Here Nick is with a group of friends, on the top of the hill on a warm Saturday in May. The sun is standing high in this cloudless sky. The birds are chirping joyfully in the trees. He got his brand-new skateboard in hand ready to ride. It is a cool board, if he has to say it himself, it says fearless on the bottom. He only just got the skateboard last week on his eleventh birthday. It was a gift from his grandma. This is going to be his very first time he skates but he has often watched Tommy and Elisa and they make it look quite easy. Carefully he places the board on the ground and places his left foot on it just like they showed him. He is ready to show the others just how cool he is. He especially wants to show Tommy, he is the reason he wanted a board in the first place. Now he has an excuse to hang out with him more often.
“Ready Nick” Elisa states and high fives him as she reaches the top of the hill again. She has just taken a turn down the hill herself to show him how to start and stop. Elisa is his best friend; they have known each other since pre-school.
This sleepy suburban street is good for beginners, it is long and not that steep. There is never any traffic on this street and no parked cars are getting in the way. Nick takes a deep breath and lets the warm spring air fill his lungs before he starts running. Slowly the board accelerates as he skates and he loves the rush of excitement inside him. He passes one house and then another. The board starts to swerve back and forth under his feet. He tries to bend his knees to get it under control but it only makes the board go faster. The feeling of excitement has vanished and panic is filling his body. He has completely lost control and he can no longer remember how to stop. It is going too fast for his liking and the end of the street is approaching quickly, he will soon be crossing the road. He can hear the others yell something from the top of the hill but the wind in his ears is blocking out the words. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees a red car coming towards him on his left. It is going fast, faster than it should in this area and the driver is talking on the phone. She is going to hit him if she does not slow down. A scary face of a man with a skull split in two is laughing at him in the side window. A feeling of something warm is running down his legs. In the last moment he throws himself flat on the ground, the asphalt rips his stomach, arms and knees. The car flies past him and he hears the crushing sound of the skateboard being smashed under the wheels. Lying on the ground he finds it hard to breathe. It feels like all the air in his lungs has been pulled out of him. Tears are forcing their way out of his eyes even though he tries his best to keep them in as he can hear footsteps running towards him. He does not want the others to see him cry. He does not want Tommy to see him cry. He turns his head the other way to hide his face and there on the other side of the road is his stupid new board broken in two. A woman is kneeling at his board, half her face is red and bloody like it has been burned off. She smiles at him and he can see that she is missing several teeth. The next second she is gone.
“Nick, are you okay?” Elisa asks, her voice is groggy and full of worry.
He can feel a couple of hands gently grab him and help him turn around. As his skin leaves the asphalt it begins to burn and he can see the blood flow from the large wounds on his body. The pain is searing through every limb like he is getting poked with a thousand needles. It is too much to bear and he turns his head to vomit on the ground.
“Damn, that was a wicked crash. Why didn’t you stop man” He can hear Damian comment. The scary man with the split head is standing right behind him, it looks like he is enjoying his pain.
“Did you pee your pants Nick?” He hears Camille ask and the others are laughing. The tears are making way again, if he could move his body, he would run away but it hurts too much.
“Guys leave him alone” Tommy says and he can see him guide them away. Nick never really liked Camille and Damian anyway, they are Tommy’s friends. Now he wishes they would just fuck off. “You live near here, right. Let’s get you home”.
Together with Elisa, Tommy helps him up, they put his arms around them to support him. But he is not able to walk, he can barely stand. His legs are weak and his body trembles violently. He has barely taken a step before he collapses and vomits again.
“I can’t” Nick groans.
“Let’s put him on the grass and call for help” Elisa decides and pulls out his mobile phone.
The grass is way softer than the asphalt, he feels like he could fall asleep here. He watches Elisa walk around talking on his phone, she looks scared, he has never seen her scared. The woman with the burnt face is sitting at his side, she places her hand on his chest. It goes through his flesh and bones; he can feel it grab around his heart.
