Fatal Fatality

As a rather avid fan of horror games, I played through two installments of the series Fatal Frame some years back before I went into jc, namely the second and third. Fatal Frame II notably, has been regarded as one of the scariest games in the world thus far. For those of you out there who don't know Fatal Frame, it's a Japanese horror game where basically, you are against an entire horde (an entire village) of ghosts, and your only weapon is a camera which has an exorcism effect when used on them. Think it's lame? Go try it out :)

I was watching some gameplay videos on youtube - where random people obviously (or deliberately) unprepared played through the game with all the lights off, and as such, provided for some funny screams whenever they got "ghosted".

Yet, amidst all this, I couldn't help but wander off into my own little thought circle of life.

The protagonist runs around in manors belonging to strange families, winding through tens of secret passages into unknown, unfamiliar places. She's afraid, scared, tormented even at certain points in the game. One camera. Versus scores of ghosts. No wonder she's afraid - even moreso than the players.

How many of us out there have ever felt that way? That we're living in complete, pitch darkness, feeling so terrible, so useless at times where we simply feel ourselves not well equipped to handle this dark reality that seems to overwhelm us. For those of us out there who've got wide social circles throughout their lives, I dare to say that you've never. Forget the crap about break-ups that seem so crippling to the heart, or that 4 'A's that you didn't get for that important exam that you've stuck your entire life to with a pin.

For those who know what I'm talking about, then you've experienced it as much as I have at one time or another. And we know it's scary, and it chips away at us. We see people out there whom we know have been born into seemingly perfect circumstances - a family that loves them, scores of friends who surround them, comfortable wealth that accompanies them, and a generic aura of content that exists around them.

Envious? I know what you mean - I once felt that way too. Envious of people who, by grace or by luck, are able to live in the very same "village" that we too reside in, only that it's bathed in the complete brilliance of light. They prance and twirl around, while we are left with a "camera", forced to fight so many negativities, "ghosts" that haunt our lives day and night - ghosts that hurt us, that cripple us or even kill us.

We seem trapped by the strings of Fate, destined to die an early and miserable death, without the fulfillment or happiness that others out there have. Trapped. Enshrined in a deathtrap, unable to escape. We cry, feel upset for long periods of time, and see life in monochrome.

Yet, you know, amidst all that Pandora had to throw around at us, she unknowingly gave us a gift too - Empathy.

I really do feel that we're able to empathise a lot more than others, sometimes on such a transcendent level. I don't really know how to explain it myself - but perhaps we've shut up so much and learnt more to observe things around us, sometimes with such a sharp clarity that our minds now become so receptive to emotions that we can even identify with them on a much higher level than the other party in question. And it's simply because we've been stabbed in the heart before.

Well, in any case, know that you can escape this. If you haven't thought about it yet, imagine having tens (or hundreds if you can) of glow-in-the-dark ghost shapes pasted around your room with the lights off. Now, turn the lights on.

It's simple - find that switch and flick it.

I know it's hard, and for your information it's not always that easy to find that switch. Don't think it's always pasted on a wall. But please, never stop looking for it, okay? You'll find it.

Each time we find something in our lives - be it God, a new friend, a new positive hobby, a stuffed toy that helps us reminisce warm memories or a book that we decide to act upon - we make one step closer to that switch that seems so invisible to us. Conversely, every moment that we spend mulling things over and over and over and......over, we ensnare ourselves to a spot, mentally unable to move, trapping ourselves.

So go out there, and find it. I know it's hard, and I know all odds are against you, but have hope - it's there, waiting for you to find it. Waiting for the chance to be discovered. If you're religious, pray about it, and BELIEVE in your own prayers.

For those of you who've found your switches, take heart that you have, and also that you've experienced what it's like to be in the dark - because you'll be able to in your own small way, help others to find their own individual switches. And you can be next to them when they do, pointing and laughing at the glow-in-the-dark, foolish twits that they once feared so much.

For those who've been living in sunny villages and feeling the warm breezes of life all along, it's just their good luck and blessing that when they first opened their eyes into this world, the lights were already on.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know Fatal Frame, here's a little something that might interest you. Don't forget to turn the lights off first: