I hate fear. Ok, I know how that sounds but I’m serious. I hate it. So much so that when I am afraid, I get angry...real angry.

I’ll never forget that time my brother and I went bike riding and we saw a dead snake on the ground. I immediately turned around and rode back towards the house, telling my brother I was done and we could try again later.

As soon as I entered the house, dread flooded me like a tank of ice cold water and scolding heat poured into my veins. I hated that I was afraid of something that couldn’t hurt me. I hated that I ruined my brother’s fun. I hated that I was afraid.

Perhaps that is why I constantly try to prove fear wrong. I stand in the middle of dark alleys, daring predators to come my way; jump from cliffs no one wants to jump; and face down my parents when they accuse me of being wrong. It’s become natural to me.

Perhaps that is why I am standing in the middle of a forest, lost and without any reception, stuck with probably the most annoying person on the face of the planet.

“Jared if you don’t shut up right now, I’ll leave you to be eaten by bears.” I glared as the said boy squeaked and took a large step away from me. Huffing, I trudged forward through the fallen leaves, Jared just behind me.

Thankfully (more like finally), it was quiet enough to hear the crunch of the leaves beneath my sneakers and the utter stillness of the forest.

I stopped. Jared, who had fallen slightly behind me, eyes widened. “What?” He half squeaked, half screamed into my ear and I glared at him behind my back.

Jared was the definition of fear. He embodied it like it was a second layer of skin. He disgusted me.

“We just went around in a complete freaking circle!” I screamed in frustration and plopped down on a tree stump as I felt tears well up in my eyes. Why was I so useless! I can’t ever seem to do anything right and now we were paying for it.

Jared eyed me warily, obviously not knowing what to do, before he sighed and sat next to me, staring blankly ahead.

It was quiet out in the forest, the only sound being my muffled sobs.

Jared sighed and, quite awkwardly, patted my back in hopes of providing some form of comfort.

“I…it’s ok. We’ll find a way out.” He sounded uncomfortable but i chose to ignore it and focus on the fact that despite how rude I’d been, he still was trying to help. My heart seemed to leap into my throat as I looked at him.

He had an awkward smile on his face that looked warm in the dim autumn light and although it was quite obvious he wasn’t used to doing this, I couldn’t help but find myself in awe of him.

Fear has a way of creating its way into the hearts of the innocent, it’s subtle and slow to inflict. I guess in a way, it’s kind of like love. It’s rare that people meet and say they are in love just like it’s rare for people to stand in the presence of fear and call it what it is.

Jared removed his hand from my back and stood up. “Ready to try again?”