Traceys Story – Written by Jack Wilden

Speak to anyone who likes visiting dark places and you'll likely be overwhelmed by their enthusiasm for all things awful. The horror, the weird, the unknown. The things we are told but would rather forget. They'll drink it all in and will be happy to share it with you, if you'll stick around long enough to listen. My first conversation with Tracey was about something strange and I liked her immediately. We had seen the same film. I can't recall which one, but there is a good chance that it was rented from Blockbuster and was the only copy in the store. Yes, one of those films. The old, subtitled one. The one with the grim synopsis that runs for three hours. The one that has made the top ten in a 'most controversial films,' list. Most would avoid it. But to some, it looks as good as blood on snow. Books and films allow us to live in the dark. You can let it in safely, where it will stay under your skin for days. Crawling out from beneath your fingernails, commanding you to watch that film one last time, or turn the page in that book, the one you can't put down until 2am and your eyelids force themselves shut. But the experience is only ever as good as the story. And a good story should stick with you. It should pop up at the dinner table and distract you from the conversation. It will live somewhere in that deep part of your mind and tap you on the shoulder every so often, going off like a bright light, urging you to experience it again. And then there are times when the story is not imaginary. It doesn't sit behind a screen or hide in a page. It's the worst story you've ever heard and yet there it is, taking you to dark places that you don't want to go. But in dark places there are lights. And every story has an arc. And in this moment, even though the story is as bad as it gets and the arc feels like it's falling further and further downwards, there will be a light somewhere. Waiting to tap us on the shoulder and say, remember that film we saw? Let's watch it again. The world is full of good stories. Tracey knew this and hundreds of them. She also understood what it meant to visit dark places and find the lights within them. So once in a while, go and live in the dark. Find a good story. Tracey would approve. Jack Wildern. December 2020