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the garden,
everything had seemed so perfect about it, that they bought it
there and then and never even considered moving again. It was to be
as it were, their ‘forever’ house.
    She remembered
the very first time that Josie had brought Archie back to the
house. She had brought one or two casual boyfriends back previously
and Mrs Smith had done her best to be open minded about them, but
when she met Archie she had secretly hoped that he would turn out
to be ‘the one’ and indeed this very quickly turned out to be the
case. It had soon become clear that he and Josie were mutually
besotted and in every way they seemed so well matched. They were
both calm, considerate and level headed. He was an Architect with a
career that was just beginning to take off and Josie; well Josie
could be whatever she wanted to be. She was gifted in so many ways,
but had yet to discover what she really wanted to do.
    When the
engagement was announced and the wedding date set, Mrs Smith was in
her element. She took on the planning alongside Josie and together
they organised the wedding that her little Josie deserved.
    Mrs Smith’s
expression had been wistful but now her eyes moistened and tears
began to stream down her cheeks. She was choked with sadness; How
had she thought that she could live without her dear, dear Josie.
Her life was merely mechanical now. Her body carried on living as
if it was some soulless robot, but inside, her spirit was dead. She
needed her Jodie back. Somehow she had to find a way to reunite
herself with her little Josie. There was a way, she felt sure,
there was a way that they could be together and she could
obliterate her torment once and for all.
    Mrs Smith
swallowed the little tablets one by one, seemingly not in any
particular hurry. She then retrieved a half bottle of whisky from
her coat pocket and shakily unscrewed the cap before raising the
burning fluid to her lips and gulping it down as though it
contained within it the power to restore her youth and happiness.
For a few moments more, she sat gently rocking on the swing and
then she mumbled almost incoherently, “Josie my beloved, my perfect
little Josie, Mummy is coming for you.” A few seconds later all
consciousness seeped from her body and she tumbled backwards off
the swing and lay silently on her back, eyes staring sightlessly up
into the foliage of the tree that had been the focus of so many
happy memories for her over the years.
     
    *****
     
    Finally Ben’s
Hammering blows on the front door were answered. He could hear the
security bolt being pulled back and then the front door swung open
and he staggered wearily to his feet, relief that his ordeal was at
an end flooding through his body. He looked straight into the
friendly and familiar face of his mother, he had missed her so
profoundly and he so needed the comfort that only his mother could
bring to him, that he began to sob hysterically and flung himself
into her arms. But rather than receiving the warm hug that he so
desperately needed, instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of panic
and disorientation as he passed straight through the point at which
she had just been standing without touching her at all.
    His momentum
sent him stumbling through into the hall where he lost his balance
and fell heavily to the floor. He lay completely still for several
seconds, stunned by what had just happened, but then the immediacy
of his predicament got him scrambling to his feet in a frenzy. The
hallway was enveloped in a thick pall of smoke which had already
descended to within a couple of feet of the floor and he could see
that he had little time left to get out of the house. The front
door was shut and he lunged at it in desperation, alternately
kicking at it and tugging at it, until his breath finally gave out
and he had to drop back to his knees in search of the small amount
of breathable air still left at ground level.
    He had no idea
what to do next and so he crawled back a few feet along the