Closet Fears

[ling]

On the news the other day, we heard that this guy had crawled up into
his attic, walked across to another person's house and entered through
their attic door. Now, I didn't catch if this was an apartment complex
or a condo/townhouse. But ever since hearing that, we've been
wondering if someone was going to suddenly appear in our bedroom
closet. So we have set a sleeping schedule so that we can keep watch
in the evenings.

Since we're talking about the closet, and this is a short entry, I'm
going to talk about how I was afraid of the closet. I know that lots
of children are afraid of the closet. I mean, they wrote a whole
children's move about it. But how many of you were afraid of E.T. and
thought he lived in your closet?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I used to sleep with the covers over my head because if he couldn't see
me, he couldn't hurt me. It didn't matter if it was a totally hot
summer, I'd seat under those covers to protect myself!

Somewhere along the way, I lost that particular irrational fear only to
pick up a new one. I have an irrational fear of the bathroom inthe
middle of the night. I don't know what I think is in there or what it
will do if it caught me, but I am in and out of there as soon as I
can. And it doesn't matter if I have the lights on or off because the
moment I leave, something is totally going to come out of there that
will grab me.

I can't explain where I got this irrational fear from. I only assume
that something so traumatic happened that I've just blocked it out. Or
I saw a scary movie that involved a scary bathroom. Hell, just the
commercial for that one movie scared the pee out of me. So I'm not
ruling that out either.

Do you have irrational fears? Do you know where they come from? Do
you think I'm weird?

Comments

[frabjouslinz.livejournal.com]

Well, my current clost *has* no doors, so less places for anything to hide behind.

When I was a kid, I was certain that monsters lived pretty much anywhere shadows could be, so at night they'd come out. I slept very still, because I'd convinced myself if I didn't move, they'd think I was a statue and leave me alone. Mom said that she almost never had to do much to make my bed in the mornings. Then I got a fear of vampires - I slept with a baby blanket over my neck, just in case. I was afraid of the lane lines in the bottom of the pool, because they were actually holes into under the pool, where the pool monsters lived. I would try to keep my feet away from them, just in case something would grab me and pull me under. And of course, the irrepressable fear of certain creepy crawlies.

I sometimes wonder if this is one of the reasons I have pets. I figure if monsters are going to come get me, the animals will let me know by being really upset about them being in the house first. That's my hope, anyway. I'm still irrationally afraid of spiders. I don't know what I think they will do to me, but I wake up sometimes, certain one has landed on me in my sleep, and jump gasping from the bed, brushing myself off. Yeah. It's a fun time. So I'll reassure you that the bathroom is safe at night, and you can reassure me that the spiders aren't going to kill me in my sleep. Howzat?

[lingtm.livejournal.com]

That's a deal, and I'll keep the lane line monsters at bay too.