Are you afraid of the dark?

Imagine waking one night to the sounds of scraping at your window.  The wind howling through the trees and as you open your eyes to look around your room, you can see through the fuzzy daze shadows moving across your walls.  Quickly you sit up, rubbing your eyes and squinting hoping that they are playing tricks on you.  For a moment you could swear that something had moved towards you, but now that your vision is clear everything seems calm.

You lay back down and as you close your eyes, you hear what at first seems like the house is settling.  You begin to think to yourself about all the times your grandmother talked about how old houses settle and make eerie noises when you are alone, and suddenly you realize what was at first nothing more than a gentle creak has turned into a steady patter.  Like little feet roaming across your bedroom floor, you again open your eyes lying still, nervous at what might be just outside the light.

It’s quiet.

You awake the next morning feeling awfully embarrassed at how easily you were frightened by a violent stormy night.  After getting dressed you make your way to your closet to get your coat and something catches your eye as you pass the end of the bed.  Looking down you see a spilled vial of ink and there before your eyes are tiny little foot prints disappearing underneath your bed.

I am never scared of what I can see, but what I cannot see is always far more frightful.  Would you look under the bed?  Would you leave the room quickly, hoping to find someone else to help explain the foot steps?  Would you stand there, frightened, not at what might be under the bed, but what had been lurking in the dark the night before?  Fear of the unknown is a frightful concept.

So tonight as you drift off to sleep, take a look around you at the shadows that move, and listen to the sounds of the house settling around you because you never know what might be lurking just outside the light.

Sleep tight kiddies.