On the Corner of 5th
and Sheridan
by Michael Shimek
Madeline Jenkins had just moved into
her new apartment three days ago. After living in the busy and hectic city (which
she still loved) for many years, it was time for a change—it had nothing to do with the recent break up
with her ex-boyfriend. She was still
getting to know the neighborhood, which was a quiet, relaxing, and ordinary
area, but it felt perfect.
Or so she thought.
It was a Thursday night, and Maddie had
just gotten off work at her waitressing job. The job was a filler for the next
month, something to help keep her steady and comfortable until her real job as
a dental hygienist started at the nearby Klein Family Dental. She had some
money saved up and really didn’t have to work, but she liked to keep busy and
only sought out something that wouldn’t keep her too long into the night. After
her second day at Peppy’s Bar and Grill, she was ready to flop on her couch at
her new home and unwind with a pint of strawberry ice cream and her reality
drama shows.
The sun was low in the pink and red sky;
the orange ball already began its descent below the horizon. Buildings, cars,
people, and trees were awash in a blonde hue. Cool, autumn air and the pleasant
smell of fallen and dry leaves seeped in through a small crack in Maddie’s Ford
Focus.
There were two more miles before her
apartment complex came into view. She followed a main road, then after a mile
turned off onto some side roads. She was two blocks away, in a remote part of
the neighborhood, when she saw the woman on the corner of 5th and
Sheridan.
The woman was young. Her brown hair was
tied in a ponytail, she wore a faded blue dress that belonged in the early 1900s,
and her skin was a pale white. A hand rested against an unlit streetlight and
her head was bowed; she looked alone and morose. As Maddie’s car approached,
the stranger looked up with forlorn in her eyes.
Maddie pulled over and rolled down her
window. “Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with? You look a little
lost or troubled.”
The woman’s lips moved, but only a
whisper escaped.
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said, “I didn’t
quite get that.”
The woman’s eyes widened and darted
back and forth. Her mouth opened in a scream, but again there was only the
slightest of a whisper. A hand went up as if blocking an attack, and then the
woman faded away.
Maddie stifled a scream. She stared in
disbelief. Like a fog pushed away by a gusty breeze, the stranger had vanished in front of her eyes. As
quickly as she could, she peeled her car out of there. She rushed to her
apartment and deadbolt locked the door the moment she was inside. For the rest
of the evening, she huddled on the couch with Fluffs, her cat.
Needless to say, Maddie did not sleep a
wink that night.
#
During a sleepy next day, Maddie got a
phone call from her best friend back in the city. Her thoughts were scattered,
and the encounter with the apparition accidentally slipped out.
“That’s ridiculous, Mads. Ghosts don’t
exist.”
“I thought so too, but now I don’t
know.”
Maddie knew she shouldn’t have told
anyone about the little encounter, and she definitely
should not have told Jana, Ms. Criticizer of Everything.
“Well, okay, besides the ghost, how is your new place? Are you loving it?”
“So far, yeah. It’s a nice area, and
everything I need or want is close.”
“And no more of that jackass, Bryant.”
“So true. I hope to never see that pathetic excuse for a man
again in my life.”
“I hear you. So, when are you going to
have me down to see your awesome new pad and show me the scary ghost?”
“I will show you! When you come down,
I’ll take you to the streetlight I saw her under.”
“Oh, it was a her?”
“Uh huh. I’ll show you. She’s real. I
promise.”
The conversation ended with Maddie
reciting her new address and Jana taking forever to find a pen and jot it down.
#
“That’s creepy, Maddie. I think maybe
you should call the police.”
While still keeping an eye on the road,
Maddie glanced at Jana and saw a concerned look on her friend’s face.
“Yeah, I probably should,” Maddie said,
“but I really don’t want to cause anymore trouble.”
“Mads, he’s the one who is causing trouble. This is the second time he’s
called and threatened you. Call the police. It’s what you should, no, need to do.”
“I guess…oh! Here, we’re coming up to 5th
and Sheridan.”
“And this is where you saw the ghost?”
“Yeah, right there on the corner, under
the streetlight.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Yeah…I don’t either. Let me circle
around. Maybe we’ll catch something the second time around.”
