Night Noises

Last night we had a storm blow in that caused tornado watches in our area. The rain was pelting down in droves and the wind was fierce. Around 2 am in the morning I was woken by a trembling voice of Xavier, standing silhouetted in the door frame. Trying to quickly dash the sleepiness out of me I asked him what was up.

"Mom, I'm hearing voices in my room."

"Oh yeah? What kind of voices?"

"Ghost voices. I know it's not a ghost but it sounds scary. Can you come up and listen?"

"Sure honey."

So I climbed out of bed and hand in hand we walked upstairs, his hand grabbing my own in a death grip and he stayed so close to me he kept tripping on my heels. In his room I could hear the wind whipping by in gusts and instantly I heard the wailing of the wind in the trees. It did have that eerie quality of what you would expect a ghost to sound like, so I felt for the poor kid. It brought memories of my own times being scared in the dark as a child and no one giving me comfort or an explanation. So instead of dismissing his fears I did two things: I explained what was going on, and I told him what I did to help me when I was a kid and scared.

First I explained how the wind was whistling through the branches of the trees, making itself a musical instrument. In a way, I explained, it's the earth making music and singing its song to you. It sounds eerie, yes, but beautiful too, once you understand it. He stopped and listened and smiled. We got into talking about wind instruments and how they work the same way the wind was working through the trees. We talked of flutes, and clarinets, and even tubas. It got him interested in learning how those work.

Then I told him when I was his age and scared I learned a trick from a friend. If you put yourself under your sheet or blanket completely, nothing, NOTHING, can hurt you. I told him I used to go to bed every night completely covered except for a nose hole and felt safe every night. And lastly I told him if he was quiet, he could read in bed until he felt better. So I left him happily covered under his blankets reading a book with the light on, listening to Earths music.

...he fell asleep feeling safe. I'm glad I could offer that to him.