a mary higgins clark tale

once upon a time

i read A Cry In The Night by Mary Higgins Clark

I must have been 16 or 17 at this particular time. 

Side note--If you're not familiar with Mary Higgins Clark, go here.  Basically if you love a good mystery, heroines and a little love story bonus you will love her books.


okay. back to A Cry In The Night.


I don't want to give you too many details in case you want to read the book, but at the end the killer is an extremely freaky psychopath who goes crazy and tries to kill Jenny, the main lady in the book. 

it freaked. me. out.


so i finished the book around 8 or 9 pm, and decided to take a shower before heading to bed.  You know, to clear my mind of the scary thoughts that entered from reading the book.  (mind you, i was 16.. but i still am nervous to pick up one of her books to read before bed because of this experience)




Anna, my dear little sister, knew that i was freaked out by this story and decided to play a little trick on me.


she grabbed our My-Size Barbie that was hidden deep within the storage room of our basement, and hung it in my closet.

by it's neck.

she's crazy/twisted.

She then proceeded to write REDRUM on the wall adjacent to my mirror.

then, she shut off my bedroom light, and waited patiently for me to finish my shower.



i got dressed in my jammies and headed to bed, closing my door behind me before turning on my light.


as i turned on the light and saw the horrific scene that was the REDRUM and hanging doll, I froze.

I decided to bolt it out of my room.

Lucky for Anna, her trick worked out better than expected and my doorknob conveniently decided to break at that very moment. 


I was trapped.


with the hung doll and the scary writing on my wall



I finally was rescued by my mother and we made sister apologize and clean up the mess she had made. 

I slept on the couch that night.




it's a funny thing now, but at the time I was scared for my life.  Even if it was just my sister.
Read the book, and then you will understand my horror a little bit better.


other MHC books I loved:

Pretend You Don't See Her
Moonlight Becomes You (favorite)
I'll Be Seeing You
Loves Music, Loves to Dance
While My Pretty One Sleeps

a really scary word

something that has really been bothering me lately:

divorce.

it's a legit fear i have.  but at the same time i'm not even dating anyone right now and am not even close to thinking about getting married any time soon. 

i've got way too many friends my age or younger who have gone through a divorce. 

my age or younger.

i'm not old, people.


it freaks me out.
i hear horror stories almost daily. daily! i declare at least once a week that i am never getting married. 

for other reasons than just divorce, too.



people tell me,

just don't think about it
cross that bridge when you come to it


but i do think about it.  probably too much. 


hopefully that fear will go away soon. 
i keep praying that it does.
i have faith in my heavenly father's plan. 

and i understand that stuff happens.  that things dont always work out the way you think/hope they will.

all i can do is be my best self, take it one day at a time, and work really really hard.  That's the point of this life, right?

lost in the city.

I drive to school in downtown SLC at least twice a week.  I rarely get lost.  I know my way.  I have a great sense of direction.

However.

I was calling the mother to tell her about school and my plans for next semester (sad, I'm already thinking about next semester!  I'm not even a month into Fall yet...) and missed my turn onto 500 S. to get to the freeway.  Before I knew it I was on 9th south and in a part of town that was not well lit.. I felt uncomfortable and creeped out. 

Cue panic mode.

All I was thinking was "FIND THE FREEWAY NOW"  and nothing else mattered.

I turned right at 9th south heading West into a seemigly darker and creepier part of town.  Luckily I saw a traffic light ahead [traffic light=busy street=freeway] and decided to head toward that. Once onto the busy street I headed back north to find 500  S.. 

finally I saw the big blue sign pointing me toward the I-15. 

I turned right, then right again onto the freeway entrance.

This is when I noticed something peculiar.

I was on 400 S.... Not 500 S....

And I was entering the freeway in the CARPOOL lane.  BY MYSELF.

My heart started pounding.  I knew for sure that I would be pulled over and get in huge trouble.

Thankfully panic mode was turned on yet again and my lead foot stepped in to play.  I hurried and merged into regular traffic and drove carefully the rest of the way home, dodging any sight of a po-po (if there were any, who knows?), relieved I had found the freeway without being shot/kidnapped.  (My biggest fears in the city).

Next time I will try not to be so distracted and miss my turn.

That was quite the adventure, though, if I do say so myself.

Dear DTR,
I love avoiding you. You are scary. But lately, you're getting harder and harder to make go away. I'm going to have to face you at some point. And soon. Before the unknown eats me alive. Okay? Okay.
Sincerely, Erin.

PS. Please go easy on me, I'm very fragile.

I Survived

On a whim I signed up for voice lessons.
Today was my first lesson.
Surprisingly not as scary as I thought it would be!
I'm pro at singing at the top of my lungs in my car

It was/is high time I learn to sing properly.

Gugh.

We'll see. :)

I get to choose a song to work on, any suggestions?