A Merry Christmas Lock In

I checked my watch as everyone sprinted off in different directions. We'd made vague plans about what we'd do when we could escape, but the rain had changed all that. It wasn't a slow thaw, but a torrent of dangerous floods. Beth stood opposite, not having moved.

"Time to decide hun," she said. "I can help you take a new TV from that shop over there or we can go to floor two and get all the things we've chosen. Or a little bit of both." Shaking a little from the cold, I looked down at my ruined dress and felt an ineffable sadness wash over me. I'd been exposed to something in an isolated world and those walls were crumbling, leaving me exposed. I saw Mike pulling on a jumper and a pair of trousers as he picked up some sneakers and sprinted off after Frankie.

It hit me then. With a clarity that was as painful as it was pure, I knew with absolute certainty what I would not do. I could never wear a pair of men's trousers and a boring jumper again. Ever.

"I'm Sophie," I replied. "I'm your wife."

Epilogue

I look back on that day with fondness. A mad dash through the Mall, water swirling around us as the snow melted, bolstered by the fierce storm. We filled two trucks with clothes and anything we could grab on the first and lower floors. We gave ourselves an hour but we took an hour and a half, splashing our way through the storm as the water reached to our ankles. Deciding it was getting too dangerous, Mike operated the mechanism to the exit and was almost swept away in a tidal wave as the metal doors lifted with a creak.

We manged to pull him from the water, a large gash on his head and dragged him to the trucks as Lauren drove one and Lee the other. The terrible winds battered the vehicles and I feared we'd be swept from the road as Lee wrestled with the truck I was in. We drove all the way home, slowing down enough for Beth to leap out and sprint the last two miles so that she could get the car.

We met at a prearranged location and spent several hours transferring our stash before driving the trucks back. We'd hoped to park them back in the bays and Beth drive us all home, but they were too flooded. Instead, we rigged the trucks and let them drive into the flood, waving them farewell as they sank into the deep. It would look like the flood had swept them from their parking spot. That was the plan at least.

And it worked. There was no news of any break-in at the Mall, the country too preoccupied with recovering from the devastating snow followed by heavy rain.

A year later, I write my story and shake my head in disbelief. It's been the most wondrous year and I'm married to the most amazing woman. I've spent every day as Sophie, some with more success than others, but the failures are getting less and that's enough to keep me going. What the future holds doesn't bother me now. It's what's happening right now that is important.

And so I say to you, dear reader, on a bright Christmas morning. If anyone uses any stockings this year, just make sure the only thing in it is your leg. After all, you never know what might happen.

Merry Christmas to you. May your dreams come true.

Sophie

xxx