My name isn’t Lizzy, it’s Anna. And as for my title—Fun Times Gal of Rockway Boulevard—no one from my time would know who you were talking about. No one who knew me when I was alive, that is.

Keep your eyes on the road! Things get messy right quick when you don’t. I should know. The fella who drove me home that fateful night did too. And all the others.

It’s not easy to find someone willing to listen to a dead girl. Sure, there are folks who come out here looking—no, hunting—like I’m Bigfoot or something. Can you imagine that? I avoid them for obvious reasons. Oh, not so obvious to you, hmm? Fine then, I’ll tell you. I wish to be heard not gawked at. I’m just a girl, not a sideshow attraction.

You look like a good listener. Are you afraid? Too frightened to listen to my story? I’m not gonna hurt you. Cross my heart and hope to — hahaha! Well, you know what I mean. It might be easier if you just focus on the road ahead, then I’m just a voice, just a girl, sitting beside you, nothing more. Don’t think about the big picture. That’s how all the others got themselves in trouble.

I didn’t die in 1908, by the way. It was 1924. I wasn’t sneakin’ out to go dancing either, it was…I guess you could call it my coming out. Just turned sixteen and papa couldn’t keep me from the dance halls any longer. Only I had to get Ava to go with me. The wettest blanket you ever did meet in your life was Ava. She was the eldest of us five girls. Eighteen and you couldn’t tell her nothing she didn’t want to hear.

What’s that? Oh, I was the second oldest. All my younger sisters were just as sweet as anything. Ava was the only sourpuss in the bunch. All our names began with an “A” because papa said it was clever. Ava, Anna, Amelia, Alexandra, and Alice.

I got a new dress just for dancing. Do you like it? Lavender was and still is my favorite color. They buried me in momma’s wedding dress. Guess this one wasn’t suitable for burial after the accident, but working out how to change my appearance was the first thing I did after the funeral. Who wants to be in fussy white lace for eternity? Not me.

Ava pouted and whined but finally took me with her to Alfonso’s. They had a big band that played long into the night. And the fellas there really knew how to cut a rug. I had a different partner for nearly every dance. I was new. I was young. And I got all the attention. Can’t you just see me, having the time of my life?

Boy, that sure made Ava steaming mad. Don’t know why. She never took to dancing, just sat there all night listening to the band. At most, she tapped her foot under the table. I’d be bored stiff sitting there all night when I could be out on the dance floor. I guess I danced with the wrong fella—a beau of hers. She left in a huff and left me stranded. Imagine that. Leaving your innocent little sister to find her own way home. I bet you’d never do such a thing. You look too sweet to leave a helpless young lady to fend for herself.

Alfonso’s? Yeah, it was across town from here. The Grizzly Bear Lodge? Heck, no. That place burned down when I was five. Is that where they say I was running off to? It changes all the time. Doesn’t make much sense to me. And that grave everyone thinks is mine, Elizabeth Rowan, she died three years after me in childbirth. Lizzy was a good sport about it all; she was great fun until she went into the light. You’d think someone would look up the records, but I imagine that would take some of the fun away.

Naw, I died across town, but they buried me here. Story goes I’m looking for a way home. Well, I’ve been home loads of times. Thank you very much. Ain’t nothing there for me anymore. They split the house up into apartments just as soon as the last of my sisters married and left home.

Some say I’m still trying to get to that dance. I long to dance with someone who knows how, but I’m really looking for a different kind of pattern now. My someone. I never really got a chance to call a person mine and I’ve been looking for a hundred years now.

What’s it like? Well, that’s a hard thing to put into words. Time passing doesn’t work the same way it does for the living. I only know it by the cars. Oh, I just love seeing how cars change, don’t you? My goodness, look at all the lights. What happened to the buttons? I love a good button to push. I remember when they started having that little button to open the windows. Such fun. Touchscreen? What on earth is that? Will you teach me?

Don’t fuss. It took me years to figure out how to work the buttons. I’ll figure out the screens too in time. There ain’t nothing I can’t do once I’ve set my mind on it. That’s how I caught all of Ava’s beaus. Trouble is, not one of them stayed.

There was Lucas, he who set out to drive me home that night and ended up off the road and straight into a sycamore tree. Lucas lived. Such a sweet boy. You kinda remind me of him, that’s why I accepted a ride from you in the first place. He ended up marrying that brat of a sister, but he was never happy. Couldn’t stop thinking about little ole me.

