7 Take me back to the building

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 Rose regretted sending off the message, though it was already late to regret, he already read it. Before She could even drop her phone off to her bag, the phone vibrated in her hands.

"What do you mean by that, doctor?" his in-phone voice sounds grouchy

"I meant exactly what I asked, do you have a son?" Rose sounded stern, no trace of earlier regret.

He said no word, and his breathing was the only noise Rose heard over the phone. Rose waited for him to respond. After a few minutes of silence, he came to respond

"What made you say that?" he utters

"Mr. Anderson, I reviewed your information. There was no record of you having a son."

He was about to say something when the white noise interrupted their call, perhaps the signal was lost. Rose was perplexed of the sudden noise, "Hello?" the noise continued. She removed her phone from her ear and looked at the phone confused. They cannot hear each other so it left them no choice but to end the call.

She was weary after attending her patients, she flopped herself on her seat and rested her head on the desk, she almost fell asleep but remembered the time "Ah! time to go home" she excitedly removed her white jacket and grabbed her bag and slid her phone to her pocket. She shut the door behind her and went on about her way.

The neon lights were dancing in the street, lively it was. She walked under the moonlight along with the drunken people, it seems they have ended their company drinks. Some people bumped to her but she paid no heed and walked on her way.

In a world of busy active people, she felt lonely perhaps because her husband died weeks ago or may she could not remember her friends before. But it did not hinder her to do her daily routine and job. She carries on pretty well.

Rose puts her head down and looked at her feet stamping on the cement, the passing noises of people were slowly fading as she takes steps forward. The night is becoming older, the lively noises of people turned to quietness, strange. She lifts her head up to confirm the quietness that surfaced the area. Shockingly, there was suddenly nobody around in the area.

She could not bring herself to look back to search for people so she went on her way. "Not like it matters anyway" she eases herself by shrugging the transformation of a lively street to an eerily quiet one. It was really dark if it was not for the light posts on the road, but the light did not cover the whole area so the shadowed areas where light could not reach, heightened Rose fear. The alleyways were amazingly dark, she dared not to take a glimpse to them but somehow, this one alley in the corner made Rose look.

She went to grab her phone by her pocket and flashed the light on the alley.

There showed a thin pale woman facing a wall.

Rose quietly took a step forward, closer to her.

The woman slowly turned its body to face Rose

It was 'her'! The woman in Mr. Anderson's picture frame. Rose dropped her phone in her surprise and the light went off. She quickly bent her knees to pick up the phone from the ground and raised her phone to her face-level. And saw Mr. Anderson's building in front of her. She was confused. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?Rose thought to herself 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴? she rationalized.

She stood straight and looked up to the top of the building scanning its structure. Maybe because it is already night time, but the building gave off a terrifying surface as if it is inhabited by 'something'. The place had not a single light inside. "home, I need to go home" she said to herself.

Rose faced her back against the building and starts to walk homeward. Yet every way she took leads her to back to the building. She tried to walk on a different pathway but she still ended up at the front entrance of the building. No, she could not call anybody, there is no one on her contact list but her patients. Rose knew that she has no one to contact for emergencies like this.

Now, every way she turns to look, its the building before her eyes. "OK Fine! in I go!" Rose exclaimed and stormed inside the building, she was done playing tricks of someone it already exhausted her to such point she was forced to enter.

Upon opening the door, a cold ambiance tingles every hair on her body. She quivered for a second. It was dark that not even the moonlight could pass through, she held out her phone to shine the way but it was not enough, so she turned the flashlight on.

Rose raised the phone on her eye-level "Jesus Christ!" she jolted to the appearance of a pale woman where her phone light pointed at.

The woman looked pale and weak as if she will crumble at any moment. Her piercing red lipstick glistened to the flashlight of Rose's phone. Rose knew it was 'her' that lead her to enter Mr. Anderson's building. But her curiosity on her patient's case prevailed. She wanted to ask about her husband's case, she took a cautious step closer.

"Are you Mrs. Anderson?" Rose's fear was behind her throat, she could feel her legs starts to tremble.

The woman started to sob, it sounded like she was in agony. Rose's unconscious instinct was to comfort her and threw her arms around her shoulders embrace. Before she realized her actions, the woman has gone soft, as though Rose's action made the ghost feel emotion. Rose seized the moment to ask questions relevant to their case.

"I want to know what really happened"

"Do you really have a son with Mr. Anderson?" she pushed the question

The woman met Rose's eyes, 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘷𝘺 she complimented. 'She' swift Rose's face down to her shoulder to her belly. Rose felt uncomfortable and confused but she stayed calm and let her be, as the woman gently rubs Rose's belly.

She lifts her hand and put it on hers, with the same circular motion she hummed like a mother to a child while looking down to her stomach. She hummed the story of which her husband was blinded to see, her story was heard and understood by Rose.