Dead End Adventure

One more block of text, because I’m pretty sure there are still some zombies in the hallway.

So this weekend, I was forced to face not one, but TWO of my phobias. My friend had a party at his lake house in the middle of nowhere. We had a ton of fun doing all sorts of stuff, but this block of texts focuses on two events.

The first issue occurred at night.  A few of us were sitting out on the deck, chillin’ out, maxing, and acting all cool. It was the perfect night. Not too hot, not too cold, perfect breeze, and the sounds of nature in every direction. And thanks to a bug zapper hanging nearby, there were no annoying bugs bothering us out there, either. It was just me, some chums, and the night air. We chatted about all sorts of stuff. My favorite part was when we started sharing ghost stories. One of my friends apparently sees “demons” on a regular basis. I don’t know how much I believe in any of that stuff, but he sure was convinced, his stories were chillingly elaborate, and I was captivated, sitting on the edge of my seat.

It was a wonderful night. We even saw a bat fluttering in one dark corner of the deck! But excitement turned to dread when the thing flew closer to the bug zapper. Because that thing wasn’t a bat. It was a MOTH. I froze in my seat. It flew out of sight. I cautiously eased my guard. BUT IT CAME BACK. It fluttered behind us, and I was done with the outdoors. It ended up right next to the door, and I made a mad dash inside, desperate not to touch the demonic creature. Everyone else followed suit. I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one who HATES moths. But those feelings aside, I admitted defeat. The moth had won. The deck was his turf, now. I attempted to venture back outside a few more times that night, but it was only a matter of time before the beast returned. Each time, I felt uneasier than the last. It became worse not being able to see him because of the uncertainty of where he was lurking. In the final attempt, I lurched in horror as I felt something fluttering on my neck. Everything became a blur, and I ended up inside. My friend assured me that it was only a small moth, but I was done. I was a fool to walk back into battle.

There were several other moth sightings. Later that night, we noticed one goliath fluttering outside the living room window. He finally settled on the side of an outside wall, and I was able to capture a picture of him from within the safety of the house. The monstrosity looked like a leaf. How cunningly deceptive. There was another moth I photographed the next morning. It was grotesquely large. The biggest I’d seen up to that point. The beast looked so very out of place sitting outside in broad daylight. It’s like seeing ghosts during the day. It’s not right. They’re supposed to go into hiding. You’re supposed to be safe. But no. And this freak was hairy, too. How utterly repulsive…

I hate moths.

The second situation was when we were going fishing in the morning. Justin and I headed out early, eager to scourge the seas for their bounty. And well, long story short, I caught a really big one! It was so exciting. But we had no idea what to do with it. A veteran fisherman came to our boat and was kind enough to teach me how to unhook the poor guy. Now, I don’t really like touching fish. Like, at all. But that’s not my phobia. It’s just something I’d rather do without. So I manned up and grabbed that fish by the gills. He didn’t like that. He flailed like crazy. Between his resistance and mine, it… well it took a few tries.

Anyway, I finally got a good grip, and now that I had the fish under my control, I was able to hold him steady while I unhooked him. But we had a problem. Here I was, holding my trophy, and there was not a camera in sight to capture my victory. I wasn’t about to throw my prize back into the water undocumented. So we resolved to fill up a part of the boat with water and throw the fish in there for safe keeping while we made our way to shore.

However, Justin wanted to fish more, so we didn’t head straight back, and instead stayed out and fished a while longer. That fish wasn’t very happy being stuck in the boat with us. In fact, he was very unhappy. He seemed to not mind for a bit, just swimming around in the little bit of water he was submerged in. But after a while, it was clear that he wasn’t so cool. He turned upside down in the water. I felt shivers run down my spine. This fish was totally on his way out. And I CANNOT handle dead fish. I could hardly even handle him being upside down. He was still breathing and waggling his fins, but fish are not supposed to be upside down. That is a very not normal position to be in, and I don’t like it one bit.