Maddie brought the car around the block
one more time, but there was no sign of the ghost she had seen three nights
ago. Disappointed, her high nerves and giddiness dwindled. She took her friend
back to her apartment where she showed off her new place. The rest of the night
consisted of the two women drinking and having a great time talking about the
ghost and badmouthing Maddie’s ex.
#
The woman was standing on the corner
again. Maddie drove her car around the block to make sure she wasn’t just
seeing things, and the ghost was still there.
Maddie was beyond tense. Before when
she had talked to the woman, there was no inkling that she had been talking to
a spirit of the afterlife. Now knowing full well the truth about the woman,
Maddie couldn’t stop shaking. She was curious though, and she had to know more.
She parked her car at the other end of
the street. As to not spook the spook, she slowly and quietly exited her car.
She crept towards the woman, who looked dim in the darkening sky of the early
evening. When only a few feet separated them, Maddie spoke.
“Miss? I came upon you the other night.
I want to help.”
The ghost turned around. Like the time
before, her pasty face was full of misery. Each eye had a stream of shimmering
tears rolling down her cheeks.
“It’s okay,” Maddie said. “There’s
nothing to be afraid of. There’s no reason to be sad. You might be dead, but
I’m sure there’s so much more for you than fretting over your past life.”
She had no idea if what she said made
any sense; she really didn’t know what she was doing, going off what she had
seen on TV and in movies. She probably should have researched it more on the
internet, but ghosts scared her—she was actually really surprised and proud of
herself for doing something like this.
The woman reached out and touched
Maddie’s arm. Frozen solid from fear, a small electric shock jolted her when
the ghost made contact. An image of her ex flashed in her mind before quickly
retreating. The woman bowed and then vanished.
Maddie waited on the corner for a few
more minutes. With the sun now gone, she turned back to her car. She was
scared, sure, but what had transpired between them—what was that shock all
about?—made her interest in the occurrence outweigh her fear. Driving her car
the very short ride home, she made a promise to see if she could do more to
help the poor woman on the corner of 5th and Sheridan.
#
“Jana, he won’t leave me alone. I’m
thinking of getting a new number.”
“Haven’t you called the police yet?”
“Well…”
“Mads!”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble!
Bryant may be a jerk, but he would never harm me. I don’t want him in my life
anymore, but I also don’t want to hurt him.”
“This won’t be hurting him, this will
be letting him know that if he comes near you, he’s getting fucking arrested.”
“Maybe. I’ll be fine. He can be a pain,
but I’ll get a new number and he’ll get over it.”
“I don’t know…”
“On to other and more cheery topics, I
talked to the ghost again last night.”
“Talking about a dead person is more
cheery?”
“She touched me.”
“Get out. Are you serious, Maddie?”
“Yeah. It was weird, there was a shock
and a flash of an image in my head.”
“Creepy. What was the image?”
Maddie paused. She was reluctant to
say, but she said the name anyways. “Bryant. I saw Bryant.”
“See, even the ghost is trying to warn
you about him. He’s bad news.”
“Nah, I don’t think it’s that. She
looked sad, though, and I told her not to be scared and that everything was
going to be all right. I was trying to help her; you know, to cross on over to
the other side.”
“Did it work?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think so. She
just disappeared like last time. It was disturbing, watching a solid looking
person dissolve into mist and then float away. I’ll try again; she makes me
feel so sad when I see her.”
“Maybe you can start up your own
business: Maddie The Ghost Hunter! She’ll Send Your Deceased Loved Ones Where
They Belong.”
“And you can be my assistant! I think
we could make a great duo.”
“Ha! Yeah, I’ll be right over and we’ll
get this business plan started.”
“Actually, I could use some more
assistance in this.”
“Mads, I would if I could. I’ve got so
much work this week and weekend; I probably won’t be able to come back down
until sometime next week.”
“No, that’s cool. I understand. But I’m
still going to try and help the ghost out.”
“Okay, but be careful, Mads. I don’t
want to hear about your body being found torn limb from limb on that corner.”
“Gee, thanks. I’m glad you have so much
confidence in me, Jana.”
