Death-rattle
It was two or three in the morning. About ten years ago. A quiet night in spring or early summer as the windows were open. Suddenly a loud thud was heard. I looked out of the window. The street is pretty narrow. A body was lying on the opposite side. A young man. No shoes …
I watched the scene from the second floor. All by myself in the apartment. A stupid situation. Could not call friends so late at night.
He might have been attacked and robbed, I thought. But did not remember hearing any steps. The body was right under the second and third floor windows of the building on the opposite side of the street. Could he have jumped from one of those dark windows?
My hands trembling, I decided to call the police. Did not tell them my name. I had to go to work in the morning.
Panic started overwhelming me. They could search all the apartments in the possible line/direction of the jump. It even occurred to me that my boy-friend’s shoes were somewhere around. He was doing his Army service at the time. So who would believe they belonged to him? …I quickly hid them … had another look at the street …and heard a moan.
Obviously a dead-rattle … Horribleee!
The only witness …
Probably some 15 or 20 minutes had passed before the police and an ambulance arrived to the spot. Peeping from behind the curtains I saw a big car with a reflector on its top … they investigated, took photographs … It was impossible to fall asleep.
The next day I heard it was a student who, having messed up a few exams, had thrown himself down … from the building next to mine and actually ‘flew’ diagonally across the street.
It was not the end. I was somehow convinced that his ghost .., or soul …, whatever it is, was haunting the place. The street windows were closed all summer and I aired the rooms from the garden side of the building … just in case ..
(narayamy, Mon 3 Mar 2008, 3:49, Reply)