The Beginning

Fear is what you feel when you are in danger. Everyone who stepped in this world felt it at least once, it’s part of the natural order of things.

This story is about two children who, finding themselves facing their fears, decided to react in different ways to the danger.

I don’t fear the dark, but I’m scared of what I would do if I fell into it.

Dread

Once upon a time there was a child named “Dread” who was always frightened.

He was afraid of many things: he was afraid of spiders, toads and dogs; he was afraid of the dark and of everything inside it: the monster under the bed, witches and werewolves…

But above all else, there was something that scared him the most: the Boogeyman, the king of monsters, the baddest of them all.

Every time the child was in his bedroom in the dark, he stroked his favorite peluche as strongly as he could, never letting go. When he heard a noise he started to run, hiding in his mom’s bedroom. She always protected him from monsters.

The mother said to little Dread “You can’t always be scared, you must keep away what scares you!”

So the kid decided to not live in fear anymore: it was time to keep it away.

He kept his room clean so that spiders could not nest; he avoided ponds where toads lived and never walked in front of houses where dogs were on guard. He started to turn on the lights before going to bed, so that all the creatures of the dark would not dare to approach him and he always slept with the door open.

Dread kept away his fears and nothing ever scared him again. He kept avoiding dangers that faced him even if he had to change his path if necessary: the road was perhaps longer, but difficulties were less and, even if he could not go wherever he wanted, Dread never felt in danger again.

Fright

Once upon a time there was a child named “Fright” he was always dreading.

He was scared by many things: he was scared by bugs, snakes and cats; the darkness scared him, and so did everything hiding in it, like the closet monster, vampires and zombies.

But above all else, there was something he was really afraid of: the Boogeyman, the ruler of darkness, the most horrible of them all.

Every time, before falling asleep, the kid puts his blanket over the head. When something moved, he stood still so that he could not be found and, if the fear was too big, he screamed so that his dad could come to save him.

One day the father told little Fright: “You can’t live in fear, you must face the things you’re afraid of!”

The kid decided to not be scared anymore: it was time to fight. He started to study bugs to discover their secrets. He went to the circus and he volunteered to pet the snake. He also asked his father a black cat as a gift to make him company. He started to sleep with a wooden sword under the pillow and he wielded it to scare the monsters.

Fright kept facing his fears, he was still scared but when a danger faced him, he did everything in his power to defeat it. The path was hard and after every fight a new challenge approached but with a little effort he could reach every goal.

Love

Once upon a time there was a child named “Love”. Her eyes were the color of the sky. Her hairs were golden and they would shine to the sun. Her cheeks were red like the sunset. She loved the heat of summer, the smell of flowers and the chirping of birds. She loved the shapes of clouds, the taste of food and the affection of those who stood beside her.

Dread and Fright were both in love with her.

But someone else wanted Love all for himself: the Boogeyman. The poor child wanted to free herself from him but she doesn’t know how. Boogeyman decided that the girl would have been his and for that he followed her wherever she went. He followed her at school in the morning, at the park in the afternoon and in the evening he hid in the dark under her bed. Dread and Fright wanted to help her but even they didn’t know how because the monster terrified them.

One day, the boogeyman left Love side, leaving her alone for a while. Dread went next to her and said “Run away with me! There’s no time to waste! When we are far away, Boogeyman will not scare us anymore!” But the little girls said “Running from Boogeyman is useless, everywhere I’ll be he will haunt me, everywhere I’ll go the fear of his coming back will be there and in the dark of night he will be there to scare me!”. While the two were talking, Boogeyman came back. Dread ran terrorized followed by the creature.

It was time for Fright to make his move. He got near Love, he reached out giving her a little torchlight saying “Take this amulet, it will protect you from Boogeyman, when he gets close it will give you the strength to fight!”. The little girl took the torchlight and got ready.

Boogeyman came back once more and at the sight of Fright his steps became heavier and faster. When he almost reached them, Love squeezed the amulet: from the torchlight a bright light was released, blinding the monster. Fright drew his wooden sword and hit Boogeyman, who, now wounded, ran away as fast as he could.

Love was finally free and she gave Fright a kiss and a new name: from that moment he would be called Courage. The two grew together, still frightened by Boogeyman but knowing they had the strength to fight him at any moment.

The End

Every tale ends, the long one like the short one, but in every one of us remains something of what has been told. A scary story can frighten us but if our love is strong we will always find the courage to react.