Then Tommy’s head appears through the woman’s chest and she disappears. He sits down by Nick’s side with the two halves of the skateboard in his hands. It is broken right down the middle; it now says fear and less. “I’m sorry about your board. It was a really cool board” he says but Nick does not care about the stupid board anymore.
“I’m never gonna skate again anyway” Nick groans, he is in too much to enjoy having Tommy this close. He just wants to go home and cry.
“It’s not that bad. You will get better with some practice. I remember one of my biggest crashes; I broke my leg and couldn’t walk for a month. It hurt like crazy but I got to stay home and play Playstation and watch TV as much as I wanted. It was super chill. At least you didn’t get hit by the car. You would totally have died” Tommy says, trying his best to cheer him up but it does not help.
He could have died. If the car had hit, he would be dead. He would never see his mom and dad again. He would never see his little sister grow up. He would never get his first kiss. He came very close to losing it all.
Elisa sits behind him and lays his head on her lap. She gently runs her fingers through his long hair. “Your dad is on his way. How are you doing?” she asks, not knowing what else to do.
Tommy and Elisa sit with Nick, waiting for his dad to show up and get him. It only takes about ten minutes but it takes long enough for the others to get bored and leave. His dad parks the SUV and almost jumps out to help Nick up. Nick has always been small for his age, so he is easy to carry. Except for a thanks for helping, his dad barely says anything while placing Nick safely in the car.
“I’ll come by tomorrow” Elisa tells him and he just nods acceptingly before she closes the door.
Now that they are alone and on their way home, his dad is no longer able to keep it under control. His voice is full of worry as he speaks. “What happened Nick? Elisa said something about you almost getting hit by a car on the phone?”
Nick does not want to answer. He feels ashamed for falling and breaking his board. For the last year he has been begging and wishing for a skateboard and talked about how good he is going to be. But he failed and destroyed it the first time he stood on it. His dad had even told how hard and dangerous it is and that he would have to take great care of his board for he is not going to get a new one when it breaks. “It went too fast and I lost control” the words fall out of his mouth and he begins to cry. “A car was driving on the other road. She was driving too fast and didn’t see me. I’m sorry dad, I broke my board”. It feels like he has lost control over his body as he completely breaks down.
His dad parks the car at the side of the road and gently embraces Nick. “Don’t worry about the skateboard. All that matters is that you are okay. It is going to be alright. Just try to relax, your body is in shock. It is still trying to catch up to what happened”. They sit there for about five minutes before Nick stops crying and calms down a bit. “When we get home, you go take a bath. The hot water will help calm your body and clean your wounds. Is there something you want for dinner? Pizza maybe?” Nick nods, he does not dare to say another word. He is scared that he might break down again.
“Let’s climb this tree” Damian suggests. It is the first day of summer vacation and the group is hanging out in the park near a really old and large tree. “Or maybe you are too scared Nick”. Ever since the skateboarding accident, he has been teasing Nick a lot about being scared.
Nick is mindlessly picking at the scabs on his elbow as he looks up at the tree. The last month has been very painful with many nightmares about the scary people but now he is ready to get back to having fun. Nearly all of his wounds have healed, only his knees are still a problem as they constantly reopens. “I’ll show you who is scared” he says and grabs the first branch and starts climbing. He is not scared of heights and he has climbed this tree many times before. He climbs the tree fast and Damian can hardly follow.
“Be careful” Theressa yells from the ground as they have already climbed up where the branches begin to get thin. Theressa and Camille are not much for climbing, they like doing flips on the ground much better.
Tommy and Elisa are climbing around on the thicker branches near the ground. They look quite small from up near the top. He likes hanging out with them again, doing something else than skateboarding, something that he is good at. During the first week after the accident, they came by with a present to him. They had bought him a new board to replace the one that broke but he has not used it. It is lying under his bed, still half wrapped in paper because he does not want to start skateboarding again. He appreciates the gesture but it just reminds him of the scare people and how he almost died.
