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Lost

  Tony had been living the life he wanted for the past ten years. He had the job he always wanted and married the woman of his dreams. One day everything changed for Tony. Saturday afternoon Tony had woken to a life he never imagined. Tony was alone, his wife Jessica was nowhere to be found. There was no note and all of Jessica's clothes were still in the apartment. Winter had arrived in Denver, Tony threw on his winter clothes and went out looking. Snow began falling in the hours Tony was sleeping. There was a good six inches on the ground. Weather reports said that this could be a huge snow storm with 2 feet expected to fall by midnight. Cars were sliding on the roads and people were shoveling snow off the sidewalks. Tony thought it was weird Jessica would be out on a day like today without saying anything. Behavior like this was unlike Jessica, Tony knew something was wrong. As the minutes passed the snow began to fall faster and heavier.  

  "Where are you honey, where are you?" Tony cried walking down the street. Not many people were out with the snow storm. Jessica was well known in the small town, everybody knew everybody. Tony looked for anybody to ask if they knew where his wife was. With the storm underway most people were in their homes. The temperature was almost near zero and the wind was picking up. Tony knew he couldn’t be outside long but he needed to find his wife. As he continued walking Tony found a local shelter for homeless people to stay during the storm.

  There were people from the town inside giving food and warm clothes for those in need. Tony knew some of those people so he rushed inside to see if anyone had seen his wife. As he walked in Tony noticed how packed the place was. Several people risking the storm to help those in need. The weather radio began to play and said that the storm would begin to pick up within the hour.  

  Tony knew he wouldn’t be able to look for Jessica on foot once the storm picked up. He was running out of time. People in the shelter saw Tony and gave a look of annoyance. It was almost as if they didn’t want to be bothered with Tony. As people were helping around the shelter Tony noticed his neighbor from a few houses down. Without hesitation Tony went over and asked if the neighbor had seen Jessica.  

  "Well hello Tony, I didn’t expect to see you here." said the neighbor  

  "Well I normally wouldn’t be here but it seems my wife left this morning without saying a word. I'm worried she could be in trouble. It's not like here to be out in this weather."  

  "Jessica? Gone? I'm sure she just went out to get some things before the storm gets worse. Don’t worry Tony she will come up."  

  Tony nodded his head and went on. The neighbor rolled his eyes when Tony walked away. He watched as Tony went to everyone in the shelter asking if they had seen Jessica. Everyone had the same answer as the one before. Tony wasn’t getting anywhere.  

  "Look how long do we have to keep this up?" asked the neighbor.  

  "Telling him would do no good, he will just keep coming back." a lady at the shelter replied.  

       "I can't take it anymore it's everyday with this crap. Hey Tony." the neighbor yelled.  

      Tony turned around when he heard his name. He hoped that someone had information on where his wife could be. He walked over to the man with hopes of good news.   

     "Your wife is dead Tony, she has been dead for three weeks. You guys were in a car accident, she died on impact and you lost your memory. Everyday you come in here looking for her. You walk around town like a lost puppy. She's dead Tony, Jessica is dead."  

     Tony dropped to the floor after hearing the news. His eyes filled with tears and his face began to turn read. The shelter filled with silence, everyone was shocked that the man would tell Tony about his wife. Everyone knew what had happened, however nobody wanted to tell Tony. Everybody thought it would be pointless because of Tony's memory loss. Tony looked around at the room with everyone staring at him he decided to leave. The snow storm was picking up and the wind was blowing harder. Tony was lost and had nowhere to go. He looked around outside and looked the empty streets and the snow falling heavier by the minute. It was as if time stood still and no one was around but Tony.  

  The homeless shelter was a few blocks from Tony's house. Walking there would be almost impossible with this storm but Tony was in no hurry to get home. Tony stood outside and just stared at the snow falling around him. With a look of emptiness on his face Tony tried to remember the accident but couldn’t. The doctors told Tony that his memory may return one day but they were not sure when. As Tony struggled to remember he fell to his knees in the snow and broke down.  Tony looked up and saw Jessica standing in front of him. She was wearing a beautiful white dress and holding a bouquet of flowers. Tony took her hand and smiled, they began to walk home not paying any attention to the snow storm around them. They only looked at each other’s eyes. The people in the shelter looked out and saw Tony standing alone.

  About the Author

 

  Joshua Jackson is a short story writer out of St Louis Missouri. While gaining experience is writing, Joshua had written for local professional wrestling companies in Missouri as well as broadcasting for professional wrestling companies. While writing from his home in St Louis, Joshua has written short stories, flash fiction, spec television scripts, short film scripts, and video game scripts.