Finally it was that time of year when the skeletons come out and the harmless pranks begin. Especially between my brother and I. Halloween is a big event in our family, mainly because we get to scare each other, but also because we spend time with one another. It is a tradition in my family to go to Sea World San Antonio for the annual “Howl-o-scream” and I finally had thought that it was the year I would actually enter the infamous “scare zone” which I had “chickened out” the last year, due to a clown and zombie duo. This year I would redeem myself.
         As we walked into the park, my brother and father were teasing me about the previous year, I had this feeling of determination, and courage, that I could walk through the “scare zone” like it was my own backyard. I knew that if I chickened out this year, I would never hear the end of it.
         So as we approached the front gates, I went into a peaceful yet powerful state of mind, and I didn’t care about anything but that quarter of a mile walk. I thought to myself, “I have unfinished business to take care of.” Once I stood right in front of the border, I could hear the chainsaws in the background and my heart beat slowly increasing speed as I hyped myself up.
          Not 10 feet in, I encountered the first horrifying zombie of the night, I quickly shrugged him off; as I kept forward I saw a drooling werewolf creeping around in the corner of my eye I and just shrewd him, and he knew it. However, that didn’t excuse the fact that I was still terrified. As my mom always said, “Fake it until you make it.”
          All of a sudden I hear the terrifying motor of a chainsaw and I quickly turned around, once I caught a glimpse of the man holding it and running my way. Without any hesitation what so ever, I darted away. However, little did I know that I had cleared a trash can and ran 100 feet into the “scare zone,” once the realization kicked in I froze. I couldn’t think. I felt a small tear running down my face and smelled the tart smell of shame and embarrassment in the air. I knew I had probably screamed like a little girl. In fact, my mom had pointed out a little girl passing me up as she came to comfort me. Once the horrible night of standing aside with my mom outside the gates and seeing my brother and dad were having a good ol’ time I thought to myself, maybe next year.