by Simon Archer
“Look!” she yelled and pointed to the box office windows.
Our eyes snapped back to the windows. There, through the dirt and grime, were faint, glowing images of faces stopping to look in, and then moving on. The illusion created the feeling that the last theater attendants were still there, purchasing their tickets. As quickly as they had been spotted, the faces faded away, once again leaving only dirty panes of glass to see.
“Oh my God, did you see that?” Vila whispered loudly to me as a group around us chattered excitedly amongst themselves.
“I did,” I answered her. “It’s a nice touch.”
“It sounds like you’ve already discounted the possibility that the faces are real,” Andi joined in, looking disapprovingly at me.
“Not completely, but don’t forget, my mind sways more towards the logical than the theatrical,” I reminded her.
“The fact that you just said that to a genie makes me worry a little bit about your mental health,” Andi whispered back as she rolled her eyes at me.
She did have a point. I’d seen more magic in the past year than most ever do, yet I was quick to dismiss even the smallest notion that I had just seen real spirits. I didn’t have time to analyze the concept before Vila tossed in her own eye-roll and began pulling us both by the arm.
“Come on. We’re moving,” she urged the two of us.
Lance led us through the door and out into an enormous reception hall. “Please, take a moment and acquaint yourselves to the grandest foyer you will ever see,” he instructed us.
Our group broke apart, and most people paired off to go explore. The room was indeed as magnificent as Lance made it sound. Even through dust and decay, the intricately carved moldings and beams had a commanding effect. The walls were covered with peeling wallpaper that had stripes and roses intertwined on it. The crumbling plaster walls beneath the wallpaper somehow added an aura of strength to the room.
Directly in the center of the room, a large circle, approximately fifteen feet in diameter, was roped off. While nothing was on the floor between the ropes, I looked up to the three-story-high vaulted ceiling to see a huge, crystal chandelier still hanging. The intricacy of its design was something to be marveled at. Large glass droplets, surrounded by strings of glass beads hanging from gold wires, arranged in cascading patterns, gave the eyes something they could stare at for hours. Even covered in cobwebs and grime, the chandelier enhanced the level of luxury in the room.
“You can’t find them made like that anymore, wouldn’t you agree?” Lance’s voice startled me. I hadn’t heard him walk up beside me.
“You are correct about that,” I agreed. “Is it only decorative, or does it light up?”
“It’s decorative, but you should see the pictures of how the other lights in the room would make it sparkle,” he answered. His voice had a level of nostalgia in it that, had he been closer to seventy years old, would have made me wholeheartedly believe that he had seen it firsthand.
“You really love this place, don’t you?” I observed.
“Yes, sir,” was all he said.
“Is there a particular reason why? Or, do you simply have a strong admiration for historic buildings in general?” I had to admit, the passion he exuded was noticeably higher than any other philanthropist I’d met.
“I am a lover of education.” A bright smile formed slowly on Lance’s face. “What better thing is there to learn from than the past? The past that is not found in history books that is.” He laid his hand on my shoulder briefly and then walked away before I had a chance to agree with him. He strolled to the back of the room and stood in front of a large row of double doors that lead into the theater.
I looked around for the girls. They were admiring one of the columns across the room while happily whispering to each other. They both looked up at me at the same time and attempted to look serious as they came back to join me.
“What are you two up to?” I asked them cautiously. They only tried to hide giggles when they were planning mischief of some sort. The genies looked at each other, and both of them shrugged their shoulders before turning back to me.
“Lance has put so much work into this project,” Vila started.
“Between the permits, and licenses, and the inspections, and the petitions…” Andi added.
“Plus, now that your name will be associated with the project…” Vila continued, twisting her foot around on the dusty floor.
“We thought it would be a good idea to help him a little bit,” Andi concluded.
They both looked up at me with wide eyes and falsely innocent smiles. Between the rambling, the fidgeting, and those up-to-no-good grins, red flags were popping up all over my mind.
“No,” I said flatly. “Absolutely not.”
“But it’s just a few little additions to the--”
“No!” I whispered harshly. “Just let Lance do things the way he’s planned!”
“It’s kinda already too late.” Vila put her head down and looked up at me under her long lashes.
“What do you mean by ‘it’s too late’?” A familiar sense of the need to prevent a pending disaster began to grow in the pit of my stomach.
“It’s really nothing to worry about at all,” Andi attempted to reassure me in a soft, flirty voice.
“I swear if you girls--”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lance’s voice cut me off. “It is time.”
Everybody in the room stopped what they were doing and moved to congregate in front of him. To my surprise, he seemed to be staring directly at the girls and me. Vila tugged on my arms once again, and regardless of my desire to stay and force them to tell me their plan, I followed them towards the crowd. When everybody was within earshot had quieted down, Lance put his arms straight up in the air and then spread them wide as he bowed deeply once again.
