Shirley overheard the conversation and her the pain in her heart opened old wounds. Tears stung her eyes as she recalled the past.
She was sitting on an outside table of a local café when the couple passed. They were deep in conversation about the last walk they had just finished and how dangerous it was. Shirley thoughts went back to when she and Dave were on one of their many walks. It was early winter and the nights were closing in. The ground crackled like corn flakes crunching under their feet. The laughed as they crunched along a small path that led to a fissure in the earth that had been carved by an old ravine according to the information that the brochure detailed regarding this walk. There were no warning signs, nothing that would cause the two seasoned walkers to turn back.
A heavy frost covering the ground and an eerie dark grey mist clouded the thin cold valley and made a for a spooky atmosphere surrounding them. Dave laughed when he saw his wife's face it was a fright.
"What are you laughing at? Is something funny?" she furrowed her brow in a mocking way.
"You look so terrified as if there were monsters here. Don't be afraid little one." He said in a scary mocking voice as he helped her over a large stone in the path.
"I am not sure about this one Dave and it's alright for you to mock and joke with me. You know I don't like it when it gets misty. Oops" her foot became unsteady and she almost fell but Dave held her close and steadied her.
"Ok, honey, I will behave. It's just that I can't help jesting when you look so vulnerable and I... me man." He punched his chest like an ape winning a battle.
"Ugh, men." Shirley smiled and walked on alongside her husband of ten years.The couple first met on a group walk in the Lake district. They were in a singles group tour and had been thrown together in the same seat. Well placed they recalled the tour guide remarking. It was only ten months later when they shared their wedding vows. Till death do us part. It was a beautiful sunny day and the couple had many fond memories of those moments. Now ten years later, they were still on their walking expeditions and enjoyed the majority of them. This one was different. Shirley woke up that morning feeling uneasy and couldn't quite put her finger on why.
Dave was now a few paces ahead and calling Shirley to hurry as he had spotted something that he wanted to share. She had her eyes on the ground when the scream that she would never forget came from Dave's lips. It was like an animal in a trap before it was slaughtered.
She looked up and could not see her husband.
"Dave, this is not funny! Dave! Where are you? I told you to stop this jesting. I want to go back. Dave!
There was only silence.
After searching for her husband and not finding him, Shirley had no choice but to go back and get help. It took most of the day for the rescuers to find Dave's body and brought him back from that old ravine. In daylight the sign, which had been thrown on the ground warning people not to take that route as there had been land slides and it was unsafe and dangerous.
"Shirley, Are you alright?" Her friend Freida was standing over her at the café.
"I'm sorry I am late. You've been crying. Are you ok my dear friend?
"Oh, I guess so. I just had a few memories of the day when Dave was killed on that dam ravine."
"Ok, I will take you to lunch and we will have a good girlie time, you need cheering up."
Shirley pulled her chair back at the local café took a deep breath and walked along side Freida.
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