Without opening her eyes, she could sense his presence beside her.  Then she heard his gentle voice:

“Mummy, he’s here.”

Half-awake, Leah fumbled to check the time. The harsh glow of the mobile screen revealed the unearthly hour of 3:30 am. She sighed, trying to keep her temper in check as she responded,

“Who’s here?”

“The Invisible Man, he’s here.” 

She bolted upright in her bed. Her gaze met Ben’s pool-blue eyes, searching for any sign that he was either sleepwalking or playing a prank.

His soft little fingers reached for hers, as he implored her to follow him.

“It’s just a dream Ben.  Jump in here beside me, it’s so late.”

“No Mummy, he told me to get you. You have to come.  He wants to talk to you.”

A surge of panic gripped Leah, an irrational fear welling up inside. When Ben’s father Mark had died a year ago he had experienced prolonged night terrors, haunted by the absence of a father who could never return. In an attempt to console him, Leah had explained that his father hadn’t really gone but had become invisible. The notion of his father being invisible but importantly still there offered comfort to Ben and the nightmares stopped.

Now they seemed to have returned.  Leah decided to get him back to bed and tomorrow she would have to talk to him about his father properly.

She entered the room to see Mark, seated in the corner beneath the luminous glow of star-shaped lights.  Ben excitedly jumped on his knee while Leah struggled to stifle the scream rising within her. Mark tucked Ben into bed asking him to sleep while he talked to Mummy.

“We don’t have much time,” he informed her as he steered her back to her bedroom.

Struggling to comprehend, she finally burst out, “I don’t understand. How can you be here? You’re dead. Oh God, was there some mistake?”

“No mistake,” he interjected, putting a stop to any misguided hope before it could inflict more damage. “I am dead.”

He went on to explain the strict rules governing his return and that such occurrences were permissible only under the strictest conditions and only when deemed absolutely necessary by a higher force.  There would only ever be one visit and it would last only one hour.

“I can no longer be The Invisible Man, you must let me go”.

“I know,” she said, “I just thought it would be easier for Ben.”

“This is not about Ben” he implored, “this is about you.  “For a year, I’ve watched you moving through life like a shadow. Every day, I hear you addressing me as if I’m still present, witness you tenderly washing and folding my clothes, waiting for my return. Every night, the extra portion of dinner prepared for me finds its way to the bin. And in the quiet moments after Ben is asleep, I hear you cry as you clutch the empty space beside you. It’s you who is entangled with The Invisible Man, it is you who cannot let go.”

As she lay in his gentle embrace, she could see the truth of her self-deception.  Ben was fine.  It was her. She needed to heal and move forward.

“I have to go now,” he whispered, gently kissing her for the last time.

“The best part of me lives on in our child. When you need me, you will find me in him.”

As the tears rolled down her cheeks, she closed her eyes and surrendered to the solace of letting go.