“Looking good up there Tarzan” Eliza calls jokingly up to him, in her best impression of his mother.
With a tight grip on a branch Nick stands up and leans out over the tree pretending to scout for something “I can see the worl…” the branch he stands on cracks ominously and gives in under his weight. He falls and is hanging in one hand at least fifteen meters up in the air.
“Nick be careful!” Theressa yells again but this time she sounds terrified.
He can feel the fear entering his body and spread out to every limb as he dangles there. He looks up to find somewhere to grab onto but the scary man is standing not far from him, smiling a murderous grin. Nick tries to grab a branch and it snaps off in his hand. The scary man’s grin widens as the panic grows in Nick.
“Damian help me” Nick calls, trying to keep his voice under control.
“Relax, I’m here. Don’t pee your pants” Damian mocks and reaches a hand out for Nick. By really stretching his body, he can just barely touch Damian but they manage to get a hold on each other. “Now hold on to me and let go of the branch. I’ll pull you over here”.
Nick nods nervously but it is nothing he has not tried before. He takes a deep breath and lets go of the branch and swings towards Damian. The scary man smiles at him and the sudden shift in weight surprises Damian, his grip slips as Nick is swinging. Nick falls through the tree breaking off smaller branches. Every now and then he crashes into a larger branch and is knocked in a new direction. He tries his best to grab something and stop his fall but continues to fail until he finally lands flat on the ground. The others quickly gather around him to see if he is okay and luckily, he has not broken anything. He has gotten a thousand new wounds and scratches on his body. The wounds on his knees have sprung open and he got hit a couple of times in the head but otherwise he is fine. Everything hurts and he is quite winded but he is fine. As they help him up, he sees the scary woman standing a little away from them and she looks disappointed, like she had hoped he was going to die.
“Let’s get you home” Eliza says and helps Nick to the bus. They wave goodbye to the others as they leave and now that they are alone, he finally feels comfortable letting the pain and tears out. He is just happy he did not pee his pants again.
“Hey Nick, are you coming or what?” Eliza calls for him.
Unconsciously, Nick has stopped at the foot of the Death drop, a giant Drop tower in the amusement park Exhilaration, staring at the people screaming as they fall for one hundred meters before being lifted again. It churns in his stomach, thinking about it. “I’m coming” he says and pulls his eyes from the tower to see where they are going.
Alma, Eliza’s eighteen years old sister and her two friends Konrad and Albert have brought them along for tonight's Friday concert. Alma often brings them along to experience things like carnivals, amusement parks, concerts, the mall and more. Her philosophy is that teenagers also deserve to have fun and experiences will help you grow and she wishes that someone had brought her around to all these places when she was younger. “There are still a few hours before the concert begins. So, what rides do you want to try” she says as she returns from the ticket stand and hands them a ride pass each.
“Yo, we just passed the Death drop. That ride is sick. Why not start there?” Konrad suggests pointing up at the tall tower.
“Dude, I love the Death drop” Albert agrees “and look there’s like no line. Let’s do it”.
Last time Nick and Eliza visited Exhilaration they were too young and small to try any of the wilder rides but they have often talked about what rides they want to try. This includes the Death drop believing that it will be absolutely amazing and thrilling. They nod accepting of the suggestion but looking up at the tower makes Nick’s stomach start churning again and it feels like a nod is growing inside him. He does his best to shrug it off for he is a big boy and he does not want the others to think he is scared but he is. Since he fell out of the tree two weeks ago, he has added falling to his repertoire of nightmares.
“Alright Death tower it is then but remember the rules you two. Stick together, wait for us and don’t go with strangers” Alma reminds them.
