Image used is mine
I hear that fear is borne out of a sense of perceived danger or threat. There was a time I was afraid of the dark, but I eventually overcame it.
One thing noticeable in all this though is the fact that as I overcame one fear and seemed to master it, another one came to take its place.
I don't remember when I developed the fear of masquerades, but it was one that unfortunately didn't want to go away.
I'd just arrived in my hometown and I immediately knew something was up. People were going about their general businesses which wasn't unusual, but there was an unusual number of young guys on the road.
As the bus found it's way to the bus park which was the last stop, I spotted one of the ancestral spirits as they were fondly called.
It was holding a long cane and had quite a large number of people around who were being entertained.
Luckily I didn't encounter another one and was able to get into a cab that would take me to my aunt's house where I would be spending the holiday.
On my way it soon became apparent that my visit had coincided with the period when the people were having their yearly masquerade celebrations.
Everywhere I looked there were masquerades around, some dancing, some chasing people with their canes, some simply walking around.
If there was one thing I dreaded, it was an encounter with one of them.
I was soon lost in the thrall of memory as I remembered my very first encounter with the masquerades in my hometown.
I had arrived for the holidays as usual and had even spent about a week enjoying the company of my cousins when the masquerade festival unfortunately started.
Image used is mine
Many children were quite happy because for them it meant a lot of fun. They knew which masquerade danced best, which ones loved to chase people brandishing their canes.
For me though it was a big annoyance because it meant I couldn't leave the house anymore.
My cousins were also afraid of them, but for them it was simply the fear of being chased or caught by one. I on the other hand feared them as if they were nukes.
"Wassup Hazmat let's go watch some of those masquerades" my cousin Muaz asked obviously trying to get me out of the house.
I didn't have to answer him, the look I gave him was enough of an answer. He and his older sister had been trying to get me out of the house to go watch some masquerades and so far it had been a lost cause.
'What's so special about them that I have to go waste my time watching?"
'What's so frightening about them that you won't even agree to leave the house?" he countered.
The only view of them I had so far was from the safety of a window or peeping from the front door (the building wasn't fenced). My cousins just wouldn't understand that guys from the city didn't grow up racing masquerades for fun.
I could hear his sister from the living room telling my aunt "Mum why don't you force him out of the house, he's too old to be this afraid of masquerades"
'Just let him be, it's his choice whether he wants to or not" my aunt replied.
But I could easily hear the amusement in her voice, she like the others thought I was overdoing the whole fear thing.
So I summoned the courage and decided I would indeed watch the masquerades from outside. This time though instead of peeping from the front door or the windows, I decided I would sit outside the door and watch them.
My cousins were surprised and after a while of watching with no incident happening, they convinced me to go watch from the roadside.
They were much relaxed to stand in the open, but I stuck to a building where I could see our front door Incase I needed to run.
We were having fun and I was soon lost in the entertainment I had been depriving myself of. Infact I was almost convincing myself whether it wasn't odd that I was scared of masquerades when they were so much fun.
I was still in my thoughts when I saw both my cousins shouting and screaming their lungs out.
There was no need to find out who or what was pursuing them. The word masquerade was enough to get me sprinting for the front door.
I dashed into the house and proceeded to lock them outside as they were screaming and banging the door. It was only after I was convinced there was no masquerade before I opened up.
"You're crazy hazmat, you locked us outside to get flogged" Muaz was clearly struggling to speak as we all burst into laughter.
It was quite an embarrassing day for me, particularly after they saw the need to tell their dad the story later that night.
Their dad told us different stories about his childhood encounters and he then told stories of the midnight masquerade which no one was ever allowed to see.
The midnight masquerade sounded like your typical bogeyman, even though I enjoyed the stories, it didn't help my already existing fear.
That night I realized I had a new problem. I couldn't stay in a room alone without thinking about the midnight masquerade.
My cousins must've picked up on this but they both didn't say anything.
My aunt and her husband retired to their rooms and we soon did the same. Muaz switched off the light in the bedroom and we layed down expecting to fall asleep.
I heard Muaz stand up and leave the room, he probably needed to pick up something in the living room I thought. I was patiently waiting for him to return, all the while aware I was now alone in the room.
To switch on the light would be to admit to him that I'd been scared of staying in the dark.
My heart hammering in my chest as my imagination began to run wild, still there was no Muaz in sight.
I heard the door creak open and was still expecting him to hop on the bed when I opened my eyes and instead saw two figures in white standing by the door.
To say I swallowed my heart in those few seconds is an understatement. The figures approached me and all I could think of was that the midnight masquerade had finally come.
I was screaming my lungs out and my aunt was soon rushing into the room followed by her husband. But when the light came on instead of a masquerade, my cousins were on the ground laughing like they had ingested laughing gas.
After a few seconds of serious scolding from their parents, the story soon came out. It had been payback for me locking them outside earlier in the day when they were being chased by a masquerade.
As the cab continued on it way to my aunt's house, I knew I was in for another holiday of sneaking around the area.
Even though I was now older and could now go out even if there were masquerades around, I still went out of my way to avoid them whenever I could.
