Hearing

The little boy darted through my neighbors yard, looked over his shoulder, and then ran as hard as he could up the hill in my front yard. Suddenly, he stopped and fell to his knees and looked over at me.  He just kneeled there, gasping for air.  He looked exhausted.

"Hey... you OK? You look out of breath. Can you breathe?"I asked.

"What? Oh... I... Am... Fine... I haven't... Stopped... Running... For like... Five... Years," he struggled to let go of each word.

"What? Wow. That's a lot of running for a little guy like you!" I said with a slight grin.

He just stared blankly at me for a long while while he reached for his breath with every muscle in his body.

"What are you running from?" I asked.

Whatever it was that the little boy was running from must have been really, really Scary.

Well, the boy replied, "My Best Friend and I were playing a game of Hide and Seek... but I stayed hidden too long.. I didn't hear her calling for me... and She hates it when I find Really Good Hiding Spots... But, I couldn't hear her... and she yelled at me... I got Scared... and Mad... So she tried to tell me the rules... and I was like "blah blah blah"... and then she said She didn't want to play anymore.. and I don't like fighting with... her... And then... I got Scared... and told her she was a "Meanie" and started running... Hey, have you seen a little girl run past here - or any BoogyMonsters, Mister?" He asked.

"Nope. It's just me," I told him.  "BoogyMonsters?" I asked, "What are those?"

The little boy was trying to look behind me and kept looking over his shoulder and all around.  Then, he exclaimed, "I don't know, Mister, but when I was running I kept seeing these Blurry Monster Shadowy Things hiding everywhere... and I couldn't stop running cause they were Everywhere! And the faster I ran, the more BoogyMonsters there were!  I kept asking people I'd run by if the BoogyMonsters were behind me, but I couldn't really hear what they said or I'd only hear half of what they said. It's sure hard to hear people when you're running really fast," he finished. And he took a moment and looked behind me again, still expecting a BoogyMonster to appear.  

He was catching his breath. And the more he breathed, the less Scared he looked.

"You know, son, if you aren't running from people, it's a lot easier to hear what they have to say.  You just need to stop or slow down, ok?"

Hey Mister?" he began to ask.  Then, suddenly, the little boy looked all around him. Spinning several times as he looked around at the horizon, his eyes began to water...

"Wait, where did She go? I thought She... was chasing me... I... thought she was behind me... I... I..." He began to sob, again.

Tears began streaming down his face.

"Hey, hey now... It's ok. I'm here. You aren't alone.  Where do you live? Let's get you home," I asked.

"I... I... Don't know... where Home is anymore," he sobbed.

The sad little boy was clearly starting to lose his breath, again.

"It's ok." I told him. "Just breathe... Just breathe... It really will be ok. The People Who Love You are going to be pretty happy that you stopped. They'll be able to find you now! No need to worry... I'll wait here with you until they find you.  Is there anyone we can call? I have my iPhone right here."

He dialed the only number he knew... 2...0...7... The boy began to sob again... "No one is answering," he whispered.

"Just leave a message", I said.

Then, there was quiet.

A.

Long.

Silence.

And as they looked at each other, wondering what was Next... there came a broken cry of "Eddddddiiiiiieee..... Eddddddddiiieeeee...." The little boy perked up.

"Hey, hey, Mister, you hear that? That's my Name! Someone's looking for me.  But, I don't... think that's..." and then he turned towards the Voice in the Distance, hoping to recognize the Voice, hoping it was Her.

Then, suddenly, he turned back to me, and said, "Hey, Mister, what's your name?"

"Most people call me Hope, but you can call me Drew," I said.

Thank you, Drew," he said. "I'm sure lucky you came along. I was Lost. And Scared. And I was afraid of the BoogyMonsters.  I didn't know I had run away from The One Who Loved Me."

"Eddie, you can't ever run away from Someone who Loves you. No one can run that fast or that far.  Come on now, let's go find out who's looking for you,"I offered the boy a hand and helped him up.  
"You'll be ok, you know," I had to tell him. "Just stop running. There are no BoogyMonsters, Eddie. They're all in your head.  When you slow down, the Blurry Things become Clear, and you'll see there just aren't any BoogyMonsters - just things that looked like BoogyMonsters when you were running past so fast. And remember, you can't hear Anyone either when you're Running From Everything, Eddie."

He smiled. And we turned towards the distance, where he knew Home was. Somewhere.

And we began to walk, slowly, listening very carefully for the Voice in the Distance calling his name. 

Not running.

Walking.

Listening.

Hearing.