Charlotte
By Paula Dimitroulakos
Late at night on Halloween, Mary Beth McBride just couldn't sleep.
Tomorrow was the ten-year anniversary of her friend Charlotte's disappearance.
Everybody she knew thought that Charlotte died, although nobody knew why
because a body had never been found. Mary wished that, by some miracle,
Charlotte would still show up alive.
Mary had to go out. She was crying. She went to a nearby coffee shop
open late at night. Even after she got served, she just couldn't stop crying. Mary
felt so sad. The lady on her left asked, "What's wrong, miss?"
"Oh," said Mary. "I think my friend Charlotte is dead, and it's been ten
years. We haven't heard anything from her, and they haven't found her body."
Replied the lady: "I do remember that story. It was big on TV. I'm so sorry to
hear. Maybe she is still alive. Miracles do happen."
"Yes. I suppose you are right," Mary said.
As the waiter came with her coffee and donut, Mary Beth calmed down a
little. But then it happened.
She looked up and saw a vision. "That's Charlotte," Mary Beth said to
herself. "Look at her. She's smiling, and she has her hands on her hips. Then look,
look, look! My poor Charlotte. Why I thought you were gone...but is it my
imagination that this is you? Oh, I have to leave!"
Mary ran out of the restaurant without touching her coffee and donut, and
without saying another word to the lady next to her. As she left, she looked back,
and the vision was gone.
Then she went home. As she opened the door, she felt a cool breeze and
smelled a whiff of perfume. "Where is that coming from?" she wanted to know. "I
bet the ghost of Charlotte is in my home."
' Mary Beth wanted so much to go up to the attic. She remembered that she
had tiny memories of Charlotte there: photo books, letters and things that
Charlotte had given her.
So she went on up. It was drafty and certainly spooky -- Very spooky. like
someone was watching her. As she walked toward the box in the corner where
she had things of Charlotte's, she couldn't go on. She seemed to be stuck. She
couldn't even move her shoes. "What?" she exclaimed. I can’t move!"
Then she heard a noise. "Mary, Mary, MARY," someone whispered
anonymously.
"Who is that?" wondered a startled Mary Beth. She looked up. She saw
another vision.
It was indeed a vision. but not of Charlotte. "Who are you? Oh, why are you
doing this? Why am I talking to a ghost?" Mary Beth implored. Then the most
unthinkable occurred. Now, she was able to move, but all of a sudden, the world
turned pitch black.
At first, Mary Beth didn’t know what to do. Then she inched forward, felt
for the door, and opened it. But when she looked down the stairs, she saw that
she wasn't in her home any longer. And when she looked straight ahead, she
glimpsed three more doors.
"How did these doors appear, and now, where am I?" she wailed. She
grabbed Charlotte's things, took the door on the left, and ran downstairs. This
was not her home. She ran on outside, and then she saw that this was not her
neighborhood, either.
So she panicked - really panicked. She noticed a house with a light on, so
she rang the bell. An old woman came out and said, "May I ask why you are
here?"
"My home is gone," Mary Beth responded. "It was the one next door."
"Houses don't disappear," the old woman said cautiously.
"Well mine did. I was in my attic. Then I noticed something was wrong.
When I went downstairs, I was sure that it wasn't my home," Mary Beth said.
"That is odd,” said the neighbor. "Was your house haunted?"
"Yes. Maybe so. because I did see a vision when I got in, after I came home
from the coffee shop," Mary Beth agreed.
"That is strange...but strange things have happened here, especially on
Halloween. Did you look to see who might be in this home, and what items might
be there?" the old woman inquired.
"No, but maybe I will," Mary Beth sighed. "My name is Mary Beth."
"If you need anything just ring my bell. My name is Muriel," said the kindly
old woman.
As Mary went back to the house, she returned to a mystery. The home
seemed ghostly. Nothing looked familiar at all. But when she walked back upstairs
to the attic, everything seemed the same as it did before the world turned black.
She didn't know which of the three doors to choose to get downstairs
again, but she tried the one in the middle. After opening the door a crack, to
make sure things were safe, she climbed downstairs. Now she was back in her old
home, just like before.
Still, Mary wondered, as always, what happened to Charlotte. So she
started to look at the letters and books that Charlotte had given her to find out if
she could discover some clues.
When she opened one of the books, she noticed a picture. "This picture
looks like Charlotte, but it's labeled 'My Sister Marlene.' So maybe Charlotte had a
twin sister?"
Then the telephone rang. "Who is this?" she demanded, talking into the
receiver.
"I'm Charlotte. This isn't a joke. Are you Mary Beth? Well, I didn't die," the
caller said. "Everybody thinks I died, but it was my twin sister Marlene who really
died."
"Okay," replied Mary, feeling flabbergasted. "So why did you disappear? And
why did I then see visions of you?"
"That wasn't me in the vision. That was my sister," Charlotte revealed. "She
disappeared ten years ago. I was so upset that I didn't call my friends. I still don't
know what happened to Marlene. The last thing I knew, we were having dinner at
home. Then Marlene went out and never returned."
"Did she have a cell phone?" asked Mary.
"Yes, but all I got was her voicemail. I did contact the cops but it took ten
years until they got a lead. Finally, a police officer called me the other day and
gave me a tip. He said he thought he saw a gal that looked like my sister on the
corner of Bay Street and Oyster Road. I went to look and saw a house at the
corner. I should have gone in. but I was scared," said Charlotte. "The Halloween spirits
told me you've been looking for me, so that's why I'm calling you."
"Charlotte, do you want me to go with you to the house at Bay Street and
Oyster Road? I'll come in five minutes," Mary said.
So Mary met up with Charlotte, and they hugged and smiled. When they
got to the house at Bay Street and Oyster Road, they rang the bell. A handsome
man with a moustache came out.
Charlotte asked, "Is Marlene here? I'm her twin sister Charlotte."
The man opened the door for Charlotte and Mary. There was Marlene, alive
and well. "Whoa, we thought you were dead!" declared an astonished Charlotte.
"No, I'm fine. I'm really sorry that we've lost touch for the past ten years. I
just got depressed and decided to leave home. Then I never got in contact with
anyone. I just couldn't come back," Marlene explained.
"Now, though, I have a husband, Robert, and two twins, a boy and a girl. In
fact, I named the girl after you, because I did miss you," Marlene added.
"And now that we are reunited I want to stay close with my family, Come
on in and meet my husband and two children and my husband's parents."
"This is a MIRACLE," Charlotte announced. "I am so glad you're okay."
Marlene answered happily: "Sit down and have dinner with us, and have
your friend sit with us, too. I love you, Charlotte.”
