What do you Fear the most?

[rising smoke]

They almost, almost forgot about me. Okay, so the truth might be that some were thinking that I just might not come around. Looks like they would be wrong. And since everyone has already had time to introduce themselves, and no one thought to mention me yet, I'll do it myself.

I'm Fear.

That's right. I'm the feeling that crawls over you in the midst of a nightmare, the feeling that leaves your heart to race and adrenaline to pump through your veins, not unlike that feeling of euphoria that Love leaves you with. But like Pliny the Younger once said, "Fear is a feeling that is stronger than Love." Now I don't know who the young kid is, but it sounds like he knows his stuff.

I know that deep dark little secret that people harbor in the back of their minds and it's just my choice on whether or not I exploit it. And let me tell you, the people in this world are afraid of some weird ass shit. Sure you have your basics like the fear of dying (Thanatophobia), or the fear of heights (Acrophobia just being one name), but then it just starts getting crazy. Sinophobia is the fear of the Chinese. Genuphobia is the fear of knees. Makes you wonder how they walk huh? I couldn't make this stuff up either! I just feed it.

My personal favorite is the fear of phobias, or Phobophobia. HA!

All in all, I know that I'm not really a nice guy. And I won't pretend to be otherwise, I'm just not quite as malicious as some might see me as. Sure I take my own private joy in dangling the idea of a pregnancy in front of a young college freshman because her period is late or that her college professor suddenly has a new itch on his groin and it just might be a freshly acquired STD! But the best part of it all, is that most of it is just a series of thoughts in their heads and they take care of most of the work. Since like this chick Dorothy Thompson said once, "The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness."

It's thoughts like those that make me wonder what Wrath is up to. But first, I believe I will stop in and find out how my dear sweet twin sister, Hope is doing.

[rising smoke]

<center></center>

<center>If Hope holds your dreams,
then Fear holds your nightmares.</center>

[rising smoke]

Soooo....when Saint caught me singing along to the Romantic's "What I Like About You," which I fully blame on Hope, I realized that I needed to remind him that I hadn't crossed over to the bright light and decided to try and grasp for a set of angle wings. And naturally when he asks me to do something "entertaining," I am more than content to put on a show.

Today I had a little conversation with that Deacon fellow and it sounds like the poor guy isn't having any more visions. Maybe that's Luck working for him or maybe he's taking lessons from Saint and just offering out a lie. Either way, it doesn't matter to me. He did however, claim to not be afraid.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Just give me a moment to get over that thought again, cuz I'm still laughing my ass off.

No one is fearless. That's the beautiful thing about being me too. See, you really can be unlucky, and you can run from Sorrow and even Love. People can be happy, and people can be obnoxious hateful pricks or completely indifferent to most things. But no one is without fear.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he believes at least that he's not going to be afraid. That's all fine and well. But it doesn't stop me from already knowing that deep dark fear you're harboring inside you Deacon. I know what it is. And hey, not everyone can be fearful of something retarded like the dark or heights. But he's not who I'm starting off with anyways.

Roulette was always a much more fun target anyways.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go re-watch that flick, Arachnophobia. You know, for inspiration.

[rising smoke]

Fear's favorite thing about night terrors were just how powerful they could grow and become. Worse than a nightmare and sending the being into a struggling writhing mess that often left their bed and ended up someplace else when they woke up. Nightmares were fun, but night terrors were Fear's masterpieces.

Stretched out on top of the building where Roulette and Deacon lived, and specifically above where Roulette's bedroom was, his fingertip ran along the gravel covered ground, just one of the many layers between him and the scream queen fast asleep. And just for a moment he grinned up to the pitch black sky and stars he couldn't see due to the pollution of the city, before he slid into shadows and nothingness, and her torment would start.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again." Children's voices echoed the familiar nursery rhyme, filled with off key notes and their faint giggles between the end and starting up again.

Bright colors were all in view, sheer materials wafting in some sort of light spring breeze with a bright and sunny sky behind them. Looking up, as she was apparently laying down, grass crunched with the shift of a body propping itself up to turn a glance around. The children's voices tapered off, though the giggles started to grow a bit louder until Roulette would turn around completely.

As she turned around and took a careful look of what was somewhat blurred in the distance, that bright and sunny sky grew clouded over with thunder rumbling in the distance. Lightening thrashed and would soon be the only light in a dark gray sky while that laughter changed to something different. A scream.

Or was it manic laughter? Sometimes it is hard to say.

The scream was echoing down an oversized gutter, and soon would mix with the sound of large raindrops crashing to the ground. Just when Roulette would start to get up to her feet and intelligently run in the other direction, out came a tarantula the size of a twenty inch screen television. And it was sailing through the air, straight for Rou. It would be then that the scream would seem quite familiar, because it was her who was screaming, not the spider.

Eight hairy wiggling legs all reaching out to her before she'd start to run in the opposite direction, bursting aside what had been the sheer material hanging and what were now massive tangled cobwebs clinging to her bare arms. The more one fought to break free of the sticky web, the more cobwebs there were to pull off. Eventually she may be able to notice the smaller, or rather average sized tarantulas mixed in with the white webs.

She'd had a fairly good start before a glance over her shoulder would clue her in on how close the oversized one was. With a pounding heart and sudden burst of adrenaline, which could have easily been caused by the sight of those clamping teeth of the spider's mouth, she spilled from the mass off webs and could break out into another sprint down a series of alleyways.

Twisting and turning her way through the tagged walls of the inner city streets she called home, slick scum causing her to trip and come crashing down into a murky puddle. About the time she'd hit the ground and had a chance to look up, a new danger would be noticed.

They weren't close in size, but would eventually number close to the thousands. More eight legged arachnids crawling down the walls, out of cracks in the ground and dancing their way closer to her outstretched body on the ground. Her screams would go unanswered and with time she'd be able to see that she wouldn't be capable of moving, their silk was spinning out and tying her in place just as the oversized monster made its appearance.

No one to help, no one to care.

That thought would echo loudly in her head before the silk had wrapped her up almost completely, soon covering her mouth and while her terror filled eyes would try to bulge right out of her skull to get away, the largest spider would loom overhead with its mouth slowly leaning down closer, closer and closer. Soon Roulette would know literally what Robert Smith meant when he sang, "I feel like I'm being eaten by a thousand million shivering furry holes.." And what could that other noise that flooded her ears be but Fate's laughter.

When its mouth closed in and managed to open over her whole head to swallow it up, everything flashed black as soon as her last blood curdling scream would echo out.

Leaving her to wake up, curled in the fetal position in a corner of her bedroom with her face pressed against the floor. And what to her wondering eyes did appear in that corner but a fresh spider web and a tiny spider skittering across along a support thread.

Somewhere else in the night, Fear would be lurking with a shit eating grin on his face. He had only just begun to play.