Oceannicas

Puget Sound – It was a regular gray day in Western Washington. The call came in to return home. So many girls aged 12 – 14 years old began to disappear without a trace. I wondered as I walked Kitten along the Green River. I was lost in thought when I felt the eyes of someone staring at me. I looked down at Kitten as she nonchalantly trotted like a Disney cartoon oblivious to anything around her. I looked up from Kitten, fingering my taser for that “just in case” incident…

I caught her, just off my right side back in the trees along the path just looking out at the river…Slowly, she turned her head to me and I could see that one eye was completely full of glaucoma but the left watched me intensely. The eye looked as hard and perfect as a marble, while the right eye looked full of milk. I raised my hand in a hello gesture and then Kitten began to bark.

I ignored Kitten as she does this all the time. Sigh. I do not understand this dog at all. Anyway, while Kitten barked, the lady sat down at the picnic table nearby. I walked over and sat across from her. She still gazed upon the river, not saying a word to me. I silently looked at her taking in her clothing and hair…it was like she was from another time and another place. Her clothing was custom and her hair was natural. Even her shoes looked as though they were cobbled by a artisan… I was utterly spell bound but before I could say anything she held up her left palm toward the river. A broad grin spread across her face revealing jagged teeth. Row upon row of spiked off white teeth.

I was appalled, shocked, surprised and frightened all at the same time!

A wind blew up from the Green River and encompassed the lady, Kitten and me…the lady was lifted by the wind like a evergreen leaf. I watched as she floated to the river’s edge. As she was buffered by the winds, Kitten barked louder as i cringed in fear, frozen and speechless.

There she was hanging in midair. At my feet Kitten barked. All around me, wave after wave of wind swirled. I sat rooted to the bench, like a skin covered statue. I sat a stone figure as if the lady’s eye was the eye of Medusa herself…

From the water emerged the heads and hands of pre-teen girls bobbing and waving in the water. Slowly, the lady descended into the water gently caressed by the winds. The girls in the water received her with joy and no fear. They all sank below the surface of the river disappearing from my view. Kitten continued to bark as I regained movement of my limbs. I jumped up from the bench and dragged Kitten behind me as I sprinted to the river! Did I just see what I thought I saw? Was I dreaming?

I bent down, and picked up my barking dog. She began to wimper and was shaking. It was then that I noticed a man and a black, large dog watching us. He was sipping from a bottle of Fireball Whiskey. His skin was gray and his eyes were jaundiced. The dog looked completely bored by me and Kitten. What simps we were? What neophytes we were? How oblivious could we be? Total greenhorns to be in the world, but know nothing about it… I could tell that this was nothing new for them.

The gray skinned man lifted his bottle of Fireball towards me like an old gentleman of the past would tip his hat to a lady. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do. I stood there cradling Kitten to my chest watching them watch us. Slowly, the man got to his feet. With his dog walking beside him, they approached me slowly.

I would say that as they moved toward me, my life flashed before my eyes. I could say that as they approached I saw apparitions of my deceased relatives and the spirit of my son reach out to me. What did happen you ask?

The man and his dog came near to me and the man – asked me for some money so he could get some food for his dog.

I stammered that I don’t carry cash and he turned and walked slowly away. The black dog just stood there. I looked down at the dog into its eyes. The dog starred back intently. He looked from me to the river then back into my face. He held my gaze for 10 seconds. He then bounded away following the gray skinned man.

I went home determined to never speak of this incident. Since this experience, I have struggled to sleep as the feeling of wind blowing finds me. Since this experience, I have questioned what is truly going on in the world… Are there “realities” only the selected are allowed to see? Is there truly secret knowledge that only the deserving can know?

To those who know,

To those who see,

To those who can hear,

Hear me,

I now know,

I can now see,

I can now hear,

I always believed.

Original Poem – It’s Me by Coletha Y. Albert