At the ripe old age of eight, after having discussed the possibility of my partaking in what the older kids on the farm considered to be a rite of passage, my mother finally granted permission for me to go to the lake by myself. I had become a 'big kid', no longer a 'stay-at-home little kid' like the two who remained behind me in years. With all the pride I could muster, I fantasized the rest of the day and into the darkness of night about what I would do at the lake, by myself: climb trees, build sand castles surrounded by moats, watch butterflies and birds flitting about. The world was my oyster, and I would finally be safe from the constant presence of 'them'. I determined that the beach would be my place, not theirs. I would breathe again! I would move freely about, out of sight from their beady little eyes, if they really had any eyes. I was in heaven!

The next day arrived, and while trying to be patient, I occupied my time with other activities and waited the morning out. I had agreed to go to the lake after eating lunch and stay for only a short while, although I don't recall what length of time the 'short while' really was. By half past noon, I had finished eating my lunch and was heading toward the lake. It was about two short city blocks away.

For once, I felt powerful. I was free to come and go as I pleased in spite of the oppression cast upon me by my jailers. It seemed as though I would soon enter an entirely different universe, far away from those prying, creepy little characters and the experiences I'd had with them. I crossed the cow pasture, ducked under the barbed wire fence and began to proceed down the path leading to the beach. Then, I saw it standing at the edge of the woods, in an open space between the trees and shrubs.

I started walking more cautiously, counting the small, hooded characters as I went - three in all.

"Oh, God, I'll never escape them. They're wherever I go. Maybe, if I run really fast, I can fool them - leave them behind, and they won't be able to find me."

I ran down the path as fast as my legs could carry me, and upon arriving at the beach, I felt sure I had left them in my dust.

Over half the small lake was surrounded by private property and afforded us peace and quite, and ample opportunity to just "be kids."

In the past, I had shared this space with my siblings, but that day, it was mine alone. I lay down on the light gray sugar sand and with hands joined under my head, began to imagine I was able to fly with the birds, first to the closest tree, then the one a bit farther away from the first one. When the birds flew up into the sky, I followed. I don't know how long I indulged in this endeavor, but when I came to at the edge of a cloud, I could sense the tiny speck on the beach below that was my body, and I was not in it! I felt an urgency to get back into my body and return home so my mother wouldn't worry about me.

Within what seemed to be only a few seconds, I sped downward and entered my body. After fully entering, I got up and headed down the path, determined to run for it if those little hooded creeps were still there. They were. I ran to the fence, crawled under it and kept running until I was in the entryway to the house.

My mother exclaimed, "Where have you been! I was about to go looking for you. You've been gone all afternoon!" To me, it felt as though only twenty minutes had gone by.

Having tasted a bit of freedom, I looked for another opportunity to go to the beach. I thought I had escaped the scrutiny of 'them' in the long run, so I decided I would break out in a full run toward the beach the moment I got up from climbing under the fence. To my surprise, I didn't see them there, so I walked at a leisurely pace.

When I was midway between the fence and the beach, a young boy, who appeared to be around my age, appeared on the path. He wore clothes that were not from the present era: knickers with suspenders, black shoes, a jacket and a hat. I didn't even question where he came from, after all, I was a big kid by now, and I was also used to strange events taking place around me on a regular basis. I asked him what his name was, and he told me it was Jonathan.

Well, I didn't want anyone ruining my time, so I gave him a cold shoulder. In spite of my indifference to him, he asked if he could come to the beach with me, and I curtly responded, "NO". He stayed there, and I went on to the beach.

The time came for me to return home, and I headed down the path once more. Again, midway between the fence and the beach, 'Jonathan' appeared. There had been a serious infringement on my being able to practice being a big kid, and I was about to set things straight between me and this Jonathan guy. I told him I didn't want him following me or hanging around the path. He responded by telling me he would protect me from what was in the woods.

"God, he knows. What's happening here?"

I told him I didn't want his protection, and that he needed to just leave me alone. The brief communications that took place between him and me were not done vocally but through thoughts alone. I never saw him again after that. In time, the small, hooded figures stopped appearing there also. To this day, I don't know if 'Jonathan' was a ghost or an alien in disguise. What I do know is that he was not an imaginary playmate - imaginary playmates that I know of are created to keep highly creative, but lonely children, company. I hadn't asked for 'Jonathan' to come into my life, and when he did, I quickly made it known to him that he was an intruder.

By the time the above described 'Independence Day' took place, I must have had enough experiences to make me familiar with the coming and going of extraterrestrial visitors.

One morning, I flew out of bed with the feeling they had been there. I had to get outside to see if I was right. I shoveled my breakfast into my mouth as quickly as possible while listening to my mother's un-welcomed comment and inquiry, "Slow down. What are you in such a hurry for?"

The moment I finished eating, I went for the door. They were there. I knew it. I had to see. I ran straight for the drive that went through the woods to the north and west of the house, but before reaching it, I remembered that 'they' kept watch from that woods, so I did an abrupt about-face and ran behind the house and around to the back of the woods. There, I spotted a perfectly round circle in the alfalfa with four, equally spaced indentations. I was right.

What would I do now? I decided to show one of the older kids.

They'd understand…they were older, after all. Without telling them about my having sensed an alien presence had been there the night before, I convinced Mary Ann and my older sister to take a look at it. Neither of them had much of an opinion on what could have caused it. That ended that. Today, if I were to ask either of them if they remember the incident, Mary Ann would laugh and make light of it, if she remembered it at all, and my sister would go into a lengthy explanation that would dance around, but never land on, the subject.

At school, I tried hard to feel as though I fit in, but never quite achieved doing so. During my forth or fifth year in elementary school, I remember arriving at school and settling into my assigned desk while other students filed in and did the same.

Since the bell didn't ring until 8:30 and there were a few more minutes left before class began, I took the opportunity to gaze out the window at the billowing, white clouds far up in the sky. The next thing I knew, the teacher was calling my name, "Kate. Kate, it's lunchtime".

The classroom was empty of students except for me. I didn't remember leaving the classroom, but I did remember coming back into the classroom through the window I had looked out three and a half hours earlier. I got up and proceeded to go to the lunchroom.

By the time my tenth birthday rolled around, I had made two more attempts to leave my body permanently and, as you can plainly tell, both failed. It was the failure of my last attempt that left me feeling that there was a hole in my heart where God used to be.

Also, by this time I had begun to have dreams about saucer-shaped ships returning to the field just on the other side of the fence to the north of my parent's property, behind the barn and to the west of the woods behind the house.

Sometimes, they were on the ground, motionless. At other times, they were moving slowly above the ground, sometimes taking off and at other times, about to land, and I remember the skinny ones chasing the pigs without really putting their feet on the ground, as if running in the air. I was also becoming perceptive: knowing when a car was approaching our driveway, knowing who was going to visit. I used to make a game of it by paying attention to my perceptions, then watching out the kitchen or living room window to see how accurate I was.

Sometimes I was right, other times wrong.

This is the end of my account of my first decade of life, and although the experiences I remember having during that short period of time were plentiful, they pale in comparison to the ones that followed. I will write about them at a later time.

K. M. Thompson

I wish to offer my gratitude to Robert Morningstar for his encouragement and feedback while putting this piece together.

No portion of the above article may be copied or used without the author's permission.