Irrationality

When it’s darker behind me than in front of me, I am often seized by the fear that something monstrous is following me (or lurking behind me) and find myself fleeing toward the light (or nervously checking over my shoulder). This thing does not move as we move. Perhaps it crawls on all fours, or slithers along the ground, or pours itself up the stairs (shudder). Perhaps it expands into a malevolent cloud or explodes into a horde of small monsters, or looms in the night air, wafting in the breeze. Maybe it moves instantaneously, or occupies more than one place at a time, or only appears or manifests at will. Maybe it is just really, really fast or really, really quiet. Intellectually, I know that monsters and ghosts do not exist, and that the monstrous things that do exist (tigers or serial killers, for instance) are fantastically unlikely to be in my house. Primally, though, the THING IS GOING TO GET ME! It’s entirely irrational, I know.