Hello dear friends This was a failed drawing, but patient as I always am, I still made 'something' of it. Moreover, given how dark it is, I felt the drawing fit well with the true-life experience described below. Quite coincidentally, I suddenly remember that it's Halloween today, so now I've even more 'right' to post this event, which was an extremely scary one for me. The Child and Fear Because of the Sinterklaas celebrations (Santa Klaus), comedy films are being shown — those old black-and-white films. (I'm about five or six years old) The place is packed with children. They are laughing and excited. My spoiled little brother, whom I am expected to look after, has been seated right at the front (otherwise he would start whining that he couldn't see properly). It is pitch-dark, of course. Apart from the film, there is nothing to see. The film: A man is lying on his back, tied up. The setting is a sawmill. Normally, there should be a tree trunk lying on the conveyor belt, but instead, it is the main character of this comedy film who is lying there, tied up I watch as the head of the bound man moves closer and closer towards the circular saw. I begin to feel terribly uneasy. The children are laughing louder and louder. But all I can see is that image: the man tied up, the circular saw. And I feel myself suffocating. I am really suffocating. I cannot breathe anymore. Everything is dark. I don't know anyone there, not even the children sitting next to me. I am lost. Completely gone. "Now I'm going to die," I think. I genuinely feel that I am dying. It is an appalling feeling, an utterly terrifying and horrific experience. The children are roaring with laughter, but suddenly I can no longer hear anything. I am completely gone. Time stops. Everything stands still. I am suffocating. Am I dead? A little while later (?) I slowly begin to come around again. Very gradually, the feeling of suffocating, of dying, begins to subside. Little by little, I manage to draw in a little more air. When the show ends, I simply go home with my little brother. And once again, I pretend that nothing has happened. Just as I always do. I wish you all a wonderfully great Halloween—and even if you don’t celebrate it, I wish you a fantastic weekend regardless; please take good care of yourselves. Thank you so much for your look! With love, Jacomina