Halloween

         Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. In all the horror and fear and costumes, there is a cruel reality. The scariest monsters act like normal people.
         Rapists do not go around threatening people. They are kind and gentle until they cross that line.
         Abusers start off gentle and polite. They are kind and gentle and they protect you from your fears until your fear becomes them.
         Fight or flight. Or freeze. The easiest response is to just do nothing. Take the abuse, take the pain. Then clean up the blood, cover your bruises, and dry your tears.
         Women are taught to be powerless and small. When bad things happen we cannot let it show. We must cover up our flaws and pain in foundation and concealer. The only thing worse than a woman running from her issues is makeup running from her tears.
         Men are taught to show no fear. They have no emotion because emotion is weakness and men are only strong. They can embrace their flaws but only if they fit inside the box they've been allowed.
         I have scars from words that sting more than fists and hands ever will.
         Fear is a common thread, woven into the web of life. We all have it and feel it at different points. And eventually, the dull pain of fear wears away as we grow numb in our lives.
         Until the witches emerge and remind us that of all the things to fear, the big ones still elude us. Rapists and school shootings and pandemics that people ignore drive us crazy. And vampires and mummies running around in the night, remind us that the world still is full of light.