H.M. Stoner Ink And Image

Growing up in the early 90’s in rural Ohio provided me with lots of outdoor fun. My childhood home sits at the front of a five acre mostly wooded lot. On a summer weekend it was not uncommon for my parents to have family and friends over for a cookout that would last well into the night.

Our outdoor fun seemed limitless, as we would ride ATVs in the woods, play with actual lawn darts, and after it got dark, a game of flashlight tag was almost inevitable.

Sometimes I would have cousins or family friends close to my age to play with, but other times I would be the youngest in the bunch, with my older brother being twelve years older then me.

I remember one night in particular where my brother helped me find the PERFECT hiding spot. While everyone ran off to find their spots, he helped me slide underneath the trailer my dad had built for hauling things.

Laying there in the dark, completely silent, I can vividly remember hearing the game going on around me. Voices in the distance as people have been found, laughter as they ran from each other, hoots and hollers declaring victory over one another.

With absolutely no exaggeration, I must have been in my hiding spot for at least thirty minutes before my brother came up beside the trailer and started whispering to me.

“Heather, your doing great! No one knows where you are!” For the next five minutes I could hear everyone looking for me, shouting my name when they think they might be close and always coming up empty handed. HA! I thought to myself, This is awesome. It seemed as though their efforts were dying off as more and more people seemed to be just hanging out around the trailer talking to each other.

It was starting to get kinda lonely under there, listing to everyone else laughing and carrying on. But every time I would try and scoot out from my magnificent hiding spot my brother would convince me to stay.

After what felt like another thirty minutes I finally crawled my way out and proudly exclaimed.…… “IM RIGHT HERE! …… IVE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME! ………. I WIN!”

I was so proud of myself.

It wasn’t until many years later, when reminiscing as a family, that I learned the truth about that night. I was in the middle of bragging about my epic win at flashlight tag, when my brother started laughing. “You didn’t win that night!” He kept laughing. “WE DID!!”

It only took a few moments for me to put the pieces together…

They had ALL known where I was…… The. Entire. Time.