Apparition

Diana was exhausted as she stepped down from the bus, at the bus stop near her service apartment. She had spent the whole day touring San Francisco by bus. An adventurous woman by nature, she decided to bypass tour packages altogether. She glanced along the street she was staying at. Except for her and a few others pedestrians, it was almost deserted. After all, it was almost midnight. She had attended a dinner that evening, hosted by her friends from university days. Most of them were in America pursuing their masters.

Still jet-legged, Diana had asked to be excused. Walking along the quiet streets, she marveled at the beauty of the city. Prior to her trip here, she had done her research about the neighborhood through the net and knew that she would be safe walking through the streets late a night, like things back home. She had rented a service apartment at a reasonable rate in the neighborhood. A spring shower had just passed, and the pavement glistened under the street lamps, giving a magical feel to the place.As she strolled back, Diana looked at the apartment blocks that made up this street when something caught her eyes. There was some movement coming from the top of the building. It appeared to be the same floor she was staying at. Her eyes strained to see what was it. After a while, she realized that to her horror that what she was looking at was a figure. He was climbing out of his window, one of his legs dangling over the windowsill dangerously. 'No...' she said to herself, as she hurried towards the apartment.

As Diana looked on in horror, he got out of his window and sat down by the edge. By then, Diana had reached the building. Before she could call out to him, the figure launched its body over the edge. In slow motion, Diana looked on in horror as he fell to the ground. She screamed when he landed behind a car, out of her sight. Terror shock her, and it took her a great effort to run into the apartment for help. Not seeing where she was headed, she ran straight into the building's security guard. 'Public phone... phone... guy jumped...' She stammered when she saw him. 'Calm down. I can't hear you,' he grabbed her shoulders and tried to soothe her. 'Public phone...' she was too distraught to explain anything. He did not understand anything but the fact that she needed a phone. He directed her towards it. She called the police, and told them what had happened. After hanging up, she was too frightened to go out, but instead sat in the lobby, waiting for the police.

The security guard, seeing her terror, wen to the vending machine and got her a cup of coffee. In spite of the heated lobby, she felt very cold and began to shiver. The police arrived in ten minutes. 'Ma'am, did you call to report a suicide/' She nodded and walked out. Standing at the stop of the steps, she pointed her fingers in the direction of the car. 'There,' she forced the words out. 'I saw him falling off the building and he landed there.' The police officer gave her a strange look and went around to the spot. Their patrol vehicle had the headlights on and was shining directly on the spot where she saw him land. 'There's nothing here,' he called. Diana walked slowly to where he stood, half fearing what she might see. There was no body behind the car. 'No offence ma'am, but what exactly are you trying to do?' The officer looked at her with annoyance. 'I... I... He...'

'Are you sure you saw anything at all?' 'YES!' She nodded her head vigorously. 'Okay, okay. We'll go up and check. You go back to the lobby and we'll see you there in a while.' They returned after fifteen minutes. 'So? What happened?' she said, more in control of herself. 'We went up. You said the sixth floor, second apartment from the right end, right?' 'Yes.' 'The entrance to his apartment is boarded up. There was no way anyone can get in there. We checked with the neighbor. He said that the previous tenant was a guy. One night, he was having a wild party, and was high on drugs when he climbed out of his window. No one has stayed there since.' 'maybe you were seeing things,' his partner added. The officer then turned his back to her coldly and walked off with his partner. She stood in the lobby, watching on as they got into their patrol vehicle and drove off.

Diana was combing her damp hair after a  hot shower. She had ran out of conditioner and her entangled wet hair made it difficult for her to comb. After a while, she stopped and stared at her own reflection. Was she really seeing things? After the police had left, she had remained in the lobby for a while longer. It was half an hour later that she walked slowly back to her apartment. Staring at her reflection, Diana knew that what she saw was real. she knew, deep in her heart, that she was not hallucinating. She wondered why she had not stood her ground and insisted. Perhaps she was just too shocked, perhaps she was intimidated by the police officers, perhaps she knew she could be hallucinating. Just then, she heard a sharp, crisp knock against her door. Diana put down the comb and went to her apartment door. She opened it to see a young man, with sandy hair. 'Why can't you just mind your own business?' He asked with a scowl.

'What?' 'You sent the police up here and disturbed everyone,' he continued his abuse. 'Is it any business of yours?' Diana was stunned by his abusiveness. Her immediate reflex was to apologize for what she had done. She told herself that things were different from home. 'I'm so sorry,' she apologized profusely. 'Yeah, you'd better be,' he continued. 'Next time, just shut up! And get back to your f#@*%! country where you came from.' With that, he stomped off to the right, down the corridor. Diana looked on until he disappeared into his apartment, before she closed the door. In a daze, she climbed into bed. Her mind was still on the abusive visitor. Inwardly, she stewed when she thought about how unfair his statements was. After all, she was just being civic minded when she called the police. It was not up to him to tell her what she can or cannot do. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became.

In the end, she felt that she had to let him know exactly what she thought of him. She got out of bed and stomped out of her apartment, in the direction of his. She was not going to be some pushover that he thought he could get away with just because she was a female. She was going to show him. She came to his door, and banged hard on it. After she did, she waited for him to come to the door, ready to unleash her fury on him. As she waited, her eyes looked down the corridor and she realized where she was. She was standing outside the exact same apartment where she saw the man fall off the building earlier. Her blood chilled. She stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do. Her anger had evaporated into nothing, and what took its place was an overwhelming sense of fear. Just then, she heard the same voice calling from within the apartment. 'Hang on, I'm coming in a minute!' Diana bolted straight back to her apartment.