The Ghost Writer

Anna woke up with a start. Something had brought her out of a deep slumber, and it wasn’t the alarm. The digital clock on the side table showed 4:13 a.m. Laying back under the blanket she listened for the sound.

At 6 a.m. when the alarm did finally go off, she stumbled off the bed, where she had spend the past two hours wide awake, staring at the ceiling. And listening. But now her day was about to start. She had no where to be, just across the hall into the living room that had become her office and study. But Anna made herself stick to a schedule. That schedule kept her going, day after day, even when she herself didn’t want to move on. Or ‘move forward’, as her therapist had phrased it. Right now, there was no moving for her in any direction, just a schedule guiding her in a well-planned out cycle.

Several steps later she came to the phase of the cycle she dreaded the most. Sitting down at her computer. In front of another blank page. To write what was meant to be the sequel for her break-through novel, which had created in the literary world a brief yet notable ripple.

And now, the words wouldn’t come. Even after six months Anna’s heart rate kicked up a notch as the dreaded anxiety started somewhere deep within and started flowing outwards, threatening to engulf her. She reached blindly for the little orange bottle that contained the pills. They worked fast, which was the upside. The downside was that she has become so used to their calming effect that she couldn’t imagine a life without them.

The same therapist had advised her to open a blank page and just start typing. Which she had done yesterday, and the day before. After she had moved to the new apartment, in a new city, and hopefully a new life.

She had managed half a chapter. And now with the document open before her Anna started at words that practically leaped off the screen at her. Unfamiliar words. Words she was certain she hadn’t written. Certain because she logged the work she did each day-again thanks to her therapist.

The last paragraph wasn’t something she had created.

‘Life goes on. No matter what happens, what you think you’ve lost, the force of life will keep you going’.

The perfect ending to the chapter that had eluded her, Anna admitted reluctantly. But still, not her words. Even with the pills addling her senses, she started to feel panic rising. Someone had been in her apartment. Someone had opened her laptop, found the document she had left open and typed in words that somehow resonated with her, and described her life with eerie astuteness. Someone that was not her. She reached for the phone with trembling hands and dialed the number for the second time in six months.

“911 what is your emergency?” came a capable sounding voice from the other side.

Sometime later there was a firm knock on the door. The two police officers introduced themselves, but Anna missed both their names, and stood staring blankly at their badges.

“Miss Fontaine we are responding to your 911 call. May we come in?” The taller of the two asked politely. Anna stepped aside for them to enter.

“You called about a break in?” the man had a notebook and a pen poised to take notes. As Anna nodded the second officer called out from the front door that he had been inspecting. “There’s no sign of forced entry here.”

“Is there a fire escape?” asked the man closer to her, moving around the living room checking the windows. “You are on the fifth floor” he remarked. “No way anyone can get in unless there’s a fire escape.”

There was no fire escape. The officers checked the rooms thoroughly and found no signs of illicit an entry.

“Miss Fontaine” started the officer who had been taking notes. “What made you think there was a break in? Was anything taken?”

Anna stared at him, noticing him for the first time. He was young and his eyes held kindness. His demeanor polite and attentive.

“I don’t know.” Anna admitted, and heard the other officer make a sound of irritation. “I haven’t checked anything other than the laptop.” She nodded towards the computer, which was evidently not missing. The young officer raised an almost imperceptible eyebrow, his partner’s disdain not lost on him, but still trying to keep an open mind and professionalism.

Anna moved to the offending P.C. and pointed to the screen. “See this? I didn’t write this. Someone else did.”

Both officers stared into the screen. Finally, the nicer one exclaimed. “You are Anna Fontaine, the writer!”

She nodded impatiently. That was beside the point, and she didn’t need the police to tell her that.

Officer Dan Ryan looked more closely at the disheveled looking woman, with the messy hair and dark circles under her eyes. Eyes that had a rather glazed look in them. He noticed the pill bottles littering her work surface. Anna Fontaine was not old. Perhaps in her early thirties, and underneath the pallor of her skin and pinched expression there was something attractive about her. His sister had been raving about the book, but Dan had no idea what it had been about.

His partner, Joe Stanhope was neither impressed nor interested in what seemed like a figment of imagination of a woman who was not all there, or on something, or both. The sooner they got out of there the better. There was a dark aura about the woman, and the apartment that got to him. He tried to catch his partner’s eye.

