I saw the ghosts haunting my new place the very first night.
By then it was too late of course. I had been through hell trying to find a place, I had already signed the lease, and this was the perfect spot, close to the hospital where I worked, affordable yet nice and newly-renovated.
Anyway, I soon realised the ghosts wouldn’t harm me, indeed they seemed to have no interest in me, nor I in them. I worked hard, long shifts and I was usually dead on my feet by the time I got home, barely staying awake long enough to shovel some food down my throat before falling asleep on the couch, dragging myself bleary-eyed to bed a couple of hours later. A few shadows flitting here and there, a few whispers and groans were hardly going to bother me, I saw much worse at work.
I guess it was weird that they all had broken necks. Every single one of them. The young boy who couldn’t have been more than fourteen. The pregnant girl. The good-looking tall man who looked like a young Paul Newman. Even with a broken neck, his head lying sideways on his shoulders, the charm of his bright blue eyes and his dashing smile shone. I wondered how many women had fallen at his feet when he flashed that smile at them when he was still alive,
There were many more. They flitted around the corners of my apartment- I caught sight of them hanging around the elevators and stairwells, muttering and sighing. They vanished behind the shower curtain just as I would enter the bathroom and disappeared into the closet as I fell into bed.
My first day off since I moved there was a brilliant sunny day, one of those perfect early fall days that are so much more beautiful than anything spring or summer can ever offer. I felt the fatigue of the week seeping out of my bones as I lounged in the kitchen, holding my coffee. Even the sight of the boy scurrying out of the window, his head perched awkwardly on his shoulder didn’t dampen my spirts.
It did however pique my curiosity. Seriously, what was with the broken necks?
I moved to the window and looked out into the morning sun. In the sunlight, I could clearly see a cluster of them on the fire escape landing.
The fire escape stairs weaved its way down the back of the building, narrow black metal steps with a small landing on each floor. There must have been four of them huddled closely on the landing beneath mine.
And then I noticed, they were not alone. My neighbour in the unit below me, a young woman with shining browny-yellow hair was seated with them. The only one of the group who was alive, her neck straight and unbroken, wearing fresh modern clothes. I had already realised the ghosts were all mostly dressed in grimy tatters, except of course for Paul Newman, who was sharply dressed in black.
I had seen her few times already, enough to say “hi” and do that half-hearted smile and nod thing. She seemed like a smart, well-put-together young woman, with a nice long career ahead of her.
But I guess there was no reason for her not to see the ghosts, much like I did.
And more than that. It was evident by the relaxed way she was sitting with the on the landing, her legs dangling off the side, that she had already developed a relationship with them.
The sight of her chatting away with the ghosts made me uneasy, in a way that just sighting the ghosts, their whispers and their sighs around the building never did. What on earth were they talking about in such an animated fashion?
Innocently, I opened my own kitchen door and stepped out onto my landing.
I could hear their voices, though low, quite clearly- even through the shouts of the children playing on the grassy area outside.
“We won Charlie’s case!” I heard my living neighbour say. “Honestly, it’s a personal victory for me, I hope you appreciate that. His family are going to be comfortable now.”
“Eeeee that’s nice Katie” said the pregnant girl. “Good for you. I was wondering where he’d got to, I missed seeing him all mopey and mangled up on the grounds, with his bloody yellow vest. He found peace then. Good job Katie!”
I saw Katie smiling. “Yup- it was hard, and the company put up a brutal fight. But I did it!”
“Good for him then! And you. But what does that get us, eh? We’re just still left here, aren’t we, like always!” cried the young boy, his eyes staring upwards at Katie.
I looked at Katie’s earnest young face through the metal railings, full of pity and heartache for these wretched ghosts and I knew she wanted to help them find peace, too. I kept listening, and learning.
The building was on the site of the old courthouse, and the stairwell was exactly where the city gallows stood. “It was Judge Wilson” Mary said. She was the pregnant girl.
Mary had been hung for murdering her master who had slept with her. Her youthful beauty shone through despite her broken neck. They had said she had tricked the jail-warden into impregnating her to escape hanging, even though she was already pregnant when arrested. They said her bastard should die with her. Her master and his wife had made sure of it, not wanting any rivals for their own children around. She told the story as she must have done so many times before, the pain, anger, and bewilderment in her voice still fresh, untarnished by the passage of time.
“I know the Wilson family”, said Katie, her voice clear through the shuffling mumbling ghost voices. “They own the development company which built this place- the company we sued for Charlie. Still city bigwigs.”
“ ‘e was a cruel wicked man. It’s not right ‘is family prancin’ aboot town while we’re all stuck ‘ere, can’t move on becuz of ‘is wickedness.” This was Johnny, who would have turned fourteen the day after he was hung for being part of a notorious crime gang. The leader of the gang had struck a deal with the court and given up Johnny as part of the deal. The gang-leader’s descendants today were partners in the Wilson development company.
Katie sighed. “It wasn’t just Judge Wilson- it was all corrupt!”
They clustered around her, their sideways faces pleading. “Please Katie. Free us too.”
The Paul Newman smile flashed crookedly “You’ll do it for me Katie, right?
My blood ran cold.
“Others might die. There are children here!” Katie protested.
Mary cradled her belly. “And my child isn’t dead? There has to be blood.”
I knew Katie would do what it was they were asking her to do. Even though I don’t remember making any movement or noise, I must have done, because suddenly all of them, Katie included, turned up, looking straight at me.
Those terrible sideways faces and eyes the wrong way around, staring at me through the railings still haunt my nightmares.
“e’s been listening to us!” cried out Mary.
“maybe ‘e’s with the Wilsons! A spy!” said Johhny.
I turned and without saying a word, I went inside.
But I couldn’t stay. The walls of the apartment were bearing down on me, the whispers and sighs, so harmless before, were piercing my brain. I threw on a jacket and went outside to clear my head.
I walked quickly through the children’s ball game on the grassy, reaching a secluded wooded area further out.
I felt better, my heart rate slowing as I wandered among the trees, breathing deeply.
And then I heard a footstep, a breaking twig.
I turned around but it was too late. The last thing I saw was Katie, bearing down on me with a bat. A flash went off in my head and I tumbled down into darkness.
***
I swam back to consciousness. My head was throbbing and white lights were drilling into me.
A voice said “There he is! You may not think it now, but you were one of the lucky ones. Being in the hospital saved you.“
I concentrated. It was my colleague speaking, looking kindly down at me.
“What happened?” I croaked.
She gave me some water. “They found you unconscious in the woods, with head trauma. They picked up the person who will be charged with starting the fire- the police were over here, they think it’s the same person who attacked you.”
I blinked. “What fire?”
“Oh honey- of course- you wouldn’t know. Sorry I’ve been rushed off my feet. Burn victims in the corridors. I have to run. But your building - yes. It’s gone. One of your neighbours went apeshit and burned it down last night.”
She left.
***
I watched Katie’s trial. She calmly described how easy it had been to set the building on fire. The Wilson contractors had cheated on the insulating materials, and within ten minutes, the whole edifice was aflame. She showed no remorse.
Twenty-five people died, several by throwing themselves and their children out off the windows on the higher floors. Not as many as had hung wrongfully, but enough to free their ghosts.
For when I was able, I walked around the burnt ruins of the building. It was peaceful, with no signs of the ghosts.