Mummers Lost in Darkness

Midnight. The moonlight shone over the black waves, sprinkled with reflections from the stars above. In and out, in and out, in and out. The water tiptoed to the shore, onto the crumbling sand particles, then back out again. The large, thin palm trees blew in the cold breeze, their necks tall enough to be ladders.

A figure was staring out to sea, propped up against a wooden bench, a few steps away from the white, chalk cliff edge. The howling night winds, blew their long, wispy hair on to the side of their face, the cold breeze smacking them in the jaw. One, lonely fox, with a flaming orange tail, and a dark nose, cold to touch, was scuttling across the water’s edge rummaging and scavenging for food, washed up to shore late at night. She preferred this time, without the looks of passing strangers. The fox trotted up the rickety stairs, leading to the rocky cliffs, to find the figure a few meters away, swaying in the breeze, no movement in their body just hair flowing by.

Timidly, the fox cautiously headed towards the shadow, in the darkness of the night. A streetlamp providing the only source of light for miles around. She took tiny footsteps towards the person, not wanting to disturb whatever they were doing. A woman sat before her motionless. Elderly and grey, with large blue eyes open wide, staring forward, glassy, and cloudy. Her heart had stopped beating and her fingers turned into icicles. Gripped tightly in her hand, sandwiches crusts were crumbled. Tempted to steal at first, she realised quickly this was no meal for her and her children, waiting and hiding inside the den across the road, within a grass mound. Whoever this lady was, she was gone, passed onto the next life stage.

Just as the fox trailed back to where she had come from, she felt a gentle pat on the back of her head, icy cold but nevertheless a presence. Spinning around like a dog chasing their tail, she soon realised the motionless woman’s soul was now hovering around its shell. The body left dead, still and at peace but the old grey lady now floated above, a smile plastered upon her face.

“And what is your name?” The ghostly spirit kindly asked, staring down phantom glasses.

She must have looked terrified because the spirit tried to reassure her. Seizing up her tense frame. Even animals can fear the dead.

“Please, do not be afraid. I promise I will not hurt you.”

The fox shivered. Her burnt fur glowing in the light of the ghost’s shine. “Re… Rena…” She stumbled upon her words.

“There is no need to be shaken Rena, I am but a spirit. Just a living, breathing person whose time is now finished.”

“Why rest upon this bench?” Rena enquired, looking among the golden sands and spindly palm trees of the tropical seas, blowing at midnight.

“Why not? A place to rest. A beautiful place, to take one last breath among the stars and the waves.”

Rena gazed upon the vista in front of her very eyes. To a human, the idea of finding beauty in scenery was an obvious thing but to an animal such as herself, everywhere she wandered was just another place to survive.

“I can understand, but for an animal like me, a scavenger of nature, life isn’t so black and white. We hardly get to stop to admire the dazzling wonders of our world.”

The old spirit nodded gently without muttering a word. The glances between ghost and animal were understood.

“Rena.” The spirit spoke softly. “Please help me to do something.”

Rena tilted her head to one side. She wasn’t shaken or scared anymore but confused. How could she do something a ghost asked her to do?

“Please, say goodbye to my grandchildren.” She whispered into her pointy, furry ears of white and orange.

“But I am just a fox! I cannot speak to humans that live. How will they understand me?”

She smiled, bending over, and stroking her chin, just like a dog. Rena purred as she felt relaxed from a human touch.

“I will stay with you. They will know.” The old woman reassured this mother fox.

“Why me? Why not a bird, an owl, or a firefly? I haven’t got any wings and surely there are more beautiful creatures than a scavenger fox, trying to find her way in the world.”

She sighed. “But that is exactly why you are the perfect messenger. You were curious, even though I was a strange figure in the darkness, you are normal Rena.”

Rena had never really thought that her normal, everyday life could bring such joy to the humans around her. All she ever wanted was for her cubs to grow up healthy and strong in later life. Rena nodded and within moments, the elderly spirit was now holding on tight to her body, floating off into the night, leaving her corpse in peace. They were flying above. The fox danced among the glistening stars, travelling down the shore with the winds gust in her face. She felt free.

As they landed, Rena began to know her surroundings. Wooden cabin houses sat in rows, streetlamp’s light like sun rays. Both crossed over into the garden of one house, the grass mowed, the bushes lush, full of greenery.

“Wait…” Rena suddenly knew. “This is where I made my den! My cubs, they should be hidden around here.”

Rena scratched and scrapped, trying to dig into the mud, searching for her children but there was no sign of them at all, no matter where she looked.

Rena started to panic, turning to the spirit. “My children! I’ve lost my children!”

She was still and silent, just shook her head from side to side. Before her very eyes the entire sky started to twirl. Once twinkly skies turned into a sunny day. Daybreak.

“My goodness! What has happened!”

Without words, the ghost held her paw and pointed in the direction of the house. Three young children, smiling and happy, beaming with teeth showing as they grinned. Holding three miniature versions of herself.

“My children…” Rena mumbled her voice drifting away.

By her side, a mound of earth sat piled high, with a handmade wooden cross stuck into the ground. A handwritten message had been written by the ghosts’ grandchildren:

“Here lies the body of this mummy fox, who treasured and cared for her children until her death.”

Rena wasn’t scared anymore; she wasn’t even sad. Her tears were now falling, knowing that her cubs would now being looked after by loving souls.

“So, this is why I came you, my spirit was wondering also.”

The spirit nodded and patted her on the nose.

“I feel our time has come to a close, let them be at peace, like both of us shall now be.”