i used to check my windows each night for UFOs, convinced that aliens were going to take me away. i rejoiced for rainy nights, because i knew that i would be safe. in the summer i longed for the winter months ahead, knowing snow would keep them away. would lie there sweating, in the hot, humid night air, my window locked tightly to keep out the cool, refreshing air- and the monsters i knew were coming to get me. i heard my mother's voice below me, and cautiously crept down the staircase, peeked out silently, wanting to make sure it was really her, there, not an alien luring me to the pits of an Unidentified Flying Object with her voice. didn't go outside alone, wouldn't step away from the safety of my home, all because of a 'UFO sightings' book i read, (a witness to the things that fear does to your head).