Fear's Manifest.
Fear is healthy, running from it is not. Therefore, if you cannot accept it, what will it take from you in return? For me, it was my eyes.
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Today’s poem which is based on the Day 17 Prompt from Bradley Ramsey’s The Halls of Pandemonium. Fear is healthy, running from it is not. Therefore, if you cannot accept it, what will it take from you in return?
Fear’s Manifest.
When I met fear,
It told me to wait for it.
Instead, I ran as far away,
Reaching the point where my
Mind could no longer tolerate
Being asleep.
It was time to awaken,
But something felt off.
Stirring from slumber, my
Eyes do not.
Their lids do open, however
An abscess of dark void covers
My pupils, extracting from me
The very sight I held dearly.
It is only then I understood
What fear meant to me.
Too late to fix, too late to see,
A curse placed on me.
All for not waiting, or so
It seems.
Rising from my bed, stumbling
As I attempt to get out, its
Voice calls out soothingly to me.
“You did not wait,” it murmurs,
“To scared to accept me…”
It was then my chest begun
Beating with a foracity I’d
Never before felt.
The panic spreading like a virus,
As I desperately attempt to
Figure out my surroundings.
The voice of Fear keeps talking.
“To fear is healthy, to run from
It is not. You cannot run away
From the inevitably. We all feel it.”
“Just make it stop,” I gasp,
Tears stream down my eyes.
It sighs then, “this is who you are
Now. It cannot be reversed.”
“W- what?” I choke out, nearly
Falling as I attempt to grab onto
Something.
Then… it laughs, and laughs.
Cackling coldly, before saying:
“I’m just fucking with you.”
At the sound of a finger snap,
A shocking amount of light
Floods straight into my pupils.
I’m blinded for a moment,
Then as everything becomes focused.
I collapse to the floor, exhausted,
Only able to think about
Whatever just happened.
Hazel Allen, 2026.