Every explorer is brave...until the lights go out.

Every explorer is brave...until the lights go out.

We all have to deal with it. That deep-seated, inescapable fear of darkness. If you don't believe me, try it sometime. Find the deepest, darkest hole you can find and then climb into it. But don't go alone, oh no. You have to take your friends along--for two reasons. The first is so they can close up the hole after you go in.

Oh yes, I'm serious. See? You're already getting a little antsy and all we're doing is just talking about doing it - not really doing it for real, see? But just think about it. Maybe it's a cave. Or maybe you live in town and it's that dark, dank sewer grate that you pass every day on your way home from the office. Or maybe that basement in that old abandoned sanitarium at the edge of town. Yes, that's what I'm talking about--exactly that spot--you've got it in mind now, don't you? So now it's time to plan your trip.

Take your friends, at night, and head to your own little spot of self-elected hell. Your palms are starting to sweat and your breathing is getting quicker. Now, crawl in. It smells inside, doesn't it? The air in there is somehow different....it's closer somehow crowding in on you. You don't have a light and you don't have a phone, or a radio, or anything. It's just you and the dark little hole you've chosen.

And then they shut you in.

Even the bravest of us will lose it after a while - and a short while at that. Something changes in us when we're in the dark like that. We change from predator to prey and we get a little squirrely. That's really why your friends are there. Sure, they have some fun locking you in and not letting you out for a hour or two, but the real reason you've brought them along is so that you can make it back home safely.

'Cause when you come out of that dark hole, you're gonna be wired for sound, brother, let me tell you. You're going to be jumping at every snapping twig, every rustle of every leaf, every heavy footfall. Heh...heh.

So yea, I guess I'm brave...sorta. 'Cause what I do is exactly what I just described, but it's a million times worse. Why? 'Cause I do it in a hole, in the dark, underwater, where I KNOW there be monsters. Every morning that I wake up... Every time I strap into my suit I can count on a greater chance of my dying to my not. If that makes me brave in your book, well, so be it.

But I always take a light.

Always.

Art Source: "Deep Sea Knight" (c)/by estivador
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #bravery, #spooky, #dark, #dontforgetyourlight, #tentacles, #testyourself, #underwater, #beaman