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My Life in Genre
Jan. 25th, 2013 12:19 pmA. Horror.
Last night, I was cuddling April to sleep for the third time, speaking reassuring nonsense in a low dulcet tone about how spiders were not just waiting for her to close her eyes so they could swarm over her face, she had a spider tattoo to protect her, and her sister to protect her, and her tiger baby [doll] to protect her, and I would be in the other room protecting her too, all she needed to do was close her eyes and go to sleep.
And in the back of my head, I couldn't stop thinking, but what if she's right? What if where was a colony of spiders hiding just behind the dresser? Or, worse, one giant spider, waiting until everyone was asleep to crawl out from its hole and straddle my daughter's prone, helpless body? Jaw parts just centimeters from her eyelids, six eyes staring at the veins in her skin. I know exactly, exactly, what that spider looks like.
B. Fantasy.
"Isn't it time to go pick up Simone from school? I know that first you must pass the jackhammers who growl and chatter in the basement, and their minions. Then, you must cross the Perilous Bridge over the highway, where we keep watch for the mighty bus beasts below. After that, you face a long trek down the hill, to the yellow house with the white gate, where she is kept safe during the day by the watchers. She and her companions must disperse by noon today, you know, so you'd best begin your journey now. You will have to return by the same steep hill, so have fortitude. April and I will await your return."
Last night, I was cuddling April to sleep for the third time, speaking reassuring nonsense in a low dulcet tone about how spiders were not just waiting for her to close her eyes so they could swarm over her face, she had a spider tattoo to protect her, and her sister to protect her, and her tiger baby [doll] to protect her, and I would be in the other room protecting her too, all she needed to do was close her eyes and go to sleep.
And in the back of my head, I couldn't stop thinking, but what if she's right? What if where was a colony of spiders hiding just behind the dresser? Or, worse, one giant spider, waiting until everyone was asleep to crawl out from its hole and straddle my daughter's prone, helpless body? Jaw parts just centimeters from her eyelids, six eyes staring at the veins in her skin. I know exactly, exactly, what that spider looks like.
B. Fantasy.
"Isn't it time to go pick up Simone from school? I know that first you must pass the jackhammers who growl and chatter in the basement, and their minions. Then, you must cross the Perilous Bridge over the highway, where we keep watch for the mighty bus beasts below. After that, you face a long trek down the hill, to the yellow house with the white gate, where she is kept safe during the day by the watchers. She and her companions must disperse by noon today, you know, so you'd best begin your journey now. You will have to return by the same steep hill, so have fortitude. April and I will await your return."
