Dispatch #43: What's So Scary?

Photo by L. Fernandez

by Lupe Fernandez

Scratch, scratch.
There's an insect lodged in my ear.

Just kidding. That's an urban legend of a bug crawling in a my ear, laying eggs and the larvae eat my brain.

What's scary?

Three unrepresented writers walk into a bar and only one will walk out with an agent. Aahhhh!!!!!!

I could summon up a bucolic memory of Halloween night, wading through a front yard choked with spindly branches to the front door of an old man - as a kid, all adults were old - and ringing his doorbell. He swung open the door and shoved his hand deep into my candy bag, rattled it around and slammed his door. I didn't bother to check if he left any candy. I ran.

The Wolf-Man lived in crawlspace above my family garage. He would only jump out when I went to switch off the light. Wolf-Man as in the Universal 1930's Lon Chaney Jr. version who, after his transformation, kept his shirt and pants on. A werewolf with no pants, that would be scary.

Fortunately, the crawlspace above the garage has long been seal off. My nephew lives in garage converted to a loft. Although, he does spend a lot of time with the door closed. Hmmm...

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Plenty of horrors in local and international news. Don't need vampires or zombies.

At the time of this writing, my city is experiencing a swarm of small earthquakes. The U.S. Geological Survey states swarm activity is comment and can stop at anytime. A jolt here and there. No problem. For the past ten days, unsettling.

Ringing telephones make me cringe. Someone is calling. What do they want? Why doesn't the ringing stop? I don't want to answer it; I'll have to talk.

The end of the world scares me.

I dreamed my mother laid down towels on the living room floor and told us kids to lay on our backs. That we wouldn't fall over when the meteors struck the Earth.

Aaahh...the ear irritation has stopped. Told you. Nothing in my ear.

Gurgle, gurgle. 

My stomach hurts. I lift up my shirt. A fin shape bulges under my skin. Something swims around my navel.

And its angry.