Rendered Immobile

Let's take a break to look into my past. We shall go back even before the middle school phase where braces and acne to me were like taxes and a mortgage to an adult. We are going back to elementary school when my biggest concern was monsters and burglars.

Now don't feel sorry for my younger self while reading this. I have a very imaginative brain and when I was younger it ran rampant. No Joys were harmed in the making of this story.

I always feared going to bed. Always. I thought my strewn clothes were actually something trying to kill me, and don't even get me started on my closet doors.

One night in my childhood I woke up and got out of bed to go to the bathroom. Still sleepy and foggy eyed I stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door. I squeezed my eyes shut to turn on the light and slowly I opened them and became used to the bright florescents shining above me.

I finished up and washed my hands. I still had not thought of the time of night or the quiet throughout the rest of the house. I then turned to open the bathroom door...

Thoughts began racing through my head.

There is something right outside the door.

RIGHT THERE.

IT'S PROBABLY A GIANT SPIDER OR A CLOWN!

My hand hovered over the doorknob as I tried to pluck up my courage... I failed. I was frozen with fright. My eyes bulged as I listened for... well... nothing.

I slowly lowered myself onto the edge of the tub and sat as still as I could.

And there I sat.

For at least an hour I sat. The entire time I was trying to convince myself to open the door.

Of course there's nothing there. If I open the door there will be nothing there and I can go to be-- NO! WHAT IF THERE IS SOMETHING THERE?! THEN I'LL DIE!

It was a lost cause. I found some old towels and lined the tub with them so I could at least relax a little. I then lay down and... Fell asleep.

My dad found me the next morning curled up in the tub and, like a good dad, shut off the light and left me to sleep where I was.

Now I try to keep it a habit to sleep in my bed but there are sometimes when measures like this are necessary. I rest assured knowing that if there was a clown, or spider, or burglar outside my bathroom door... I SURE SHOWED 'EM!

More recently...

It was an especially terrible morning to be waking up. My alarm was blaring obnoxiously and I was groggy as all get out. I had started to climb down out of my loft bed when my foot slipped on the ladder...

WHOOOOOOSH!--SMACK!

Is this an acceptable way to start my morning?

So I went back to sleep. On my fizzy pink carpet. At the bottom of my ladder in a crumpled heap.

Now I don't wear socks to bed.