On General Hospital, Esme Prince, played by Avery Kristen Pohl, may be gone from Port Charles, but she’s clearly still taking up psychic real estate — at least in Laura Collins’ (Genie Francis) subconscious. In one of the show’s most unsettling recent moments, Laura dreamed up both Esme and her brother Cyrus (Jeff Kober), the pair materializing like unfinished business she hasn’t figured out how to outrun.A Blink-and-You-Miss-It Return With a Lot of Feeling Behind It View this post on Instagram Instagram PostPohl spoke to Soap Opera Digest and described stepping back through the doors she first walked through at nineteen. She called the cameo “the quickest little pop-in, but… so fun to see everybody,” and said the timing — just a week after the Daytime Emmys — made the whole thing feel like a little reunion tucked inside a workday.The job came together fast. Her manager called, GH asked if she was game, and before she had time to overthink it, she was booked. “They were like, ‘Hey! thoughts, comments?’ And I was like, ‘Sure!’” she laughed. A few emails later, she was back in Esme's wardrobe, back in Esme’s boots, back on stage as if no time had passed.Pohl said the sweetest part was reuniting with Genie Francis (Laura), who greeted her warmly. “I always love seeing her,” she said. Finding out Esme would appear in Laura’s dream thrilled her — “Yay, I get to work with Genie again!” — and it shaped the way she approached the scene. (Check out how Alley Mills (Heather) cheered Pohl on.)Playing a Nightmare Version of Yourself — And Loving Every SecondGeneral Hospital's evil Esme yelling. | Image Source: ABCBecause Esme existed only in Laura’s mind, Pohl recalibrated her performance. “I definitely kept in mind that it was a dream,” she explained, adding that dreams let you break rules and throw social context out the window. She leaned into the idea that Laura felt guilty, hurt, tangled up in unresolved fear — and let that shape Esme’s energy. She further explained, “It was really enjoyable and fun, getting to step back into Esme. I loved it! I missed that girl a lot.”Filming wasn’t easy — she was sick and fighting brain fog — but the muscle memory surprised her. Once she stepped onstage, it clicked. No nerves, no stumbling. Just Esme, sharp-edged and strangely alive in someone else’s nightmare. And yes, she saw Jeff Kober again — a tiny full-circle moment, considering their characters barely crossed paths before. She also got to hear about his HBO gig on The Pitt, which delighted her enough to confess she’d binged the whole season twice.Returning to GH stirred a weird mix of nostalgia and growth. Pohl described it as “going back to high school,” the halls unchanged, her life very different. But sliding into Esme again felt like slipping into a version of herself she knows intimately — a character she admits she holds “near and dear.” And if GH called again? She’s open. She even teased a theory fans will love: “If there’s not a body, you’re not dead.”Esme, somewhere on a camel in Morocco, would probably agree. (Find out what the fans thought of Esme and Cyrus’ return.)General Hospital can be seen weekdays on ABC and Hulu.