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Prompt: Fear. Write about a fear you have that others might think is irrational. Why does it have a hold on you?
The Dark
I’m afraid of the dark. It’s not so much the dark itself. It’s more what could be in the dark — such as a ghost or a demon or a witch. I’ve gotten better, but it’s still terrifying because the dark is very mysterious, and if you can’t see what is in front of you or in the same room as you, your mind is going to imagine the worst thing possible — when it’s really just nothing.
My main fear is having an asthma attack at Taekwondo. It’s been about two years since my last one, and I hated it. I was in the middle of my testing for high blue belt, and I was sparring. After I did a few rounds, my instructor asked me if I was all right because he could see that I couldn’t breathe.
I said that I was fine, and we kept sparring, but eventually I had to run off and use my inhaler. I was so out of breath that I couldn’t speak, and I was crying. Luckily one of my friends knew where I had put my inhaler, and she ran and got it for me.
My instructor wasn’t angry with me, and no one else was either, but I was mad at myself because I have always hated having an inhaler and admitting that I have asthma. It’s not like anyone shamed me for it or anything; it’s just something that I have no control over. I have to carry an inhaler with me everywhere I go. It’s really annoying, and I am terrified of using it just because of what I think other people will think about me.
My biggest irrational fear was my fear of grass. I do not have this fear anymore and have come to love grass, but that was not the case when I was two. I lived in New York City until I was 4, and I was born in December and there was snow on the ground.
Summer rolled around, and I guess the only parks my parents took me to were small and they did not have any grass. Soon it was summer again, and we took a trip to my grandparents’. Once we were there, my parents, finally having a place where I could play in the grass, set me down to play. Having never seen a significant amount of grass, I was afraid of the green stuff carpeting the ground.
Instead of having the reaction everyone thought I would have, I started crying and waving my arms around. It was then that my parents realized their child was afraid of grass.
I’m afraid of snakes. The way they move and slither is terrifying. I don’t know why, but it is terrifying. There are snakes so big that they can swallow deer or other large animals, and I wonder if they would eat people. That is really scary. Also, there are snakes with venom that can slowly and painfully kill people. Imagine you are just walking along minding your own business, and all of a sudden, a snake bites you. You jump back, but you can’t do anything about it. The venom is coursing through your veins, and it is the most painful thing you have ever experienced. Scary, right?
Even worse, a boa constrictor strangles its prey to death, and that would be an excruciatingly painful death. This fear has been with me my entire life. I think it would be very cool to go to the jungle, but there are snakes there, and it makes me not want to go.