Scaring myself to death...

Everynight this past week, it's the same scenario for me: I'll read "The Historian"(i'm half way now), read until i'm too scared to go on, turned off the lights, contemplate on the possibility of a vampire getting inside my room (as my balcony doors doesn't have locks, but come to think of it, even if it does have locks what protection can it give me against something that can disguise itself as smoke?) and watch the shadows in the dark until my system shut down on its own.

Why do i still go on reading something that scares the wits out of me? Dunno actually, but i get satisfaction out of it. I remember reading Stephen King's "The Shining" in broad daylight, with people around me and yet i'm still terrified with it.

It's just odd that despite my love for horror/suspense novels, i never liked horror movies. I still prefer that subtle yet genuine scare that these books give me than that in-your-face "boo" that most movies give. With my books, i'm inside the characters' world... i can see what they can see, even the remotest gory detail, i can hear the sounds, from that silent whimpher to that deafening scream, but what scares me most is when i can smell the character's fears, when i can smell that pungent smell of decaying flesh and blood, or that intermingling scent of sweat and mud, as if i myself is there, experiencing it...

It's amazing how i can actually smell the dampness of a labyrinth or the mustiness of a tomb, how i can taste the salt in the air, or sense the movements in the dark. I can actually feel the hairs at the back of my neck standing as if i'm being followed or observed. I can hear all that activity in that busy Turkish street, i can hear merchants calling, i can smell the rich aroma of burning incense. Sometimes, i stop reading when the cries and shrieks of the helpless victims are too much for me.

Tonight, i'll be back in Vlad's world again. I can't wait to smell the old world mustiness again, and hear the terrifying cries of the gypsies... Maybe i should put some garlic by my bedside tonight (i already have a crucufix under my pillow).