Let me set the scene: It is late at night, it has just rained close to an hour ago, and there I am, in the park by my house, walking Momo, my dog.

It is dark. It is silent.

And then out of nowhere, a sound pierces the silent night.

It the sound of a child's laughter, bright and merry, in this pitch black park at night.

So I do the only thing that any sane individual would do in this situation.

I FUCKING SCREAM

BECAUSE THERE ARE VERY, VERY FEW THINGS MORE TERRIFYING THAN THE SOUND OF A CHILD LAUGHING LATE AT NIGHT IN THE PARK

There I am, shining light this way and that way, and there is no one. Just me, Momo, and the orange and grey cats that live in the park, both staring at me judgmentally as lights go on in the windows of some of the houses that border the park.

And that's when I see, across the street from the park, a family getting into an SUV, leaving some sort of social event, with a VERY happy toddler, who squees and laughs again.

The same laugh that terrified the fuck out of me because for a moment, I was honestly convinced that the park next to my house might have been haunted by the ghost of a toddler.

I can't wait to see if someone posts about the scream on Nextdoor or something.