I told them
there were people in the corners
not the normal kind
not shadows stretched by headlights
or coats hung wrong in the dark
but ones that breathed
I said they moved
when I blinked too slow
that they whispered things
I didn't understand
but somehow felt guilty for
They smiled the way broken glass does
sharp and patient
My mother laughed first
soft, like she didn't want to scare me
said "you've just got an overactive
imagination"
like it was a gift
like I should be grateful
for the way my nights filled up
Teachers said I was creative
gold stars for stories
I never meant to write
Doctors didn't see anything wrong
because I learned quickly
how to say
no, not anymore
even while something stood behind them
counting my breaths
I started calling it imagination too
because it was easier
than arguing with adults
who had never seen a face
fold in on itself
like paper in a fire
Easier than explaining
why I slept with the lights on
or why silence
was the loudest thing in the house
I grew up like that
half in this world
half in whatever watched me
from just behind it
And sometimes I still wonder
if it really was imagination
or if I was just a kid
telling the truth
in a language
no one else wanted to learn