Twelve years are spent in the school system with four of those twelve years made up of being in high school. We spend those four years deciding who is a true friend and who has no remorse in becoming a ghost in our lives. The hope is that they become a lifelong friend, but some become a memory that haunts your mind.

Halloween and friendships share one thing in common: they both come and go like a ghost haunting a house filled with memories. To be ghosted by a friend is to leave so abruptly and without trace or explanation, many times like a ghost would. 

“Being ghosted is probably one of the worst feelings that could happen in a friendship and honestly in high school,” senior Ava Kowalskii said. “It’s just something you never forget and seems to always leave a bitterness in your heart.”

It’s difficult finding friends worth keeping in high school, especially when those around you are ever-changing. 

“I have always struggled with finding the right people in my life, and I tend to self sabotage myself before allowing them to hurt me first because I have been ghosted, and it’s a horrible feeling,” senior Bella Gruber said. “However, people have proved to me that they want the best and only the best for me and my life.”

Though it’s difficult to form relationships and foster them, it’s even more difficult keeping those relationships. While many think a friendship is easy, at times, they can truly be a relationship that needs nurturing. Many don’t understand that and choose to walk away. 

Forming friendships like these are wonderful in the limelight but being blindsided by the light of what seemed like a wonderful relationship is always difficult. 

“Being tricked by someone I thought was a good friend, who I trusted, feels like being backstabbed and blindsided,” senior Mia Gonzalez said. “It also creates a level of foreshadowing trust issues in future relationships which can be the worst part of the whole thing.” 

Many times, the distraction of everything being seemingly fine and joyful are all just lurking in the shadow of someone’s sudden abandonment. Those memories, however, cling beyond the relationship. 

“There really aren’t any regrets or lingering memories and everything that happened, happened for a reason,” Gruber said. “The memories and pain of getting ghosted do not fit into my life anymore, especially once I finally realized that I did decide to fill my life with friends who bring you joy that are heaven sent.” 

There’s always a sudden shift in the world when someone we were once familiar with moves on. At times, we question, “why did the friendship end?” or “why is it that their ghost still haunts me?” Yet in actuality, the ghost of someone who meant something to you will always remain. Settle, for the ghost that now haunts you was once a friend.