Paranormal October: The Most Terrifying Thing by Val Muller

I've enjoyed all of the October guest posts, but today's post by Val Muller is my favorite so far. Val's post tackles a subject that I face a lot in my writing: Fear. And as Val's post shows, there are some things we really should be afraid of.

I hope you enjoy the poem and guest post written about a brave little girl facing the worst kind of fear. And don't forget to enter the giveaway after the post :-)

The Most Terrifying Thing

By Val Muller

A prickling on the skin—

A directionless wind against dry leaves—

More terrifying still!

A full moon in a ring of mist

Against the owl’s lonely call—

                  Are but a mild thrill.

A lonely voice upon the air

Crying across the field

                  May cause a chill—

A creaking door when home alone,

A footstep on the floor above

                  Will brain with nightmares fill.

But the most terrifying things

To haunt your dreams

                  Are the mistakes caused by your free will.

When I was eight, a white van pulled up to me and the group with whom I was Trick-or-Treating, and a scary voice yelled, “Get in!”

The night left several impressions in my memory: the sinister way the red brake lights glowed against the street, the raspiness of the perpetrator’s voice, the lonely way the leaves rustled as we rushed across the nearest lawn to escape our kidnapper, the way the scary Jack-o-Lanterns and spooky music on the nearest porch seemed benign compared to the very real threat.

Trick-or-Treating that year ended early, in someone’s living room, as we waited for our frightened parents to arrive, and a police officer asked us the same questions over and over.

I’d always thought one day I’d be a hero. As many in our group squealed and ran up to the nearest porch to escape the van, I hid behind a thick oak tree and tried to peer at the license plate. I wanted to be the hero, the one brave enough to have seen and memorized the license plate. I imagined they would write a front-page story about me in the newspaper: Girl Dressed As Reaper Catches Kidnapper.

But all I saw was a glowing blue block with some foggy characters hovering in white. It would be five more years until my parents or I realized I needed glasses to see into the distance. Not only had I failed to read the plate, but when questioned multiple times by the police, I had to admit: I’d been brave enough to try to read the plate, but I had failed.

That—failure—is what haunts me from the night we were almost kidnapped. Why couldn’t I have inched closer? Why couldn’t I have squinted a little harder? I failed.

It’s a theme that haunted Oedipus Rex and a theme I’ve played with in my writing. To me, the most frightening and haunting parts of life are the failures we’ve caused on our own. The mistakes we’ve made that we insist on playing over and over in our brains. The mistakes we may never let go.

Corgi Capers by Val Muller

The theme is apparent in my spookiest of works. Adam Hollinger, fifth-grade protagonist in my kidlit mystery series Corgi Capers, often succumbs to his own fear—and beats himself up afterwards. Lorei, the tragic hero of my supernatural chiller Faulkner’s Apprentice, learns that the devil is nothing compared to her own destructive tendencies.

Faulkner's Apprentice by Val Muller

Val Muller, Author

You can learn more about Val on her websites: www.ValMuller.com and www.CorgiCapers.com. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.val.muller

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mercuryval

Corgi Capers—only $2.99: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AD54E5O

Faulkner’s Apprentice—only $2.99: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CLD6JRC

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Happy Mother's Day!

~Magickal Graphics~

I remember (vaguely!) the days before I had a child. Back then, fear for me came in the form of the things that go bump in the night. I was afraid of the things I couldn't see. I'd bring down the blinds on the windows promptly at nightfall for fear that I'd see beady red eyes looking back in at me (thanks to the movie The Amityville Horror).

But as soon as I held that dear little baby girl in my arms - no, even when she was still inside me - fear took on a new meaning. It's not even that fear doubled - now fear for my own safety as well as hers - but that what I was afraid of changed.

Before I had my daughter, I didn't spend much time being afraid of other people. But I recall clearly the first time I took her to a park to play and seeing a lone man loitering about and having my "mother alert" go into high gear. If I had been by myself - before child - I probably wouldn't have given that guy a second thought.

