From my youth, I recall thoughts and wishes

Of my life being as the wind that swayed the trees.

It didn’t hide its true self behind something fictitious

It was powerful, beautiful, and noticeable, just as I wanted to be.

As I continued to age, I can remember

Days upon days where I sat by my window, alone.

Hope glowing in my chest as a dying ember

For something—anything— that felt like home.

That’s when I found that the breezes were filled to the brim

With the echoes of souls, long forgotten and lost

Who felt that without their light the world wouldn’t dim.

So they fled life without truly knowing the cost.

Those dark days were the most difficult to discuss.

And when the Haunted voices on the wind beckoned

 To me with the chilling call of “Join us.”

I weakened and paused for just a second.

Then the pleas grew vehement and loud,

“You belong here. You are one of us!” they cried

As the air slammed all around.

Their echoing demands never seeming to subside.

“Come fly with us,” they urged,

“Across mountains, and valleys, and plains.”

“You aren’t meant to be captive and scourged.”

“Fly with us and forget your pains.”

With these words, my stone fortress, they breach.

“Your mask is slipping out of place,” they taunted.

Soon the home you long for will be out of reach

And you’ll become like us, the Haunted.”

Their siren’s call was enticing

Too strong a match for my resistance.

I did not know they were trying

To squander my precious existence.

The Haunted broke my defenses down.

Visions of red filled my head that night

And with a scream of agony, I let myself drown

In the suffocating, absolute darkness I couldn’t fight.

I knew the thoughts swirling in mind weren’t my own

Yet, the howl of the wind reminded me that I was unwanted,

That I was worthless and completely alone.

And all at once, my soul longed to join the Haunted.

I was in the middle of a river of heartache, sorrow, and loss.

Scared, broken, and defeated, I waited for the current drag me under.

But when I had given up all hope, strong hands pulled me across

And I finally recognized my horrible blunder.

I am stronger than the Haunted who ride the wind

Spewing their velvet temptations and promises of peace.

I will wish that I had followed them, now and again.

But life is worth living and though the whispers won’t cease,

I know that I will survive it and live to be free.