12. The City behind the Fog

I’m back! Here is a flash fiction piece inspired by a thick fog we had a few weeks ago, when everything looked strange:

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The fog on the 12th of August was the thickest ever seen in the city. The people woke to find their regular landmarks were all but gone, lost under a billowing white cloud. Foghorns blasted on the harbour, while drivers kept their headlights on, barely seeing the road ahead. Joggers did not know where they were and birds perched on tree branches. But it was the weekend, so no one was particularly worried.

“What is that tower?” someone asked, amazed how the fog had transformed the city.

“It must be those apartments in the eastern suburbs.”

“I thought they were further away.”

The thick cloud made everything confusing.

Gradually the glassy surface of the water became visible, then the pylons of the bridge and the tall city office buildings.

But the white tower which had confused everyone, remained where it was. As the fog drew away, it revealed another city, where no one had ever expected it.

“There’s been a city here all this time?”

“Or has it just appeared now?”

Some were frightened. Others were amazed. After all, it was the weekend.

The government was slow to act. There were a lot of press conferences and media interviews. The city behind the fog was soon trending on Twitter.

But what did it mean?

By early afternoon, the first adventurers set off to investigate…

An exercise in micro-fiction – stories which run from zero to fifty

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© 2014 M. C. Dulac