The Spell of the Rose
-- EXCERPT: ‘I travelled through many lands and, you know what? People outside Fogland don’t look like us. They are taller and they don’t have…,’ she hesitated for a moment, ‘for example, your family, you have tentacles which you call hats. The Gerions, on Round Street, have three arms. The Soleys have a light on their foreheads and they shine like torches all night. Where I come from, hair is hair, people have two arms, and their heads are not like bedside lamps in the dark. This is a strange place here.’ Fleex was thinking. Fogland was definitely a land which you could enter but could not leave. Not on your own. It was a place with a purpose. But exactly what that purpose was, none of the locals knew. He turned to Fin, ‘What’s the last thing you remember before you came here?’ ‘I remember a small forest, all green. I was walking along a path leading downwards. There was no other way, only down. In the thickest part of the forest, the path just disappeared. I was tired and sat down to have a rest. I must have fallen asleep because I remember that the path had reappeared when I woke up, and I followed it to the Rose Garden.’ Bright tears filled her eyes, held on for a moment and then ran down the silky skin of her cheeks. Fleex was looking at her with a heavy heart. So heavy that his face turned pale and the tentacles in his hair hung down like the dead limbs of an octofruit. He felt sorry for Fin. It was nice that she had chosen him to share her story with, and he was not going to tell anyone. And if she kept quiet, the fog was not going to take her. A creepy, accusing shriek jolted him out of his thoughts. ‘Gold digger! Greedy, insensitive cow!’ Somebody was screaming and the voice was coming from the vines twisting over the café. Then there was a rumble as something round and clumsy rolled down the path and sped away. ‘The Gossiper! She’s been hiding above us all the time, eavesdropping!’ Fleex whispered, as he held the hands of his loved one. ‘Fin, whatever happens, I want you to know that I love you and…’ Before he could even finish, white and grey clouds of fog suddenly descended from all sides and surrounded Fin, blackening the sky and the garden. Wet cold froze them. The fog formed into the ugly face of an unknown creature, with black holes for eyes and sharp teeth. Fin was still squeezing Fleex’ hands when strangely fleshless yet strong fingers suddenly grabbed at his, forcing them apart. A powerful pull and then the fog monster pushed him aside with its enormous paw and opened its mouth. Fin sank inside, in a flood of tears. The fog spiralled up, taking Fin with it. Fleex was stunned. It took him hours to realise she was gone and he was never going to see her again. Without looking at it, he took the piece of paper from the table and put it into his pocket. She had merely decided to share her secret with him, but the fog had taken her. Because of the Gossiper.
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