Ten Months

by Mark Hendry

Mist swirls towards me from the wood. There’s a crackle of twigs from a tentative footfall. A white shape moves through the trees onto open ground.

It’s a woman in a crumpled shroud. She sees me and starts to shuffle in my direction. Her head rolls to one side as if her neck can’t support it. Her face is a putrid gray. Long chestnut hair hangs limply down her shoulder.

My whole body is shaking. I can’t move my legs. Louisa is dead, I tell myself.

She stops and gives me a lopsided look. Her cracked lips part but no sound comes out. The mist is all round me now and it smells of decay.

“For God’s sake, leave me alone!” I scream, as my knees buckle.

“Cut!” The Director shakes his head. “This is not in the script, Jason. What are you playing at?”

I get to my feet. The film crew are looking at me now. I know they’re thinking I’m not up to it anymore.

Judy, the actress in the shroud, walks up to me. She puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right, Jason? Maybe you need a break from all of this. It’s only been ten months since . . .”

I tell her I’m fine. The Director gives us ten minutes before we re-shoot our scene. I complete Judy’s statement in my head: Ten months since Louisa disappeared.

The police can’t find any trace of her. They’ve no new leads to follow up on, but I keep seeing her face.

                                                                                                                         First it was in mirrors. I would catch a glimpse of her standing behind me. Now I see her in shop windows, in doorways, in the back of taxicabs.

Louisa is dead, you see. Ten months ago, she told me she was having an affair with a cameraman she’d met on location. I pleaded with her to end it but she wouldn’t listen.

She broke her neck after I pushed her down the stairs at our place. I buried her body in a wood where no one will find her.

There is only one thing I can do now to get her out of my head. I take out my cell phone and scroll down the names.

I come to Joe Mancini, the police officer investigating Louisa’s disappearance.