Ghosts of the Rideau Centre

​It was a busy Saturday at the Rideau Centre. Charlotte, all of five years with choppy brown bangs that almost touched her eyebrows, marched confidently beside her daddy. Daddy, a kind-faced man who worked in a big, serious-looking building downtown, held her hand loosely.

 Charlotte was a very precocious five-year-old, the kind who asked "why?" at least a hundred times a day and usually had a plan. Today's plan was to see the sparkly unicorn in the window of the toy store.

​The mall buzzed with shoppers. Charlotte, mesmerized by a giant inflatable beaver wearing a tiny Mountie hat, momentarily let go of her daddy's hand. When she looked back, he was gone.

​"Daddy?" Her voice was small but firm. She wasn't scared, not really. Daddy always said she was a very capable girl.

​That's when she saw them. Wispy figures, almost like heat rising off the pavement on a hot summer day, drifted through the crowd. One shimmered near a pretzel stand, its form vaguely resembling a woman with a tired smile. Another hovered by a clothing rack, looking like a blurry teenage boy sighing dramatically. No one else seemed to notice them.

​"Excuse me," Charlotte said to the blurry teenager, tugging on his see-through jeans. He didn't react.

​"Hello?" she tried with the tired-looking woman, who floated right through a stroller.

​These were strange. Almost like the pictures in her fairy tale book, but not as sparkly. Maybe they could help.

​A small, translucent creature that looked like a fluffy dog wagged its indistinct tail at her. "Are you lost?" it seemed to whisper, the sound like rustling leaves.

​Charlotte nodded. "I can't find my daddy. He's wearing a blue jacket."

​The fluffy dog-thing tilted its head. Then, it seemed to float towards the entrance of a department store. Charlotte, deciding this was the best lead she had, followed.

​Inside the store, a tall, wobbly figure that looked like a businessman rushed past, muttering something about a deadline. He bumped right into a mannequin, which wobbled but didn't fall. The blurry teenager floated by, now seemingly examining a rack of brightly colored socks.

​"Do you know my daddy?" Charlotte asked him again. He still didn't respond.

​The fluffy dog-thing nudged her leg with its insubstantial nose and then drifted towards a large display of televisions. On one of the screens, Charlotte saw a familiar blue jacket. It was her daddy, looking worried, talking to a security guard.

​"Daddy!" she called out, running towards the screen. Of course, she couldn't actually reach him through the glass.

​But then, one of the wispy creatures, this one looking like an old man with a kind face, seemed to point towards the customer service desk in the corner. Charlotte looked and saw her daddy heading that way, still talking to the security guard.

​Taking a deep breath, Charlotte marched through the shoppers, her little legs pumping. She dodged around a bewildered-looking woman carrying too many shopping bags and weaved past a family arguing about shoes.

​And then, there he was. Her daddy, his face lighting up when he saw her. He rushed towards her, scooping her up in a big hug.

​"Charlotte! There you are! I was so worried!"

​"I found you, Daddy," Charlotte said proudly. "The... the fluffy dog-ghost helped."

​Her daddy looked around, his brow furrowed. "Fluffy dog-ghost?"

​Charlotte nodded, looking around for her spectral guide, but it was gone. All the strange, shimmering figures were gone too, as if they had never been there at all.

​"Maybe it was my imagination," Charlotte said, but she knew it wasn't. She had seen them, the strange, almost-ghosts of the Rideau Centre. And they had helped her find her way back to her daddy. As they walked hand-in-hand towards the exit, Charlotte glanced back, wondering if they were still there, watching over the lost and found in their own silent, shimmering way.