How Would You Deal With The Mist?

Did any of you get out to see The Mist by Stephen King today? This is the day it was supposed to hit theaters. I’m not a fan of the slasher movies but I love psychological thrillers. This one looks like it’s going to be fascinating.

Imagine shopping in the neighborhood grocery store, running into neighbors and friends, and then finding that you’re all trapped inside by a mysterious mist that hides some horrendous evil. Then imagine that the people you thought you knew so well begin to behave in uncharacteristic ways. Really, we never know how we’ll react to a threatening or dangerous situation. We can hope that we’ll be in control, but you just never know.

It’s been about 35 years since I found myself in a situation that, even now, makes my heart skip a beat. I was about 13; my sisters were 12 and 5. We were at a picnic and decided to walk down by the lake. We took my little cousin Chris with us; he was around 3.

We stood at the edge of the lake, tossing rocks in and trying to skip stones. I have hay fever and could feel my eyes beginning to burn. I told my sister Monette that I was going back to the shelter and asked if she was coming. Monette said that she, our youngest sister Mary Beth and Chris were staying there a while. So I turned to head up toward the shelter.

To this day, I don’t know what made me turn around. My eyes were itching and beginning to water and I had sneezed a few times. I really wanted to get to my mom for some benedryl. Still, I turned around one last time to make sure my sisters didn’t want to come with me. And that’s when I saw it.

Monette was staring at the water, frozen. Chris was chattering away, pointing at the lake. And in the lake, I could see the top of Mary Beth’s head. She’d fallen in.

I ran toward the lake and even as I approached and ran past Monette, she never moved. She was like a statue, her eyes glazed over. I took a step into the lake, then another and I sunk down several feet. I wasn’t sure if there was another drop so I reached and luckily was able to grab Mary Beth and pull her out of the water.

I had no training for such a situation and I’m not even sure why I did what I did or if it was right. I just turned Mary Beth upside down and started screaming at her to “spit!” And she did! By the time we got to the shelter, Mary Beth was rambling on and on about having her eyes open under water as my mom dried her off and held her. Monette was very quiet and for a long time was unable to talk about the incident. Eventually, when we were all adults, she did tell us that she couldn’t move. She just couldn’t make her body move. I suppose some people freeze in those kinds of situations, some people think logically and others, like me, are just moved by some inexplicable force. I don’t remember having a single logical thought that day. I just reacted.

The more I think about the way that situation unfolded, the more I’d like to explore the differences in peoples reactions to threatening or frightening events. Two of my sons have been talking about seeing The Mist so maybe that would be a good film to see together. This is a great time, too, since they have a long weekend vacation.

Will you be heading out to the movies this weekend? If you see this Steven King thriller, stop back here and let me know what you think. I’d love to read your thoughts on it.