Facing The Wolves

The moon slowly rose, the small shard of luminescence glowing in a midnight sky, I could feel the terrifying change rising within me. It occurred every night as the shadows began to slowly engulf my room, each reaching out with their long spindly fingers, a slow transformation of a colorful wonderland to a terrifying nightmare.
My palms grew sweaty, knuckles turned a bright Casperian white as they clung desperately to the covers, I could feel each beat of my heart slowly fading even my breath stopped as my gaze frantically searched the darkened room. The leering crimson irises seemed to stare from every corner, taunting flashes of white teeth as they laughed silently at my terror, my ultimate fear…. Werewolves
Tonight was like every night, I prayed silently for my survival through just one more night, making many promises of good will and oaths of citizenship. Yet as my hand reached to grab my beloved teddy bear, the spot in which he normally dwelt lay empty, supporting only the small weight of my own hand. I tried to scream for my parents, they would run in the room and flick on the lights, chasing the hairy monsters far from the reaches of my little frame. A small squeak ensued; the once strong voice of a seven-year-old was reduced by fear and anxiety of a terror that my classmates mocked daily.
My teddy bear had once acted as a guardian to protect me throughout the long dark night, a companion of the utmost compassion and resilience, yet now in my desperate time of need he lay far from where we could sit and shiver together. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, his faint silhouette lay shrouded against my painted window sill.
What had once been a casual sprint now grew into a perilous trek, filled with endless boards of lacquered dark cherry and a thin glass shield from what harms lurked outside waiting for my small bite-sized frame to come into view. My parents wouldn’t be able to come in time when they heard the crash of glass and shrill scream of terror, I would surely already be long gone into the avenging jaws of muscular werewolf.
Teddy’s arms reached forward, a silent plead to be rescued from the morbid prison which now held his tiny existence in a velvet glove of hatred. I peered over the side of my bed, the light crème frills cloaking whatever beast lay in patient hunger, Teddy’s pleading look still haunting my thoughts. My heart began to race, it seemed every gulp of air was not enough for my lungs as I leaped from the bed, the smooth cotton touch quickly replaced by the empty void.
The hard thud of a wooden floor was my one chance to sprint, I ran as fast as I could, my hair whipping against my face and behind me as I turned and grabbed Teddy then stopped. Glowing oracles lay right beneath my bed, I could see the small spheres blinking in the darkness, it was waiting for me to approach the bed so it could reach out with a clawed paw and cling to my ankle, pulling me further and further under the bed.
Yet where I had expected to feel impending doom and controlling fear, I found simple loathing and unadulterated determination. I lightly tossed Teddy on the bed then yanked up the crème frills to stare my opponent directly in the face. Now was the time for resolution, I was tired of living in fear each night when I should be embracing the lulling beauty of night. Tonight would be the last night that wolves would haunt my sleep and disrupt my thoughts.
Kabuki, my tiny shitzu, gazed terrified at me from under the bed, the light of my night light reflecting off of his eyes. Laughing I scooped him into my arms and set him on the bed, for two years I had lay in fear of a looming darkness filled with wolves… when it had simply been Kabuki gazing out in the darkness looking for a comfy spot in which to lie.
Before I lay my head on my pillow and drifted slowly off to sleep, I said one more quiet prayer, the first that I could remember that wasn’t murmured in muddled fear or hasty worry. I had found the strength where I had found none before and faced the one fear which had truly hindered me. Now I could walk boldly in the night and stare directly at the creeping shadows for knew that nothing truly loomed in darkness waiting to consume me.

“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”