Bert & Ernie - The Nightmare

I am climbing a dim staircase, sheen across the floor, walls and steps - wet, glossy stone. I’m lost and disorientated, infinitely rounding corners of the dark spiral, anticipating escape and comfort.

I turn into a small break in the staircase, finding Bert and Ernie. Their bright colours and familiar structures spike a sense of relief within my six year old self.

Comfort drains as I realise their stiff presence, their eyes are fixed across the space. They are positioned side to side, lodged in an arcing indent of the wall, a space likely intended to house a standing lamp. The puppets look to have been retired, their shells left to reside within the liminal space. However, despite no perceivable activity, they were standing independently, and looking.

Only few seconds had passed as I absorbed the uncanny scene, a silent terror had filled me. They were completely inactive, yet held a presence; a presence that was quietly waiting for me. Static malevolence, the environment reflected this energy as the space slowly stitched me and the characters toward each other. Nobody moved, as the surroundings closed in, so did their gaze. Slow magnets - Ernie chose me, his stripey jumper filled my vision, before his orange skin and firmly shut mouth.

His eye contact was a vacuum- my being was terrorised.