The sky is covered by a grey haze of fog all year round that never seems to clear. Occasionally if you're lucky and squint just right you might see little shafts of light streaking through the fog creating little dancing spectres on the edge of your vision.

All the fools in town like to think of them as our little fairies, although it's just a fancifully thing to make the ever-oppressive fog somewhat bearable. I can't help but look down on them knowing full well it's just the light passing through little droplets of water hanging in the air.

Walking straight through the middle of town to work I like to let my mind slip through the dreary landscape to a better world, like sand falling through fingers, I imagine my life differently, what it could be if only I made different choices.

Thinking about a life where I'm a professional eSports athlete I trudge through the thick mud that has built up since the last heavy rains, I notice my steel toe capped boots for work are covered in the stuff, unluckily for the boots I can never be bothered to clean them as it's a losing battle, a futile fight I won't win.

Marching forward I see one of the little fairies on the edge of my vision, as soon as I notice it I look towards it, it just as quickly disappears but it sparks my imagination. Is it really just the light, could it actually be something else, a little part of me despite how childish it is wishes it to be.

I let my myself wander through the grey landscape of my thoughts, thinking about all the different magical creatures it could be that I read about in fantasy books as a kid, silly as that is it helps me relax and makes the walk go by quicker.

Eventually, despite my fight with the mud, I make it to Tom's hardware store, my soul crushing place of work for the last two years whilst I've been at college. I officially graduated a month ago and work this dead-end job, saving everything I can so I have a nest egg to take to university. Every day is the same without change, I spend the morning taking things from inventory and putting them back on shelves, the afternoon is spent dealing with locals who always know what they are looking to buy but have no idea what it is, it's mind numbing, but it's my job and I need the money.

They say time fly's when you're having fun but just like every worker that ever existed, I watch the clock, counting the seconds until it hits 12 so I can drop everything, shout it's not my problem to the others working on the shop floor and head into the back for lunch. It feels as though the seconds are taking forever, eventually the clock strikes 12 and I walk over to Max one of the guys I know from school, he’s tall but mousey in features, “Hey Max its 12, guess who’s dealing with Mr Rogers when he comes in and asks for an extra-long hose”.

Max’s eyes widen in horror, Mr Rodgers is the local closet gay, he’s a good guy really but we all try to avoid him as he can get a little touch feely sometimes. I hear him grumble and swear under his breath “Dickhead” as I turn away and make a quick retreat to the employees' lounge.

Heading to the back I can only hope Simon isn't there, a 6ft4 guy who's only redeeming quality is that he’s good looking and tall, a typical high school jock, stupid but lucky enough to win the gene pool lottery I suppose, I can't help but be a little jealous. I'm decent in the looks department but I'm only 5ft7, brown hair, green eyes and all things considered fairly athletic. But in a town where the average height of men is somewhere near 6ft, with a surprising number of professional sportsmen having come from here, I somewhat lucked out in comparison.

My life has always been a bit of a loner, I haven't got many friends but the ones I do have, I mostly just play games online with. Oh, if you haven't heard there's some deadly virus going round, so it's pretty much lockdown for the rest of the world, but in our little microcosm it's business as usual since there are never any visitors in the ass end of nowhere anyway. The last few months have been a blessing in disguise for someone like me, we were getting paid to stay home and play games until the government decided it's better that we all return to work a few months ago.

I open the door to the employee lounge and my heart drops, he's there, sitting with his back to the door at the back of the room. Fortunately, he doesn't hear me enter as he is engrossed with his iPhone. I can hear him snickering away to himself, laughing at the other idiots that are undoubtedly doing ridiculous things causing near fatal injuries. He's sick like that, he's always telling people how he saw some guy doing a stunt and losing a limb with blood gushing everywhere. I just don't get it.

Trying to be as silent as possible whilst retrieving my lunch from the fridge near the door, I quietly slide into a seat at the table next to the fridge hoping to eat quickly and get out. Simon notices me slide into the seat despite my noiseless action but doesn't say anything, I keep my head down hoping he continues watching the video instead.

Opening my lunch, I don't hesitate, one of the few pleasures in life, a thick white bread peanut butter sandwich, no matter what taking a bite of that glorious thick white bread brings a smile of content happiness to my face, just lifting the corners of my mouth ever so slightly, an imagine of childish glee crawls across it.

A look that forces Simon who’s watching with the corner of his eye to comment "What the hell man it's just a sandwich, why do you have to get all creepy about it".

I let my eyes peak up over the top of my sandwich and whisper "you will not take my precious, mine it is, tasty, mine" I don't know why I had to say it like that, probably because I know it annoys him I guess and I'm a little socially awkward sometimes.

