Shadows

It’s that time of the afternoon when the sun is low enough to stream straight through the open timber slats of the plantation shutters. Ben takes a break from the task he’s been labouring over for what seems like hours.

This has always been his favourite time of day. Leaning back in his chair, he closes his eyes and lets the sun wash over his face.

Shadows are starting to gather at the edges of his room as the sun downs, but there is still plenty of light yet and a diffused orange glow fills the space with warmth.

He doesn’t know how long he has been bent over his work and in this serene moment doesn’t quite comprehend why he has dedicated so much effort to it. Must have been important to work so late – what time is it, anyway?

Opening his eyes, Ben glances down at his wrist but discovers it bare of the leather strap and watch he expected to find there. Where did I put my watch?

It’s a daily ritual of his, putting on his watch, so it is strange that he isn’t wearing it. He must have slipped it off at some point during the day but can’t recall why.

He scans the surface of his desk but there is no immediate sign of the watch there. Sitting up, he shuffles through some loose papers to look beneath them. Still, it remains hidden.

“Kate…” he calls out, but only half-heartedly. He hates misplacing his things but his wife has even less patience for it.

Standing to get a better view across his desk, Ben rifles through the items on it again, eyes darting back and forth hoping to land them on the missing timepiece.

“Kate!” he calls out a little louder as he bends over to peer beneath the desk in the off-chance the watch found its way there while he was working away.

“Kate! Have you seen my watch?” Damn it!

His frustration levels are starting to mount now and his heart rate is rising. He spins around to search the rest of the room. The only other pieces of furniture in the space are a low-slung armchair – his favourite reading chair – with a side table beside it. A reading lamp hovers over the two and a cowhide rug pulls the reading nook together.

Sitting on the side table is the latest book he has been trudging through for months, an empty teacup and some biscuit crumbs, remnants of his afternoon tea. But no watch.

“KATE!” he calls out again, much louder. From the other end of the house he hears a faint female voice in reply.

Where the hell is it?! Where can it be?!

His right hand is wringing the wrist of his left where his watch should be but which is currently distressingly bare.

Striding across the room, Ben yanks open the door and calls out to his wife again.

“KATE!”

The hallway has fallen into shadow now that the sun has dipped behind the distant roofs. Ben takes a moment to let his eyes adjust to the contrast between his light-bathed office and the brooding corridor.

Here, light and dark are dancing their usual evening performance, intermittently casting brightness and shade across the walls. Slowly, ever-widening shadows will take their place as the sun sets further.

Transfixed by the shifting light as it gives way, Ben’s focus is drawn to one shadow in particular creeping its way along the wall towards him. Closer and closer it advances, causing Ben’s heart to skip a beat. Bracing himself, every muscle taut, he stands ready to strike if necessary.

“Darling, what’s the matter?” the shadow speaks.

“Kate?” he sighs, “Kate, there you are! Have you seen my watch?”

As Kate joins him in the doorway of his office, her face is lit by the fading orange glow at his shoulders and he sees immediately that it isn’t Kate at all.

“Who are you?!” He asks alarmed.

“Darling, it’s me.”

“You’re not Kate. Where’s Kate? Where’s my watch?”

“Darling, it’s me, Hannah.”

Ben is thrown by the unexpected appearance of this stranger in his house. Hannah? Who the hell is Hannah? What is she doing here?

“Where’s Kate?” He asks again.

“Kate’s not here. She doesn’t live here anymore.”

“What?! What are you talking about?!”

“Darling, remember? Kate moved to the coast after your divorce five years ago.”

Divorce?! Divorce Kate?! That’s ridiculous! Ben’s mind is reeling – this doesn’t make sense.

He tries desperately to stay in control of a situation he fears is rapidly slipping from his grasp. This stranger, this Hannah person…she must have stolen his watch! Maybe she’s trying to rob me of everything.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”

“I live here with you now, darling. I’ve been living here for years. Not long after Kate moved out. Don’t you remember?”

