Scaredy Cat

So my boys are into watching Goosebumps lately on Netflix. In case you don't know, it's a "spooky" themed show with all sorts of scary, dark and creepy stuff happening to kids. Ghosts, jump-scares, that sort of thing. They are a bit cheesy, but for a 9 year old and 6 year old, definitely some disturbing stuff.

It got me thinking about how I used to like getting scared. At one stage in my development, I liked fear and scary, gory, eerie movies. Now, I am a huge scaredy cat. I don't really want to see any of that stuff. To be honest, even watching these kiddie Goosebumps episodes give me a few goosebumps. Cheesy, I know.

I don't need any more disturbing stuff rattling around my head. There is enough awful true life things happening that adding to it with fantasy fear seems unnecessary. Maybe I'm just getting older or something.

I could go on, but for now I will leave you with a creepy poem from the graphic novel I'm reading. It fits well with this blog entry.

From Neil Gaiman comic The Books of Magic

The red flame flickers on the wall of the cave

(Smeared with ochres, berry dye, charcoal)

Making the great elk move,

Making the mastodon breathe

Making the hunters race and kill

Watch them seeking to placate

And understand the world above.

This they know:

This they understand:

There is darkness, everywhere, outside.

The dark is everywhere; and though the sun comes up,

And though the fires blossom, and are tamed,

The darkness is there.

The darkness is waiting.

And the things in the darkness

That whisper before they feast

They are to be placated and persuaded,

They are to be loved and sacrificed to,

They are to be prayed to and distrusted.

And so there is magic.