Germs, pools, electrical outlets, driving in the car. Before a child, none of these things were on my radar as a daily danger. After a child, these common daily things became fuel for daily nightmares of "what ifs" and cautious safeguards.

It wasn't like I was cavalier and reckless with my life before I had a child. I'm not one to skydive, bungee jump and generally throw caution to the wind with massive risk-taking behaviors. But after I had her, the meaning - and importance - of my own life took on a whole new meaning.

And with each passing day of her life, my fear for the loss of my own life grew. What would happen to her if she lost me?

It was in fact out of that question - that nagging fear always present in some part of my brain - that inspired my characters and some plot points for my novel Emily's House. You see I didn't lose my own mother as a child (my mom's still living large at age 72). But I imagined what it would be like for my daughter who loves me so much that sometimes it makes her cry with joy (she's a sensitive emotional little soul, just like her mamma, and not yet a teenager!).

My life took on new meaning for me when my daughter was born. I mattered to her, more than anything. I was important to her, more than anything. And because she mattered to me, more than anything, I began to matter to me more too.

I know as she grows older I will become less the center of her world. She'll always love me big of course. But in time her peers and then boyfriends and perhaps some day her own sweet child will take over that place in her heart where once I lived - big and warm and all of everything.

And someday maybe she'll look into the eyes of her own sweet baby and see in the love there a new meaning to her own life. And she will treasure it all the more.

Manic Monday: Can Fun Conquer Fear?

Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel

My nine-year-old daughter has two major fears: Flying in airplanes and being on boats. The fear of flying is so great in her, she trembles during takeoff, her face ashen with fear. She's a trooper and rises to the challenge, but it terrifies her so much that this year we thought "road trip." Sort of a "Griswold" family vacation, driving to California and seeing some of America's wonders. Not the thrilling adventure that I tend to enjoy, but hey, these are the types of sacrifices we make for our kids.

People who see my daughter and I together call her a "Mini Me." We look a lot a like and have many things in common. But I'm an adventurous person at heart. I'm no dare devil, but I tend to be more on the risk taking side of things. Summer vacation, to me, is foremost an opportunity to see new things. Go places I've never been. The more exotic the better. Oh, and if you can throw in warm water for snorkeling and white sand, I'm there.

I remember the first time I flew and remember loving it. The thrill of the take off - my heart pounding and the excitement of seeing the big old Earth become so wee that you can't even make out houses or cars or even skyscrapers. I still enjoy takeoff and would love flying still if it weren't for the fact that airport security, wait times, scanners and surliness have made flying pretty much suck.

But alas my "Mini Me" hates heights, is terrified of take off, and would rather ride in her van for 14 hours with her parents than get in a plane. 

So it was to my utmost surprise when she said she wanted to go on a Disney Cruise this summer.

"You want to ride for days on a boat?!"

She looked it up on the Internet. She pointed to the commercials on T.V.

"You do realize we would have to fly for a long time just to get to Florida then get on a boat where you'll be for days?"

"That's true," she said with a look of disappointment and worry shadowing her face.

I could see the desire. A mad desire welling in her like I've not seen except for in the month of December when she's beside herself with anticipation for her favorite day of the year.

"Why do you want to go?"

"I don't know mom. It's just calling to me. I feel like I'm meant to go."

Magical words to a mom who believes in fate and serendipity. How can I deny her opportunity to meet up with destiny?

We watched videos about cruising. Read the brochures. Talked about what it would be like. A few days later she said,

"I can do this."

"You want to go?"

"I want to go so bad I'm even willing to fly!"

I saw the steely determination in her eyes lit with the joy of expectation. The call of adventure has lit a fire in her. The desire for fun, overcoming the obstacle of her fear.

Bon Voyage my little one.

Have you ever overcome a fear? How did you do it? Are there any fears that you have that paralyze you or prevent you from doing something that you want to do?


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