Although I can't tell you any terrible stories that have happened to me, I can tell you an anecdote from when I was a little boy playing Silent Hill: Shartterd Memories on my PSP.
It was 2 a.m., I was 11 years old and as usual I had spent about 8 hours playing locked up in my room. The two liters of Lemonade I had recently drunk were taking effect. I had an immense urge to go to the bathroom but I was quite afraid to leave my room because in my child's mind, the nightmares that haunted Harry Mason on my little console were waiting for me in the darkness of my house to come out and take a leak.
But as a little gamer boy who has fought against countless monsters in the dark city of Silent Hill, battled with thousands of wild (and legendary) Pokemons, maimed hundreds of Goombas to save a Princess, traversed countless roads in search of battles and mysteries to save Hyrule, fought against Space Pirates and Metroids to save the galaxy, how could such a warrior be afraid to leave his room to go to the bathroom? With that in mind, I prepared myself to go out and fight the stream of demons that were waiting for me when I left my room.
My plan was perfect, I would go out into the hallway, go to the bathroom and when I returned, if I encountered any beast that looked like it had been taken from Another World, it would be my call to run at full speed, faster than Sonic to get to my room and quickly cover myself with my always impenetrable wall, my Spider-Man blanket.
With the plan in place and the warrior mentality in place, I got ready to leave. I opened the door with a knock, came out little by little and went to the bathroom. When I reached the bathroom door but did not go in yet, I looked into my living room and could see a large dark silhouette in one corner of the living room.
My heart beats a thousand times a hour, horrified by such a scary figure, I take a big breath and try to be as brave as possible and I say to myself -maybe, it's some sack my dad left there, I must be brave-. I go into the bathroom and relieve myself, not being able to get the huge silhouette waiting for me in the room out of my mind.
When I come out of the bathroom, I immediately look at the room only to be scared even worse, leaving me breathless, I squeeze my eyes to try to understand what they are. The giant figure in my living room was gone, it was impossible for it to go unnoticed. Now I felt that my heart wanted to get out of my chest, but I could not let fear win, so I remembered my plan. I just had to get to my room and cover myself with my Spider-Man blanket to be safe. I decided to look down the hall and into my room, but as I turned my head, I saw that the figure that was in the room, was behind me all this time. Without thinking, I screamed as loud as I had never screamed before in my life, took an Olympic jump and ran to hide. I didn't know it could be this monster that came to torment me.
About two seconds after that event, while I was hiding, I was completely horrified. I managed to hear a laugh, which I easily and effortlessly recognized. He is my brother.
My brother was always very tall and corpulent. I had forgotten that he was arriving at the house today, since he was camping that week. I didn't know about him because I was playing all day locked up in my room.
I embarrassed all my video game idols, I was not brave.
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