Afraid of the Dark

Mr. SunshineMr. Sunshine, Promo

We’re all scaredy cats, my little Sunbeams. Every child fears something.

Heights.
Falling.
Failure.
The unknown.
The dark.
The light that exposes.

You see, fear is natural. It is part of us. A challenge that we must face in order to overcome that fear. But when we are faced with our fears, a special part of our brain takes control.

It’s called the amygdala, and its job is to keep us safe from those things that go bump in the night.

The problem is, the amygdala isn’t sure exactly what we are truly afraid of. But when it takes control, it can force us to act out of fear.

We call it the fight, flight or freeze response… and ever since the darkness started spreading in Arcadia, people have been fearing what may lurk in it.

That fear was there when that explosion wiped out the Red Light District, and for the Night, it’s been there ever since. He’s gotta be scared, Sunbeams, because his mummy isn’t there to tuck him in and reassure him that everything’s gonna be okay any more.

Because it isn’t.

He’s afraid. And scared people act as if the sky is falling.

For Night, his response to his fear has been to try and escape, to take flight from the situation. He embraces the darkness, because there’s nobody around to embrace him.

That’s what happens when you’d rather take flight into the very darkness you fear to avoid consequences of the past.

But we don’t all respond to the fear of darkness like Night does.

Ezekiel Graves fights that very darkness with everything he’s got. Whatever his fear perceives as part of that darkness he fears, he wages holy war against it and drags his congregation along with him.

Graves appeals to his masses, sends round the collection plate so that he can gather allies to stand behind. Safety from fear in numbers, they say. But he’s not fooling Ol’ Sunshine!

Others freeze in fear.

There was a fear-free time where Eclipse walked innocently. She smiled. But she gave up her innocence once fear, real fear, came knocking on her door with Gravedigger.

She froze, and that fear crippled her. But like some creatures, Eclipse took it a step further. Some flop. They faint, play dead. And nobody flops sides better than Eclipse has.

I’m not afraid of the darkness, Sunbeams. Darkness merely exists, and we’re afraid because we don’t see the light.

I am the source of the sunshine, my friends.

Do you know what they all fear, those too afraid to think straight? Those acting out of their amygdala’s responses?

The one thing they truly fear above all, is happiness. The joy they don’t possess. It doesn’t matter if your happiness was stolen in a terrible explosion, some holy war or at the hands of one who told you they loved you.

If you don’t have happiness, you don’t have light.

Then, fear is all you have.
They’re right to fear.
Find the Sunshine, my Sunbeams, rise above that fear. The light of courage comes from feeling fear, and not letting it win.