What is Fear?
A young boy named Todd was playing with his action figures on a peaceful Sunday morning in the kitchen next to his mother. He loved playing with his toys and began to have a battle between a dragon and soldier. They fought a fearsome battle on the kitchen table, leaped onto the toaster where the soldier almost fell in, raced across the counter and were headed for the stove.
Todd's mother screamed "STOP!" As his hand got dangerously close to a pot of boiling water. She yanked the boy away from the stove and looked at his sternly
"What were you thinking Todd!? You scared me so much you could have seriously gotten hurt! Don't ever do that to me again!"
"I'm sorry mom.. but you said I scared you? What do you mean?"
"It comes from Fear, Todd. It is a feeling you get when something scares you."
Todd grew in excitement. "I wanna feel fear!! I'm gonna go find it mom you just wait and maybe I'll understand you better!"
And before his mother could continue her lecture he burst outside. She ran after him on his way out and screamed "Todd I swear if you get in trouble or hurt you will have NO CONFUSION as to what fear is!"
Todd ran off to the woods next to his neighborhood playground. A group of his enemies from school were hanging around there and called him over.
"Well look what the cat dragged in boys! Todd, come over here buddy! We decided you can be in our group if you do our challenge!"
Todd raced over. Although he didn't like them, he knew being in their group would make him much cooler in school. He asked them what the challenge was.
"You see that dog house over there? Well, our ball went directly into it and there is a big scary pit bull that lives there. If you can get it back for us you're in." One of them said with a devious grin.
"Okay!" Todd said, as he casually jogged over to the house.
He got to the house and walked right up to the house with zero hesitation. He glanced inside to see the pit bull sleeping, curled around the ball the boys set him out to retrieve. As he reached for the ball, the pit bull's eyes shot wide open and he started to growl intensely, showing his big strong teeth. The boy smiled at the dog, pet him on the head, and the pit bull calmed down significantly and let the boy have the ball.
Todd came back to the group of boys and their jaws hit the floor. "Did he not try to rip your arm off?" The boys asked. "No, he was really nice once you pet him!" Todd replied. "Were you not scared that whole time!?" They asked. "There's that word again!" Todd said, "What is up with people and being 'scared'? I don't get the point of it what is it anyways?"
The leader of the group, Carson, approached Todd. "Okay Toddy boy, listen up. That task was too easy. You don't get in the group unless I say so. The only way you are getting in this group is if you do the ultimate challenge, my challenge... Steal a fidget spinner."
"PSHHH piece of cake! Except my mom always told me to not steal anything.."
"Well what is more important? Being in our group or being a little mama's boy?"
"Alright, alright i'll do it."
Todd walked up to the store. "Surely this is how I will find fear." He thought to himself. He entered the store and the clerk was busy stocking shelves. The fidget spinners were behind the counter by the cigarettes. Todd crawled behind the counter and slowly reached up to get the spinner.. After wiggling it around from its hanger, he set it free. "GOT IT!" he whispered to himself. He turned to go out the door, but realized something. He still wasn't scared. He sat and contemplated.. What could possibly make him find fear? After all, that is what this whole journey was about. He then got an idea.. "Maybe if I get a pack of cigarettes too i'll find fear and be extra cool!" he thought. And without a second thought he reached up for a pack and got his hand snagged by the clerk.
"GOTCHYA!!" The clerk exclaimed.
He was caught. He looked out the window of the store to see the group of boys mocking him and sticking their tongues out.
The police arrived, gave Todd a lecture, and proceeded to load him up in the back of the car and drive him to his parent's house. "Young man, you are starting to walk down a dark road full of pain and suffering. What will your mom say when we tell her what you did?"
That's when the world came crashing down on Todd "NO you guys please don't tell my mom she will kill me!"
"Sorry bud, but you aren't getting out of this one. I don't care how scared you are of your punishment, you are going to get what you deserve from this I hope you learned your lesson!"
Todd's face looked shocked.. He gave a second to think of what just happened and realized.. He was scared. His legs trembled, his eyes were wide, his heart beat faster, his palms were sweaty. It wasn't a good thing at all. He found fear. And he didn't want to find it ever again.
When he got to his mother, he ran up to her in tears, bawled his eyes out at her waist, and told her how sorry he was and that he now realized what she meant.
While he got some serious punishment for stealing, he had learned his lesson and promised himself to never do something that would make him feel that terrible sense of fear and sadness ever again.
The end.
Author's Note:
In the original story, a young boy's mother tells him she is scared and he sets out to find out what fear is. He comes across all sorts of things that should scare him but he seems relatively fearless. After many adventures, he ends up being told to open up a soup dish and a bird flies out of it which surprises him. He discovers what fear is from this and lives happily ever after. This story was ridiculous and really weird, so I decided to redo it and I made it much better. Mine is much easier to follow and is certainly something that modern day children could relate with much easier. It is easier to follow and just makes a lot more sense as a story.
Bibliography
Fear by Ignacz Kunos
