The Price Of Fire

Chapter 1, Part 1

As children we are afraid of the monsters under our beds that will snatch us from the safety of our duvets as soon as our feet are tangling over the bed. As children we are afraid of many things actually, but only if that fear is thrust upon you. I didn't have that. I guess I, in a way, had greatness thrust upon me. Don't sue me, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one to use that phrase after Shakespeare. Also, that's a story for another time. Back to the bed monsters. Well, there's no actual monsters under our beds, not as kids anyway. There might be spiders, if you don't clean your room enough. Speaking from experience. The "monsters" sometimes come up to our beds, let's say from the underworld, for whatever reason they're given, and they kind of teleport you to the underworld. No, they don't actually touch your feet. Hell, your feet don't even have to be out. Sometimes it also happens when you're rather alive, unless you count sleep as temporary death of course which I mean, c'mon it makes sense! But anyway, when they snatch you from your bed, let me repeat, not by snatching your feet, you kind of just flow over and out.

In this process, I've been told, most of the people stay asleep until they actually get to the underworld. Some, on the other hand, a really small minority, wake up. Let me tell you, you DO NOT want to be awake during that process. I speak from experience when I say it is as horrifying as your biggest nightmare as a child. It's like sleep paralysis if you ever experienced one (and if you did, I am very sorry, I know they're not pleasant at all), except it's all real. I mean, you don't know it at the time, you just kind of think it's a nightmare and just before you fall you're gonna have the Hypnic Jerk -not to be confused with Harry the Jerk in your high school- it's the falling sensation that wakes you up right as you're about to fall asleep. But that moment never comes. You don’t wake up, you don't feel the Jerk, you instead see a jerk, a good looking jerk who you should be pissed off at because he woke you up from your beautiful dream, but who you're actually terrified of in the moment. At least I was.