A Ghost

She fell in love with the ghost who haunted her house

At first

All she could do was feel him

A chill

A squeak

A blinking light

And the more she started to believe he was real

The more real he became

Soon, he was leaving messages for her on her bathroom mirror

And notes in the pockets of her winter jackets

This ghost wrote poetry and songs for her

He kept his eyes on her, making sure she was safe

Eventually, she started to feel as if her ghost was really her guardian angle

But she didn’t know he why he was trapped between her walls

It was a cage

This was his fate

He had died

But he stayed behind

Never having felt love

He didn’t think he should die without ever feeling it

So he stayed

He watched her cry

He watched her cat die

He was by her side when her divorce finalized

And when she got sick

This ghost grew so anxious

He prayed to a god

Asking to save her

Tears

The ghost shed hollow tears when she slipped into a coma

For two weeks he waited for her as she lay in a hospital bed

Visions of a life with her filled his head

He remembered his accident

A drunk driver hit him, and he spent a few days asleep in a similar hospital bed

Before his heart stopped beating

But now his heart was bleeding

He wished he could switch places with her but he didn’t have a life to give

And when he found out she was the drunk driver who had killed him

He learned how to forgive

The ghost had died before he had lived

The ghost even learned how to leave the walls and float through the streets

All while she head dreams

Dream after dream after dream

She saw him

The ghost when we was alive

She watched him work a shit job

She watched him get high

She watched him cry

The bills piled up

The grind never stopped

The pills popped

Nights full of bar fights and a broken guitars

Nights without the stars

Nights without the dawn

She watched him break and put himself together

And she loved him

But then she had a nightmare

She was getting drunk after a fight with her ex husband

When she drove home, all alone

He crossed the street and she never saw him

A text from her ex

A strange bump she shrugged off

Never knowing she would kill the only man who would truly love her some day

She woke

And found her ghost

His hand was holding hers

She cried

Realizing he’ll never be whole

She still loved his soul

He was still her home

He was hers to hold

She just couldn’t hold him . . .        

CH 10/26/26