Since childhood, I’d always had a crippling fear of the dark. It was the kind of fear that made my heart jump out of my throat. This fear followed me all the way through middle and high school. Friends of mine would have sleepovers and I would have to leave the door ajar. Sure, I got picked on here and there, but the occasional remarks and inquiries were well worth the fright I saved myself from. The dark instilled a sense of paranoia and insanity inside of me; a sensation so intense that I would need therapy had I slept one night in complete darkness. “Leave that light on,” I pleaded wearily.