On
storytelling and life Samdra's Fear
Samdra had always been afraid of heights. She would get ice-cold, and she couldn't breathe and her heart would freeze. Pedestrian overpasses and express flyovers are punishments for her. She would not get on a Ferris wheel, or a balcony, or near the edge of bridges. She would always be aware of the air under her feet when she would step on a high chair to reach something high on the wall (it is a good thing that she is tall, she very rarely needs a step stool). You could never pay her to get on a glass-walled elevator.
Samdra had recurring nightmares of being a child and sitting on a grown-up's shoulders, or being whirled around (like a helicopter) by an adult. Or of being a teenager and going down a winding flight of stairs so fast her feet would not touch the steps and she would fly in circles, barely holding on to the handrail, and she never reaches the ground floor. Or of being in a car that goes up a very, very steep hill, it seems like she is lying on her back instead of sitting on the car's seat.
This went on until Samdra got to college. Until she got elected as a Suggestion Box supervisor on her senior year (she would be responsible for the security of the box and for generating reports on the people's suggestions and comments). She felt powerful, she felt popular, and in control. And she stopped being afraid of empty spaces between her feet and the ground. She has even flown on a plane without being frightened (well, just a little bit frightened, but it's okay since she knows that everybody else felt the same, anyway).
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