“Miss Fontaine can you please check if anything valuable is missing?” Dan was asking. He was Mr. Professional. Thorough to a fault. Total waste of time.

Anna made her way to the bedroom followed by the two officers. Aware of their scrutiny she pulled out a jewelry box from the closet and went through the contents. After a while she made a sound, something between a gasp and a squeak.

Dan moved forward eagerly. “Something missing?” He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, and he could feel Joe’s disapproving glare through the back of his head.

“No” Anna said and turned around holding up something. And engagement ring, with a giant diamond set in emeralds.

“I…l..lost this six months ago” she stammered.

Joe’s skepticism was palpable. “So, you are claiming that someone broke into your apartment, wrote a part of your book and left you a diamond ring?” his voice dripped with sarcasm. “Ma’am you are wasting our time. Real crimes are waiting to be solved”

Anna flinched as if she had been struck.

“I can finish up here Joe, if you want to head out and grab us coffee” Dan said placatingly. “We need to file a report anyway.”

Joe, who hated writing reports took the way out so easily handed to him.

“Do you think I’m lying?” demanded Anna Fontaine after he had left.

“Not necessarily ma’am” Dan replied kindly. “But maybe you can give me some more details? Is it possible that someone you know came in and did this as, I don’t know…maybe a joke?” he paused. “Who else has keys to your apartment?”

“I just moved here” Anna told him. “I don’t know anyone here. I gave keys to no one. But I guess the super has a set?”

“I’ll check with the super and the doorman” Dan told her. “Maybe they have security footage.” An apartment building this upscale had to have 24-hour surveillance.

“Can you take me through your activities last night?”

Anna thought hard. “I went to bed around 11” she said.

“When did you wake up?”

“4:13 a.m.” she replied promptly and added. “I looked at the clock”

“So, when you went to bed at 11pm the paragraph wasn’t there, but when you woke up around 4 it was?” Dan asked, keeping his voice neutral.

“Yes” she replied.

“Do you normally wake up that early?”

“No” Anna admitted. “I heard something…and it woke me up”

“What did you hear?”

Anna thought for a few moments.

“An owl”

“An owl?” Dan repeated.

“Yes” she replied. “Like a barn owl, you know.”

Suddenly Dan was glad Joe was not around to hear this.

“This area is too urban for barn owls to be around” he said patiently, as if he was speaking to a child.

“I’m pretty sure it was an owl” Anna was adamant. “Afterwards I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I just lay on the bed.”

“What time did you get up?”

“At six. And sat down at the computer at seven, which was when I saw it”

Dan noted this down. This would narrow down the timeframe for the security footage. Wild goose chase as it sounded, he knew he would do his job and go through the videos.

“Did you take any sleep medications?” he asked.

Anna nodded and mentioned a generic name.

“Any other medications?”

Anna stared at him realizing where the questioning was going. “Do you think I imagined this?” she demanded. Her voice had no fight in it, just exhaustion.

“Not at all” Dan said soothingly. “But those things…” he nodded at the bottles of medicine lying about. “Can have an effect. Is it possible you did the work and forgot? Have you ever had a black out?”

“No” said Anna “And I don’t sleepwalk” her voice still held an edge to it.

Dan decided to follow up on a different direction.

“What about your laptop? Is it online? Can someone have hacked into it?”

“I don’t have internet here: Anna replied. “I’m trying to stay offline.”

After that there was no more to ask. As Dan took his leave, he took out a card and handed it to Anna Fontaine. “I’m going to go now and check with the super and security” he told her. “If you find something missing, please give us a call at this number”

He didn’t expect her to call the very next day.

“There was more” she gasped when he answered the phone. “More writing this morning”

“That woman is a nut case” Joe grumbled as Dan briefed him about the call. “Or it’s a publicity stunt. Don’t get sucked into it”

Either scenario was possible. But Dan didn’t dismiss the call. At the very least Anna needed a mental health check in. Maybe he could help. He told his partner this, who shrugged and asked to be left out of it.

Anna looked worried as she let him in. Her hair was messier, and the dark circles more pronounced. Dan wondered if there was anyone she could call for help.

