Scary Sexy

Pour yourself a glass of wine. Turn out the lights. No, seriously. Get the house nice and dark and settle in for a spell. Don't worry. I'll wait.

*hums Jeopardy theme*

So. Halloween's upon us once again, and that spiky, tremulous energy that permeates the air this time of year vibrates all around. Even here, where it's just you and me and this screen, you can feel it, a strange static electricity humming just over your skin.

But are you sure it's just the time of year? Are you absolutely certain that the veil between our world and the ones beyond isn't thinning to admit something through we scorn to think of in the light of day?

Maybe you should turn around and look, just to make sure that prickling you feel on the back of your neck really is nothing and the hairs standing on end on your arm have nothing to do with the unseen presence standing behind you, reaching out with grave-cold arms for an embrace to savor your warmth. Turn on the light and check every door and window, every nook and cranny, and ensure that your sanctum remains inviolate. Make sure that we're alone. I'm not going anywhere.

Oh, good. You're back! Glad to see you're still in one piece.

Now that I've (hopefully) scared the living daylights out of you, you're probably slightly annoyed with me, right? I don't blame you a bit. But . . . wait for it . . . your pulse is starting to slow, and the fear you felt just moments ago is transforming into something else. If you don't know what I'm talking about right now, I clearly missed the mark. God, you're tough!

The link between terror and desire is well-documented. Terror releases adrenaline and various endorphins to prepare our bodies for fight or flight. We gain endurance, speed, and cold calculation which under ordinary circumstances would be unthinkable. We become killing machines, capable of mind-numbing feats of strength and savagery.

But what happens when all that pent-up energy has nowhere to go?

Nature abhors a vacuum. Everything in the human body is there for a reason. So when your system is flooded with chemicals intended to allow you as an individual being to survive and it turns out there's no valid reason for your system to be so overloaded, the books have to balance somewhere. And sneaky Mother Nature came up with a very clever solution, which interestingly enough is also directly tied in with the ongoing viability of the human race.

When the human body is loaded up with all those chemicals and there's no other way to dispel them, fear quickly transmutes into erotic need. How many times have you gone to a horror movie with your significant other and had the hell scared out of you, only to go home and wear out the bedsprings until three in the morning?

True masters of horror, especially of the erotic variety, build the tension and terror until it's unbearable. Then they give a release: the other person gets it instead of the hero and heroine, who immediately celebrate the fact they survived by falling into a tangled heap on the nearest horizontal surface. This, of course, is an oversimplification, but check out your own reactions the next time you're watching a scary movie or reading a horror novel. Feel the crescendoing fright, the climax, and then the release, your pounding pulse and rapid breathing mellowing and softening as some muscles unclench and others flex in the onset of a very different thrill.

If you still don't believe me that scary can be sexy, check this out:
http://www.im-no-angel.com/2/post/2011/10/lovers-scare-contest-js-wayne-aeternus.html
And don't forget to take a look at my blogs at http://nobleromance.com and http://jswayne.wordpress.com today!
Happy Halloween, everyone!

Until next time,

Best,

J.S. Wayne