Time to go

Time to go

Sophie had slipped out of bed without a sound. Big Al hadn’t even stirred; the generous nightcap that she’d given him the previous evening seemed to have done the trick. Wincing at the shock of her bare feet on cold linoleum, she’d grabbed the clothes she’d hidden at the back of the closet and, just in case he woke up, had nipped out onto the landing to get dressed. “Move it, Sophie!” she’d mentally instructed herself, but she couldn’t resist returning to the bedroom for one last look. She’d been right: of the many possibilities, it was his broken, tobacco-stained teeth that had come to repel her most of all. How had she ever found him even remotely sexy? She’d given him one of her little waves as she’d turned to head downstairs.

The farmyard had been in near darkness when she’d joined the gravel path leading up the hill, but the sky was now slowly turning paler, and it seemed to help if she pretended to herself that she was physically chasing after the sunrise. After a bit of a struggle towards the end, she finally reached the top.

But where was he, her shiny, brand new lover?

“Don’t worry, darling, I’ll be there for you.”

Or so he’d said.

She sat down for a rest. But she hadn’t climbed all this way just to admire the scenery; she had a new love, a new life, to look forward to. Or so she’d thought. “Oh, for f***sake!” she said to herself as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. And a familiar voice.

“Nothing to be scared of, Sophie! Shall we go home?”

She wheeled round in alarm, but there was no one there. No one at all. Just the wind.