I grew up in the Dakotas, in a trailer park called Blissful Meadows. Like all parks the name was truly more of an antithesis than befitting. Although, I can’t really say I’d rather have lived anywhere else. It opened my eyes to a lot more of the world than most people get to see. As my mom always said, “We are more blessed than cursed.” I felt like this may be the right place to let you in on some of the things I experienced, and learned. Some things that seem to be clawing their way out of the old Dakotas.
One of the first and most consistent meetings with the strange was with something called a whisper wisp (I’d find this name out later from my best friend Luke’s uncle.) I was walking the long dirt road to the gas station outside of the park. Mom needed some milk, and she said I could get a Mountain Dew. Of course this was more than a tempting offer.
This was my first outing by myself after moving from a bigger city a couple of hours away. My mom kept me close, I was her good luck charm she always said. That morning though I was definitely getting on her nerves. School hadn’t started yet, and I had no friends so we were sharing a lot of time together. I glady grabbed her money, and walked out of the front door and onto the road leading out of the park to the gas station.
The road seemed impossibly long for a 10 year old. I barely had enough attention span to sit through an entire episode of a cartoon. My attention was caught, not by the road however. My ears pricked up as I heard a soft calm voice in my left ear. “Come with me!” whispered the voice. It sounded excited, and playful.
I was now firmly outside of the trailer park. Tall prairie grass surrounded the road on both sides, I looked to the left to see if one of the kids from the park was hiding. My eyes caught a twinkle of what seemed like dust in the sunlight. I couldn’t see anyone, but I did see the grass rustle. “I want to show you something, let’s go!”
Of course, I thought I was finally going to make some friends! The crisp $10 in my pocket moved to the back of my mind. Milk can wait for finally being able to tell Mom I made a friend. Moving forward into the vegetation, it was much taller than it had looked by the road. I could hardly see over top of the gold and rust colored plants.
Ahead of me I saw the grass being disturbed again followed by another whisper, “Hurry, you won’t believe what I found!”
They were so excited, my brain immediately thought it must be pretty great! “Can you slow down, you’re so far ahead!” I shouted into the field ahead of me.
There was no whisper, but the answer seemed to be no. The movement was now further and further ahead. Small cuts were forming on my arms and legs as the grass stung into my skin. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was regretting wearing my favorite pair of flip flops. They weren’t doing me any favors. “Almost there!” came the whisper.
Finally I started noticing how strange the voice was, it was a whisper right by my face but the rippling of the grass was so far ahead. A shiver ran down my spine as I continued forward. There was no shaking the feeling now that something was wrong. My worry came too late, and I finally broke free from the wall of grass.
An open dirt patch spread out before me, littered with shoes ranging in all sizes. Some kids shoes some larger. They were all tied by strings to posts sticking into the ground. Curiosity and dread spread through my body, my feet refused to give into flight.
Swirling around me the dust from before came quickly and quietly. It blocked out most of my vision. My mouth was forced open and I could feel the dust start to coat my mouth and fill up my lungs. I couldn’t breathe much less scream which was all my body wanted to do. “I’m so glad you’re so excited!” chuckled the whisper.
Through the dust I was able to see the shape of a small girl in front of me, she seemed much younger than me. She was nothing more than dust hitting what appeared to be an invisible object. Moving closer to me, her face was calm and smiling. I didn’t see my life flash in front of my eyes, I didn’t understand what was happening to me. I barely understood death, but she was here in front of me. Closing my eyes tightly, I wished for her to go away.
When the pressure of breathing faded away, I felt a cool splash of water cover my body. A voice shouted “Get out of here, you’ve taken enough!” It was loud and upset but reassuring to me. My eyes opened, and I saw a woman above me. She had dark hair and was around my mom’s age. I had seen her before in the park in one of the trailers close to ours. My vision started fading to black as my body gave in to oxygen deprivation.
Waking up on the couch in my trailer’s living room my mom was at the table with the woman. She was smoking a cigarette, which I had never seen her do. Tears were running down her face. They were talking, and the woman was assuring mom that she’d make sure I was safe. She kept calling me a “survivor” and that anywhere else she wouldn’t be able to help. They would follow me until I was too old to be needed, and without her they would take me.
When my mom realized I had started moving her eyes lit up and she ran over to the couch and started hugging me. I’ll never forget the way her voice sounded when she spoke frantically to me. Assuring me I’d never be in danger again, that she was going to protect me. Unfortunately this wouldn’t be the last time I’d hear her voice like this.
My mom and the woman (her name was Brenda, she was my soon to be best friend Luke’s mom) told me to never listen to the whispers again.That the whispers only wanted to hurt me, and that they were an evil spirit. Knowing little of the world (my only collison with spirits was in Hotel California by the Eagles), I didn’t question this but agreed to never follow the whispers again. They really didn’t have to persuade me that much.
I started seeing Brenda more often and her son Luke became my best friend. We were the same age, and both had a love for adventures and video games. They started calling me dusty and before I knew it everyone at the park used that as my nickname. My mom hated it; she didn’t like being reminded of that day, but she eventually gave in. I’m sure she wished the only thing she had to worry about was that day, but we soon realized there was much more to be scared of.