Fear & ghosts

The thing about old fears and ghosts is they always seem to return on matter how many times you thought you already confronted them and shook them off. I came home friday night at about ten thirty. A door that should not be open was open and i heard a noise. I live alone. I backed out into the parking lot. I was captive to an old returning fear. A specific memory that resembled this scenario, one of the most scared moments of my life. I called the police who said they were a little busy but that they'd come by when they could. As i sat out in the parking lot waiting for them, i realized i was being ruled by my fear. I thought that it was unlikely that i would have another chance at confronting this fear in such a concrete form. Once the police showed, the opportunity would be gone. I tried to gather up some courage. I had the quick epiphany that courage is not an emotion, but rather a logic. Courage is using logic to combat emotion, and walk towards what everything else is telling you to run away from. Part II - reason over instinct So i said courage is a logic but not necessarily logical. Logic would side with fear and say, wait for the police, be safe. But at what cost? To always be afraid of coming home alone or jump whenever i thought i heard a noise from the next room? The logic is to overcome instinct and be more than a cowering animal. The logic is in making the decision, having the determination to go forward without looking back. As i said this was a quick epiphany. I had this notion in the space of about a minute. I did not take the time to articulate it till now. So, having resolved to confront my terror, i walked into my apartment and , armed with a screwdriver, checked every dark corner in every closet and space of the place. The police showed about an hour later. The intruder might have made a quick get away through the other door earlier when i first came home. That would explain the noise i heard. Nothing was missing. Who knows? Maybe that door unlocked and opened itself somehow. Atleast there was a lesson in it all. UPDATE: It was indeed an intruder. The apartment manager found a ladder up to the neighbors window. They got in through that unit and itno mine from an accompanying door that's supposed to be locked at all times. I've since gotten a latch for the door in question so I can keep it locked from my side as well. I figure that I got home not too long after they had been in there. I had only been gone for about 45 minutes, having felt prompted to take a walk a little earlier. When I first got back and saw the door open, so I knocked on it and yelled "hello?". THat was when I heard the noise, which was probably them scrambling out the neighbors front door. Or they might have heard me opening my front door and ran at that point.