Another Freewrite

Scares...And other Things

Sometimes getting scared means being startled. Or it can mean just plain creeped out. Or both. Like if you're playing hide-and-seek and you look somewhere dark, it's creepy. And then when Mariel and Cornflower both jump out from behind you, that's the startled part. When I get creeped out my hair doesn't stand on end but something just above the base of my skull in the back starts tingling. My heart starts acting like a metronome set at 240 beats a minute. My insteps tingle. I get really tense. My eyes get wide. My calls for them to "come on out" falter. Then ... they pounce! My heart speeds up. Some reflex SHOOTS up though my vocal cords until I sound like a lady on a movie. I curl up in a little ball like a pill bug. I shiver all over. It's fun to get scared AFTERWARDS, but not at the time! I love laughing about Mr. Honey and Cornflower scaring me with a koala teddy! But at night, when I can't sleep, "ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties and things that go BUMP in the night" all join in efforts to keep me from sleep. Mariel, flitting to the bathroom, is a "ghostie". My china dolls become "ghoulies". The "long-legged beastie" is my own colthes for the next day. "BUMP-in-the-night" go my bed rafters.

Good Googly.