The layers of blankets are pulled up over my head. I am snuggled down, as far down the bed as I can go. My skinny legs tucked up into my stomach, my hands are over my ears, my eyes are tightly closed.
It is cold in my room, but I'm not hiding from the cold...I'm hiding from the thing...the thing in my room. I know it's there like it has been every night, hiding in the corner, waiting and watching. Waiting for me....8 years old...skinny, shy and afraid.
Although my ears are covered by my hands I can still hear every little sound as though it's amplified a hundred times. The trees moving outside, the tap dripping in the bathroom, my sister snoring softly in the bed next to mine and I fancy I can hear the thing...moving around my room, looking for me.
What will happen when it finds me, I wonder. Will it steal me away from my parents? Will it turn me into a thing just like it? My frenzied and over-active brain comes up with several different scenarios, each one more terrifying than the last.....sleep is fruitless.
Above is this weeks exercise for 'Write On Wednesday' (Oops! I'm a day late..sorry!)
The brief was to write "I remember' at the top of the page, set a timer for 5 minutes and then write....
This memory is very clear for me still. A few weeks beforehand, I had snuck out into the lounge and watched from behind the couch a movie my parents were viewing..... 'Poltergeist.' The result of my late night wanderings? Several weeks of nightmares and terrified huddling at the foot of my bed! I certainly learnt my lesson and still cannot watch a scary movie to this day!
What a scary story! I don't watch scary movies, either... sometimes even news stories can bring out nightmares.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great recreation of a scene I know all too well. I was the youngest of 4 kids, and everything on our TV was always way too grown up for me. I had lots of nightmares, and ALWAYS thought there was something out to get me at night.
ReplyDeleteI now have goosebumps!
That sounds so much like me at the same age. I was convinced the gypsies were going to come for me. The trouble was, I had no idea what a gypsy was and had the idea that they were little devils that lived in chicken runs!!!
ReplyDeleteOh I had one of those 'things' in my room too growing up Lene! I used to leap into bed thinking it was under the bed and then pull the covers up high around my neck. As if that was going to save me. LOL I really feel for my kids now when they say they're scared. Just something we go through I guess. Well written!
ReplyDeleteAnne @ Domesblissity
Isn't it amazing what our imaginations come up with at that age? I remember snippets of that movie really well and then the subsequent nights of pure terror that followed. This night in particular was one of the worst as my imagination really took hold and I lay awake for hours.
ReplyDelete@ Sarah Mac - That sounds hilarious now but I bet it wasn't at the time!
@ therhythmmethod- My parents carefully screened everything I watched but I guess they didn't count on me sneaking out! I sometimes worry that my youngest will watch things way too advanced for her because of her older siblings.
@ muminsearch- I don't watch the news purely because I find it terrifying. My imagination is still out of control in my 30's!
I guess most of us did Anne! I always thought that those covers were going to protect me from that evil thing - whatever it was - it was always a nameless, faceless, entity.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is now 8 and I get upset right along with her whenever she has a nightmare or thinks there is something in her room. It takes me right back to that moment.
Thanks for commenting everyone!
Oh that's a familiar memory, I accidentally saw the movie The Witches at about age 4, I dreamed about purple eyes and square toes for months! Isn't it funny how we feel so much safer under the blankets...
ReplyDeleteThis sounds familiar. I was certain that if I didn't move a muscle and didn't make any breathing sounds - I would be ok.
ReplyDeleteMy ear had to be under the blanket as well. Blankets were my saviour!
....and the movie/story that scared me to death...Hansel and Gretel !!
ReplyDeleteHaha!!
Oh god, scarred for life! Or is that... scared for life? LOL. I get it! You captured the sheer panic well.
ReplyDeleteOh such a familiar feeling, Lene. I was a real scaredy cat when I was a kid, just couldn't watch the horror movies my friends could without having nightmares for nights afterwards. What a memory from you? Strange what is lurking in our subconscious, isn't it? Thanks again for joining in. No worries on being late. That is why I have decided to leave the linky open. Life happens! Gill xo
ReplyDeleteThat's a good memory to have chosen for this exercise, and you've described it so well! I think most of us can relate to this.
ReplyDeleteI still am completely of the belief that my blanket/doona has the ability to protect me from unknown "things" inside and outside the house. And I still can't go to sleep unless my hair is pulled over to cover my ears. Strange I know. I used to have this fear that something was going to crawl in to my ears during the night. And obviously, my hair was going to act much like a shield to keep it out. Although my fear wasn't totally illogical, I remember waking up once and turning on the light to find one of those sugar ants crawling around on the doona right in front of my eyes! Eeeeeek