An Urban Flashback #1

Thug Girl by Fuzzysocks102 manipulated with the Gang colors in Henderson, NV [link to original]

Back in the early '90's I had a friend who lived in the projects. She escaped her abusive drug dealing boyfriend, stayed with my family for a sec and then she got government housing in Henderson, Nevada (considered the ritzy Suburbs to Vegas). They called the Projects there "The Gardens". They were well kept places to keep the poor. The rent was barely anything.

It really didn't look all that bad. If you look to the right in the back of the above picture, you can see they are right next to big stucco houses. If you didn't do regular exterminating, though you'd end up with a cock roach population. I always had a feeling that cock roaches should of been one of the Plagues of Egypt out of the Bible. Or maybe they are a special battalion of demons from hell set to make those who live poorly more desperate.

If you go through life just reading the news...things like this story could just happen unknown. You would drive by the neighborhood unaware what it was and go on with your lives...

My friend's daughters (who are now 29 and 31) had friends who would stop by while I would visit. One in particular impressed me. At first I thought she had a twin. I would see this well dressed school girl at one time, then I would see this colored out gang girl wearing loose clothes, half finger gloves and a doo rag bandanna. She was a pretty girl sort of Avril Lavignish.

One time there was an issue about this drunk guy who came over asking to crash on the couch. She and I were both visiting at the time. She straight out told him, "Get your ugly drunk ass out of here and go sleep on the street. I don't like you and I don't want you messing with my family here"! I listened to her say this before I had any sayso. I didn't like the guy either and then I hear her saying that! The guy looks at me and I say "What she said: Get the FUCK out"! I asked her what her name was and did she have a twin because there is another girl I have seen here that looks like her, but dresses preppy like? She says "Nu uh, that is me. When I go to school, you wouldn't really think it was me. But, I am going to school because I am not going to be some stupid gangster for all my life. I am going to learn something". She was only 14 yrs old and handled that ugly grown assed man like a bar bouncer! I told her she was my hero!

Two weeks later she was dead. She and another local girl a couple of apartments away had stole a car and when the police chased them, she wouldn't give it up. The high speed chase ended up with the car wrapped around a telephone pole and both girls died.

I was out of town when it happened. When I came home the day after, I had a dream of her (Darleen) yelling at me saying "We got to help Denise"! I told her that I just drove Denise to California, she is alright. She repeated "We got to help Denise"! right in my face and I wake up almost seeing a quick flash of her literally in my face. I called the neighborhood where they all lived. A nice lady named Cindy who was their neighbor asked me right off if I had heard about what happened to Darleen (the young girl preppy/gangsta). I told her that I just had this dream of her in my face yelling to help Denise. When she told me she died...I knew the dream was a message.

The day away that I was taking my friend and her family to California and before I knew of Darleen's death,we passed by a ruins of a brick home in the desert and took a turn to check it out and rest a bit. My friend Denise tells me, "Don't think I am crazy, but I keep hearing this voice in my head talking to me. It is someone I know it says and it is telling me to go find a bone.It says that it knows I like bones, so go find one". I was not sure how to take this, but we were all broke and didn't buy any drugs so that was ruled out! She said the voice said it's name was Johanson. I said, "I just said that name less than 15 mins ago explaining what might of happened here to your youngest daughter. Like maybe some German settlers stopped here and built this place and maybe they had some German name like and then I thought a sec and Johanson just popped out of my mouth. So maybe this Johanson in your head is in my head a bit, too". Anyway, after looking around stretching out legs and this all happening, we had another 40 mins to Lancaster, CA. I rested a while in Lancaster and headed home to Las Vegas, went to bed and then had that dream.

Darleen's last name, I never knew, but the papers told me--Johanson.

Her death at 14 is a very sad thing. How much time does a girl get for Grand Theft Auto? Not worth dying for. Well this young tough girl revealed to me that there is something going on after death. The sister of the other girl said that night she saw her sister when she woke up at night. Liz (poor dead girls name) was at the base of her sisters bed looking all sad. The sister told me that could of never been really her because she had left that night with Darleen and never came back due to the car wreck. 

When I lived in Vegas I had my car stolen 4 times in the 5 years I lived there.  I think it is a right of passage to join the gangs and/or the thing for tough bored kids to do for fun they called "Joyriding"..  

I told everybody that Darleen was like The Patty Duke Show twins...