As a little child growing up, I feared the dark the most and even now as an adult, I have not actually outgrown that fear. I try not to be in the dark as much as I possibly can and when I'm helpless, I try not to imagine those 'tiny little eyes peeping from their revolving worn out peekaboo sockets, their long bony swishing claws reaching out to capture me..... aaargh'. My fear is centred around these! But do these really exist ? Do they really haunt us in the dark? well, opinions differ.
An incident happened in my life when I was around 5years old and I think that contributed immensely towards this fear. I had lost my Aunt through childbirth, it was her first pregnancy but it came with a lot of complications which eventually led to her demise. it was a very bad day for me as I was particularly fond of her.
According to customs and traditions, she was buried the next day. That evening, we were in the kitchen and my Mom was carrying her baby in her arms ( her baby girl survived) when suddenly the light went out. The closed back door slammed open and the chilliest breeze I had ever felt came rushing in. We were transfixed and the only illumination was from the light outside and the Moon.
It was when her baby started crying that we came back to reality. I couldn't tell what was happening but the next words from my mom was the one that sent another chilly wave down my spine.
' Naomi please don't harm any of us, as you can see, your daughter is being well taken care of. Please go and rest in peace, do not worry about your daughter, from henceforth, she's my daughter now'. By now, Mom was weeping uncontrollably because Naomi was her younger sister.
Immediately the lights came back on and the door closed so gently just as if whatever it was, was doing my Mom's bidding. Everything returned to normal but I was not ' normal ' for a very long time. I just loathed the dark. Mom told us that Naomi's spirit had come for her daughter but her words soothed her so she changed her mind and Left.
And true to her promise, My Mom raised Naomi's daughter as her own. Bizarre, don't you think so?
Let me know what you think in the comments section. Thank you for reading.
I am @eleaza