The answer was negative. She had no family or friends in the area. She had moved across the country to be alone. She didn’t say this last part, but Dan supposed it was likely. An odd move to say the least, Dan thought as he read the next set of paragraphs that Anna Fontaine had not written. Supposedly. He had no idea what the book was about. What surprised him was that she had kept the previous day’s paragraph allegedly written by an intruder.

Anna seemed to read his mind and blushed as she explained. “I went so well with the story I had to keep it. It was the only way I could move past the writers block.” She paused. “I’m suffering from a bad case of it” she confessed.

“I’m sorry to hear that” Dan said. “It must be tough.”

She didn’t reply.

“There’s more written here than yesterday” he commented. It seemed very likely that she didn’t remember writing this stuff. How else could you explain the seamless blending of the words and ideas? The mind worked in strange ways sometimes. Maybe this was how she coped with a difficult situation.

“Tell me about the ring” he said, suddenly remembering. “You said you lost it?”

“I threw it away” she told him. “Into a lake. Six months ago.”

Dan had no response to this and waited, wondering if she would elaborate.

She did.

“I lost someone I loved” she said quietly. “Six months ago.”

“I’m so sorry” Dan said. His voice was warm and sympathetic. Perhaps this loss explained the trauma she was evidently going through.

Dan’s response seemed to have made her want to confide more. “My boyfriend” Anna said and corrected. “Fiancé actually. He had just proposed to me that weekend.” She stretched out a hand to display the ring which she was wearing now. “With this ring.”

Dan knew nothing he could say now would make any difference to this woman who was obviously in a lot of anguish, even though he was overcome with sadness for her. She seemed to take his silence as a cue to continue. Dan let her. Mainly because she seemed to want to talk.

“We had rented a cottage upstate for the week. It was a writer’s retreat for me and a well-earned break for him.” She paused. “I was due to write the sequel…” she nodded in the direction of the laptop. “This one.”

“That afternoon he wanted to go for a walk, but I wanted to finish up a section. I was on a roll. So, I asked him to go alone…” she paused, and tears welled up in her eyes. “I should have gone with him. I can never forgive myself” the tears fell, and Dan passed her a box of tissues he had found on an end table next to him. She took them, blew her nose, and started talking again.

“He didn’t come home that night. So, I went to look for him. I had no idea where he had gone, and it was dark but then I heard this sound. It was an owl.” She paused. “I don’t know what made me follow it, but I did. That’s how I ended up finding him. He was lying there in the middle of the path. He was dead.”

She sniffled again and grabbed another bunch of tissues. “He had been stung by a bee. We had no idea he was allergic, so he didn’t carry an EpiPen. But you know what? If I had gone with him I could have saved him. Instead, I chose to write…”

She trailed off. Dan was no psychologist, but he guessed that this was where her writer’s block came from. Guilt was a strong emotion.

“I think the owl showed me the way that night” she said unexpectedly. And as Dan tried to make sense of this statement added, “Did I mention? I heard that owl noise again this morning. At 4.13am, again.”

“You are too high up for an owl to reach here, even if there was an owl in this area” Dan hated to be the one to say it, but she needed to know.

Anna didn’t seem to mind. “The next day I went back to where I had found him. It was right by the lake…which I hadn’t realized in the darkness. Adam loved the lake.” She paused. “I took off the ring he had given me and threw it in as far as I could.” She paused and waved her hand in the air. “This ring.”

“Trauma can do strange things to the mind” Dan said awkwardly. “Maybe you thought you did.”

“Do you think I haven’t heard that before?” she asked him with a sad half smile on her lips. “That I imagined it. Just like I imagined the owl, and now this weird writing on my computer?”

“I’m sorry” Dan said. “It’s just not explicable.” He told her how security footage hadn’t revealed anyone coming into her apartment. And the Super had checked out.

“So, here’s the ring and the owl and my writing” she shrugged. “The bizarre trifecta”

Dan had no response to that. But all three could be explained as a hallucination in the mind of a troubled woman. He didn’t tell her that.

Officially they had no case, and no reason for follow up. Dan told her this and Anna took is calmly.

“But if you need to talk to someone, or even just get a coffee and hang out please give me a call.” He scribbled his cell number in the back of a card and handed it to her.

