I stopped in front of the old 5-story building. I had seen it's like many times before. It was just an old run down tenement building that had probably been sitting there for at least 50 years. The brick was crumbling in places, it was covered in graffiti, I figured the only reason the building wasn't condemned was because the city had just plain forgotten about it. There was a small store located on the lowest level that was still open, it seemed to be the only part of the building in use as all the windows I could see on the other levels were boarded up. I wasn't certain if the store was actually on the first floor or the basement since it was partially underground, but the sign on the door was advertising a clearance sale. For no reason I could fathom the building just 'called' to me, and so I entered.
I knew as soon as I entered the door that I was wasting my time here. The store was full fake gaudy jewelry and clothes only a teenager would wear, and then only if they had lost all sense of fashion and decorum. I just needed a decent pair of jeans. The store took up the entire floor of the building however, and I figured maybe amidst all the racks he could find a pair that wasn't bleached or tie-dyed. Near the middle of the floor was a large staircase going up to the next floor. Although there weren't many people browsing for clothes, there was a line of people coming down the stairs. Looking up the stairs it looked like just storage up there, but I didn't see any 'employee only' signs, so I decided to go up the stairs and see if there was more of a selection up there.
“Mommy! Let's go!” the little girl wailed.
I glanced over at what I assumed were a mother and daughter in front of one of the cash registers. The mother was ignoring the very loud crying and screaming coming from the 5-year-old girl tugging at her dress and was apparently discussing price with the cashier.
“We've been here forever, let's go now!” the child cried, tears streaming down her face.
I couldn't believe the mother didn't take that child and spank right here and now. What was this world coming to? Parents not disciplining their children properly. On top of that I couldn't find a single decent shirt with buttons to buy. Nothing but T-shirts these days. Sighing I ascended up the stairs to look at the racks full of clothes on the next level, muttering a brief apology as I almost bump into someone standing in line.
As I reach the next level I look down the hallway. All the apartment doors look the same. The apartment manager really needs to put back the door numbers that are missing from almost all the doors, it's confusing. The place is really run down with cracks in the walls in places.
“Your late.” A familiar voice calls out.
“I'm sorry” I reply
“Well come in, come in, better late then never.” an old woman says beckoning him from within the door closest to the stairway.
Of course, first door on the left. How could I have forgotten that?
I enter and sit down in my usual spot, the breeze from the open window feels good on a hot day like this.
She puts on a wide hat with long threads of yarn around the brim that hang down in front, obscuring her face, each thread ending in a small ball.
“Well put yours on too.” she says pointing to an identical hat in his hand
I put the hat on, the threads hanging down prevent me from seeing clearly. I spread them apart with my hands.
“What are you doing?” She asks “Haven't you been practicing your lessons this past week?”
How could she ask that? She knows how important these lessons are to me.
“Of course” I respond
“Then do it... with flourish.” and as she says this she gestures with her hands and without touching them the threads part and out of the way, so she can see.
I move my hands in the same manner and the threads on my hat part exactly like hers.
“You have been practicing.” She smiles “You're more powerful than the last time we met.”
She lifts out of her chair and begins floating through the room. I haven't had enough lessons to successfully do this, though not for lack of trying. While trying to understand how she did this a little girl I have never seen before enters with tear stains on her cheeks. The old woman floats down into her chair again. The little girl begins to cry. A feeling of deja vu passes over me as I watch her cry, but it quickly fades and is forgotten.
“She doesn't believe me.” the little girl blubbers “She won't come with me.”
“Of course” the older woman replies “I already told you, the dead won't believe. They think they're still alive, so they continue to do what they did in life.”
The little girl hangs her head down “There's nothing I can do for mommy?”
“No, you believe, so you can continue on to the next world, but you will need to do so without her.”
The girl looks forlorn for a moment then brightens up as she grabs the old woman's hand and starts trying to pull her up.
“You can come with me though! You're my friend, so I won't have to go alone.”
The old woman shakes her head and replies “I'm sorry, the journey you must take is for the dead alone. I can't go with you because I'm not dead.”
“Yes you are!” the girl retorts “You are too dead! So you come with me now!”
The woman just chuckled “Not yet, once I pass away then I will make the journey myself, but I am quite alive and can not go with you.”
“No you will come with me now!” The girl started appeared on the verge of a tantrum “You're just like mommy and all those other dead people who think they're alive and won't believe they're dead.”
The old woman stopped for a moment at what she had been told. Slowly she nodded her head in agreement.
“You're right,” she said “We should go together.”
Hand in hand they walked out to the main hall and started down the stairs. As they did I gazed around at my surrounding for what seemed the first time. The place was a mess, there were now holes in the walls, all the windows were boarded up. The apartment had obviously not been lived in for some time. Looking down the main hallway I saw dust and rat droppings lying thick on the floor. The people standing in line down the stairs were still there, however I noticed they were just standing there and did not appear to be waiting for anything. They all gazed at me without any form of expression. I looked up the stairwell as it circled above me into infinity. As far as I could see there were people standing in line, all of them quietly gazing down at me with the same uninterested stare. Looking down I saw the same stretch to infinity in the opposite direction with an equally infinite number of faces looking up at me. For reasons I do not know, I climbed up the stairs to the next floor.
As I reach the next floor could hear sounds of struggle coming from my friend's apartment. Opening the door I saw him squeezing his wife's throat. Choking the life from my lover. He glances up at me.
“YOU!” He snarls in rage.
Fear fills me as I look in his eyes and realize he has discovered our affair. He drops her body, whether dead or unconscious I do not know. He starts to stand looking at me with murder in his eyes. I run up the stairs to try to escape him.
I stop to catch my breath as I reach the top floor. If they're still chasing me there is nothing I can do without taking a minute or two to rest. Everything had gone wrong, they knew we were coming,we had a traitor among us. I open the door and let myself in.
“Boss, we got to go. Someone's squealed and it's only a matter of time before the cops find us here.”
He gazes at me with those cold eyes of his. We can both hear police sirens in the distance, but they're slowly getting stronger.
“You're right” He says “We do have a traitor.”
He pulls a gun while someone grabs me from behind.
“Wha...” I start to say.
“You were the only one that got away, then you led them straight here!”
I knew I wasn't the traitor, but I saw how it looked. The boss was no fool, the only people he confided the plan to were those of us that were in on it tonight, and I was the only one that got away. I had no clue who had betrayed us, but I also knew it didn't matter anymore. The boss was already convinced I was to blame for the fiasco and I knew nothing I could say or do would change his mind. He took aim at me. I twisted out of the arm lock I was being held in. I ran towards the only unguarded door which led into a bedroom. I barely made it to the threshold when I was tackled by the boss's guard. He lifted me up but this time I couldn't wrest myself free. The boss walked up, pressed the barrel of the gun to my chest, and pulled the trigger.
I gazed dispassionately at the faces gazing back at me. They turned as one to look ahead of themselves instead of at me while I took my place at the back of the line.