Round Two, Part Two: The Dark Side

[the_vernacular]

“It’s only an old stain,” Eli’s mother told him

Comments

[theafaye]

I had vampires who came to visit me as a child as well. There were there levels - the first I could just escape if I had blanket on any part of me because they were stupid. The second lot were more cunning and I needed to be fully covered but I could move. After they left, the third type would come. They were truly malevolent and if you so much as breathed, they'd take you. Fortunately, I can hold my breath a long time ;o)

[the_vernacular]

Oh, man, your vampires were much more threatening than mine. Mine, I think the idea was that if I made eye contact with them, they could put me in their thrall and then I would be pretty much screwed, so I had to keep my head covered! And of course my neck covered for obvious reasons.

[theafaye]

I think I might have needed to cover my head with the first round but they were just so stupid that it really wouldn't have mattered. I remember that they came quite soon after the previous lot left, so once the vampires came, I had to ride it out for the night.

I seem to recall that it did help me sleep though, bizarrely enough!

[the_vernacular]

It makes sense because trying to keep absolutely still would lower your heart rate and bring you to a state of rest!

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one plagued by vampires when I was little!

[basric]

Chilling. Its interesting how adults never address their children's fears but trivialize them. Nicely done. I liked the rhythm, the flash from one child to the other.

[the_vernacular]

I was thinking about some Edward Gorey esque stories when I wrote this, and A Series of Unfortunate Events, and all those other stories where grown ups are oblivious to the evil that children see so plainly. I was also thinking about our metadiscussion about fiction and non fiction, and I enjoyed writing the previous piece where I wrote about King Arthur and my friend Jessie in the same entry, so I thought I would try that again. Relating the topic to my life and also relating fiction to the topic is a lot of fun and adds an extra challenge for me.

[imafarmgirl]

Great stories.

[the_vernacular]

Thank you!

[i_17bingo]

Holy crap this scared me.

It's always double-frightening when monsters go after kids--not because kids are precious or helpless, but because they know what's coming.

(and Changelings are the scariest of all)

[the_vernacular]

There's a movie called Little Otik, which, while not based on changelings per se, is about a "baby" made from a tree root. It's pretty morbid! The little girl in it is a fascinating character, because she sees what is happening in ways the adults simply can't fathom.

That's an interesting way of putting it, because I think that's what it is...it's not that adults are safe from monsters, it's that they don't notice the monsters in the same way. Monsters for grown ups become bills and taxes and the vampires and changelings disappear.

I guess if it scared you, it was successful!

[lilyinchains]

very creepy and good

[the_vernacular]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.