Simon scoffs at my play on a movie character having figured it out but only to whisper "you're a fucking freak Rob" he stands up from the table he was sitting at next to mine and heads towards the door but with a fained look of inspecting the room he catches sight of my mud caked boots, a cold look flashes across his face only to be replaced with repressed happiness.

"AHH fuck man Rob, for fuck sake, I told you if you come in and carry mud through the store and the fucking workers lounge again, I'm going to have to right you up".

I struggle to swallow my last bite, feeling a looming dread just minutes away as the dry crusty bread loses all flavour and tears its way down my throat. I know what's coming next, this was my last warning. Simon's dad Tom, the store owner, has always been pretty good to me, but his son Simon is a prick, he's had it out for me since we were at school and I looked to be getting a freeride at a decent university. I know he's jealous but I don't care, I'm leaving this town as soon as I get my letters in the post, soon, I hope.

I cough trying to clear the crusty bread from my throat so I can defend myself but it’s pointless, I know he's been sitting there waiting for this, and there's no time left to say anything.

He looks towards me heading quickly for the door but with a little spite "Sorry Rob I wish I didn't have to do this but you know..." he doesn’t get to finish the sentence already out the door it swings shut with a startling can cack.

I sit in my seat waiting for the inevitable, no intention of getting up or trying to make amends, looking towards the door I see the trail of mud my boots have brought in, staining the carpet a dirty brown, I can still see the faded stains from the last time and the time before that. I think maybe if I clean up Tom might let me off with another warning, but I don't have time, they will be here any minute.

I can only imagine how quickly Simon must have ran to his dad's office with that shit eating grin on his face. I sit waiting 15 minutes go by, then another 15, I'm now wondering has something happened, are they not coming. But like the dropping of the headman's axe I hear that pricks voice, just a little nasally and high-pitched ringing from the other side of the door, "look dad see, I told you he just doesn't care, he's done it again, he's wrecking your shop, my friend Alex would be much better, he works hard you know".

“We can talk about this later son, just give me a minute”.

Alex and Simon were the jocks of our school but now barely out of college are wastes of space living off their parents with little to no prospects since their bright football careers failed to materialize, they just couldn’t match up to the pedigree of their predecessors.

I see the door open and Tom step through, he's of average height and looks, he's an entirely unremarkable person by any account but it's pretty well known in town that he was one of the kindest people about. It's sad but his wife passed about 8 years ago to cancer and since then he's become a bit jaded and cold to most.

Simon’s tryes to enter the room only be stopped by a raised hand from Tom. Turning away from Simon as he closes the door behind himself, coldly "wait outside I'm going to speak to him".

He didn't say anything about firing me, I might be all right.

Yup I'm screwed, I look up into his eyes and all I can see is his disappointment, "Rob why, you know we had a deal, I even waited, I gave you a chance to clean this up so you could keep your job but you just sat here" he sighs walking over to take a seat across from me.

"Come on Rob what am I supposed to do, you’ve put me in a difficult spot here". He leaves it hanging in the air for a minute waiting for me to respond, to come up with something, but I sit there just thinking, why didn't I get my lazy ass up and clean the damn floor, he told you the last time to hose your boots round back and if you forget, just clean it up straight away and it will be fine since they're old carpets anyway.

I just sit staring at him a few seconds longer hesitating to say anything, trying to think of something that might help but I just keep quiet. "Well what's it going to be Rob, you know where this going, you’re a smart guy help me out here". I pause for a moment before scrambling over my words "Mr Shields I know, I'm sorry, I remember what you told me, I just didn't think there was time to clean it up, Simon..."

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He cuts in before I get a chance to voice my defence as paper thin as it is "No Rob, enough of that no blaming other people or trying to hide, I've done right by you but I can't keep letting things like this slide". I see him pause collecting his thoughts, readying for the inevitable line that's coming.

"You know I care for you since you lost your dad he was my best friend, the whole town cares but we have to keep to the rules otherwise what's the point, look, just get your stuff, go home and take the rest of the week off, no pay, but, I'm going to have a talk with your mother” pausing a moment he just stares at me and finally says it “you're just not shaping up to be the man she raised".

I stand up knowing that I have nothing else I could say and turn to the lockers at the back of the room. I'm upset and annoyed walking over with my head dropped but really, I'm more annoyed at myself than anything else. I did have a chance but I blew it.

The walk home is surprisingly sunny the awful cloying wet fog that seeps into your clothes lighter than usual, strange. I decide to take a little detour and walk through the local park to pass some time as my mom will be furious when she finds out that I've probably lost my job.

My mom's a great woman she's always been a tough lady and tougher still since my dad passed but she's been my rock, she will kick me round the house for this but it will be fine. It’s a morbid thought but we were lucky, my dad had life insurance so she gets a small sum of money every month to help us out. We don’t really need the money from my job but it helps.

