(NOT) Alone @ 2 AM

It was a hot and humid night when she came.

The kind of night where you leave the window cracked for any breeze.

I was tossing and turning in my bed until a chill hit me.

Gripping me in place

It felt like an icy finger

had brushed its fingers down my spine.

And that was when I slowly looked over and realized,

I was not alone.

The moon was barely visible past my gossamer curtains.

But even in the poorly lit room, I still saw her clear as day,

Just standing there at the foot of my bed, crying for her mommy.

While holding the little one-eyed stuffed dog I gave her 3 years earlier.

Her tiny toddler feet were caked in dirt and what seemed like blood.

And her tattered bunny pajamas loosely hugged her slender frame.

And I was scared shitless.

She looked like she had just crawled out of hell.

NO, like she WAS hell.

She had her back turned away, but I knew it was her.

My little sister Nini.

The very sister that had gone missing that year before

She was only a foot out of my reach.

And all I wanted to do was touch her, hold her.

And ask her where she’s been

But I was too afraid.

Afraid that if I even moved an inch, she would disappear

Like a puff of smoke after being released.

I could not let that happen.

I just got her back, and I couldn’t bear losing her again.

So, I just sat there silently weeping tears of anguish,

Slowly becoming a ghost myself, as I watched the little girl I helped raise

Gradually fade away before my eyes as the sun came out.

That was the last time I ever saw Nini since her disappearance.

And now I set the alarm every night for 2 am

In hopes of getting another glimpse of her lost spirit.