I wrote this back in 2005 and won a Dark Poetry contest with it.
What is it about silence
And the darkness of the hall;
Of the stillness, of the emptiness,
That’s making your skin crawl?
What is it about solitude,
And white walls, bare and stark-
That makes you think you heard a sound
Like laughter in the dark?
What is that unnerves you?
What is it that you fear?
You think yourself the fool to worry
When there’s clearly nothing there.
So you calm yourself, remember
That you can’t have heard that sound
That the only noise must come from you-
There’s no-one else around.
But- there it is again, you’re sure!
Your heart begins to race.
I wish that you could see the wide-eyed
Terror on your face.
Now you’re certain that there’s something
But there’s no point trying to scream;
I’ve been standing in the shadows,
And I’m dying to be seen…