Tears pour down my face as I watch yet another Vampire tear deep into the woman's skin with its dreadful fangs.
Why does she have to endure so much pain? I ask myself.
Three times in a row, she has been attacked by these creatures.
What has she done to deserve all this?
And why, for God's sake is she not fighting back?
Is she really that helpless and powerless?

As the vampire turns her face toward the camera
I realize I know the woman
As a matter of fact
I have seen her in other films.
And in each of those films
she was always a victim of something.
When it wasn’t rape, it was air crashes, loss, betrayal, accidents etc.
she never became one of those heroines who triumphed after so many setbacks and obstacles:
After having suffered a lot of defeat

Already, I know how this film will end.
This woman will do nothing to fight back.
The vampire will eat her up,
and then proceed to destroy the family she desperately wants to protect.

What is the point in watching the movie when I know how it will end?
I take the remote to change the channel,
but find out I can’t.
I feel my heart skip.
Who is this woman?
This is not just another actress who gets to play one of the victims in the small budget movies,
this woman looks painfully familiar.
She looks like me.

Another realization dawned.
This woman is me.
And my mind is the TV Screen.
It is all in my imagination.
I am the victim,
Always a victim in whatever picture (or movie) I paint or play in my mind:
Always the one who bears the brunt of misfortunes?
But never the winner
I shiver in fear as I realize that these movies in my mind influence,
what eventually happens in my life

Oh my God.
What have I been doing to myself?
I ask in panic.
How did I ever get addicted to these movies (evil imaginations)?
Do I really have any power over whatever happens to me?
Or does my fate actually lie in the hands of whatever vampire I imagine?
Must the Vampire of Fear, Ridicule and Criticism always
stop me from pursuing my dreams?

No Way! Not at all!
This doesn’t have to happen. I decide, as I give the vampire a dirty slap.
I must win in life
and if I have to first fight the demons that stop me from winning in my thought life,
and then I have to give it all it takes.
The Vampire reaches for my hair,
But I remain undaunted
Matching my cold stare
With his blazing gaze.

Am I going to win?
Yes, I may fall a dozen times,
But I will win all the same.
I will never give in without a fight.
I don’t have to be a victim
when I can be a heroine
why must I play a non significant role in a low budget movie?
When I can always play the leading role in the big pictures?

My mind is the stage, afterall
and to a large extent,
I can choose who directs it.
The Almighty or the evil genius
I can write my scripts
and choose my co actors and actresses.
I know Life may impose some on me,
But whatever power I have
I will use it to influence how the film ends.

I resolve not to leave my fate to chance
but to always put in my best effort
for every time the vampire hits me,
I rise seven times.
And each time I fall,
I fail forward.

In as much as my mind is the stage,
Then I must do all within my power
To make my life a good picture
One worthy of many Oscars and academy awards.


Yes, I say to myself
with a winning smile on my face
Happy that this time
I have willed
my thought and imagination to cooperate with the reality I so desire