“You know what you should do. You
should look online or research at the library and see if there were any murders
or killings that have happened near that area.”
The next day, that’s exactly what
Maddie did.
#
On the rainy and dreary morning, Maddie
called in sick to work. Feeling motivated but lazy, she stayed in her pajamas,
brewed up a cup of hot chocolate, and spent most of the morning on the
internet. She found some good information on how to peacefully deal with ghosts
and help send them to the hereafter, but not much on the woman in question; if
she wanted to find out more, she would have to venture out. She grabbed a quick
lunch from a café across the street from the local library, and then she
retreated to the large and old building for the rest of the afternoon. As the
hours passed, her luck was running very low. She struck gold when the library
was fifteen minutes to closing.
Elizabeth Caroline Pritchett: born
3/19/1888, died 6/22/1910. She was a daughter, a seamstress, and the wife to an
abusive husband—he was a suspect, but never tried. Her body was found battered
and bruised on the corner of 5th and Sheridan on June 22nd,
1910. Her “unknown” killer was never discovered. After a week, she was laid to
rest and became old news.
She had everything she needed. It was
time to help the poor girl.
It was already dark by the time Maddie
left for home. The rain had picked up, and now thunder and lightning were mixed
into the equation as well. As she drove by 5th and Sheridan, the
precipitation was thick and it was hard for her to see, but there was no sign
of the ghost. She circled the block and drove by one more time, but there was
no one under the streetlight. Disappointed, Maddie was just about to exit her
car and walk into her apartment complex when her cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hello, my name is Martha, and I’m a
nurse at St. Jude’s Hospital. Is this Madeline Jenkins?”
“Um, yes.”
“Ms. Jenkins, I’m afraid I have some
bad news…”
The nurse continued to tell an
increasingly worried Maddie about how Jana was involved in an accident. She was
relieved to hear her friend would live through the fractured skull and broken
ribs, but apparently someone had caused those injuries on purpose. The suspect
was still at large, and the nurse wondered if Maddie knew anyone who might have
wanted to cause Jana harm.
“Bryant,” she whispered. But not
because that was her guess, she knew. She knew because he stood out in the
rain, a large shadow looming over her side of the car. “Oh, God, he’s here.
It’s Bryant Williams—"
The door opened and she was yanked from
the vehicle. Warm rain slapped her face as she flew through the air. She landed
painfully and skidded against the rocks and sharp edges of the parking lot. She
picked herself up and saw a man about to explode storming towards her.
“How could I have not been good enough
for you? I did everything for you! I
told you I would change, but you just had to move on out of the city away from
me. I meant it when I said if I can’t have you, no one will.”
Bryant charged and Maddie ran. In her
confused and panicked state, she ran blindly through the torrent of rain. She
looked around for anyone to help, but the streets were devoid of life, with
everyone staying dry in their homes. Running and screaming, she wasn’t looking
and conked her head on a large metal pole. Struggling with the new dizziness,
someone grabbed her and whipped her around.
“I’m sorry, Maddie. It didn’t have to
be like this. If you would have only accepted my apologies, you wouldn’t have
to die under this streetlight.”
The first punch was hard against her
left temple. The one strike crumpled her to the ground. She wobbled to stand
up, but a kick to the chest snapped a bone or two inside and brought her back
down.
“Please, Bryant,” she said, pleading
with him. “Don’t do this.”
“It’s too late, Maddie.”
Madeline looked up to face the man that
would be her killer. She spat at him before watching his right foot raise and
descend toward her head. She waited for the pain, but there was none. A pale
figure appeared next to Bryant and shoved him to the side. The man slipped on
the wet sidewalk and curb before tumbling into the street. The headlights of a
passing car bumped up and down in several sickening crunches before the vehicle
came to a screeching halt. As the world began to darken, Maddie smiled at the
figure who saved her life. The woman who always looked so unhappy and miserable
was now smiling and held a look of satisfaction on her face. She bowed her head
and dematerialized in a puff of smoke.
Maddie never saw the ghost on the
corner of 5th and Sheridan again. She looked every time she passed,
but the woman was gone for good.
END
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