Haunted

Actually, it's based on a Ben Moody story

"A little girl around 8 or 9 in a little white Easter dress is walking down a neighborhood street bouncing a little red ball. As she approaches an obviously deserted large house with a sinister demeanor, her attention moves from the ball to the house. Not paying attention to her bouncing, the ball hits the curb and ricochets toward the house. As she chases the little red ball toward the house, the ball picks up unnatural momentum and bounces right into the huge gaping front door. The little girl pauses for a moment, looks up at the house, which now appears to be staring down at her, and cautiously enters the house in search of her little red ball. as she slowly walks into the atrium, she surveys the decaying mess that once was obviously a beautiful mansion. She becomes mesmerized by the exquisite detail of every inch of the banister winding up the seemingly endless staircase in front of her. Suddenly her thoughts are broken by a horrifying commotion. She whips around to run out the front door, but finds only a blank wall where the door once stood. Frightened, she runs down the first hallway she sees, trying desperately to find a way out, but with every turn the world behind her changes, bending to the will of the house, so that even finding a path back to the atrium where she began becomes impossible. Terrified, the little girl sinks into a corner, puts her head in her hands, and weeps. 10 years later....

The little girl wakes up in a panic, now a young woman. Dirty, scarred. She's now clothed in black pants, work boots, and a black wife beater. Her skin is pale and dirty. Sun has not graced her flesh in over a decade. She wakes to find a meal placed on a dirty silver tray before her, just enough to sustain life, just like every morning before. Placed there by a figure she can only see in passing, around a corner, walking through a door.... a figure that has become her only friend, and her only hate. Her entire existence has become nothing but to hunt and destroy this shadow that keeps her here. As she hunts him relentlessly day after day, she becomes lost in the dichotomy of her being. This thing that keeps her here, this person that repeatedly rapes her mind and watches her when she sleeps, has become her only friend. For is this person left, she would cease to exist. For she live only to kill him. But lives only FOR him. Every day the house changes around her, so that every day she wakes in a foreign land. The only constant... is him. She hears his heart beating, she smells him, she can only think of finding him, but he is also the only thing she knows of love."

To me, this song seems to be about a girl who knows she's got a stalker obsessed with her- she knows that he thinks about her all the time, wanting her, imagining her...(raping me)- practically haunting her, but she won't let him get to her, and yet at the same time she's sort of intrigued by him. Like I said, it's just what the song makes me think, since that's what I first thought of when I heard it.

I do like the story behind the song, though- remind anyone a bit of The Phantom of the Opera? The book, I mean.

This song is about a story written by Ben Moody, about, hell, I'll just post the story.

A little girl around 8 or 9 in a little white easter dress is walking down a neighborhood street bouncing a little red ball. As she approaches an obviously deserted large house with a sinster demeanor, her attention moves from the ball to the house. Not paying attention to her bouncing, the ball hits the curb and ricochets toward the house. As she chases the little red ball toward the house, the ball picks up unatural momentum and bounces right into the huge gaping front door. THe little girl pauses for a moment, looks up at the house which now appears to be staring down at her, and cautiously enters the house in search of her little red ball. As she slowly walks into the atrium, she surveys the decaying mess that once was obviously a beautiful mansion. She becomes mesmerized by the exquisite detail of every inch of the banister winding up the seemingly endless staircase in front of her. Suddenly her thoughts are broken by a horrifying commotion. She whips around to run out the front door, but finds only a blank wall where the door once stood. Friqhtened, she runs down the first hallway she sees, trying desperately to find a way out, but with every turn the world behind her changes, bending to the will of the house, so that even finding a path back to the atrium where she began becomes impossible. Terrified, the little girl sinks into a corner, puts her head in her hands, and weeps.

10 years later....

The little girl wakes up in a panic, now a young woman.. dirty, scarred. She's now clothed in black pants, work boots, and a black wife beater. Her skin is pale and dirty. Sun has not graced her flesh in over a decade. She wakes to find a meal placed on a dirty silver tray before her, just enough to sustain life, just like every morning before. Placed there by a figure she can only see in passing, around a corner, walking through a door.... a figure that has become her only friend, and her only hate. Her entire existence has become nothing but to hunt and destroy this shadow that keeps her here. As she hunts him relentlessly day after day, she becomes lost in the dicotemy of her being. This thing that keeps her here, this person that repeatedly rapes her mind and watches her when she sleeps, has become her only friend. For if this person left, she would cease to exist. For she live only to kill him. But lives only FOR him. Every day the house changes around her, so that every day she wakes in a foreign land. The only constant... is him. She hears his heart beating, she smells him, she can only think of finding him, but he is also the only thing she knows of love.

I agree with goaldengoalie. I also have the CD, and the booklet does say in the first chorus: "Watching me, Wanting me, I can feel you pull me down, Fearing you, Loving you, I won't let you pull me down. If listened to closely, you can hear it.

I think this song is about being in an abusive relationship and not being able to get out, it's like you wanna leave, cuz you now it's bad for you, but you just can't (still can't find waht keeps me here) And even if u leave the relationship, the other person keeps coming back, like they're haunting you.

True, SnowWhite_Cinni, I've seen those lyrics of it before. I like your view of it, DRAMAGAL03, I've never heard it interpreted that way before. But it definitely makes sense.

I heard, originally, that it was based on a story where a little girl gets trapped in a haunted house, all alone with a ghost. 10 years later, she's still there, and she's obsessed with trying to find the ghost figure who keeps her there and feeds her so that she can kill it and get back to the real world. The description was so creepy, it was awesome. I found it at an Evanescence fan site, crimson-regret.com, so I don't know if that's really the meaning behind it, but yeah.... Cool thoughts on the song =).

i diagree w/ Firewraith.The lyris are NOT "I know I'll find you somehow"!!!!!!!!!! I'm listening to Evanescence's Fallen RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!! I think SOMEBODY(Firewraith)IS A LITTLE FUCKING DEAF!!!!!!!

I will always think about ghosts when I hear this song. It seems to make so much sense in that way. At least to me.

I'm pretty sure it's 'Reaping' not 'Raping'

That would fit the haunting theme much better, especially if it was about the book Ben read.

Uh...all I gots to say is what the heck? Stop posting the same story seven hundred times over. You're different screen names, same people. I only need to hear it once. You people just wanna beat it into my head. "This is the story and we're not changing it ever". Well! I guess I'm gonna be the one to change it! See, the band actually said "it's about a haunted house" basically. How can you ignorant fools just say "that is TOO simple, it's false, I know what it's about, the person that wrote it doesn't. It's clearly about rape". Let me explain this again, just because something says "rape" does not always mean that that song is strictly about rape. I don't even know how you got that! Ugh! I mean, it's like you didn't even read the seven hundred stories of the same thing! You people make me envy the blind sometimes!