Whispered rumors of my nightly walks reached his ears, and that was all he needed to start driving long Rockway late at night, looking. He was the first to stop for me. The first car I got in. Took a minute to work that out, how to sit in a moving car. Nothing’s easy once you’re dead. It takes a lot of concentration.

He listened so sweetly, just like you are now, and he apologized with his whole heart. I thought he would keep me company. I thought he wanted to be with me. To be my someone. I leaned towards him and a whisper dripped from my lips, sweet as honey.

“Join me.”

And just like that, he jerked the wheel hard and we jumped the curb right into the wrought-iron fence of the cemetery. He passed on in my arms all peaceful-like. That’s the way it can be. That’s the way I make it. Just quiet and calm and a lovely ending.

That’s what you’d want, isn’t it?

A lovely ending like that?

I think most people would agree. My ending was all pain and confusion and fear. I don’t want that for anybody. Accept maybe Ava if I’m truthful.

I took Morgan, Ava’s second husband the same way. Then Stanley. They never married, but were engaged when he stopped to give me a lift. After that, Ava gave up on marrying altogether. Serves her right. I mean, if she hadn’t left me on my own, I’d probably die of old age surrounded by a big, loving family. Ava’d probably be there too, skulking and pouting that she wasn’t getting her due attention as I slipped into oblivion.

Where’s who now? Oh, the boys?

Lucas stayed long enough to apologize for killing me, then poof! into the light he went. Guess I can’t be too mad about that. You know, I think your eyes are the same color as his. Can’t be sure. It’s been a hundred years and things from back then start to slip into a fog.

Morgan stuck around for a spell, but he took up with some Woman in White up the road. Said she had a nice house to haunt and he wasn’t interested in walking Rockway Boulevard for eternity. Stanley didn’t know who I was. Used to talk about Ava like she was a saint and how she had this sister who died from her wild ways. We parted ways right quick, then he went and stood outside her house pining for Ava till the day she died.

No, Ava didn’t hang around after she died. She probably got sucked into the fires below just as soon as her lights went out. She knew I was out here wondering and never came to see me. Never apologized for leaving me stranded. Never gave me a second thought. So I don’t think about her anymore either.

After Ava was gone, I started searching for my someone in earnest. You’d be surprised how many drivers took me up on my offer. I’m quite the charmer, you know. Something about the way I put things makes everyone so… agreeable.

Ava called me a snake, slithering into people’s minds. But I’m not wicked. You see that, don’t you? I stayed with them speaking my gentle, comforting words. Giving them all their lovely endings.

They’re all so willing at first. They think becoming a hitchhiker like me will make them famous. But they’re not ready for what that really means. No one cares about your real name or who you really are. All those gawking ghost hunters are just desperate to get a picture or some way of proving you’re real. Some of my attempted partners couldn’t take standing in the shadow of my spotlight. I mean, the urban legend is about the ‘Fun Times Gal of Rockway Boulevard’, not the ‘Fun Times Gal of Rockway Boulevard and Todd’.

They all leave me eventually.

You’re so kind to listen to my story. Lucas was a good listener, too. I don’t mind telling you I miss him dearly. I wish he’d come back, but why would anyone willingly come back here once they’d found peace?

So, what’s your story? Did you come out here looking for me? Why’d you stop? You must be looking for something. Are you as lonely as I am? Are you the someone I’ve been searching for? My someone?

I could give you that lovely ending. Sweet and gentle and calm. Just like you. You’d never be alone. We’d have each other forever and always. I could teach you how to dance if you want to learn.

Doesn’t that sound nice? Doesn’t that sound just perfect?

Maybe we could trick ‘em, the living I mean. Change your clothes, give you a nice suit. Make them all think you’re Lucas. Mix up their little legend even more by having Lucas die with me. That’s what we’ll tell them. It’s gone so far from the truth anyhow, what would it matter adding to it. Won’t that be a good joke? We could laugh at them together.

You have to say yes. You have to want this. Want me. A while back I met a man with long hair who lived in his van, if you can believe it. He didn’t want to join me, and he taught me all about free will. I like that, the notion of choice. People stay longer when they have a say in the matter.

Now, just say yes.

Good.

Just watch the road and listen to my voice. Don’t be afraid, now. I’ll take good care of you. I’ll make it real nice for you.

Now take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Your eyes are getting tired, hypnotized by the headlights of passing cars. Can’t really focus on the road lines anymore. The tightness in your chest unravels with every breath.

Doesn’t that feel nice? Nothing to be afraid of—just dropping off to sleep.

Now Lucas, let go of the wheel and floor it.