Well, I alerted Justin of the matter, and we promptly made our way to shore. This picture still needed to be taken. Justin disembarked and fetched my phone for the picture. But I couldn’t bring myself to touch the poor guy while he was upside down. It’s so stupid! It’s not like he’s any different than when he was right side up. But that’s how phobias work. The feature is triggered, and the irrational fear sets in. So, knowing that this guy probably just wasn’t enjoying the warm water he was soaking in, I figured I’d pour more water in and cool him down. He’d flip over, and I’d be able to attempt touching him again. And it worked! He flipped back over as I poured fresh water on him, and I was ready to attempt picking him up.

Now bearing in mind that I still don’t like touching fish, handling one that had just been on the verge of death was still a tall order for me. But I had a job to do. For the sake of the photo. So I picked my fish up by the gills. I was met with minimal resistance. He flailed a bit as I held him, and that made me very unhappy. I was forced to hold him with both hands. Justin took the pictures, and as soon as he was done, I tossed the fish back into the water. He darted away, happily, and I exhaled.

My phone died conveniently right after it had taken the photos, but later that day, when I was finally able to charge it, I looked at the pictures that were taken. Unsurprisingly, I looked tense, and there was a clear look of doubt on my face. But we did it. We got the picture.

Haha, but as hard as it was to hold that fish at the end, it would have been a whole different story if he had died while we were out on the water. I think I would have rather jumped out and swam to shore than picked up its dead body and tossed it out of the boat. Hell, even sitting there with a dead fish floating behind me might’ve been enough to get me out. I just can’t handle being around dead fish…

And those are some stories! Recounting them actually did nothing in easing my mind. But at least now I feel unsettled about moths and dead fish, and not zombies, so I think it’s safe to trek upstairs.

thedaughterofthetardis replied to your post<span >: <em >Just finished season 1 of the walking dead! And…

the comic books are ten times better! im one of halles friends by the way

Hello one of Halle’s friends. Which one are you lol? And yeah, that’s what pretty much everyone has told me. I think after season 2, I’ll read the comics.

Haha one of the other things I’ve been doing is thrusting all the shows I like onto Halle for her to watch. I showed her this anime, Ano Hana last weekend, and she knocked it out in a day lol. Now I’ve got her watching this show, Gurren Lagann, and she’s hooked on that, too.

I like sharing the things that I like with other people.

My need-to-do list pertaining to less meaningless tasks has also been seeing some serious progress. I’ve been going on regular runs, and I’ve got a gym membership. This will be the first summer I don’t lose most of the progress I gained over the year. In fact, I’m shooting to be in even better shape! There’s a 10k next month. MY BODY WILL BE READY.

I’ve applied to jobs like crazy, and I’ve actually heard back! I’ve got a local job at FYE hopefully lined up, private tennis lessons to start soon, and an internship in NJ that seems promising. I still can’t believe that internship company got back to me.

I’ve been reconnecting with all my friends as they come home for the summer, too! Although that’s less my effort and more theirs… But since I’ve been home, it’s seemed like my presence has been in high demand, and it certainly feels good to be staying out and about. I’ve done a ton of stuff already, and I’ve only been home about a week!

It feels good, because I hate feeling like I’ve been wasting my time just sitting around. And I haven’t felt like that since, well probably since before I visited New Paltz a couple weeks ago while I was still in school!

Just finished season 1 of the walking dead! And now I’m gonna slink around for a bit on the living room computer because it is a source of light, whereas the hallway leading to my room is dark and definitely concealing zombies.

Season 1 was really good. So much better than expected. Season 2 is currently downloading, along with THOR! Gonna watch that tomorrow with my dad before we go see the Avengers.

I’ve been ridiculously productive at knocking out the shows in my need-to-watch cache in these past few weeks. Finished American Horror Story with Justin. Watched Baccano! one lazy day. Picked back up on the Office with Allegra earlier. I’m in the middle of The Walking Dead. Maybe I should add Falling Skies to the list of downloads while I’m at it.

Time to take the LONGEST shower.