Midnight was usually my time

Party time 

But they’d reclaimed it, without warning

Engaging with spirits I cared not for. I was subdued.

In anger, I threw a picture from the wall.

An apology was offered on my behalf. So clumsy. 

Dancing continued. Stomping feet

Drowning a creak of floorboards they usually fell silent to. 

Shhh. Did you hear that? 

But not tonight. That racket was enough to wake the dead.

The clock hand wrenched itself one minute past twelve 

They all linked arms. Should auld acquaintance be forgot-

But I had been 

By those who didn’t know me, yet begged, every night, for me

To stop. 

Maybe there was a better way to forge a connection

One that didn’t elicit fear, or cause bouts of group hysteria.

It was hard to look oneself in the mirror

And be proud of shattering mortal lives

Just because you had none.

So, instead of starting petty fires

Or hiding keys, I let them roam

Possess the night, read until the eldest slept

Repatriated teddy to fleshy arms

And a long-lost warmth of bed.

At 3am the house was quiet- as the grave. At last

They had settled

Their guests had settled

The dog had settled

Yet the toddler was still awake.

Resisting urge to slam a door, I drifted in and sat 

With translucent hand through bars of its cage. 

“Ghost,” it gargled. “Poltergeist,” I corrected.

“Ghost,” it giggled. “Ghost then,” I sighed 

And span the moon, grimly manifesting a smile.