The Ways in Which You Haunt Me

By Grace Lee ‘24

You have never stood at my doorway in the late night

Looming as an undesired presence

I have never heard your footsteps following close behind only

to turn, and view an empty hallway

You have never spoken

With a ghostly voice

Screeching and scratching at me to follow you into the darkness

I have never seen your horrid image

on the other side of a glass

As I pass by my reflection

My skin never turning pale

Nor goosebumps forming on my surface

But your spirit lurks, it stays

Through my bones and within my veins

You are me

And I am you

We exist continuously,

mirroring each other’s movements

I wish so greatly to escape you

To be cut from the strings that connect us

But I also wish to hold you

To be free from the restraints that keep us at distance

If only we could cave

Let go of the egos that consume our characters

And allow love to form in its place

If only we could express how we feel

Release the terror within vulnerability

I do not want to haunt you

or live with only your spirit

and peace will never reach us, if we continue to indulge in the comfort of our ghosts