My dad died in a car accident when I was young, I never really got the chance to know him, I have vague memories of a giant man with calloused hands and dirty blonde hair throwing me into the air, but that’s it. Good memories, but they have faded over time where I can’t even remember his face properly anymore. They said he died before the car caught on fire which I suppose given everything is a blessing. It’s strange, I remember it vividly, they couldn’t recognise the body so my mom had to ID it. She couldn’t, she kept saying it wasn’t him, he’s to small, to small. Eventually they did confirm it was my dad though.

The park is pretty large given how small our town is, it's just one huge patch of grass with trails and benches scattered about so you can get from one end to the other and have somewhere to sit in between. Looking across the park I can see light shimmering through the fog at the edge of my vision, hidden amongst the trees. It's strange it doesn't usually look like that almost like an orb; the flicker of lights ignites the fires of my imagination tacking me back to this morning.

I turn my head sharply to the left trying to look directly at the glowing orbs but they just as quickly disappear. Lazily turning back, I see them pop back into place, "what the hell" I whisper to myself getting an uneasy feeling about the light show on the edge of the park.

More lights start popping into existence increasing in number by the second, I start to pick up my pace breaking into a light jog pretending that there's nothing there. Getting a little freaked out as they spread out further at an alarming rate around the edge of the park, my heart beat quickens, the adrenaline coursing through my system forces me into an all-out sprint, my backpack bounces up and down, my boots slamming into the ground splashing my black trousers with mud and water. I charge for the edge hoping to make it into the closing gap of darkness that is my exit out of the circle of light trying to enclose me. It's one hundred meters away now but the ring of lights is starting to close even faster, I push myself harder digging deep to put on a burst of speed I didn’t know I have. I reach out and dive through a tiny closing gap of darkness that almost disappears in the blazing light of the forest.

Crashing hard into the floor, I'm covered from head to toe in mud, my eyes are still shut, I don’t know what the hell is going on but I'm afraid to open them. Before I open my eyes, I hear the splashes of someone else’s footfall.

“Hey Rob, what was that all about man, you trying to learn to fly or something, hmmm”. I look up quickly at the sound of the voice, its Jinny a neighbour of mine she's a couple years younger than me, fiery red hair and bright eyes pining me to the ground, her hand on her hip cocked to the side like she has all the sass in the world, the other covering her mouth trying to stifle a laugh but failing, she stares at me and our eyes meet, I look away too embarrassed laying on the ground soaking wet and covered in mud, standing up I mutter some nonsense trying to distract her from my brightening cheeks.

“Hey Rob, are you all there, did you hit your head you looked like you went down pretty hard, I should probably have a look at that it could be bleeding”, taking a step forward to lend a hand.

“No! it’s ok, I ah didn’t see you there, I was running you know, gotta get in that work out, huhu, umm yeah look I gotta go, see ya later ok”. Quickly walking past her, my chest still hammering hard, my mind is still trying to catch up with whatever the hell is going on.

No longer feeling that unease from before I make my way home trying not to look into the corners of my vision, I don’t want to see any more lights right now, that shit was just weird.

By the time I make it home my chest has calmed down, I take a minute and sit on the steps leading up to our front door to think about what just happened. This doesn't make sense, what was that, I just can't figure it out, thinking back I remember hearing something, a high-pitched whistling, like you might get from a survival whistle, it was just before the lights started to appear. Not remembering anything else I walk up the final few steps and see some post on our door step, my heart jumps from my chest, “Yes finally it's here” I can't help but shout out and race towards the post snatching it before it can disappear.

My sudden outburst cracks the thick silence in half, I hear my mom shuffling across creaky floorboards of the lounge towards the front door. “Hey honey, what are you doing home so early”.

“Hey mom, just had a run in with Simon again, Tom sent me home, no big deal” I shout before she opens the door.

The front door swings open she looks at me a little shocked, her voice just a pitch higher “Did Simon do this to you”.

“No, No, I ahh, was running home you know, thought I could get here quicker in case the post came” holding it up to her “but I tripped in the park” looking down at myself I really am covered head to toe.

She smiles at me “What am I going to do with you my little nugget, you really are an idiot sometimes” she’s teases me. I never really understand what she means by nugget, I asked her once and she told me something about me escaping the house and sending the whole town into a frenzy looking for a four-year-old lost in the woods. To cut a long story short they found me in the woods covered in muck, buck naked and crying that my rock friends were gone. To this day I still don’t remember anything but my mom since then has called me her little nugget.

“Well come inside, let's have a look at those letters then seeing as you made the effort to run here, not very well it would seem” looking at me with a smile reaching her eyes she signals for me to come in. “Wait, get your clothes off and washed up, I'm not having you muddy up my floors” she turns heading in leaving me soaked and standing on the porch.

