The Man with the Umbrella

"Look over there! In that field! There's a man with an umbrella! Where's he going?"

Michelle was always curious about what others were doing and he did look mysterious, shrouded as he was in the mist, with a furtive, purposeful length to his stride.

"He's probably just getting some exercise," I replied, hoping to deflect what I knew was coming next.

"But what if he's not? What if he's a spy or a murderer or something? Let's follow him!"

"Those seem like very good reasons to stay right here," I said, as a wise 18 year old but Michelle ran through my words to pursue the retreating figure, already being absorbed by the fog.

We'd lost Michelle once before, in Paris, and for me, they were the most frightening minutes of my life. She had wandered off in the Louvre and whilst she had only been missing for no longer than two minutes, it was enough time for my imagination to do some macabre conjuring. She was 9 then; she was now 13 and just as impulsive and unaware of danger.

I hightailed it after her into the fog, making sure that my eyes were on her at all times.

When I caught up with her, she was crouched behind a bush. She heard me approach and put her fingers to her lips to quieten me. Despite myself, I was rather curious.

"He's in there!" she said. She was trembling with nervous anticipation, like a young rabbit startled on a path.

Ahead of us, the woods, and the lumpy form of a ruined cottage, overgrown with ivy.

"I think he's meeting someone!" she hissed.

Off she went, before I could stop her.

"Michelle!" I tried to whisper urgently, but the trees muffled my words.

*

She stood motionless, gaping.

He was indeed meeting someone.

Pink buttocks proudly exposed, trousers down, energetic pumping. Gasps and grunts. Pleasure.

I tried to draw Michelle's shocked form away before we were noticed.

She was quiet all the way home. I thought it was the shock but it wasn't. Not totally. It was because she knew who he was meeting and our lives changed forever more from that date.

It was Mother.

***

366 words

Apologies for the rudeness of this. It was designed to shock, of course, to emulate the surprise of the characters.

A shock discovery that alters everything you've known before and at such an impressionable age.

The picture was the inspiration for this. I love the content on Unsplash.

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love interacting with my readers although I reserve the right to challenge you if I think you are just trying to court me with smooth words and haven't read the content at all. Seems fair.

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