I woke up by the train tracks, as I normally did
As a young boy of only ten years.
Summer after summer I would run all day until my knees and feet ached,
And they would ache every day
until my body got used to the work.
I was an adventurer,
and it was as if I was a part of the world itself. 
I didn’t need any sidekicks or friends.
I was my own hero. 

But it was this particular sunny day 
That I would see a ghost face to face.

It all began when I opened my eyes 
and stretched my arms 
and cracked my toes. 
I was by the train tracks and I had just
woken from a nap.

Looking into the pale blue sky
and the thick puffy orbs of fluff
I judged the sun.
It had to be close to dinner time
by the uneasy purple hue that
seemed to creep 
across the horizon
like food coloring in a glass
of water.

So I packed up my things
and strapped my bag on my arms
and headed home.

Every summer I was an adventurer.
I loved to explore. 
The woods and buggy little creatures were
my friends. 

As my feet stomped and cracked,
squished and squashed,
in the dirt, stone, mud, and grass,
I noticed something in the distance.

Hiding like a little child playing
Hide and seek
Shrugged a rotting log cabin 
covered in leaves.
The sight left me speechless.
It was something to explore
and I loved to explore.

Mother could wait for my arrival 
back home, 
I said to myself. 
I needed to explore.

I walked maybe two steps when I 
was taken aback. 
The dark green bush just feeling the 
death of autumn in it’s shrubs
moved in front of me. 

I told myself it was just a rat
scurrying by and nothing more.
But I was wrong. 

I walked up to that old log cabin and turned my head
toward a foggy glass window pane. 
I called out to see if anyone was inside there
but I got no answer.

Even though the cabin looked as if it were long abandoned,
I called out anyway for someone.
Anyone.

Then in an instant I felt shards of glass
Spring onto my face like raindrops. 
I stumbled and lost my footing. 
But I got back up.

I was caught off guard by some creature.
Something had attacked me and I had to find it.

I called out again but this time in anger.
I called out for someone but again got no answer. 
So I decided to find this creature.
In fact I believed it to be a ghost. 
It had to be,
As nobody in the world
is invisible.

Most people in this situation would have ran away.
But not me. 
I had to find out who this was.
What it was.
So I dusted myself off and walked into the dark entrance way that 
once held a wooden door. 

I tried to be as quiet as I possibly could 
and I succeeded,
as I didn’t make a single sound.

I reached out my hands to feel for walls 
but all I felt was darkness.
I wanted to turn back 
but I couldn’t.

My curiosity got the best of me.
And it cost me my life.
I turned my eyes to the corner of the 
decomposing flesh of bark that made up the cabin walls.
Worms, maggots, and flies buzzed around every corner.
Except by one.

In one corner stood the creature that was harassing me
and it stared right at me.
It was just a child. 
It’s eyes and mouth were open in horror.

When I took a step around the darkness of the corner 
I came closer to it. 
The sight shocked me into despair.
I felt cold.
I felt numb.

I don’t know why 
but I was propelled to chase him.

But it ran off screaming another screeching yell,
and it disappeared into the woods. 
Oh my heart! 
Oh my nerves!
Never before had I been so shaken.

But my heart wasn’t pounding.
And I wasn’t sweating.

Putting my hand over my chest I felt nothing but air.
It was then that I looked over and noticed a mirror,
and the ghost staring back at me.