“It is time to move forward with our adventure, whilst simultaneously taking a walk through the past,” he boomed. He then put his head down and lowered his voice. “Those who have come before us have claimed to have been greeted by more spirits than any other building in this city.” He looked up quickly and shouted. “But! What each of them has failed to be able to tell us, is whether they’d witnessed the ghosts of mere audience members past…” Lance’s dramatic pause had each person in our group leaning forward, anticipating his next words. He delivered them in a deathly chilly whisper. “Or those of the cast whose fate was sealed the moment they walked upon the stage.”
He then spun around without hesitation to open the theater doors. As he turned the brass handles, a soft rattling sounded out behind us. Suddenly, the group’s attention, as well as Lance’s, was no longer on getting into the auditorium. Everybody turned around just in time to see dust falling from the ceiling in the middle of the room. As we followed the sound, we all looked up, and gasps could be heard echoing throughout the room.
The chandelier was shaking. Its delicate glass droplets and beads clanked against each other with growing force. The vibration began to spread down the walls and into the floor.
I glanced back at Lance and discerned from the look on his face that the shaking was just as much a surprise to him as anyone else in the room. Then I turned my focus to the walls and floor. Regardless of the shaking, the plaster was not chipping further, and the dust was not disturbed anywhere other than from the chandelier. I slowly glared down at the girls.
“For real?” I hissed at them.
“What?” they replied together, innocently.
“Stop it before you freak these people out, and they run for the hills,” I demanded.
“This is exactly the kind of thing they came here for. Look, they love it,” Vila whispered as she nodded her head towards the group.
I looked over and was surprised at what I saw. While everybody looked terrified, they all had an expression of awe and curiosity mixed in with their fear. Also, nobody was running away. In fact, the only person who looked truly at odds with what was happening was Lance. Before I had a
chance to make another argument to get the girls to stop, the shaking receded, and the room was silent and ominous once more. Then I nearly jumped out of my skin when the group started unexpectedly clapping.
“I don’t know how they do that, but it was fantastic!” one woman commented excitedly.
“Look! The chandelier is completely still again! It’s not moving at all anymore!” another gentleman pointed out.
Lance remained by the doors, regaining his composure before the group turned back to face him.
“Let that be a warning to all who still want to pass through these doors!” he yelled out. I had never seen somebody recover and adapt that quickly. Not only had he played it off to be part of the tour, but he’d also made the whole chilling experience associated with the audience.
Vila and Andi stood in front of me, and both turned around and flashed ‘we told you’ smiles.
“Alright, alright,” I whispered, rolling my eyes at both of them. “So, you got lucky. Now, behave yourselves!”
Instead of acknowledging my instruction, they simply smiled even bigger and turned back around just as Lance pushed the theater doors open. He slowly led us into the blackness beyond. As we passed through the doors, a cold breeze blew by, making the group shiver and hold their lanterns close.
“Be mindful to stay close,” Lance instructed. “A special path has been laid out for us so that the darkness doesn't lead us down an unexpected stair.”
After my eyes adjusted, a row of dimly lit string lights on the floor became visible. They gave off just enough light to show a path without detracting from the total blackness surrounding us. Even with the combined glow of our group’s lanterns, I could only see ten feet in any one direction. Our group followed Lance at an agonizingly slow pace forward through a break in the rows of seats on either side of us.
“Twenty-thousand guests were in attendance the evening of the tragedy,” Lance started, sadness and despair emanating from his voice. “Twenty-thousand people stood and applauded for a scene that was not written into the play.”
A chill shot up my spine. Although I did not know the theater's full history, Lance had eluded to an accident during a show several times. However, the idea that nobody in the theater had initially realized the horrible truth in what they saw hadn't crossed my mind until that moment.
“If you listen closely, occasionally the audience’s applause can still be heard,” Lance suggested softly.
The next instant, a nearly inaudible sound of applause began floating through the theater. The group stopped walking and listened intently. They were looking all around them and holding out their lanterns in hopes of possibly seeing the spirit of one of those clapping guests. Just as the sound began to fade, their hopes were unexpectedly realized.
A flash of blue light burst throughout the theater, illuminating every seat. In front of each one, an applauding crowd member stood, eyes riveted toward the stage. The brightness of the blue light faded quickly, and the theater slowly turned dark once more just as the sounds of applause receded. I’d seen Lance jerk when the light occurred, letting me know he had no hand in its creation. He did not miss a beat, however.
“You must be an exceptionally perceptive group for the patrons to reveal themselves to you in such a way!” he complimented the group.
I looked at Andi and Vila, still in front of me, but this time, they did not turn around. No doubt, they knew that I was simply waiting to give them another disapproving look. Even though the tourists loved their antics, I was concerned that Lance might not be able to continue recovering from their surprises. I was starting to regain hope that perhaps they’d done all they were going to do by the time we made it through the rest of the seating area and down to the stage without further incident.
I was wrong.
Lance led us up the side stairs onto the stage and began to tell us more details about the gruesome deaths that had occurred there. “Hold your lanterns up high!” he commanded the group. “What do you see?”
