I heard that the haunted Toys R Us in Sunnyvale where I worked for a short time had closed and then this month transformed into something more apropos of the ghosts…

I don’t pay much attention to the living, but even for me the signs were pretty obvious.

When this building opened in 1970, I couldn’t have been happier. Well, truth be told, I couldn’t be much before that. See, I died in 1851. Consumption. I was 8. Just wasted away. I remember being sick…  I remember my mom and dad and how worried they were. And then I closed my eyes and… nothing for a long time. Until the Toys R Us, really. I opened my eyes and I was surrounded by aisle upon aisle of stuffed animals and toys. You can’t imagine how excited I was!

Then the living came in and… well, they weren’t much fun. In fact, their presence reminded me that I wasn’t alive. After closing the energy of the living flowed out of the building and I could play. The stuffed animals were my favorite and I’d play with them all night long. When the employees showed up in the morning, they were pretty surprised by all the stuffed animals in the aisles. But it took a lot of energy to get those things down – I wasn’t about to expend energy to put them back. Leave that for the living!

I thought we’d gotten into a good rhythm of things and the morning employees eventually got used to one more pre-opening chore. But soon enough I noticed people coming into the store whispering “ghost…” and I knew they were looking for me. I wasn’t the only ghost in the place, but the others I encountered never stuck around much. I don’t know how to explain it, really, but they would show up and fade away after a few days or weeks. Some would see me, and we would talk – some worked on my family’s land here. Most I’d never seen before. Others clearly came from a different time – there were Indians, the occasional prospector, and Mexican men and women. A little boy who said he was from the Ramaytush Ohlone tribe that lived here long before I did. We played together for… I don’t even know. Months? Years? I was sad when he left. He just stopped appearing at night as suddenly as when he showed up.

Then the mediums showed up with TV cameras. I didn’t pay them any mind. I had no interest in communicating with the living. Some of the other ghosts played along, though. This one man, James, made up all these crazy details he told to one of the lady psychics who came a few times. James didn’t hang around for too long, either – no one does. Just me.

You’re probably wondering why I’m here. I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know. I’ve thought maybe it’s because I died when I was young maybe the energy of kids in the toy store brought me back into being when the store opened. That’s the best idea I came up with.

But like I said, over time I could see there weren’t as many living passing through the store. And then one day they put up a big “Going out of business” sign and the store got really busy for a little while. I didn’t like that, though, because all my toys got bought and weren’t being restocked. Every single one of my stuffed animals left one by one by one. Eventually it came down to just the bare fixtures – and even those got bought. The day came when the manager walked through the store for the last time. He turned out the lights and made his way to the exit. I walked next to him talking to him. “What’s going to happen? What’s next? Who am I going to play with?” But he couldn’t hear me. I knew that. But… I was scared. He turned around looking right through me, then locked the door for the last time.

And then I was alone.

With no more living coming in, I wandered day and night. But there wasn’t much to do. None of the other ghosts showed up. It was really lonely. I tried to sleep – tried to close my eyes and hoped I wouldn’t wake up, you know? Because maybe without the toys, without the ebb and flow of the living, maybe I would be like one of those transient ghosts and just disappear for real this time. But I didn’t. I woke up time and time again without any idea how long I slept.

But I fell asleep one day and I must have been asleep for a while because when I woke up I was surrounded not by toys but by ghosts! Okay, ghost costumes, and witches, and monsters, and everything spooky. The sign no longer read “Toys R Us” but instead, “Spirit Halloween” I was so excited! The living poured into the store again. Their energy brought the transient ghosts at night again and I wasn’t alone anymore.

I’ve been paying attention to the living more. I can hear them talk about how this isn’t a permanent thing. About how it’s going be closed again after Halloween. That’s not long off. But I’m going to enjoy playing with the costumes and fake tombstones and skeleton animals until they empty the place out again. And then? Maybe I’ll sleep for a long time again.