self-portrait challenge: stairs
i hate stairwells.
not because i'm lazy.
because i fear them.
when i am going up a flight,
i always feel like someone/thing
is behind me
chasing me
out to get me
and pull me downdowndown
into some bottomless black hole.
or
on open stairs,
i feel like someone
is under them and
will reach out and grab my foot
and i will pass out from fear
and wake up in a dungeon somewhere.
i have always had this fear.
when i was little, i would stand
at the top of our stairs in the
middle of the night,
on my way to the bathroom.
i would be
paralyzed with the knowing
that some snarling, hairy monster
was going to run up and
grab me and carry me into
the darkness and gobble me up.
seriously, i would stand there,
motionless. not wanting
to give myself away.
it would take all of my courage to run
to the bathroom door and pass the
top step of the hollow blackness
that went to the first floor of our house.
and i still shake a bit when i have
to come up the basement steps after
throwing a load of laundry in.
always looking behind me
over my shoulder
just to make sure.
this month's challenge is: small spaces.
find more self portraits here.
I used to go hide awy inthe stairwells in a parking garage near where my aunt was selling her tyedye at an arts festival. I liked that it was quiet and shaded and I could read my books without being disturbed...
ReplyDeleteThes pictures are really good, I love the perspective.
You really mananged to capture that sense of unseen menace in the first shot. Good job!
ReplyDeletetalley...it means that i am always sprinting up them and looking back...hee.
ReplyDeleteit totally freaks me out.
Great persepective. I still run up the stairs to bed after I turn the lights off downstairs.
ReplyDeleteI feel this way about escalators. The part where the stairwell comes out and goes in reminds me of teeth. I'd have nightmares that the escalator ate me, shredding my clothes in its teeth. I still get nervous on riding them.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate to this. I had a time when I refused to ride escalators at all. Perhaps living with so many stairs you are just overcoming fear. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right we are kindred freaks :) I feel the same way about stairs. LOL Partly my little brothers fault, always sneeking up on me. Well done!
ReplyDelete