What If?

Father Fear

            People always seem to tell each other that everything will be okay. The darkness will leave...

            The devil will never reach for us...

            That we will always be safe, even in the face of danger...

            However, I have come to the fact that not so many know; all my previous statements are false. Even though in the human culture, where it is second nature to be afraid, we seem to ignore that little voice inside our head and sprout the idea that we are invincible. Some see fear as a weakness; others see it as our greatest strength. My studies have proven that neither of these beliefs are true. In life, we have the ups and downs; the daydreams and the nightmares.

            Nightmares...

            Imagine the latest nightmare you have had. Somehow, the brain has this capability to unlock our greatest fears into a vivid image while we are most relaxed. Fear is not a figment of our imagination that haunts us in the wee hours of night. No, it is a person, just like you and me. He has the amazing ability to sense what terrorizes people, pull them out of us, and revel in the taste of it all. 

            You may not know this, but you have already been visited by the man with no name. No one seems to remember him; his icy blue eyes, almost white hair, and his devious smile that he wears everywhere. As some of you may imagine, he lurks in the shadows to observe his prey in the day. In the night said prey sleep during his feast. He dresses up to meet every single victim of his brutal meals. No one seems to recall his visit, only the substance he leaves behind. However, I remember my encounter with the one who is our fear. In all honesty, I find myself lucky to have survived. In result of my locked battle with Fear, I am able to warn all of the others like me. We are the children of Fear. We are the ones that Fear is afraid of.

            Perhaps I need to explain this a bit better. In this world we have seemingly put people into three groups: pessimists, optimists, and the realists. The ones that Fear claims as his children are, in fact, the optimists that lighten this world. Since these rare people ignore the fear that infects this world, they seem to be immune to Fear's charm. Fear likes to see this as a challenge, much like a parent being ignored by a rebellious child. He sees it that the children try to overpower him, but he always finds their weakness...

            Just as he found mine that fateful night...The night I met my father.