‘You take it for granted, our time together.’
He laughed at her. ‘Why shouldn’t I? Nothing is ever going to stop us spending time together.’
The sun set as they walked along the beach. It was a beautiful, romantic evening.
‘What if your wife found out?’
‘Would that stop us? Maybe it would be for the better if she did know.’
‘Don’t say that. She’s my best friend. I can’t bear the hurt it would cause her if she knew.’
‘It’s been years. What is likely to change that would keep us apart?’
***
It was the last time she saw him. A week later the lockdown began. She ignored the warning. She just wanted to see him one last time. She stayed across the road from his house and saw him through the window, playing with his children. They looked happy together.
***
Where she had picked up the virus she couldn’t say. She kept away from everyone. It must have been in the air, or on a surface she had touched. She wished she had taken the advice seriously.
It hurt to breath. The pressure on her chest was like a tonne weight. The machine helped her, but it wasn’t enough. Through the plastic drapes she saw blurred bodies moving around in green and blue scrubs.
She would die alone. He had received her message but wasn’t allowed to visit her. She remembered the words in the text:
‘We will always be together.’
This is a response to the #writephoto Prompt: Together curated over at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo. Click on the link to read other stories inspired by the image. I keep trying to write about something other than the current pandemic, but it seems inevitable that most of my stories at the moment revolve around it. I’m looking forward to days on the other side of it. Hope everyone is safe.
A couple of great recent reviews of my first novel ‘A Justified State’ have appeared this week, do give them a read a pick up a copy:
https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-justified-state-first-of-three-medium.html
IAIN KELLY 
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