They are seated right away as there are only three others in line. Albert, Alma and Konrad are seated on the same side of the tower while Nick and Eliza get a side for themselves. Nick sits in the middle and pulls the restraint down until it clicks. Nervous, he waits while the restraints are being checked. He looks at the small crowd who, bored, watches the ride while they wait. A woman walks by and for a short second, just as the employee pulls on his restraint and it pops open, he thought he saw the scary woman with the burnt face again. The employee pulls the restraint back down and makes sure that it is locked but Nick has a bad feeling that something is wrong. He grabs Eliza’s hand as they lift off the ground and slowly get higher up in the air than he has ever been before. A hundred meters are a lot higher and scarier than he imagined. He keeps his eyes locked on the horizon trying not to think too much about how falling from up here would definitely kill him. The gondola makes a small jump while they hang, waiting for the drop and the restraints to the left of Nick pops open. Surprised Nick turns in his seat as much as possible and there in the empty seat sits the scary man with blood running from his split head. The gondola drops and he is lifted from his seat. It feels like he is falling out. He screams from the bottom of his lungs. He wants to get off. He has no control over his body and automatically grabs hold on the restraints as hard as he can. He practically falls out of the gondola and runs to the fence crying, when the ride stops and the restraints pops open. He vomits on the ground and his legs are shaking violently. Alma runs to him to make sure he is okay but he is not, the scary woman is standing between the crowd laughing at him together with everybody else.
“You look very pale. Let’s find somewhere to sit” Alma says reasonably and caring like a real adult. She leads him to a bench and goes to find him something to drink while the others keep an eye on him.
Konrad teasingly bumps Nick gently on the right shoulder “Death drop was a little too high for you huh?”
Albert drops down on the other side of Nick “don’t worry dude, it’s okay. We all got things that scare us. I don’t like clowns and Konrad is scared of needles”.
He does not answer them, he is ashamed that he reacted like that. He is ashamed that he is scared and reacted this way. But he can not stop feeling like there is something wrong. He was never afraid of heights before, he was never really afraid of anything before but since his skateboard accident, since the two scary people first appeared, he feels afraid all the time. They always look happy when he is in danger or when he is getting hurt. It is like they are haunting him because he did not die and they want to make it right.
Alma returns with a couple of chocolate bars and sodas for the group “here, drink and eat something, you’ll feel better. And maybe we should try something closer to the ground, like the rollercoaster Lightning”.
“That sounds fine” Nick says hesitantly. He does not feel like doing more rides right now but he does not want to ruin the day for the others.
The line for the Lightning is quite longer and Konrad and Albert are spending the waiting time playfighting while Alma and Eliza are talking about how excited they are for the concert. Nick can not help looking around for the scary people but just standing here hanging out is calming him down and he is slowly starting to feel a little better. Unfortunately, the calming feeling fades as they move forward in the line. The knot in his stomach grows a little with every step he takes and even though the sun shines bright and it is quite warm, he is starting to feel a little cold and icky. He nervously eats another chocolate bar before they sit down in the cart. He is shaking but Eliza calmly takes his hand and they get locked down. In the moment the cart sets in motion, he notices the two scary people standing on the platform waving to him. The Lightning moves really fast and fortunately does not get up that high but it has a lot of ups and downs and twists and turns. During the first sharp turn he hears something roll around at his feet. He looks down and sees nuts and bolts. The same nuts and bolts that are holding the restraints together and some are missing. The cart is still accelerating and the restraints are wobbling. As they go down the first hill, he feels a hand grab him by the shoulder. He does not have to look to know that it is one of the scary people for they are in the last seat but he can not help looking. A bloody hand that is missing a nail is holding onto him and the scary woman is right behind him. She lays her other arm around his chest and he can see her reaching for his heart. A small bump makes the restraints jump and the woman laughs. He begins screaming in fear, he needs to get off this ride before she kills him. Uncontrollably he fights against the restraints until the cart comes to a full stop and he scrambles to get out. Again, he runs away from the ride but he does not get far as he bumps into something large and falls back over. He ran right into the back of the scary man who turns around and reaches for him.
