A great question to ask somebody is “when were you most scared?” I find it can be a very revealing story and always interesting. I have heard stories having to do with being underwater for way too long, watching a loved one receive a serious injury, high-speed collisions, falls from tall places, animal attacks, waking up from bad dreams, and many more. Interestingly, many have to do with near-death situations. We are all terrified to die it seems — and quite rightly so when we have such a lovely world around us. I will have to elaborate more on my theory on death in a later entry, but now is no time for philosophy. Here is the time when I was most scared.
I was at my good friend Dustin’s house, which we called the Villa since his surname was ‘Villa’ plus another eight syllables. During high school we spent many a night partying, hanging out, playing games, being lazy, and finding trouble at the Villa. The convenient location and amazing parental units (thanks Debby and Tom!) never went to waste. This particular Saturday night was not a special night but there were probably 12 people in the house playing games and talking and generally keeping themselves entertained.
Early in the night Dustin and I were playing Tetris 64, I believe. We would play in these ridiculous hour-long games at a speed that was incomprehensible to our onlookers and impressive enough to make them watch Tetris for an hour. During the game I remember hearing one of the girls behind me say something like “OH MY GOD! I just saw the Scream mask outside!” (Like the movie.) We all laughed it off and said she was crazy — and she probably was — and continued doing what we were doing.
Maybe an hour later Dustin starts telling me about some video he got online which was a video of somebody getting their head shot off up close. We started arguing about whether it was real or not and eventually we go upstairs to his room to take a look at the video. Zak and Scott follow me and Dustin into the room to watch. Just to add some details to the situation: Dustin is a 6’9″ Jewish white guy. Zak is Dustin’s brother who was many years younger than us but bigger than the rest of us and just crazy enough that we liked having him around. Scott was (probably still is) a very well-trained army guy who was recently back from some deadly mission. So we are watching the video over and over again, pausing it at the most gory parts and staring at the screen very close trying to figure out if there is something in the video that would prove it to be fake.
CLICK! The lights turn out and the entire house goes completely black. The kind of black that is darker than the backs of your eyelids. Immediately I could hear gunshots downstairs, girls screaming, guys shouting, and people being thrown into the walls or something similar. Luke, with all his courage and bravery, decides the best option is to stay still and move against the side wall of Dustin’s room in an attempt to camouflage himself in the dark. I had no idea what Zak, Scott, or Dustin did. The commotion downstairs starts to be less frequent and eventually all is silent. A gunshot every now and then goes off followed by a scream. Luke is pressed firmly against the wall and trying to control his breathing and I remember thinking that my breathing sounded so loud. Then I started to hear footsteps walking up the stairs. No voices. Just slow and deliberate footsteps. I was on the wall adjacent to the doorway and with my back right up against the wall — if I turned my head completely to the left I would see whoever would walk into the room. The plan when that happened was never really properly thought out, however.
I stayed as still as I possibly could. I reduced my breathing as much as possible but this only made me breathe louder, I felt. My eyes had adjusted somewhat to the dark and I realised my plan to be camouflaged was just stupid. And then the footsteps stopped outside the door. This made my breathing even louder I think, and I am sure they heard it. Then a head peered in the doorway wearing some sort of mask. First it looked forward, then it turned to the left (away from me), and then it turned to the right, staring straight at me. Then the head pulled back and for a moment I thought I had escaped. Then all of a sudden the figure came into the room and put me in a headlock and bent me over backwards and said “Who is this?” I said “It’s Luke” in a somewhat childish voice. Then the person said “This is Brent and Brandon. We are playing a trick on you guys.” I knew immediately who they were and a huge smile grew on my face. I was overwhelmed with the situation and was pretty much just happy that nothing else had happened. I congratulated them on their good work and was truly impressed with the complexity of their “joke.” They asked me if anyone else was upstairs and I said I don’t know — and I also warned them that likely everyone had called the cops by now. With the lights still off I led the intruders into the upstairs bathroom where I thought Zak and Scott had gone. Right when I walked into the bathroom I was slammed into another headlock and bent over backwards and before I could say anything, the lights turned on. That snapshot in time needs to be documented somehow. Maybe Zak can draw a picture. Scott had bent me over backwards putting some hardcore military move on me and Zak was coming down on me with a 9-inch knife (he always had many knives laying around). And the intruders were behind all this just watching. So basically, had the lights not turned on, I could have been stabbed by “my own team.” For that moment I have thanked every god that our species has come up with.
Dustin had somehow got out of the house in three bounds with his long lanky legs. The people downstairs received a barrage of paintball gun shots to the face (no paintballs were used) while some of the guys were roughed up a little bit. Mainly Sven, since the intruders did not really like him. In the end, the girls were crying and the guys were pissed. I was chatting with the intruders asking them how they did it and having a general laugh. The Scream mask was used to scope out the “joint” beforehand and then they cut the breakers and entered from the back door. Apparently they had done this before but this was the biggest one. Some 6 people had called the cops and they were pretty much there immediately. All the guns and gear were confiscated. However the police were the parents of some of the intruders and I am sure they got the gear back.
I have many other fearful moments, but at the point in time when I was listening to the footsteps slowly ascend the stairs, I know of no other time when I had more fear building in my body. I am slightly ashamed for not pulling some ninja tactics and in hindsight I should have just climbed out the window, or at least hid in the corner of the room or under the bed or anything other than standing against the wall. Oh well, back to ninja camp for me.