By Melissa Amster (April 20, 2026)
“I think she’s waking up. Get the doctor in here!”
“AJ? AJ? Can you hear me?”
The voices in the room sound like they’re underwater and everything looks dark and foggy, but I see some bright lights and I slowly squint my eyes open so as to not let all the light in at once.
“She’s awake! Thank heavens!”
“AJ, do you know why you’re in the hospital? Do you know what year it is?” There’s a man standing above me with a stethoscope around his neck. I try to respond but my throat is too dry.
“Water…”
“Get her some water, Doug!” The voice that sounds like my mom shrieks. I can hear her but the doctor is blocking my view.
A cup of water is handed to me and I sip gingerly from it. Then I look at the doctor. “Are you a real doctor or a ghost doctor?”
“AJ! That’s so rude.” My mom admonishes me.
“I can assure you I’m real, the doctor chuckles. After all, your parents can see me too.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and fall back onto the pillow. It didn’t work!
“AJ, can you answer my questions now? Do you know why you’re here? What year is it?”
“2020…6?” The doctor nods encouragingly. “I think I fell?”
“AJ! You fell down the stairs and have been unconscious for three days. I told you not to go up to the attic because there was a broken step. But did you listen?”
“I must not have remembered, Mom.”
What my mom doesn’t know is that I did remember and was trying to find a way to see ghosts. I’ve been obsessed with the TV show Ghosts and after Sam fell down the stairs, she was able to see the ghosts in her house. I wanted to see the ghosts in my house, but so far I don’t think the plan has worked. Everyone in this room is real. I know there must be ghosts in our house, since it’s super old, like from the nineteen-forties. It just feels like a boring house now that I know the possibilities are there and I have no access to them. I really, really want to see at least one ghost. I wouldn’t mind a hot one like Trevor. Or Thorfinn. I’d settle for someone fun like Flower though. Maybe no one died in my hospital room and that’s why I can’t see anyone yet. Maybe…there will be a ghost in the house when I get home.
“I think we should let her rest, Polly. We can come back tomorrow morning and maybe she’ll be ready to be discharged by then.”
“Sleep tight honey, and we’ll get that stair fixed so this never happens again.”
I nod and smile, letting my eyes close again in hopes of getting one day closer to seeing ghosts when I’m finally able to go back home.
The next afternoon, I’m finally free to leave. As I get wheeled out of the hospital, I look around to see if anyone there looks like they could be a ghost. So far, I can’t tell with so many people walking around the hallways and lobby. They all look pretty modern, but maybe some of them died recently. Or maybe the only ghosts I’m able to see are the ones in my house.
When we get home, my mom offers to make me some soup and I take her up on that. If she’s cooking, she won’t see me checking for ghosts in the house.
“Where do you think you’re going, young lady? You should be resting in bed. Doctor’s orders for the next twenty-four hours. I’ll bring the soup upstairs when it’s ready.”
“I need to stretch my legs though. I’ve been laying in bed for three days, apparently. My legs will stop working if I don’t walk around a bit.”
“That’s nonsense. You just need to rest for one more day and then you can be up and about again.”
“Ugh! Fine. Can you bring up my laptop so I can watch some shows, at least? I think I’ve slept enough.”
“I’ll have your dad bring it up soon.”
I settle into my room and put on my comfiest pajamas. Then I start searching in the closet, under the bed, behind the drapes, and anywhere else a ghost might be hiding, waiting to make their presence known. No sign of anyone by the time my mom arrives with the soup.
“What are you looking for?”
“I thought I lost an earring.”
“You’re wearing your earrings. Now get into bed.”
After I have some delicious homemade chicken soup, I turn on my laptop and put Ghosts on. Maybe this will lure the ones in my house out of hiding as I still haven’t seen any yet. I laugh my way through a few episodes before calling it quits because my eyes don’t want to stay open anymore. Maybe when everyone else goes to bed, a ghost will come out of hiding and visit me.
It’s three in the morning and while I’ve heard some usual household creaks and groans, there hasn’t been any sign of someone who died in this house and didn’t get "sucked off" (as they say on the show). I whisper, as to not wake my parents. “Is anyone here who is not currently alive? I am nice and won’t hurt you. It’s safe to come out.” I look at the clock as the minutes tick by without any ghosts showing up. I finally give up for the night and go back to sleep.
“Mortimer, she’ll never be able to see us. We need to try some new tactics.”
“Loretta, I don’t know what else we can do. Clearly breaking that stair by the attic didn’t work.”
“Well, we don’t want her to see us by becoming a ghost herself. Then she won’t be able to do anything for us and we’ve seen how useful the girl on that colorful little screen is…”
