It starts at the coccyx, where the surrounding muscles contract and pull. The sensation travels bone by bone up the spine, the delicate layer of skin protecting it, alive with fine hairs standing on end. It will reach the edge of the neck, while neurons and synapses in the brain electrify and switch. The throat constricts and becomes savagely dry, and the muscles of the heart pump harder, faster. Blood drains from the extremities to serve the engorged arteries, and the pupils dilate, desperate for light.

It is the defining sensation of our actions, personalities, relationships and thoughts. It drives us and confines us, and as humans, can determine the failure or success of our endeavors. Fear—the emotion that makes us tremble, makes us fight, makes us love and hate and learn, is what [x]press has sought to dissect in our final issue of the semester.

There are irrational fears and phobias, nightmares bred from psychological dysfunction and dysfunction born from traumatic times. But no matter how we attempt to define fear, either socially or scientifically, terror is an incredibly personal and undeniably real characteristic of human life. We base our decisions on the possibility of negative judgment and outcomes, afraid of what our decisions could potentially cause. We fear society and its laws and restrictions. We succumb to stress and anxiety over our appearance, our desires, our weaknesses, strengths, and differences, terrified that a mistake will prove more costly than any risk could ever be.

The human mind is tainted by fear, but is also terribly intrigued by it. We devour murder-mystery novels and true-crime books, horror films and urban legends, and map out our lives by taking chances and risking all that we hold precious. Darkness and the unknown intrigues and tempts us, beckoning for us to come closer, take a peek. But beware. We might find ourselves in these tales. They might ignite our own evils and secret nightmares. They just might inspire us to do the most frightening thing of all—Change. They could change the way we think, and trust, and see our loved ones, our neighbors, ourselves.

In Donna Tartt’s The Secret History (which if you haven’t read, you should), I find the most accurate description of fear as we know it. It is defined in such a way that identifies exactly why we are so attracted to that which makes us catch our hearts in our throats.

“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it… if we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face.”

By that same token, terror is beautiful. It is a vital force in our lives that refuses to be ignored. Allow us to shed some light into the shadows for you; to tell the stories of the terrified and the tales of those who confront danger each morning and night. Turn the page and take a look—you’ll never guess what’s stirring right before your eyes.