No. No. This is all wrong. Ben is starting to feel unwell from the rising agitation. Something is definitely not right here but he doesn’t know what. I need to find Kate, he thinks to himself, I need to get this Hannah out of my house.

Then a frightening thought comes to him – what if she’s not alone? What if she has an accomplice and he has Kate bound up in the other room?

“Where is Kate? Have you done something to her? Who else is with you?”

“Ben, honey. There’s no one else here. It’s just you and me.”

Hannah tries to reach her arms up to touch him but Ben instinctively steps back.

“I don’t believe you! Don’t come near me!”

“Ben, please. Please don’t do this again. It’s me darling, please remember. I love you. You love me. We love each other. We live together.”

But Ben isn’t listening to the cunning words of this stranger. He won’t be fooled. Who does she think he is?! He must find Kate.

“Stop it. Get out of my house.” He raises his arm to thrust his finger at the front door, indicating exactly the direction he would like this woman to take.

“Honey…” the woman pleads

“I SAID STOP! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! KATE! KATE!”

“Okay, okay. Please don’t agitate yourself.” Hannah holds up her palms in front of her. “I’ll leave, but please calm down.”

Good. Good! Ben thinks. Once she’s gone, I can find Kate.

The woman who calls herself Hannah walks back along the hallway and picks up a handbag. Sliding it slowly over her shoulder, she looks worryingly towards Ben.

“Okay, I’m going now, darling. Everything is fine, everyone is fine. Please calm down. Why don’t you make yourself a cup of tea?”

Ben glares at her but says nothing.

As the woman walks out the door, she casts a final glance towards Ben, and raises her hand to flick on the light switch, bringing the hallway and adjoining kitchen into bright focus.

“I’ll just go for a walk, darling, I won’t be long. Okay?”

“Take as long as you like and don’t bother coming back.” Ben scoffs. These tricksters! Who do they think they are? They won’t get the better of me.

As the door latches closed behind the woman, Ben looks around the now well-lit interior of his home. Everything seems to be in its place. Making his way into the kitchen, he checks for broken glass but doesn’t find any. The house is eerily quiet.

Ben feels exhausted, drained by the experience of finding a stranger in his house and Kate gone. Entering the sitting room, he lowers himself slowly into a worn, deep, reddish-brown leather Chesterfield armchair, years of use etched into its hide. He reaches up to turn on a lamp just over his shoulder. Taking deep breaths to calm his nerves, Ben leans his head back and closes his eyes for a few minutes.

“Hannah?”

The house is silent.

“Hannah?”

Ben waits. Hannah is not usually far away. But when she doesn’t appear, he calls out again a little louder.

“Hannah!”

A sickly feeling comes over him, like something terrible has happened but he can’t quite remember what. It feels like he is searching for something precious that remains stubbornly hidden. An apprehension he can’t shake starts to take over.

“Hannah, darling, are you here?”

From the sitting room he walks down the hallway, past his office, and towards the front door. The last room on the left is their bedroom. Perhaps she’s napping, he thinks. Slowly he turns the knob and peeks inside. The room is dark but the light of the streetlamp streaming through the window spotlights an empty bed.

He walks back towards the sitting room and perches on the edge of the Chesterfield. Racking his brain, Ben tries to remember what may have happened to cause this strange dread he’s feeling. An image flashes in his mind – Hannah standing at the door, looking forlornly back at him, tears on her cheeks. She turns, walks out and closes the door behind her.

“Hannah…oh my Hannah. What have I done?”

He buries his face in his hands and weeps. She’s gone. The love of his life is gone. The woman he turned his world upside-down for has left him. He has pushed her away. The devastation overwhelms him.

“Hannah, my darling. Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me. I love you.” He sobs as a feeling of lonely heartache weighs down on his shoulders.

“I’m here, my love. Please don’t cry. I can never leave you, my darling.”

Hannah is there! She is there, sitting beside him!

“Hannah! My darling! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

THE END