Opening Take 1
As I walked down the path, my spider senses tingled as I felt something lurking behind me. I couldn't see it, but I felt its presence. My hair stood on end and I was terrified to turn around, but I did. With a deep breath and bracing myself for the horror Imight see, I whipped around. Nothing was there but the dark.
Opening Take 2
Things are not scary. Our thoughts about them are.
Opening: Take 3
"Come on, you can do this"
"Naw"
"Yes,you can do this."
"NAW!!!"
Opening: Take 4
The shroud of mist was shackles around my ankles.
It was really dark. I was nervous. This was the first time that I was walking down this road at night—alone—and I had been dreading it all evening. When I left the camp site and had stopped and looked back there was a tree that was lit up by the lantern. The rays of light made it look like something out of a horror movie. I needed to walk down to my car to drive back to the emergency room where there was a sick student. I had been dreading this walk the whole first evening. I had never had the nerve to walk down this road alone in the dark before. This time I had no choice and later I would have to walk back up it again to get home.
As I walked down the path, I realized that I became less and less nervous. I was surprised at how much less nervous I was than I had thought I would be. An avid horror movie fan since my teens, my mind kept wandering to thoughts of bears and escaped serial killers (when I really should have been worried about skunks) and I quickly realized that if I allowed myself to keep having these thoughts I could think myself into a terror. Even at home I could walk into a dark room late at night and by the time I reached a light I was consumed by the feeling that something or someone would be there behind me when the light went on. I always braced myself for what I would see as I flicked the light switch. By focusing my thinking on what I was doing, what I needed to do, and ordinary, everyday thoughts, I kept myself from getting scared.
By the end of the evening my fear of the dark had gone. I even stayed in an empty field without any light for awhile looking at the stars. The creepy glowing plants on the ground all around didn’t even bother me. Walking back to the camp site at midnight was no problem. I even took the shortcut through the woods. What I learned is that fear is as much in your head as in reality. Things are not scary. Our thoughts about them are.
Mr. Cohen
9th Grade English
9-20-07
Walking In The Dark
Opening Take 1
As I walked down the path, my spider senses tingled as I felt something lurking behind me. I couldn't see it, but I felt its presence. My hair stood on end and I was terrified to turn around, but I did. With a deep breath and bracing myself for the horror Imight see, I whipped around. Nothing was there but the dark.
Opening Take 2
Things are not scary. Our thoughts about them are.
Opening: Take 3
"Come on, you can do this"
"Naw"
"Yes,you can do this."
"NAW!!!"
Opening: Take 4
The shroud of mist was shackles around my ankles.
It was really dark. I was nervous. This was the first time that I was walking down this road at night—alone—and I had been dreading it all evening. When I left the camp site and had stopped and looked back there was a tree that was lit up by the lantern. The rays of light made it look like something out of a horror movie. I needed to walk down to my car to drive back to the emergency room where there was a sick student. I had been dreading this walk the whole first evening. I had never had the nerve to walk down this road alone in the dark before. This time I had no choice and later I would have to walk back up it again to get home.
As I walked down the path, I realized that I became less and less nervous. I was surprised at how much less nervous I was than I had thought I would be. An avid horror movie fan since my teens, my mind kept wandering to thoughts of bears and escaped serial killers (when I really should have been worried about skunks) and I quickly realized that if I allowed myself to keep having these thoughts I could think myself into a terror. Even at home I could walk into a dark room late at night and by the time I reached a light I was consumed by the feeling that something or someone would be there behind me when the light went on. I always braced myself for what I would see as I flicked the light switch. By focusing my thinking on what I was doing, what I needed to do, and ordinary, everyday thoughts, I kept myself from getting scared.
By the end of the evening my fear of the dark had gone. I even stayed in an empty field without any light for awhile looking at the stars. The creepy glowing plants on the ground all around didn’t even bother me. Walking back to the camp site at midnight was no problem. I even took the shortcut through the woods. What I learned is that fear is as much in your head as in reality. Things are not scary. Our thoughts about them are.