Ladders Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
The mystery ladders were a bit like crop circles inasmuch that
they were strange and out of place and there were a million different stories
as to who made them, how they did it and why they were there. The ladders were
one part prank and one part performance art. They were set up and put in place
and there was no obvious reason for why. There was a graffiti element as the
ladders were placed illegally on public and private property and usually at all
hours of the night when no one else what around.
It was one of those things that inexplicably happened and should
have had an easy explanation, except no one knew what it was. People had
theories. People had rumors. People always seemed to know someone that knew
something, and yet no one really knew anything.
What was happening was ladders were just showing up – in the
middle of parking lots, at construction sites, in the middle of the road, out
in open parks and fields. There were ladders. A lot of ladders. Wood, metal,
fiberglass, plastic. Various heights. Various styles and builds. Ladders, ladders,
ladders, and more ladders. And as far as anyone could tell, they weren’t set up
to go anywhere or reach anything in particular. A person could climb up them
and take a look around and enjoy the view, but they weren’t getting anywhere.
No one was seen setting the ladders up. Not even security cameras.
One day everything was normal, the next day, suddenly there was an abandoned
ladder set up. It could have been a joke or a prank. It was an oddity that
local news stations liked to talk about and it would have stayed that way,
except that there were too many ladders in too many different locations. Of
course these could have been copycats out there or perhaps some sort of
conspiracy or joint effort. But no record was found. No logical pattern. There
were no legitimate trails to be tracked. There were chat rooms and blogs
dedicated to the subject, but no one had any credible evidence or leads as to
who or why or what was really going on.
And so people talked and people theorized. Conspiracists picked up
on it and the story grew and spread. Talk show hosts made jokes. People wrote
books. And then the copycats really did start. The teenagers pulling pranks.
The bored. The strange. Extra ladders started appearing more and more often.
Some cynically supposed that someone in the ladder building business had
concocted the whole thing as a way to sell more ladders. It was true that
ladder sales were up, but that was about as far as that idea got.
Niall watched as the strange man with the jet black hair set up a
ladder in the middle of a fenced off construction site. There were no obvious
breaks in the fence. Niall wondered how the man got the ladder into the site.
Certainly he wasn’t strong enough to have done it on his own. But the answer
wasn’t obvious.
Niall hopped the fence and approached the man.
“I was wondering when you’d arrive.”
“You were expecting me?”
“Someone. Not you. I don’t know. Maybe you. I figured someone
would see me eventually.”
“So the ladders are you?”
“Some. This one.”
“You want to elaborate further?”
“What if I did? What would you do with the information? Post it on
the internet? Have me arrested for trespassing?”
“I don’t know. I think I’d just like to know. But if you’re going
to be a dick about it, I don’t have to stick around. I don’t care that much.”
“I like the idea of giving people hope.”
“Hope? The ladder equals hope?”
“I think so. What is hope? Something you strive for. Something you
seek. Something you dream about. The ladder makes people think. It makes them
wonder. What does a ladder do? It lifts people up off the ground, raises them
up. It gives them a chance to do something, fulfill their work, reach something
higher. I put this out here, I’m reminding people of that ideal. Reminding them
that it’s possible. I’ve giving them a chance to reach for their hopes, their
dreams. Whether they do it or not is up to them, but I’m giving them the
symbol. They see the ladder, they know they can reach for something higher.”
“You think a lot about ladders. Way too much about ladders.”
“Nobody asked you to come over here. I’m just telling you what I’m
doing.”
“God, you must be bored.”
“I have seven more to set up tonight. You gonna mock me all night?
How about you put up or shut up? You want to help me out?”
Niall did. And that was how he got started buying ladders and
leaving them in random locations. He liked the rush of breaking in somewhere he
wasn’t supposed to be. He liked the idea of leaving something behind for people
to wonder about. He found he liked the afterglow. He liked the idea that he was
influencing strangers’ lives somehow. It made him feel special, significant. It
was a very addictive hobby. Addictive and expensive.
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