Friday 28 November 2014

A Ghost of Christmas Past.



Claire shut her eyes and counted to ten, then added another ten on just to be sure.  Then she opened them again and looked at the man sitting across the café. She’d not been mistaken; it was a ghost of Christmas past alright. Her stomach flipped, her heart skipped a beat, and there was desire in the pit of her stomach. But her brain stayed strong, her eyes filled with hate even if her heart was letting love leak in at an alarming rate as she sat there staring.
It must have been 3, no 4 years since she’d last seen him. 19th December 2010. She remembered the passion in his kiss as he’d said goodbye. The smile on his lips as he closed the door and then the tears she cried when he never came back.
‘I need to catch that train,’ he’d said as he reluctantly dragged himself from her body and got dressed. 
‘As soon as possible, ‘ he’d answered when she’d asked him when they could get together again. Everything was so normal, but then, nothing. She was used to long periods of nothing, husbands and fathers of 3 year olds often couldn’t get to the phone to send a message. That was the price she had to pay for being the other woman to the man of her dreams, but he was worth it. 
This period of nothingness thought went on and on and when one of her friends asked her if she’d seen the story about the disappearing train passenger she knew without looking it was Mike.  A cursory search of the internet confirmed that the devoted father of three and loving husband Mike Lewis has disappeared into thin air on a train journey from London to Cardiff.
But now he was back, sitting there drinking latte like he's always done, with a trademark milk moustache. A little older maybe, perhaps a little greyer, certainly fatter but still easily loveable.
She tried to banish those thoughts from her mind, this was a man who had betrayed her, vanished without a trace, left her clueless, loveless and heart broken. She put her iPad in her bag and started to put her coat on. But it was too late, he was coming over, a sheepish look on his face like he'd come to soon or broken a plate, not like he'd broken her heart. 
‘Claire’ he said. That voice, that smile, her knees went weak as her memory reflexed. 
‘It's me,’ he said that cute smile that she’d fallen for plastered on his face, ‘Mike.’

‘I don't know any Mike,’ she said turning and walking away, a proud tear leaking from her eye. 

11 comments:

  1. I hoped for a more optimistic story today... before the weekend...

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    1. Well it’s quite a positive ending... :-) She’s no Adele.

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    2. yeah unhappy but proud like Gloria Gaynor

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    3. Is it better to be Adele or Gloria?

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  2. and this is a story of cruelty too... so you started the week with a cruel woman and finished with a cruel man. How can you leave someone clueless, loveless and heart broken?

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  3. I have just seen a quotation from the Winnie-the-Pooh and it made me smile (however naive it is) and it reminded me of this story of yours.
    "And if one day I'll have to go? - Christopher Robin asked squeezing the bear's paw - What then? - No big deal. - Winnie the Pooh assured him - I will sit here and wait for you. When you love someone, then the second one will never disappear".

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  4. Sometimes just enough is enough:-(

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  5. Is 'loveable' correctly spelt?

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    1. Oxford dictionaries suggest it can be spelt loveable or lovable.

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  6. oh sorry. i didn't check, just asked a spontaneous (is it spelt correctly? but i don't feel like looking it up) question as I thought it was 'lovable'. seems things are not always what they seem

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  7. No problem, there are plenty of typos on here :-) and you know I crowd-source my editing :)

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