A hand grabs him by the shoulder and he screams but this time it is Alma. “Nick, what’s happening? Are you okay?” she looks worried and scared. The scary man is gone, in his place is a large man with a very friendly face.
“Dude, you don’t look like you can handle any more rides. What about we find something else to do?” Albert says and helps Nick up from the ground.
“I’m getting kind of hungry; can we get something to eat?” Eliza asks and even though Nick has eaten a couple of chocolate bars and still feel a knot in his stomach, he also feels hungry.
Alma checks her watch; it is five in the evening and there are still three hours until the concert starts. “Yeah, I guess it’s about time for dinner and good food always helps make a bad day better”.
“And if we eat now, we don’t have to rush it. After, we can do some games. I want one of those giant teddies” Konrad ads.
Nick smiles but he can not stop feeling like they would have had a better day without him, that he has become a burden. He is sure that they think he is a weak annoying cry-baby. He wants to go home but then others would miss out on the concert and they have talked a lot about this concert. Albert lent him a couple of CDs so he could familiarize himself with the band and Alma drove them here and she bought him a ticket. He needs to suck it up and stop being scared. While they walk towards the restaurant, Nick falls a little behind with Eliza who is trying her best to cheer him up. But he hardly hears anything she says, the thought of the scary people is plaguing his mind. He wants to tell her about them. He has always been able to tell her everything and she always confides in him. When he realized that he liked boys, she was the first he told. When his dog died and he cried all night, he told her. When a group of seven graders started bullying him, he told her. But how do you tell someone that you are being haunted by two scary people that only show up in dangerous situations. She will think he is crazy; everyone will think he is crazy. The other things are real but ghosts or demons or whatever they are, are not. Still, they haunt him and want him dead. They turn a corner and stops. A group of medic comes running by with a man on the stretcher. His face is beaten and his arm is broken, the bone is sticking out through the flesh. On top of the man is the scary woman straddling him, she is licking the blood off his face with great joy. The scary man is standing at Nick's side pointing to the stretcher as to tell him that he is going to be next.
“I just heard that, that guy with the broken arm we just saw, he fell out of the big rollercoaster with the double loop” Konrad whispers as they sit down around the table at the restaurant.
“For real? That’s crazy. Did he fall out of the cart or something?” Albert curiously inquires. Normally Nick would also have been curious to know but now he knows it is the work of the scary people.
“They said he might have done something to the restraints, so it didn’t lock properly. He got thrown out in the first turn” Konrad continues to share the gossip he heard.
Alma slaps both of them in the back of their heads to get them to shut up “Serious guys. You think it’s smart to talk about this in front of Nick”.
“Sorry dude but don’t worry, it rarely happens and they also said he might have been drunk” Konrad reassures but it does not help.
“Now you two, mom and dad are paying, so order whatever you want and please try not to think too much about the man. He will be okay” Alma is really worried about Nick and is considering calling it a day and take him home.
Nick orders a steak with mashed potatoes and a creamy peppercorn sauce. It tastes a bit different than he expects it to but he eats it anyway. It is probably just the way the restaurant cooks it and with the sauce he can hardly taste it. Eliza talks about a new trick she has learned on her skateboard while they eat. She really loves to skate and dreams of going pro when she gets older. He enjoys sitting here in this cozy restaurant, listening to her. For a moment he almost forgets all the scary things that have happened today but only for a moment. Near the end of the meal, they hear a loud crash with a lot of glass shattering and screaming. They turn around to see what happened and on the ground near the bar lies a waitress. She fell while carrying a tray of glass from the kitchen to the bar and landed on top of it all. There is a lot of blood between the broken glass. Some people have gotten up from their chairs to help her but as they lift her, they can see the stem of three wine glasses are jammed into her stomach and her arms and face has been scratched up. The sight is giving Nick a bit of nausea. The two scary people are jumping around laughing and this time they do not disappear as the waitress is carried out, instead they have become scarier. The woman lights herself on fire while the man peels the skin of the two halves of his face.
