The Toilet Monster

This is not something that I would admit everyday. But I am growing up, my fears have faded and if this isn't the place to admit and confess to the world that I was scared to flush the toilet for two thirds of my life than I don't know where is.

There I said it.
I was afraid to flush the toilet for two thirds of my life. It was a truly reasonable fear I'll have you know. And it's gotten better, I'm not afraid anymore, I have no problem pressing the handle and watching the water swirl. I used to be so scared that I wouldn't go in the bathroom without another person. I could blame it on the toilet monster, but really how it all got started was my sister wild imagination and her love to strike fear within me.
It began when I was probably four or five... The age where my sister was the coolest girl in the world. We would spend hours and hours in the bathtub, making up stories and washing our hair over and over again. I was at that age in my life where I would believe anything that she told me. This lead me to believe some pretty strange things for wayyyy too long. She convinced me that dinosaurs were still alive, roaming around the world, hiding from humans, and eating young girls like me. She convinced me that I was adopted, and that I was the least favorite child (that one still messes with my head sometimes.)
Anyways, it was in the bathtub where we sat when my sister spouted the lie that would have me shaking with fear every time that I even looked at a toilet for a good portion of my life.
This is a true story- it is burned into my memory. Trust me, when you are scared of something for so long, these types of conversations seem to have an impact on you...
She put her serious face while she was sitting with me in the tub, and spoke in a tone of doom and death,
"Hannah, do you know that there is a Toilet Monster?"
"Nooooooo there isn't!"
"Yup" My sister said as she looked at me, and then looked at the toilet across the bathroom.
"My best friend Susie got eaten by it."
I was still in disbelief... I wasn't that easy to convince. "You don't even HAVE a friend named Susie." I said, trying to prove her wrong.
"I did, you didn't meet her because she was eaten... by the Toilet Monster!" She said her voice getting more and more serious.
I don't remember the rest of the conversation, I don't remember if the fear set in that day, or I got more and more afraid each time that I sat down, hoping and praying that I didn't end up like dear old Susie.
This fear, like most fears in peoples lives, controlled me. I was fearful of even going into a bathroom by myself. I made excuses and held my pee until I was about to burst. Anything was better than being sucked into the vortex of death. My mom didn't understand it, my friends all got confused, thankfully I was home schooled so it wasn't too big of a deal. I used to say that I was afraid of the toilet overflowing, knowing that that was a little bit more normal than being afraid of someone sucking you down the hole, and into the pipes below...
I slowly got over the fear, (and my sister told me that it was all a lie, I think she got sick of accompanying me to the bathroom.)
The moral of the story? Don't let fear control your life and your bladder. AND don't listen to your sister.