Somno Modo

The Gnome

I'm going to share one of my earliest paranormal experiences from kindergarten. I remember I was about to go down stairs and go outside to catch the bus to school. I walked down a few steps and I saw a gnome at the bottom of the stairs. I paused and when I blinked it turned into something that looked more like a gargoyle but definitely seemed alive. I screamed and ran back to my room and my mom tried to make me go down but I wouldn't so she had to drive me to school. She always said I must have been dreaming. The memory is so vivid that while it's possible, I am more than certain I was awake.
So a few years back I was scrolling on tumblr and the user sixpenceee posted something about a photographer recreating childrens nightmares in their work. I'm not sure if either photographers images I'll be attaching are the original images I saw that scared me and helped validate this memory for me. Wattpad only allows for me to attach one image per story part. The image from the introduction, this slide, and the next are all similar to what I saw. I'll attach the gnome image to this one, see the next part for a "gargoyle" reminiscent image.
I have no clue why this seems to be a popular "nightmare" theme for children. And I'm convinced the use of the word nightmare is just adults trying to explain the unexplainable. No one probably wants to believe their child may have seen a demon, I know my parents refused to believe me. But I can still remember the look on it's face when it changed forms in front of me. And I still remember the fear I felt when I dashed back to my room and hid.
Gnomes seem to be a popular fear, played out by Goosebumps and other children's shows, which poses the question of why? I think back to the fairies I thought I saw as a young child and it feels very familiar. Are gnomes representative of Leprechauns? A bit. Could it be possible that vessels for spirits are so mass produced?
Whatever it may be, I definitely believe whatever creature or spirit shows itself to us that way has no good intentions. To lure a child towards it on the stairs, only to change into a malevolent creature when you draw near it. The transformation of a good, jovial symbol into one of evil and malignance. Without good there is no evil to be defined, and vice versa. Do these creatures mean to do us harm or is it possible that fairies appear to those who believe. Is it possible that they teach us lessons about being careful who we trust and approach; because a wide smile can be hiding the sharpest of tongues.
Do they appear to those of us who are about to experience a trauma? Was it warning me of the dangers coming within my fifth year of life? Looking back on that year, I was so innocent until I wasn't anymore. I saw the transformation before they taught us stranger danger, or the "no-no square." Neither of which ever did me any good. With all the reflecting I have done, it feels like it could have been a warning that reality is not as happy as you'd like to think. Have you ever seen a gnome in your home?