Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

First Memories

It's hard to remember a past so far away from where I'm now.
But one picture is still very vivid in my mind. When I was young (and later still) I was afraid of everything and was very good at it. At day I was afraid of the dark world full of people doing hideous things to each other. People were not to be trusted. And at night I was afraid of the shadows creeping over the wall, the monsters under my bed and wicked creatures lurking in dark corners. The one thing I dreaded most was having to go to sleep.
I can remember staying awake long after the light went out, not knowing if closing my eyes would be safe enough. After a few hours my father would come checking on us before going to bed, my life buoy in the night. He would sit down and tell a little story or give some practical advice. My father isn't there anymore, but his stories and good advice are still with me.
"If you give attention to something", he told me, "you'll feed it. You can feed something with love and sympathy, but fear or hatred can feed as well. So if you fear the monster under your bed, it'll grow bigger, because you feed it."
It sure did help, for there are definitely less monsters under the bed, or at least they are much smaller.

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