MARVIN'S CURSE

Chapter 5

Stella twisted around. 'S-So you think we should just keep going until we find the right road, yeah?' She sounded a little shaky, a little freaked out. 

Marvin nodded. 'But what if the fog catches us up?' he said. 

'Then we'd best run and get the hell out of here!' With that, Stella pulled her shoes off and ran towards the last of the side streets, leaving Marvin and the nothingness behind. 

Marvin needed no further prompting and dashed to his friend's side as she shouted out the last of the road signs. 

'There!' he screamed after a couple of minutes, his chest almost bursting. 'There it is!' He pointed to the wall board two streets away. 'Clackett's Lane!' 

'Quick,' shouted Stella, grabbing Marvin's hand. 'It's almost upon us.' She swung him around the corner, the force pulling her round too.  

Marvin stood flat against a wall, gasping for air, his heart thumping.  

Stella bent forward, hands on hips. 

He glanced across at her, noticing her breathlessness. Ironic, dead, but still out of breath. Shouldn't she notice the difference? 

'Phew! That last bit really took it out of me,' she said, wiping some sweat from her forehead. 'Still...' 

Stella left the sentence hanging. 

'Still what?' said Marvin, confused. 

'Something's coming,' said Stella, inching tentatively along the wall. 

'I can feel it too,' said Marvin, shivering.  

Stella peered cautiously around the corner and gasped. Before she could turn and warn him, they were both engulfed in a huge grey mass. Fog! 

'What the hell is this stuff?' cried Marvin, fumbling blindly as the fog surrounded him and Stella. 'It's getting everywhere; my nose, my mouth...' 

'Ssshh! Listen...' 

Obediently, Marvin stopped talking although his arms were still flicking wisps of the fog away. 

'Can you hear them?' said Stella.  

'Hear what?'  

'The whisperings - whisperings in the fog.' 

Marvin fell silent. 

'Well?' said Stella. 

The sound of Marvin gagging stopped her questioning. 

'Got to get out of this,' said Marvin. 'It's making me feel strange.' He started gagging again. 

Arms flaying, he emerged from the nothingness first, coughing wildly. Stella followed.  

They watched as the swirl of grey nothingness made its way down the rest of the street, gradually subsiding from where they stood. After a few minutes of bending over, coughing and taking deep breaths, Marvin was in a much better condition to speak. 

'What the bloody hell was that?' 

'It felt almost human,' said Stella. 'Like a human fog.' 

'It didn't taste human!' said Marvin. 'It tasted sweet, sickly sweet. I can still feel it in my mouth, ugh!' 

'Strange whisperings too,' said Stella. 

'I didn't hear a thing,' said Marvin. 

'That's because you were too busy flapping your arms around and retching!' 

Marvin smiled. 'Let's not do that again, huh? I don't think my stomach will stay put next time!' 

Stella didn't respond.