she cared about my life but how I made her look to other people. I would even like to say that was my first encounter. It wasn't. My first encounter was when I was three and I scared the life out of my Granny & My Dad. But that's another story for another day.

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