She thanked him. “You know Officer Dan, you don’t need to worry about me” she told him as if she had read his mind, again. And she had finally figured out his name. “I’m not going to do something stupid.” It took a load off his mind, but as he left Dan found himself hoping she would call anyway.

It took four months for her to make the call. She wanted to meet him. He suggested a coffee shop and she promised to meet him there.

Anna Fontaine had changed during the past four months. Her dark hair reached almost to her waist now. But it was brushed well and shone sleekly in the sun. Her pale skin was evidence that she hadn’t been out much, if at all. She was thin, looking almost frail and fragile like a bird. But she had bothered to put on some lipstick in a flattering shade.

She looked almost happy.

“It’s done” she told him after they greeted each other. “Finally, I finished the book today”

“Congratulations!” Dan said, genuinely happy for her. “We have to celebrate. Coffee is on me.”

Anna sat back while Dan went to get their drinks. “How have you been?” he asked placing her cappuccino down next to and studying her carefully.

“Oh, you know…” she said vaguely. “Writing like a mad woman. I had a deadline to meet, so I barely did anything else.”

Including possibly eating and taking care of herself, he thought.

“After this I’m going to take a break” she told him. “Go away somewhere, and not write for a while” she paused. “I know you didn’t believe me about the writing stuff just appearing, but it kept happening all these months. I think it’s the only reason I got the book done”

Dan didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say.

“And I kept hearing the owl every single day” she added. “At the same time.”

“It’s a good idea you are taking a break” he said. “Where do you plan to go?”

She shrugged. “Travel. Europe possibly. I’m still not ready to be around people I used to know.”

“I can understand that.” Dan said. “What was he like, your fiancé?” Once the words were out, he wished he hadn’t said them. Curiosity was one thing, but the memories might not be pleasant for her.

“I don’t know how to explain” Anna said. “I mean, I should be able to…I’m supposed to be good with words.” She paused. “Adam was sweet and funny and very serious about us. He had an idea what our lives should be, down to the house and number of kids and even how many dogs we should have” she smiled sadly at the memory. “Two golden retrievers” she added. “Two kids and a house in the suburbs”

“That sounds like a lovely plan” Dan said, even though he felt that the guy had been a bit presumptuous. What about what she wanted?

“What did you want?” he asked her.

“Oh, I was fine with that future” Anna said. “It kills me that he didn’t get to experience it”

Dan understood that.

“Did you send out the manuscript?” he asked to change the subject to something lighter.

“Not yet.” Anna said. “That’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I can’t bring myself to send it…I just never feel ready. With my last book Adam did it for me. I know it’s a lot to ask…but you are the only person I know here, and I trust you. Can you send it for me? Just hit send on the email?”

It was an odd request, but he was touched. “Sure” he said. “I’d be happy to. When do you want to do it?”

“Do you have time now?” Anna asked. “I would love to get it out of the way. It’s been stressing me out for too long”

“Let’s do it” Dan agreed.

***

It had been close to dusk when they met, and it was dark by the time they got to her apartment. Anna fumbled with the lock, which she wasn’t very familiar with since she hadn’t been out much. The lights were on they entered.

“I could have sworn the lights were off” Anna said looking around the brightly lit apartment. “Please take a seat. I’ll start up the computer.”

Dan did as he was asked. And looked around idly as she sat composing the email or whatever that would accompany the manuscript. He noticed a few birthday cards on the mantel. “Did you have a birthday recently?” he asked.

“Two weeks ago,” Anna said. “1/22.” Then she stopped what she was doing and turned around to face him, a curious expression in her face. “4/13 is his birthday” she said in a strangely disconnected voice. “April 13th is…was Adam’s birthday”

Dan stared at her remembering how she had insisted an owl woke her up every morning at 4.13a.m. Was this the subconscious at work? He wondered. He made a mental note to ask an expert about this. It was such an odd story.

“Seeing as that it’s already dinner time, would you like to join me for dinner?” he asked, and realized that he was asking Anna Fontaine on an actual date. “I know a good Mexican restaurant near here. Unless there’s something else you’d prefer…”

He knew he was blabbing to fill the awkwardness that followed his invitation. But he hoped she would accept.