“Yo dude, that was pretty gnarly” Albert comments. He also looks a bit uneasy.
“Are you ready to lose money at some stupid carnival games” Konrad says to change the subject while Alma pays the bill. Nick and Eliza politely nod yes because the carnival games always look fun.
Alma gives Nick a concerned look “are you sure? We don’t have to stay. We can go home and watch some movies if you want that. We can always find a concert another day when you are feeling better”.
The suggestion does sound good for he wants to go home but he can not do it to the others and he also really wants to see the concert. His first concert. “I’m feeling better now” he lies and tries to smile convincingly even though his stomach hurts. “But I need to use the toilet first”.
After exploring the carnival games for about an hour they find a good spot for the concert. Even with the growing discomfort, the nausea and the knot in his stomach, Nick had fun, the most fun he had all day. Especially because the scary people looked bored the whole time. It would have been more fun if he had been feeling better or if they had won anything but still, they had fun. It even calmed Alma to see him enjoying himself. Now he just has to endure a few more hours and he will be home again. There are already a lot of people on the concert grounds, more than Nick had imagined there to be. Albert and Konrad had warned them that neither he nor Eliza would be able to see the stage due to their small size but they can still see the giant screens showing the concert. More people are still arriving and they are slowly forced closer and closer to each other.
“LET’S GET SOME EXHILARATION” the singer yells and the band start playing.
The crowd breaks out in loud cheering as the loud drums and bass lay down a heavy beat to begin the first song. The music is like a heavy blanket, blocking out every other sound in the park. The vibrations permeate Nick’s body and it feels like he is floating. It feels like a giant headrush but in a good way. It is absolutely wild and nothing he has felt before but he loves it. The others also look like they are enjoying the music and he is happy that he chose to stay. Everything changes in a split second, a sharp pain hits him in the diaphragm, his nausea flares up and everything starts spinning. He suddenly feels really heavy, like his feet are sinking into the ground. A light hits them and this time there are not just the two scary people but everyone around him are scary. They are bloody, beaten, burned, dismembered, impaled, twisted and covered in all kinds of wounds. He grabs Alma’s arm, he needs her to get him home but it is not her, it is the scary woman, burning. Screaming he falls on his butt. The world feels warped and everything seems to move in slow motion. The woman reaches for him. Panicking, he turns around and starts crawling away as fast as he can. Smiling, scary people are reaching for him, pushing him around and stomping on him. The woman, together with a small group is following him. He does not know what is happening but somehow, he must have fallen into their world and now he needs to get back home before they catch him. A large scary man with sharp teeth and gouged out eyes lifts him from the ground, yelling at him. Nick twists and kicks to get free before the woman catches up to them. He kicks the scary man in the crotch and falls to the ground. The scary man looks angry and so do the others around him. Wavering and on wobbly legs, Nick begins to run and push his way out of the crowd. He runs towards the exit. The knot in his stomach has grown large and it feels as if he could explode at any minute. The pain shoots through him and falls to the ground skinning his hands and knees and vomits. In front of him is a large group of scary people moving towards him while a small group is closing in from behind. He looks around to find a place to hide and sees an open gate leading to a closed off part of the amusement park. Desperately he runs through the gate and under some tarp. His foot goes through the ground and in the darkness he falls.
When Nick wakes up, he is lying on a soft rug staring up at a wooden cottage ceiling. It is light outside. He is feeling a lot better, both the knot in his stomach, the pain and the nausea is gone. An old lady with white hair and more wrinkles than his grandma is sitting in a rocking chair, knitting. She smiles familiarly to him but he has never seen her before. He has never seen this cottage before.
“Welcome Nick. It was quite a big fall you took there” she chuckles.
“You know who I am?” Nick asks as he looks around the room. It is decorated just like he would expect an old lady to decorate with wooden furniture, old worn pictures, porcelain knickknacks placed on every surface and a grandfather clock informing him that it is noon. He jumps up and moves backwards as he sees the two scary people standing outside the carnap window, waiting for him.
