Mist

‘Let’s take the short cut’ Jan said.

‘Let’s not!’ Sean replied, ‘They told everyone in assembly to walk home by well-lit routes now it’s getting dark early.

‘You’re not scared are you?’ Jan asked teasingly. She was already pushing through the hedge to the waste ground.

By the time Sean had decided to follow she had scrambled down the steep bank into the field.

She had stopped to wait for him.

‘Wow!’ she exclaimed as he skidded to a halt beside her.

The waste-land was covered by a thin mist that hovered a couple of feet off the ground.

‘It’s like out of a horror movie.’ She said and plunged off into the mist laughing.

‘Hey wait!’ Sean tried to grab hold and stop her but her coat sleeve slipped through his grasp, ‘C’mon, let’s just go the normal way.’

But he had already lost sight of her. He thought about going back to the road. But he knew he couldn’t. Her laugh echoed out of the fog teasing him forward.

He set off reluctantly into the mist. Above the sky was a cold wintery blue. V-shapes of birds flew steadily overhead. The grass was damp and he felt it seep into his school shoes freezing his toes.

The way was familiar enough. They had spent all summer playing on the waste ground. They knew every rusting car and rotting sofa, every tree stump and rabbit hole. But in this mist it felt different. It felt strange and dangerous. Sean shivered.

A shadow brushed past him sending goose bumps all over his body.

‘Jan,’ He called angrily as the shadow danced away giggling.
He turned round trying to make out where the sounds were coming from.

She appeared right in front of him making him start.

‘Don’t do that!’ He scolded.

‘Don’t be a kill-joy, I’ve never seen fog like this before.’ She twirled making the mist swirl around her like a magical dress.

‘That’s what’s weird,’ Sean said, ‘Usually fog like this only happens near a river or pond, but we’re miles from any water.

‘Ha! Mister know-it-all is finally stumped!’ Jan said delighted, ‘Can’t you just enjoy the magic of it?’

She ran a few paces ahead. ‘Look I can disappear, like magic!’ The fog cut her in two and then in the blink of an eye she was gone.

Sean forged ahead, now angry and afraid, he just wanted to find her and get out of there. But when he arrived at the point he thought she’d be, she wasn’t there.

‘Jan,’ he called, ‘JAN!’ The only sound was his own words returning to him. ‘Stop playing now, we have to go home!’

As silence settled, panic gripped him, he ran through the fog searching. He stumbled and realised he was lost.

The mist had thickened now, he couldn’t see even a few feet in any direction. The constantly swirling, infinite whiteness made him feel giddy and sick. He felt his heart skipping in his chest, his breath came out in great white clouds, adding strength to the mist.

He forced himself to stop and calm down. He took deep breathes of the cold air and closed his eyes to think.

Logically the waste-land was only a few hundred feet at its widest point. If he just walked in a straight line he’d reach the edge and be able to follow it round.

He felt calmer now he had a plan and opened his eyes. Carefully and cautiously he began walking.

He’d been walking for ages, surely he must be getting close, he told himself, but he seemed to be going nowhere with no landmarks to mark his progress by. He had to work hard to quell the pangs of panic which kept trying to bubble up and overwhelm him again.

‘Jan is going to be in so much trouble when I catch up with her!’ He told himself to keep his mind off it.

It was with unbridled joy that he finally realised the mist was thinning at last. He could make out the crisp silhouettes of the bare winter trees that stood like sentinels at the boarders of the field.

Relief washed over him as he recognised one that was very round in shape. The small yellow leaves still clinging to it caught the setting winter sun and shone like a beacon.

The way home was just beyond that tree. Sean put on a spurt of speed and was climbing the bank in no time.

He looked back for a moment and saw that the mist had thinned back to almost nothing and only a few spectral swirls remained.

He stopped and looked properly, searching for Jan. The light was dim but his eyes were keen.

Nothing moved in the field except the drifting mist. Maybe she’d fallen, or maybe she’d already gone home and was waiting for him there. He wanted to leave but he felt uneasy, he knew something wasn’t right. She’d have waited for him, she’d have hidden in the bushes and jumped out to scare
him. But she wasn’t here.

‘JAN, JAAAAN!’ His voice soared over the field, if she was there, she’d hear him.

A tendril detached itself and drifted towards him. It curled around his feet. No, it wasn’t mist, it was a cat, pure white and as ethereal as the mist. He bent down and stretched out a hand to rub along its silken fur.

It was cold and damp and his fingers passed straight through it. He drew back in surprise. The cat mewed plaintively up at him. He realised he wasn’t scared. He reached out again. The more he petted the cat the more solid and real it became. At last it sat purring before him, staring into his
eyes.

Its eyes, it had eyes just like his sisters eyes, blue flecked with hazel, not cat like at all, apart from the slit like pupil.

‘Jan?’ He asked nervously.

The cat meowed wretchedly in reply.