This is a short piece of creative non-fiction I wrote at the Scottish Universities' International Summer School, Creative Writing program in 2007.  It was later published in the school's biennial "Northern Light" publication.

    Monsters

By Corina Becker

When I was a child, I was afraid.  Afraid of the monsters under my bed and in my closet, afraid of the ghost haunting the hall and robbers lurking outside my window at night, of burning fires and trees dying and people starving and cities sinking.  Afraid that everyone was going to yell at me, hit me, hurt me, tell me I was doing something wrong. Afraid to move, to speak.  Afraid to be noticed.  I learned to hide.  I learned to dream. 

First I dreamt of being a fairy princess, about to leave for a magical world.  I dreamt that I was protected by all the heroes in books and in stories and on TV. 

Then I wanted to be a race car driver, going faster than anyone else.  No one could catch me then. Then I wanted to be a librarian, safe in a world within worlds within worlds within the world of words.  And I dreamt of being a rock star, blasting out my silent screams and rousing hearts and making music.  Then I wanted to be a photographer for the National Geographic, going to strange and wonderful places. 

Then I wanted to be a computer animator, creating stories for the delight of boys and girls. 

And now I want to construct, to build, to create, to draw, to paint, to write, to play, to sing, to dream that I really was a fairy princess and this time I’ll defeat the monsters still under my bed.