Persephone

My husband was driving too fast down the dark street broken by pools of light. We arrived at the house and he slammed the car door, waiting for me while he looked eagerly to the door of our hostess.

"Do I look alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Great, let's go."

He strode up to the door and I trailed behind him, my dark dress making my form undistinguishable in the night.

The door opened as we reached the porch as if someone had been watching for my husband so they could greet him immediately.

"Darling!"

The hostess kissed my husband and gave me an airy wave.

"Come in, come in!"

I was left to close the door behind me and then I entered the room of guests. We didn't see each other straight away – in fact, I didn't know who he was until we had begun to talk.

My back was to the wall in the corner of the room as he approached me.

"Persephone?"

He had startled me.

"Pardon?"

A smile crept over his face and a slightly breathy laugh came.

"Sorry, when we last met you were Persephone, weren't you? At our exuberant hostess's fancy dress party..."

"Oh yes, yes I was..."

The laughter in his eyes told me he wasn't offended that I so obviously couldn't remember him.

"We met because I was Hades – I saw you across the room." Another laugh. "Let me get you a drink."

For once, I hadn't wanted to just escape. Most people realised fairly quickly that I was not the most entertaining person, but this man had remembered me.

He brought me a drink and we stayed in that corner the whole evening. My husband wasn't mentioned once, though I'm sure he knew who he was. I laughed, sometimes almost to tears, and he laughed with me. He reminded me that this happy bubble of conversation had happened once before...

The night was over all too soon. My husband was slurring my name from across the room which I knew to be the cue for our departure. I would have to try and find the car keys.

"Can I...Will I ever see you again, Persephone?"

I couldn't say anything. I had just turned and walked away.

As I had driven my drunken husband home, scalding tears had burned down my face that only the pools of light down the dark street had seen. Those tears still burn now when I remember that night.

I never saw him again.