The demons that plagued our childhood are the best models for villains. The stuff they are made of is ripe, nay! Rotten with scary stuff. They are relentless and unforgiving, and only in the most hopeful of minds, redeemable. The Sleep Foundation found that 20% of children between the ages of 6 and 12 suffer from nightmares. Do you remember the villains that went bump in the night? Do you have nightmares? If so, welcome to Musing Interruptus. Thank you for clicking, thank you for listening.  Halloween may be over, but the spirits that haunt us are not the only beings roaming our earthly realm. You know what I’m talking about. I know I wasn’t the only ten-year-old suffering from catastrophic fantasies that involved vampires, legions of zombies, and the awakening of dormant volcanoes.
There was nothing more terrifying than what was in the closet or under the bed when darkness sank over our heads. That which cannot be seen and only heard is a heart attack waiting to happen. God bless young hearts. I was certain that I needed to be in the know when it came to personal defense and vampires. Unfortunately, I didn’t know there were some rules that innately protected me. I learned more when I watched Let the Right One In. Many nights of headache would have been avoided had I known that you have to invite vampires in… they can’t just let themselves in or fly through the window. My reasoning led me to consider the use of a broomstick for impaling and the protection of a mirror, as I was certain that any vampire, while trying to trick me, would avoid any mirror, as it would reveal, rather, fail to reveal their reflection. This now makes very little sense to me. Go figure, perhaps I was not that bright. Mind you, my plans for protection were always concocted with what little energy I had left, as Morpheus pulled me into never-never land... That is another mind fuck, in itself... I mean come on… pirates, grown men, angling against flying children. Talk about scary situations. Back to those vampires. They never came. I mean, vampires were interviewed, twilight came and went, I sleep with the goddamn window open, no mirrors anywhere in the room, impaling apparatus out of sight, and this seductive older gentleman bloodsucking fiend is nowhere to be found. It's a classic catch 22. I over-protected from vampires as a child, it seems too well.
Why, you ask, would a grown woman ever consider such a thing? Why do I do most of the things I do, would be my answer… first of all, it entertains me… but secondly, there is sound logic behind it. Consider this: dreams are a way of processing emotion. Our minds are hard at work making sense of our experiences and our perception of those experiences. Dreaming is part of that process. So nightmares are based on reality… therefore vampires are real. I am at a loss, forsaken by my demon…  I am just now realizing that once again, I have forgotten another important vampire rule… garlic. I love garlic. It's good for the heart, the gut and it tastes amazing. However, no vampire in their right mind would risk it, no matter how enticing my jugular vein is.
Short of a psychotic break, and following my evidently sound argumentation process, I wonder about our imaginary friends from childhood, would they make an appearance? If they did, would they have free will? Would there be a battle of villains against bears that care with their tummies? Would the villains of the past maintain their status? Nightmares are outgrown, heroes too. That is the natural progression, for those that mature… Are you mature? I’m listening.

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