I joined the participants in raising my lantern and looking up at the ceiling. All that was up there were some rickety old beams and cracked platform wood. The participants started describing what they saw, and Lance let them finish before continuing.
“What may look like normal catwalks and beams are, instead, elements that led to disaster!” he cried out, sounding frightened himself. He raised his arms overhead and fell to his knees, gazing at the ceiling in dramatic agony. The dust he'd fallen into plumed around his legs. “It was those platforms that failed in the final scene, during which the cast was preparing to be lowered onto the stage in unison to symbolize the coming home of angels innovatively.”
He dropped his hands to his sides and slumped over, looking at the floor. As he did so, a loud cracking came from the ceiling above, where the attention of the tourists was still riveted. Screams echoed out through the auditorium as splinters of broken wood fell down from the ceiling directly towards our group. Each of the thirteen members, including myself, threw their hands over their heads and ducked.
Instead of being pummeled by pieces of broken beams, however, the falling splinters suddenly faded away just before they reached our heads. Lance had looked up just in time to see the chaos and duck himself. When the clatter quieted, he was the first to stand up.
“Perhaps it is too dangerous for us to continue?” he offered up the option to the crouching guests. He had his hands held to his heart as if to calm his own terror in a dramatic fashion that would’ve made even Scarlett O’Hare proud of his performance.
“No!” a young girl cried out, quickly getting to her feet.
“Keep going!” a different girl shouted.
By the time everybody was standing once again, it was perfectly clear that nobody wanted to leave. Andi and Vila came to stand by my sides, each looping an arm through my own.
“They loved it,” Vila gushed in a whisper. I just stared at her. Thirteen people were just in fear of their safety, and she couldn't be happier about it.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I scolded as quietly as I could. “You could have given somebody a heart attack.”
Andi started giggling. “Don't worry, they all signed waivers before they walked through the door!” she replied as though it was ridiculous for me to be concerned about anyone else in the room.
“I didn't sign a waiver!” I pointed out, my heart rate still elevated from the fake close call.
“You're different,” Vila chimed in. “We know you can handle it! Besides, it is almost over anyway. As fascinating as this place is, there are really just the three rooms plus the dressing area to see.”
Andi’s head whipped around to stare at Vila. “What if there were more?” she asked her, a level of mischief in her voice beyond any I’d heard before.
“Yes!” Andi replied without hesitation.
Before I had a chance to say or do anything, Vila raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Andi wasted no time running over to the back of the stage.
“Where does this go?” she yelled.
“Where does what go?” Lance inquired curiously. He strolled over and looked down where Andi was pointing. Just to her right was a steep ramp leading down into darkness.
I put my head down and took a deep breath. It was already too late for me to stop whatever the girls had planned next.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Lance asked the group.
My head shot up. Could he be serious? The first thing that crossed my mind was that it would be a huge liability for him to take people into an un-vetted portion of the building. When he started motioning for people to follow him down the ramp, the girls came skipping back up to me.
“You are going to end up getting him sued!” I said a little louder than I intended.
“Bennett, don’t you know by now that we wouldn’t do something like that?” Andi purred. “The entire building has been inspected and cleared. If anybody were to go somewhere and get hurt, the liability would be on the in
spection company. Plus, Vila already went down there. It’s totally safe.”
“When did Vila go down there?” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around what she told me.
“When we were all standing here talking a moment ago,” Andi replied as though I should have known.
“But we were doing what you just said, standing here!” I pointed both hands down toward the floor for emphasis. It was clear that my concerns were not being shared.
“Oh, my darling Bennett,” Andi cooed and cuddled up against me. “Haven’t you noticed that we genies can work quickly by now?”
“Yes, but--”
“Come on, you two! We don't want to miss this!” Vila interjected, once again tugging on me.
The three of us began walking toward the ramp as I was sure I would get a headache if I had to roll my eyes even one more time that evening. By the time we reached the bottom, the entire group was stopped and looking to Lance for further direction.
I had to admit, I was intrigued to find out how he'd handle yet another little side trip.
“There have always been rumors of a secret basement in the Luna Bell,” he began, speaking as though he were telling a secret of the utmost importance. “Before this day, none was ever found.” He turned his back to the tourists and carefully stepped forward, speaking to them over his shoulder. “It was said, by those who were paid to be quiet, that when the cast fell from the catwalk, their fall did not end on the stage.”
He stopped suddenly, spinning around so quickly that his lantern rattled as though it was going to fly off its handle.
“Instead!” he whispered so forcefully that the group leaned back away from him. “They broke through the stage and met their demise in a secret cellar that isn't found on any of the building’s blueprints… this cellar!”
The group members gasped and immediately started holding their lanterns out to look around them. The room itself was only as wide as the stage above it but seemed to stretch out in front of us for a good distance. As people hesitantly walked around, the only things there were stone walls, dust, and a row of decaying wooden cabinets.
