Shadows in the Hall

Shadows in the Hall

The night crept soft around the door,

The kind of dark that hums and breathes,

Where footsteps echo in the mind,

And silence clings to the eaves.

I lit a candle, watched it sway,

Its flame alive with whispered things,

The walls seemed closer than before,

And something brushed against the strings.

Of thought, of fear, of time gone wrong,

A hum beneath the steady air,

I swore I saw a shadow move,

But nothing living lingered there.

The mirror showed a face unknown,

Eyes too wide, too full of dread,

A faint smile curved where none belonged,

And whispered softly to my head.

“Remember me, for I was you,”

It said before the flame went black,

The air grew still, the walls drew in,

And something pulled the silence back.

Now every night I hear it breathe,

A voice that murmurs through the wall,

And though I live, I know it waits,

The shadow that will one day call