Writing Prompt 54: Fog
It’s been a strange week of weather here.
A few days ago the most incredible double rainbow formed over the neighbourhood where I live, the sunlight fighting for space through cloud and drizzle. I learnt from a friend on Instagram that the gap between two rainbows is called Alexander’s Dark Band named after Alexander of Aphrodisias, a Greek philosopher who described this optical phenomenon way back in the day, 200 AD.
The following day the temperature dropped as I walked the dog and it began to snow. The weather app described the severity of its weather warning as ‘moderate’ with a possible threat to life or property.
Arctic air combined with strong outflow winds will generate wind chill values near minus 20. The Fraser Valley may experience colder wind chill values of near minus 25 to minus 30.
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Frostbite and hypothermia can occur within minutes if adequate precautions are not taken when outdoors. Any skin exposure will result in frostbite.
weather app 13.01.24
Not the time to lose a glove which my youngest daughter did yesterday morning when walking to school, dropping it while texting, thinking she’d tucked it safely under her arm.
Weather has so many associations with emotion, with mood, with story. Where does the weather take you? As usual write it down, write it down.
Further reading
The Weather, Emotions and Your Writing - Ideas on how to weave the weather into the emotional substance of your story.
How to Avoid Clichés When Writing the Weather - How writing the weather into your scenes can affect your characters and scenes.
Nature’s Ghosts and an Eclipse - What happens to sunlight during a solar eclipse plus nature's photograms that decorate the pavement in Autumn.
The Disappeared
I tried to reach her through the fog. My fingertips grazed her hand before she disappeared, the dense blanket of damp air clouding my vision, stopping me from seeing where she'd gone.
Threads of moisture, delicate and light, drifted over my bare arms and tiny bumps formed around the fine hair. Goosebumps. I shivered.
Where was she? The fog hung lifeless in the air. No form loomed. No figure in the distance. Only a strange, eerie bright haze lingered, covering everything out to the hidden horizon.
I began to walk calling her name, reaching with my hands, feeling my way as if I'd lost my sight. Water began to lap at my feet. The shoreline. I could follow the sea in either direction. Surely, somewhere, there would be help.
The light began to fade into a deep blue as the sun beyond disappeared from view. Something hateful began to crawl up my neck. Fear. I scratched at it with my fingernails. Still, the water lapped at my feet, getting higher and higher, until it reached my knees.
Then, I heard her. Her voice calling my name, echoing across the sea. The water kept getting deeper and colder, now to my thighs. My teeth chattered in my jaw as my muscles rattled with no control. She sounded far away. Maybe I could reach her.
Story first posted April 2019 // Photo:Tanya Clarke 2017
