The Ghost of the Theater

Word Count 1,010


         The town’s old theater has been put up for auction by the town. The theater closed its doors in the early 90s but was saved in the 2000 and turned into a cinema. The cinema closed its doors in 2003 and it has been empty since. At the auction I was able to out bid a developer for the theater. My plan is to reopen the theater and start a local theater group. The next day I was asked to accompany the realtor that was in charge of the auction on a guided tour. As we walked through the theater I was already seeing what needed to be done. We made our way on stage and saw that the dressing rooms were on the right and an emergency exit was on the left. The dressing room doors were missing and the rooms were in shambles. The realtor lead me to the last room the office it was located next to the main doors of the theater. After a few more questions he handed me papers to sign. He handed me the keys and I handed him a check and the purchase was complete.

         After the realtor left I locked the doors behind him and went back to the office to start writing a construction plan. An hour passed when the sound of singing could be heard. I looked for a radio but remembered I left it in my car. So I went to find where the singing was coming from. The sound became louder in the direction of the stage but when I opened the door it stopped. The only thought that came to me was somebody was playing a joke on me. I started to search the theater. The dressing rooms were the first places I searched for obvious reasons. The next stop was the back hall way leading towards the back exit. Once again I found nothing the door was bolted shut. The clock just struck midnight when the search came to an end so I packed up my belonging and went home for the night. As I drove home I started to think of where the singing came from. The only logical idea that came to mind was that a car was parked behind the back exit.

         When I arrived at the theater I looked around the outside of the building to see if the singing from last night could have come from a car. The rear door was located in an alley that a car could have parked. The first task of my day was to call the local fire marshal to see what I need to do to bring the theater up to code. And then find a contractor to fix up the theater. The fire marshal arrived around 11 am and we finished the tour about 1 pm. He discovered that there were not many violations mostly the problems were outdated equipment. After he left I sat down and called contractors but none of them would come out to look at the theater. It was just turning eight when I heard singing again. The singing once again was coming from the stage. I opened the door and saw this woman standing on stage in a blue dress singing. When she finished her song she bowed and walked off the stage. I started to run down the aisle and made it to the stage. As I ran to the dressing rooms I discovered they were all empty. Where did the lady go ran through my head for the rest of the night. I was finally able to find a contractor that would come to the theater the next day. After sitting in the office for another two hours I decided to call it a night.

         The contractor came the next day and looked over the plans. Three days later his company came and started the renovations.  The renovations took about three months and during that time I didn’t see the lady or hear her singing. The last night the workers were there one of them found a box from the first year of the theater. The worker placed the box in my office. When the workers left I was just about to open the box but the singing started again. I went to the stage and saw the mystery lady singing on the stage. When the she finished singing I clapped she bowed and walked off the stage. I ran down the aisle and saw her duck into the second dressing room. I finally had a chance to talk to her. So I entered the dressing room she turned to face me. The lady smiled and vanished right in front of me. My heart stopped beating at that moment I slowly backed out of the dressing room and ran back to my office. On my desk was the box that the worker found. I decided to open it to get my mind off of what just happened. Inside the box were old playbills and posters for the shows. On the bottom of the box was a newspaper article. It was entitled “Accident at the Town Theater.” Today a tragic accident happen at the theater a light fell from the rafters and struck the leading lady, Charlotte Eastwood, and she was killed. The theater closed down the production of the “Les Misérables.” Now I was interested in finding out whom Charlotte Eastwood was. I pulled out my laptop and did a search on Charlotte Eastwood. After an hour searching I found an image and discovered my mystery woman is Charlotte Eastwood. The image is of her wearing the same dress I’ve seen her in. Singing was coming from the stage again as I entered the theater I started to applauded. Charlotte smiled and vanished from the stage. I stood there for a few minutes before returning to my office. I saw a note on my desk. All it said was thank you. The new name of the theater was going to be the Charlotte Eastwood Theater.