​Sleepless In Scarborough: The Fog

  

Claire hadn't been feeling well lately. Not bad really, but jittery and kind of unsettled. And her chronic insomnia wasn't helping the matter either. She'd also recently been diagnosed with Distracted Eye Condition which hadn't come as a surprise. "Cut down on your screen time Claire", her optometrist had advised during her follow-up appointment on FaceTime. "Try to look out a window now and then."

 

Claire's phone pinged. A message from Uber Eats advised her order was delayed due to fog. Apparently their autonomous vehicles were experiencing difficulty navigating under the current conditions. What fog? she wondered. She checked the weather app on her phone. The forecast predicted the unusual weather event was unlikely to dissipate any time soon. Checking in with FaceBook to pass the time she saw some chatter about 'the fog' but, it appeared, the majority of her 452 friends (most of whom she didn't know) hadn't taken any notice.

 

Still waiting for her dinner to arrive she clicked on Instagram and started scrolling. A while later (or maybe longer) she came across @UrbanObserver who had posted a picture of "the fog" with a crying face emoji. How bizarre, she thought. Why bother taking a picture of fog? She switched to Twitter. Amidst the usual babble were a few tweets about the strange weather. From @chicago_chic - "so, like, what's up with this mist?", @downunder - "anybody out there?" and @bored_in_Yorkton - "can't get my head out of the clouds lol". Claire noticed her eyes were dry and she was breathing shallowly. Then, remembering her optometrist's advice she stood up and, feeling somewhat lightheaded, made her way to the window. 

 

There was nothing out there.

 

Claire's phone pinged summoning her back to reality. It was a text from a friend letting her know the new season of Outlander was now available on Netflix. Great! And she settled in for a night of binge watching.

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(To view the art that accompanies this story, click here.)

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