Puzzles

[crackedpuzzle]

With a mind like rippling water and shattered mirror-glass, it was hard to think. Sometimes a thought could take form and remain clear, but mostly they were distorted echoes. And, rarely but still happening, several thoughts could stay clear. In times like that, Francis would remember who he was and what had happened to him. He would try to fish out those pieces of that broken mirror from the uneasy, dark water, and try to fit them together. More. And more. The shattered image grew. An eye would appear. Two. A nose and a mouth. A whole face. A head. Shoulders, chest. Arms. But then a wave would come, a surge to scatter the pieces again, and no matter how much he let the shards cut him he couldn't hold them together. And then he would no longer remember, who he was and why it was so important to lay that puzzle.

Dark and quiet. Everyone was asleep. Everyone but Francis.

He had a piece in place. Two, three.

He left his room and tip-toed down the stairs in the dark.

Four. Five. A face was forming. He was remembering.

There was the living-room. The back door. The garden. Clear skies and stars.

Six. Seven...