' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' The Lightbulb Sneezed! (For Onelia)

The lightbulb sneezed. “Fsssttt! ” it said. Then “Fsssttt! ” again. And then went out like a...like a light! Dark flooded the place and the colours vanished. The colours (I suppose) were still there. The yellow as butter book. The golden honey & red bedspread. But they had hid themselves away (as well as their shapes) in the silence of the dark. Maybe the world had run away. I couldn’t even see parts of me. Only thoughts seemed to exist. I bumped into a bit of hard darkness. Pain brought my knee back to me. I could feel I was still kinda real. The silence screamed loudly. “I’m not afraid...I’m not afraid...I’m not afraid ...I’m SCARED! ” It was like a nightmare come alive. Being 5 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! “Help me! ” I shouted wordlessly. Suddenly the silence filled up with footsteps stuffing the dark with sound. My Dad’s breathy rasp lovely with laughter. His torchlight cutting like a hero through the depths of the darkness showing an every now & then picture of a frightened teddy bear (sucking its thumb) a terrified dolly (stifling a sob) an evil armchair reaching out to before through them back into the dark. My father’s smile lighting everything up. “Were you afraid...my little fellow! ” “Wot? Me? No! Never! ”