Splinter

14

‘W-what… You can’t be… You’re…’

Marc was incapable of thinking clearly. His stammer grew worse with every unfinished sentence.

‘Yes?’ said the woman in the doorway. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, the honey scent of the French shampoo Sandra had liked so much instantly bombarding him with countless memories.

It’s her…

‘You’re… here?’ he said. His right leg started to tremble as if he’d just done the 400-metre hurdles. He reached through the crack, eager to satisfy himself that he wasn’t talking to a ghost. The woman recoiled in alarm.

‘What do you want?’

Instead of all the questions he’d meant to ask, he managed to articulate a single word. ‘Sandra?’

‘Do I know you?’ The woman in the doorway stepped forwards again and raised her left eyebrow.

‘Hah…’ It was more an expulsion of breath than a laugh. ‘Why are you…? I thought… How can you be…?

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve got something on the stove.’ She tried to shut the door, but Marc jammed his foot in the crack just in time. He felt the door squash his toes and welcomed the sensation because the pain told him he wasn’t dreaming.

‘I thought you were dead,’ he blurted out, and the woman’s features blurred. The blonde who looked like his wife, spoke in her melodious tone of voice and was wearing the white tanktop he’d bought her at the maternity shop only a few weeks ago threw all her weight against the door and called for help.

‘Please stop this!’

Marc pushed back. ‘But it’s me, Marc.’

‘Please go.’

‘Marc Lucas, your husband.’

‘I don’t know you.’

‘What? Baby, you can’t just reappear like this and then-’

‘Go away!’

‘But-’

‘At once, or I’ll call the police!’

She was shouting now, and Marc backed away – away from the cold expression in her eyes and the bitter realization that she meant it. His wife, who had been dead six weeks, had no idea who he was. She thought he was a stranger. Worse still, she was looking at him as if he were a stranger to be afraid of.

‘Sandra, please tell me what…’

Marc failed to complete the sentence. He was addressing a closed door.