Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

When I was younger, I wanted to be in the FBI. I don’t know if it was all the horror movies I watched, but I thought it was about the most exhilarating, heart-pounding profession there was. There was just one small problem…I’m afraid of the dark. I’m not sure what prompted the discussion, but Dayven and I were talking about it last night and he said he doubted I could last 10 minutes in a dark basement, let alone fight crime on the streets, pursuing dangerous psychopaths in dark alleys. Ten minutes in the basement? Big deal. I’m up to the challenge. The rules were I could leave the stairwell light on long enough to get down safely, then I had to turn them off and walk to the couch, sit down and spend 10 minutes there, in pitch blackness. I’m not embarrassed to tell you I didn’t make it past the pool table before I turned around and high-tailed it out of there, but Dayven laughing hysterically at the top of the stairs prompted me to try it once more. I feel it necessary to mention our basement is pitch black – you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. I fumbled around in the dark once more, blindly making my way across the room. As I sat on the couch, all the most terrifying scenes from every horror film I’ve ever watched flashed before my eyes. If you try hard enough, you can convince yourself you hear someone breathing right next to you and actually feel the hairs on your arms stand up. The final straw was thinking of Jodi Foster in Silence of the Lambs in that horrifying nightmare-provoking dark basement scene. You know the one. That did it. I yelled “DONE!!” – the previously agreed upon signal that would let Dayven know to open the basement door and turn the stairwell light back on for me. I made it 17 seconds. I guess I won’t be applying for the academy anytime soon…