I look at my mom's disappearing form hastily I shout out “ok no problem, I really do need to clean my-self up I guess” I know I haven't told her the whole story yet but I expected Tom to have called her already, knowing Tom like I do I imagine he wants me to man up and tell her myself, well that can wait I guess, I've got letters to open!

Suddenly feeling tired from the sudden change of emotions I've experienced, it takes me a little while to strip and head upstairs to wash up so I can open the letters with mom.

Walking down stairs after finally getting the last of the mud out of my hair and ears I see my mom sitting in her favourite chair, a red fabric recliner, I know from stealing it now and again when she’s out its super comfy.

She sighs at me “You know Tom just called me” I look up at her, a dear caught in the head lights, ahh fuck. “why didn’t you tell me, you know I’m not going to shout or get angry as long as you talk to me”.

“I’m sorry mom I didn’t mean to, just when I saw the letters, I was so excited I didn’t want to ruin it” a good cover I know but not the best. She sees through me “Come on Rob don’t give me that nonsense, what's really up”.

I spend the next ten minutes just telling her about how Simon’s had it out for me and that I've been in trouble a couple times now for tracking mud through the shop.

“What is that it! My god Tom’s such a pussy, he’s lucky he’s a family friend!”

“Mom really”! I'm surprised but happy that she's not upset or angry about it. I take a seat opposite her, sinking into the seat letters in hand.

“Look honey, I'm not really upset about silly things like that just don't ever hide things form me, ok”

“Ok mom, I can do that”, I smile at her and she gives a knowing look, I just dodged a bullet as she doesn’t want to ruin the moment of me opening my letters.

I look down at the three letters in hand and start to tremble a little, they’re here, finally they’re here. I tear open the first one from Trinity, it was my third choice but still a pretty decent school.

Looking down at the writing as I unfold the letter it reads.

Dear Robert,

We are sorry to inform you but as a result of the recent precautions in effect due to the Dovic Virus we are postponing your admittance to next year. Your admittance in the following year will be reviewed again in accordance with our terms of admittance.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Your sincerely

Head of Trinity

Hue Magnum

My mom raises her hands to her month “Oh honey”, tears building in my eyes, I just know the others are going to be the same.

I quickly break open the next letter to find the same bullshit apology. Holding my first choice in hand I open it slowly, tears streaming down my face in preparation for the words I fear are coming, I feel a weight across my shoulders and look across to see mom with her arms around my shoulders.

Opening the letter, I don’t even have to read it, the first words, we are sorry like a muddy stain across the page. The room is deathly silent, only punctuated by my muffled sobbing as I hold my face in my hands, trying to hide my crushing disappointment. What am I going to do now? I can't live in this town one minute longer, it’s going kill me.

I quickly stand up shaking off the arms trying to comfort me, “oh honey, please.....”.

“No” I choke out, “just don’t", rushing upstairs to my bedroom I slam the door closed behind me and crawl under the covers, trying to hide from the strings of fate that are destined to ruin my life.

Through the sobbing filling the air I hear a slow rhythmic beat of feet against the hardwood floors, followed by a soft knock on my wooden bedroom door. “Honey, can I come in”.

I know she only wants to help me deal with this like any good mother would do, but I just can’t bear to have anyone around me right now, I feel like my future has been snatched away from me and I just want to lash out and blame it on anything in front of me.

All she can hear is my sobbing and no response to her request.

“Ok honey, I'm going to make some food so I will give you a call when its ready, ok”.

The sound of feet falling fades away as she heads to the kitchen. I know I'm being an idiot but I just want to be alone, I close my eyes and hope for the blessedness of nothing that comes with sleep, to dream of being something more, somewhere else and someone else like I did this morning.

Laying in bed hours pass as the light outside changes to dark, startled awake I feel a pressure on my chest, like the weight of a small child. I can’t sit up, I reach for the light by my bedside but it’s just out of reach, lying flat I manage to stretch and catch the switch with my finger tips, light. I fight to sit up now that I can see but there’s nothing there, the weight won’t shift. Something’s wrong, I struggle to breath, it's getting harder to breath in, the exhales come out in a high-pitched whistle so fast I almost forget to breath in from the shock. A sudden realisation comes over, that whistle!

Panicking I try to get out of bed and find my mom but I can feel myself getting light headed, the feeling is steadily getting worse, falling to my knees on the hardwood floor as I loose strength I hope the sound will reach her. Nothing, only the high-pitched whistle coming from my chest after each exhalation. Spots of black start to take over my vision, flashes of lights flicker into existence, the two compete to dominate my vision. I can feel a thick wetness on my lips, I reach up, it’s red. The heart thundering in my chest is starting to slow down, my vision is lost to the light fighting for control and darkness takes me.