Fog

The fog was rolling in. He loved the fog. It swallowed everyone indiscriminatingly. Everything was blanketed in a sea of grey. The storms had passed and cooled the upper air, but the humidity lingered and taunted like a jaded lover. You could sit out and the occasional breeze broke the sticky sweltering heat.

The fog was when he could escape. His soul free to travel, his body a mere empty vessel, free to any that had the desire to possess it. A daring risk, but one he welcomed with relish. Because he went to see his love on these foggy nights. And seeing her was worth any risk.

The tendrils of fog snaked through the cemetery, like a snake sliding through the grass searching for its prey. It slithered closer, swallowing tombstone after tombstone, vault after vault, sliding ever closer. He prepared his mind for departure, gathering his chosen form to himself. The wolf was always a favorite.

The fog slowly eased past his house, and with it carrying him away. Many miles his mind traveled on the wings of wind, racing through the cosmic space to reach the edge of time and back again. He reached her house as the fog started sliding through the trees.

Gathering himself, he called her name softly, knowing she would hear him no matter where in the world she was. It was a sound that resonated within her soul. It was the call of one half to the other. The completion of a being. Two becoming one. No amount of time or space could ever truly separate those joined so. His whisper echoed down her spine, waking her from her slumber. It raised her body to a sleeping position, it curled around her neck and slid past her neck, onto her lips with the gentle caress of a lover. Her body moved of its own accord. It recongized the call that her sleeping mind could not fathom. Her body knew the call of its lover.


She awoke to find herself on the porch staring out into the fog, just the memory of sound echoing in her heart. Who had called her name? Why was she outside? Again, he whispered her name, the wind giving it wings. This time, her waking body heard the call to her, she peered out into the fog. She knew he was there, she could feel him pulling her, like a magnet pulled towards north. It was as inevitable as the sun rising. No more could she deny her love. She gazed eagerly, hungrily into the fog. Unable to control herself any longer, she slowly went down the steps, pulling her sleeping gown up around her knees to ease her descent. The ground was cold to her feet and the fog had a chill in it. She unconsciously rubbed her arms as she stepped out into the fog. She knew he would come. He always had told her he would. When it was time. He had to be here, she couldn't go on any more. She couldn't continue to live this life without him, but she couldn't figure out how to leave to be with him. And so she bore her agony in silence, waiting for him to come. Waiting.


She had come within feet of him. Using his remaining energy, he changed his form back into that which she recongized. He knew that this would make getting back home difficult, but he had to touch her face one last time. To taste her lips one last time, to feel her embrace one last time. Tomorrow may never come, but today, now he was here. He whispered her name once more.


She heard him with blinding accuracy. The fog swirled and there he was, standing in front of her, arms outstretched, waiting for her. She ran without care straight into his arms. At last! He had come for her. It was time for her to leave, he was going to take her home and make her happy, fill the void inside her and be everything she needed. Her tears left trails down her face as she cried with joy.


His heart was withering and dying inside him even as he held her so tightly. How could he tell her he had to go. That he couldn't take her with him. She had to leave on her own, or it could never be. How to tell her that he was simply a spectre, a mere beam of light. That he really didn't exist here and now. How to tell her anything other than he loved her.That he was waiting with open arms. That he was always there for her.


Life never was easy.