Disappearing Me

  The Journey They were silent in the car and the rhythmic swish of the windscreen wipers had become almost hypnotic. Looking at her watch, and imagining the traffic on the road ahead, she was certain they would be late and felt the knot in her stomach tighten in a mix of anxiety and anger. She was sure he took his time on purpose knowing how important this trip was to her. It was not as if today had come as a surprise being something that they did every year, and she often wondered why, despite everything, she still insisted they went.     She looked again at her watch and tutted, willing him to go faster, his determination to stay below the speed limit feeling like a test of her patience. She bit her tongue, knowing better than to annoy him as she knew in the next few hours she would need his support.   Instead, she turned her head to watch the half familiar scenery rush past, her eyes following the rain as it drew diagonal streaks down the car window. She’d ...

  “The world is beautiful, just look around you”. His voice, though full of encouragement holds a hint of frustration just under the surface. “ Why not come out and sit a while” she had been   been sad for some time now. She   allows herself to step outside into the velvet warm sunshine of a late summer’s afternoon abandoning attempts to   explain the blinding   gloom of the sadness in which she is wrapped tight. A sadness, which turns her eyes inwards and away from the   world beyond the door. They sit together, he wrapped up in a fleece for although the sun is shining, the wind is keen and sitting in the shade of the house he feels chilled. He talks to her about the bamboo which last year they   both thought was dying   but this year   has sent out nine new shoots, and she listens with only half an ear as her   mind takes her on a journey through her   unhappiness. He talks about his beloved trees that like miniature forests i...