Childhood Fear

          "Hey, Wi-Fi(that's what they used to called me last time when I was in primary school)!!! wanna go outside and swim?" asked by my friend, Andrew Ng.
          "Ok sure, it had been a long time we did not swim in the swimming pool near my house... what time we meet in the pool?"
          " let's see... tomorrow early morning I got tuition, afternoon need to help my mom to do house work,  evening I need to wash my bike, let swim at night." said Andrew.
          " NO WAY!"
          "Why? swimming at night is so fun. the slight cold breeze at night when you swim, no one will use the pool, we can actually conquer the pool and we can bring our 'gadget' to play water gun game in the pool."
          "uh...no, I am not free at night ..."
          " Well then, we swim on wednesday night."
          "NO! I cant swim at night."
          "Why?"
          " Because... uh... well... I need to wash my fish tank which can only wash by night ..."
          " Uh... you wash fish tank everyday, only at night? Wow since when you so hardworking on washing the fish tank? OK lah, we swim at evening during weekends."
          " Sure, I am free at weekends. See you there."
          " See ya. Remember to bring your own water gun! Do not aspect me to bring it for you..."
          " OK. I will bring water gun on that day,no worries..." ( I STILL REMEMBER THAT DAY I DID NOT BRING MY OWN WATER GUN AND GET SCOLDED BY HIM BECAUSE I USED HIS WATER GUN AND SHOT HIM IN THE FACE, : D)
              
          When I was a little kid, I used to fear darkness. I always thought that in the darkness, there was nothing but the ghosts who would come alive and kill me, so I refused to go out after the sun had set. It was not until I joined the Youth Camp in my primary school that I began to realise the irrationality of my phobia.

          It all happened when I was at the age of 10( I think). My parents sent me to a one-week Camp that organized at my home town, Sungei Way, hoping that I would become braver. In the programme scheduled, we had to hike at night in the jungle every day. For me, it was really torturous. Just the prospect of walking in the jungle without being able to see the direction could send shivers down my spine. I think I cried for a solid half an hour just to stay in the tent(according to my mom), but unfortunately, in the camp, the watch leaders were not so easily convinced. I had no choice but to join the hike.

          The hike was terrifying. Everything was in the dark. I tried to walk on tiptoe so as not to wake the ghosts at night. I dared not turn on the torch light for fear of being easily spotted by the ghosts, so I just walked gingerly step by step and extended my arms forward to search for any obstacles along the way. After what seemed like centuries of walking, I suddenly found that my hands were touching something long and damp . Startled, I turned on the torch light, looked up and see a myriad of similar creature hanging from the  trees. It felt as if I was stuck in the midst of a maze and cant escape. My head spun as the strange noise in the jungle filled my ears. Instinctively, I ran away.

         I came back to the tent with a few bruises on my forehead and tears filled my eyes. I forced my eyes to close, but the image of the terrifying creature hanging on the trees kept replaying in my head. Suddenly, I felt somebody patting on my back. It was the watch leader. She asked if I wanted to take a walk with her.I say no to her rudely because she obviously knew that I am scared of darkness but she still wanted me to go to the so-called-hell place.

          But gently she replied "This time, I will hold the torch light. Trust me, everything is perfectly fine." I wanted to refuse, but really do not know why, i actually follow her because the look in her face showed that she was not just kidding around, she was dead serious.

          After a long walk, the watch leader and I sat down near a tree(or something tall, I really forgot).  Then she shone her torch light at the long creatures that I am terrified of. I shuddered, but she forced me to look at them and told me that those were called vines, a type of vines and that they would do me no harm. Then she told me to close your eyes and listen. For once, I realised that I had been wrong. There was life at night after all. The sound of bullfrogs singing sounded like a small musical event. There was the sound of crickets too( I think so because normally the story books state that somewhere near the pond you will hear the sound of crickets but I totally forgot about it because it was happened when I was 10)

          After that night, darkness no longer held a terror in me. My watch leader said that there was no such thing as supernatural; even ghosts, if they do exist, are as natural as living things. I am deeply thankful for the watch leader, who had taught me to confront with my fear of darkness. Til now, I still remember her. Indeed, there is nothing to fear, but fear itself; and the only way to overcome fear is to confront it, and now I dare to swim at night, how's that!