On a cold winter night marked by blackened snow near the sidewalks, Adele walked eagerly to see one more apartment. She suddenly had to move with five days’ notice during Christmas season because of her good-for-nothing roommate. As she walked, she didn’t know her move would be a blessing in disguise.
She had seen at least ten apartments. She was losing track of them but one thing was for sure: Adele had not found the one she wanted. Her last viewing was at 7:30 at Fulton Street. Who was Fulton anyway? What had this person done to earn having a street named after him? “Was he an inventor who had something to do with the steamboat?” she wondered as she scanned her memory.
When she arrived at the apartment building, no one was there. It seemed eerily empty. But like clockwork, Mark, the real estate agent appeared at 7:30 p.m. sharp. He seemed like a friendly middle aged guy eager to show her some apartments in this building built in 1918.
“Are you ready to see some apartments?” he asked. “I am!” she feigned enthusiasm. The first apartment he showed her was on the third floor. The kitchen looked a little worn down, but the studio’s living area was pretty amazing. It reminded Adele of a little ballroom. The cherry wood floors looked glorious in the dim light. “The lightbulb is on its way out,” Mark explained. “The last tenant here was an aspiring ballerina but I don’t think she ever made it, if you know what I mean.” Adele smiled and nodded awkwardly wondering why in the world he was sharing this information.
“She loved the place, though. Let’s move on to the fourth flour.” Adele followed him. The next apartment was almost exactly the same as the one on the lower level. The kitchen was still a little worn down, but the living area was rather big, especially compared to some of the other studios she had seen that day, and the cherry wood floor gave it a certain air of grandeur. The large windows showing the East River were attractive to her and her obsession with skyscraper views.
“This guy was a coder of sorts but stayed in this vague field of ‘IT’ working for some company. He stayed there for years without caring for an upgrade until he retired and moved to Florida. I’m still not sure he ever found someone to marry. Maybe some old retiree down there?”
Adele looked perplexed. “Why is he telling me about the previous tenants? I just want to see some apartments.” Mark saw the confusion on her face but didn’t seem to care. Instead, he asked her “how do you like this apartment?”
“It’s very similar to the other one,” she said. “I know, like the tenants. They all came with dreams but they left them here to die.”
Adele started getting uncomfortable. She had dreams that she was keeping inside her, not taking enough action to bring them to life. She worried that she would end up like the previous tenants of this building.
“How long have you been a real estate agent anyway?” “Oh, too long,” he laughed. “And I only show apartments in this building.” “Why’s that?” “Because it’s my favorite.”
Adele decided not to further inquire why that was. She assumed that he too had dreams that had perished like the previous tenants of the building he so liked to shame.
“This lady was a piano player but she only got as far as teaching rather than performing,” Mark said as soon as they entered the next apartment without even acknowledging that the purpose of the visit was to view the apartment rather than to tell the stories of the past tenants. At this point, Adele decided to go with the flow and asked “did you ever hear her play? Was she any good?”
“She was great but she had terrible stage fright. She just couldn’t perform well when other people were around.” “What about her students?” Adele asked. “The weird thing about her was that she could only perform with one person present at any given time.” Adele looked wide-eyed. “Why’s that?” “That’s how she was. Mrs. Barkley. Her husband died in the Great War.”
“How old was Mrs. Barkley?” “When she passed? 90, something like that.” Adele tried to do some math in her head and said “Interesting.” Mark didn’t seem to care. He also didn’t seem to care what she thought about the apartment. Adele followed him out into the hallway where she saw a big pot of what seemed to be wooden stems of what used to be a plant. “What is that?” she asked. “This used to be some sort of plant but I’m not sure who brought it here. ” “You really don’t know who brought it?” “No!” Mark said sternly. “I’m not the super. Missy!”
“Where are all the tenants anyway?” Adele asked. “There’s no one left. They all died with their dreams inside of them. Don’t do the same, Adele!” When she heard Mark speak, she got chills down her back. She turned towards the elevator and said “I think I’m done with this tour.” As she turned around, Mark had disappeared. Adele hurried to the elevator, pressed the button but it wasn’t working. She clicked frantically, but no elevator was coming up or down.
She began hearing the echoey voice of Mark saying “Follow your dreams or you’ll end up like these tenants who are no better than the blackened snow outside because they didn’t use their talents.” Adele ran towards the stairs as fast as she could. The staircase was dark but had small lights on each set of stairs.
Adele ran down and from a higher level, she heard the echoey voice yelling “You’ll be stuck here forever if you don’t follow your dreams. This building is your own creation. You can leave it whenever you’re ready or you can stay here. Your choice.”
Adele arrived downstairs, opened the two main front doors and stopped near the blackened snow on the sidewalk. “I won’t end up like blackened snow,” she said to herself and scurried away determined to make her dreams come true.