The True Meaning of Terror

One term that people often struggle to define is the word 'fear'. This is similar to describing the meaning of life. We may try, but the definition, or meaning, is proportional to that person's perspective on life.

No matter what your age, we have all experienced fear; but what really is this emotion that we (as human beings) find to be so common? Is it simply a sensation of dread, or just a misconception of irritability?

Throughout several people I've asked, the most common description is a feeling of anxiety; if this is true, then what really are we anxious about? Are we afraid that the 'boogie-man' is going to suddenly leap out of the darkness and devour our souls, or are we simply afraid of what might happen; linking the emotion to dread or paranoia?

Others may conclude that we fear what we don't know. I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't be afraid of the 'boogie-man'. You shouldn't fear the thought that some hideous, mutant child is going appear in your hallway. You should be afraid of the unknown.

Tonight, while you're lying in bed surrounded by nothing but blackness (presuming you're not already), just listen.

After you turn that last lamp off, the possibilities of what can be happening around you are endless. After all, you have no ability to see, so you have no ability to learn what happened down the hall. That scraping noise you just heard near your closet, or those footsteps you hear walking towards you. Even that unexplained tapping sound coming from your bedroom window. You may try to pass it off as wind, or the house just settling; but do you really know what's happening?

That dark room you have to pass by when you walk down the hallway. There just may be somebody waiting for you; waiting for the right moment to lunge at you from the darkness.

So when you go to bed tonight, be aware that no matter how much you reassure yourself, you never know what's going to happen. For at this very moment, somebody could be watching you.

Waiting for the perfect opportunity to end it all.