Ghost Stories

Are you in for a scare?

I don't believe
In ghost stories.
To me,
They are just nightmares
That storytellers pulled
Out of their imaginations.

They wrote them down,
Read them aloud
In the dark with a flashlight
Held under their chin,
Getting joy out of
Others' fear.

They are just assumptions
Made when children
See the exterior of
An old building
And remember a scary
Movie they watched before.

They are books
Written by great minds
Like Poe,
Who lived for
A good haunt,
But were then
Blown out of proportion.

I don't believe
In ghost stories,
But I never said
I didn't believe in ghosts.

The lost souls of
The long dead,
Searching for things they lost
While living on earth.

I only hope that
They can go where they are meant to be,
With loved ones and friends
Who have passed as well.
But for some,
This is impossible.

They still remain in
That old, abandoned house
At the end of your block,
Searching around and
Calling out,
Only to hear silence
In return.

So the next time
You hear
Footsteps on the stairs,
Or a voice
Echoing in an empty room,
Remember this:

I don't believe
In ghost stories,
But the ghosts themselves
Live not just in nightmares.

They not only haunt your dreams,
They haunt our reality.