Teraphobia (ONC 2024)

One

I am deathly terrified of the monsters in the dark.

My fear began at the age of five. My parents took me and my brother Nathaniel to the Halloween Carnival. I was perched on my father's shoulders with a bag of popcorn in my tiny hands. I pointed enthusiastically at the rides I desired to go on. My words fall upon deaf ears as they always did. In our family, Nathaniel's requests were always honored first. We approach the ranch-style building with its sunken roof. The shutters on the windows hang askew and the porch looks like it's seen better days.

He set me down on the ground in front of the haunted house handing Nathaniel the tickets needed to go inside. I looked up at it uneasily shrinking away from it. My mother took my hand in hers; her eyes held a silent promise. Nathaniel was impatient, he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. I cried out in protest, trying to pull my tiny hand out of his vicelike grip. The door slammed shut the lock clicking into place. I could hear my mother slamming her fist against the door demanding to be let in.

"My five-year-old daughter is in there with my son! She is too young to be in there by herself, let me in!"

The haunted house came alive, with actors coming out of their hiding places and delivering their performances. I curled up into a ball with my eyes shut tight and my hands firmly placed over my ears. I screamed and cried all the while Nathaniel stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. He was thirteen, in his own words he was practically an adult. He rolled his eyes his words sliced through me like a knife.

"Get up Linn, seriously you're embarrassing me. You're acting like such a baby."

In my defense, I did try to get up. My fear had me paralyzed in place. I could feel it pressing down on my chest like the weights in my father's gym. There were monsters with glowing red eyes. Monsters with razor-sharp canines. Monsters that were laughing cruelly at the little girl sobbing on the ground. I could hear my mother still slamming her fist on the door. My father begged her to stop.

"Victoria, would you stop?! You are making a scene!"

His voice is harsh, he's always ill-tempered with us. I curl into myself more the tears won't stop falling. My body is trembling, I'm crying for my mother. She had promised me we would walk through the haunted house together. With her, I knew I could be brave. I felt alone. The haunted house went to sleep. The Monsters disappeared back to their places. The door unlocks and my mother rushes in.

She picks me up clutching me tightly to her chest. I wrap my arms around her neck burying my face into the crook of it. She rubs comforting circles into my back, reassuring me in her melodic voice that everything is going to be alright. She reminds me that she is here and that nothing is going to happen to me. My father scoffs from behind her. Nathaniel starts to whine, complaining in a loud voice that he didn't get to enjoy the haunted house because his little sister was a big baby.

"Nathaniel, that is enough! Come on, we are leaving."

"Victoria, we drove three hours to get here!"

"Are you serious, Otis? Look at your daughter! Do you not see how terrified she is?"

"Then go wait with her in the damn car! Come on, son."

There is a finality in his tone, one that is futile to ignore. He places a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder and leads him back into the haunted house. I cling to my mother as she continues to rub my back. The employee in charge of the haunted house apologizes profusely for what happened to me. Mother gives them a piece of her mind. The venom in her words brings tears to my eyes all over again. She rubs my back, whispering an apology. The manager is called and we are given free passes for a future visit and another apology. My trembling frame is their answer. My mother hands the passes back to them as she takes us back to the car. In a moment of quiet vengeance, she set me in the backseat and started the car tossing my father and Nathaniel's things out of the window. We shared a smile, and a shared secret, and made the long drive back home.