“Don’t you worry about them my boy, they have nothing to do in here” the old lady says in a calming tone, rocking back and forth in her chair. “Would you like a cookie?”
“You can see them too? What are they?” Nick whispers in shock, unsure if he should feel relieved or not, that they are real.
The old lady chuckles again as if he just said something funny, as if he should know who they are. “They are your anxiety demons. They make you feel scared whenever they can to feed on your fears but here you will never be scared again”.
“Why can’t they reach me here” Nick asks, wondering where here is.
“Only the living suffers from fear and anxiety. Here in death, there is only peace and tranquillity” the old lady informs casually as if she often tells people they are dead.
“Does that mean I’m dead? How? Why? I’m only eleven, I’m too young” Nick exclaims in shock. He can not be dead. He does not want to be dead. There are too many things he wants to do. And why is the old lady sitting there smiling at him?
“You are not dead yet my boy. You fell down into a large hole and got hurt very badly but you are in the hospital now with some very good doctors, who are doing their best to help you. You can return to life if you want or I can take you to the other side” she turns her attention back to the knitting.
“How do I return to life?” Nick asks, relieved that he is not dead yet.
“That is quite simple. All you have to do is walk out of that door” the old woman points to the front door next to the carnap window. The anxiety demons devilish at him.
Nick hesitates as he thinks of how horrible he had it in the amusement park. He wants to go back but he does not want to be scared all the time, never being able to enjoy anything again. “And if I stay, I will be free of them forever”.
“That is true my dear boy” the old lady sighs. It saddens her that he even considers staying. “But you won’t have love, family and friendship either” one by one appears Tommy, his family and Eliza outside the window with the anxiety demons. “In death you will be protected from everything bad in life but you will also miss out on everything that is beautiful and good. There is no paradise down here, there is only eternity”.
A couple of tears make their way down Nick’s cheeks as he looks at his family, smiling at him. “I am scared”.
The old lady gets up from her chair and takes his hands in hers. “It is okay to be scared. Fear is a natural part of being a life. Fear will help you stay safe and it can help you make smarter choices. Those two will be with you your entire life, making you scared but that does not mean you have to let them control your life. As someone wise once said, to be brave is not to be without fear but to have fear and overcome it. Sometimes you should listen to your fear and sometimes when you brave it, you will find a lot of good things in life. And sometime, many years from now, when your time is up and it is time for you to die, I will be here waiting for you with open arms. I will always be here to take you to the other side. However, you will only ever have one chance at life. So go live, love and enjoy it while you can”.
He wipes away the tears from his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’ll do it. I will return to life”.
He hugs the old lady before opening the door. There is nothing but white outside, all the trees and nature he could see through the window is gone. The anxiety demons take him by the arms and lift him from the ground and they fly up into the nothingness. Vaguely he can hear a rhythmic beeping. The sound gets louder as he returns to consciousness. The white of the nothingness disappears and is replaced by a white hospital room. The faint light of the morning sun is making its way through the crack between the curtain and the window. His mom and dad are sitting in some chairs, leaning on each other, sleeping. He smiles at the sight of them. He is happy to see them again. He sits up in the bed and a nurse comes into his room to check on him, asking questions. The movement wakes his parents who cry as they stand by his side and take his hand.
It is the end of the summer and Nick is finally beginning to feel better. He takes a deep breath to ready himself as the door opens. “Hi Tommy, ready to teach me how to skate” he says with his new board in his hand. The anxiety demons stand behind him, they still haunt him but they are not as scary anymore. It has helped starting in therapy and talking about his fears and anxieties. He has even told Eliza about them and she said she also has a demon, a big creepy man who lurks in the dark, especially when she walks alone. It has brought them closer together.
Tommy smiles charmingly and picks up his helmet and board. “Of course but this time let’s start by teaching you how to stop”. They stop to wait for the bus and with a smile Tommy takes his hand.
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