And she did. “I would like that” she said, although her voice had a trace of wonder in it. As if she herself wasn’t sure she was going to accept.

Dan was relieved. More than relieved. In fact, he found himself unexpectedly elated.

Something crashed in the kitchen making them both jump. “What on earth!” exclaimed Anna and ran to investigate. Dan wasn’t sure if she needed his help but she was back almost immediately.

“One of the chairs got knocked over” she declared. “Weird…”

She went back to her computer. “One last check before I attach it” she told him. “I’m quite paranoid like that”

Dan smiled and sat back, relaxing while he waited to be summoned to do his part.

“Dan…” Anna’s voice came as if from a distance a few moments later. “I need you to see this”

He was on his feet in an instant. Anna was staring at the screen in bemusement. It wasn’t hard to see because the words were in a red, bold font. It looks sinister, and alarming. The words themselves made the impact even worse.

‘This is not over!’ said the first sentence. Then on the next line, ‘You will never leave me’.

“What the…” started Dan.

“They weren’t here when I left for the kitchen” Anna managed to get the words out. “Did you…?” the unasked question was absurd.

“Absolutely not!” Dan exclaimed. “You were back within seconds. I wouldn’t have had time to stand up leave alone…” he left the offending sentence unfinished.

Anna had to admit this was true. Then she realized he could think the same of her. That she wrote it. The perfect deranged ending to the farce that had started when he first entered her apartment.

“I didn’t” she answered the question hanging in the air. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t”

Strangely enough he believed her. As he opened his mouth to tell her this, a glass that had been sitting on the table flew through the air, barely missing his face and smashed into the wall behind him. Anna screamed. As Dan ran to her side, her laptop crashed onto the floor breaking into pieces. The chandelier above them shook, and the whole apartment seemed to shudder along with it.

“We need to get out of here” Dan said, grabbing her hand. “Now!”

“I need to get my laptop”

“It’s broken…” Dan said trying to lead her away from under the chandelier which was swinging violently now.

“I can salvage the hard drive” she said and letting go of his hand dove down right before the heavy light fixture came crashing down.

Dan cursed and made his way through the floor that seemed to be rocking like a capsizing boat now. The few ornaments on the shelves flew in the air and he narrowly managed to avoid getting hit before he found Anna, took her hand firmly and practically pulled her towards the door.

She didn’t resist until they came to the door. Then she stopped. Dan would have been pulled in with her if he hadn’t been gripping the side of the elevator door, holding it open. He propped the door with one foot and looked inside. Just as he was pulling her towards him by one hand something was pulling her back by the other. Something that he couldn’t see. Something that wasn’t there.

He could hear Anna sobbing. He thought he heard her say something. Something that sounded like “Adam.”

Dan pulled her harder. There was nothing else he could do. The apartment seemed to have come alive and things within it were flying in a vortex. He had to get her out of there…to the elevator where the open door was ready for them to dive through. And escape this madness whatever it was. Had she really said Adam??

“Anna” he called to her desperately. And pulled again, hoping that he wasn’t hurting her. This time she was released from the other side, and she fell towards him. Dan pulled her into the elevator and pushed the button repeatedly to close the door before whatever was in there got in with them. As the door closed, he heard a soft sigh and Anna collapsed against him. While he struggled to hold her dead weight, he saw something like a wisp of smoke leave her body and through the closing gap between the elevator doors. The elevator dinged as it started the trip down and Dan looked at the woman whose body he was supporting. Anna was crumpled against him, curiously cold and un-life like. He searched for a pulse and found none. With panic and despair welling up within him Dan reached for his phone and dialed 911.

Everything that happened after that seemed to be in slow-motion to Dan after what had transpired upstairs. EMS declared Anna Fontaine dead upon arrival, which he had known already. How or why, he knew he would never understand regardless of what the post-mortem would reveal. Dan stood in a daze on the lawn outside and watched the ambulance take her away. He was vaguely aware of his partner Joe making his way towards him through the throng of people who had gathered. The second call he had made had been to Joe.

A sudden rustling sound made Dan look up. Above him, perched on a streetlamp was the almost phantom shape of a white owl. It bent its heart-shaped head in an awkward angle as it watched the man below. Then as suddenly as it had appeared the owl took off, amid a rustle of feathers and soared up the sky above him.