Lost and Found
‘Shirley!’
Stephenson reached out to grab hold of her, but he couldn’t see anything, not even the hand at the end of his arm. The fog had swallowed everything, obliterated the whole world.
‘Shirley!’ The sound of his voice echoed and reverberated as if he was standing in an immense cavern, a space as large and empty as the hollow interior of a cathedral, the walls and roof formed out of grey mist.
The ground tipped suddenly in front of him and he toppled to his knees, the hand he shot out to catch himself sinking up to the wrist in mud. His body ached and his throat felt raw, as if it was clogged with barbed wire. He coughed and spat out something grey and noxious, like a lump of congealed fog.
Somewhere off to his left a woman screamed. Wearily Stephenson pushed himself back onto his feet and stumbled blindly in the direction of the sound, flailing wildly with his arms.
His fingertips struck something, something that felt colder than ice. An object loomed up out of the fog in front of him, slowly taking shape before his eyes, like droplets of water vapour coagulating around a central core. As he watched it took on the form of a woman.
‘Shirley/’ He spoke her name, hesitant, unsure.
She stood in front of him and stretched out her arms. He stepped forward and she enfolded him in her embrace. At first she felt cold and clammy to the touch, but then warm and vibrant and alive, as if the contact with him was in some way restoring her to life and vitality.
‘Take me away from this place,’ she whispered. ‘Take me home with you. I’ll be a good wife. I’ll make you happy and always do what you want. Just take me away from here.’
Stephenson moved back and took hold of her hand, squeezing it gently. There were tears in his eyes. He felt happier than he had ever felt before, filled with an almost overwhelming sense of well-being.
‘I’m so glad that I found you.’ This was his wife, the woman that he loved more than the entire world. This was his true wife. How could he have ever doubted her devotion?
Something torn and bloody lay at their feet, but when Stephenson looked closer it proved to be nothing more than a gaudily coloured plastic bag emblazoned with the name of a fashion boutique. They circled it, hand in hand, and walked into the fog, which seemed to part before them.