Day #9 of 21 Days to Disciplined Writing
Good morningggg!!! It's 6am! Time to write!
Write about a time when you were scared out of your mind. Show every detail. Talk about the moment as if someone can feel they were right with you. If this is too hard for you, write about a fun fear (rollercoasters, bees, dogs, etc)
This can be a poem, story, letter, joke, etc. I don't want to put too many harsh guidelines on you - write what feels good.
I do not like scary rides or fun houses or scary movies. The last scary movie I saw, which I actually really enjoyed, was Aliens. Obviously scary is not something I do, nor have I done in a long time.
One year my daughters were visiting on my birthday and wanted to go to Universal Studios to celebrate. I was game. I had been there many years before when my first daughter was very little and wanted to go again. Since I don’t do scary, the tram ride was my favorite.
We walked along Universal Studio’s Citywalk on the way to the actual park. There were many shops and a few sights but there was one that caught my eye. There was a haunted house shop. No, I thought. There’s no haunted house here at Universal Studios. What movie has a haunted house set they would put into Universal Studios I wondered.
As soon as we walked into the park there it was. A giant haunted house, the movie of which it was based on I cannot remember. All I remember is saying, no, no, no. My daughter’s boyfriend wanted to go through it and I kept saying no, no, no, I’ll wait on the other end. But he kept insisting saying, “It’s not that bad. There’s nothing too scary here. Don’t worry, I’ll be right by your side.”
I had a big birthday that year and thought, don’t be such a baby. It can’t be that scary. You’ll do fine. Maybe it won’t be that bad.
I don’t remember much of the “ride” or attraction. I quoted the word ride here as it was a walk. The idea was that you walked through the “house” and then things would happen. Which they did. A lot.
I was never so scared in my entire life. There were people dressed as frightening characters who popped out of every possible nook and cranny with the express purpose of shocking and scaring. It worked. I screamed at full voice so many times my voice was hoarse when we left the building. I clung to my daughter’s boyfriend and buried my head into his back. I kept telling him, “we have to get out of here, we have to go!” He kept trying to pry me off him but it was to no avail as each of my daughters had his arms draped around them. There was no room for him to move anything but his feet. We baby-stepped along corridor after corridor in one large lump of scared. After the second room I have no idea what was in the place as I kept my eyes squinted shut the remaining time and every once in a while I banged my head onto his back. I kept yelling at him, “what did you make me do?” and “hurry…I have to get out of here,” all the while being serenaded by my daughter’s shrieks and screams. We each of us occasionally opened our eyes and were accosted by some ghoul or headless something or another. It was, quite frankly, awful.
After a while the actors must have known to keep away from us. Their shenanigans began to decrease except for an occasional whisper or a very light almost imperceptible touch. My daughter’s boyfriend complained that he didn’t get the full effect since we were a clump of bodies and the staff clearly knew how scared we were. But I was very clear. “That scared the bejesus out of me. You wanted to go in there, that’s how I go in there.”
I also laughed. I knew we were a ridiculous sight and making a lot more out of this than needed to be but honestly, I was so frightened that if they had a side door for sissies, I would have slipped out.
No more scary for me. Don’t even try to talk me into it.
