Chapter 30 Anna—12 Months Ago
Anna started to look up the things Simon said in his sleep.
At first none of it made any sense: random words, mumbled apologies, which obviously meant something to Simon but translated into nothing meaningful in the light of day.
When she finally told him about his dreams, he was shocked to hear he lived a second life while he slept. Seemingly as baffled as she was, he would ask her endless questions about it, as if there might be more to what had happened than she was telling him. But she told him everything. At first.
Sometimes when she woke, he would be looming over her in the darkness, still caught in the urgency of a dream, as she lay helpless beneath him, caught in that momentary paralysis that comes before full waking.
She’d screamed, the first time, and he’d woken, seemingly shocked by the violence of her cries, completely unaware of what had come before to cause them.
Simon always found it hard to go back to sleep on the nights of these dreams, Anna knew. She would feel him lying there beside her, awake but silent and unmoving. She could almost feel his thoughts looping over and over.
But on the days after the bad nights, she was ashamed to admit he was wonderful, softer, more available, more loving.
After a while, she stopped waking him from the dreams, interested to let them run their course and see how far his night terrors would go unchecked.
She lay still as he loomed over her in the darkness.
He reached softly down to touch her: her face, her cheeks, her hair; he even forced a finger into her mouth, though she found she could stop him without waking him by gently touching his arm.
He would pull back from her tremulously, as if touched by a ghost.
After a week of her letting the night terrors run, he started calling her “Lissa” in them.
The name meant nothing to Anna.
Simon had mentioned old girlfriends, and she had names and faces to put to them; and while he’d told her about having his heart broken young, he’d never mentioned anyone called Lissa.
One morning, over breakfast, she considered asking him outright who Lissa was, but since talking about his nightmares had disturbed him so much, she rather selfishly did not want to have to reassure him, and he hadn’t said anything embarrassing or inappropriate, so she decided to stay quiet and listen more.
After all, if Lissa had broken his heart, he’d hardly be keen on spilling his guts in the cold light of day, whereas he might in the soft, sleeping half-light.
So she waited and listened, and slowly a picture did emerge in the darkness of their bedroom.
Lissa had broken his heart. He was sorry about what had happened. He would change it all if he could. He would go back.
He sounded different when he was speaking to Lissa, when he thought Anna’s prone body was hers.
He sounded weak, though Anna hated the word. He would beg, cry, as he pleaded with her. His distress, its intensity, was so affecting some nights that Anna felt her own tears bubbling up and shuddering from her.
She came to realize that Simon still loved this woman, that whatever had happened was very much part of him, a part Anna would never be able to touch.
Whoever Lissa was, she had broken Simon. Anna had often wondered how she herself had wound up with Simon, and now she knew: he, too, was broken.
Sometimes Anna would reach out through the dark and smooth his brow, as if she were Lissa forgiving him. She would kiss his forehead and tell him it was okay, and he would melt into her, forgiven.
She was jealous of Lissa, of course, of how deep and indelible the mark she had left on Simon was.
She might have never found out the truth. She might have lived and died feeling jealous of a woman she should never have felt those emotions for.
But she did find out.
Anna suggested they go on a walking holiday. She wanted to see the Lake District, to climb Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. If she could conquer that small summit, she might be able to conquer more, and maybe one day she might achieve all the things her mother had expected of her.
Simon liked the idea of a hiking trip, and they made some notional plans.
Simon then mentioned a three-day hike he had taken years before to the remotest part of Scotland.
It had taken a slow two-day hike to reach Knoydart, with a one-day trek back.
It had been hard, he told her. But worth it to get there, to be in nature so completely, just you in the world, just one foot in front of the other, until the rest of humanity, the past, the future disappeared.
It sounded beautiful, almost like space travel, so Anna looked up Knoydart online, then she wondered if there might be any tagged photos on Facebook: a young Simon halfway up a mountain, rosy-cheeked but triumphant.
Of course, nothing came up. There was no such photo. Frustrated, Anna wondered if there were no photos now because they had been deleted, perhaps someone else having been in them.
So Anna tried another search, hoping for a solo shot, or perhaps just to finally put a face to the name.
Lissa, Knoydart.
Search results filled Anna’s screen, articles going back twenty years.
Blurred photos of a clearing in a wood in Scotland, police tape cordoned.
Other articles showing diagrams of blunt-force trauma.
And finally, a school photo of a beautiful, eighteen-year-old, spiral-haired girl, in a school uniform, her head turning toward the camera, caught in the moment just before her smile turns into a laugh.
Melissa Craig.
Anna clicked on an appeal article from thirteen years ago.
Mum Begs Police to Review New Evidence in
Tragic Missing-Girl Case
The mother of Melissa Craig, the 18-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared without a trace on her way home from school just over five years ago, is begging local authorities to investigate a new witness statement that has emerged after a recent appeal.
The missing girl’s mother, Nicola Craig, 51, a former NHS worker and full-time campaigner, has secured enough signatures in a recent petition to have her request for action heard in the House of Commons this week.
Melissa Craig’s father, Philip Craig, 53, said: “It’s just not right that some cases get this disproportionate level of interest, and police hours, whilst others seem to slip off the agenda without any follow-through. I understand funding is tight but new evidence requires new action.”
And whilst the couple are no longer together, having recently divorced, it is clear that they will be a united force to be reckoned with in pushing for police hours on their case.
“This new evidence is a big steer,” Nicola shared with us.
“I think I’m able to say that our new witness, in fact there are two, can verify that Melissa was seen getting into a car near Canning Park, with an unidentified male.
This throws everything we thought we knew about her timeline in the bin.
We’ve been looking in the wrong places. She wasn’t travelling on foot—she was in a car. And she was with someone.”
Neither Berkshire Police, nor Ms. Marie Lunting, the Craigs’ local MP, was available for comment on what action might be taken in the case next, if any.
Comments: 9 comments
EmmaLee33
Staines-Upon-Thames, United Kingdom
Such a sad story…feel for the family who just want closure
TarzanintheSun
Brighton, United Kingdom
Tory cuts, Labour cuts—and we wonder why this keeps happening??
Zero funding. Poor policing. And criminals who know they’ll get away with it!!!!!!
Reply
Goldilocksbearz
London, United Kingdom
Nice attitude mate!
TigerLily1415
Southwold, United Kingdom
How am I only just hearing about this missing girl now?
AlfredtheGreek
Haringey, United Kingdom
Terrible article. Shoddy reporting, and policing here. Some news reports say she had on a black puffer coat the day she disappeared whilst others just say “a large coat” or even “a parka.” Which is it?! These things matter. If I was a parent, I’d be fumin
OrionzOreos
Behind you, United Kingdom
Sorry but how did this “new” information not come out nearer the time? It’s been 5 years!?! Surely, they interviewed everyone in the area at the time? How does someone only just remember all this now? Very fishy.
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Anon0005839
Berkshire, United Kingdom
Witness was probably under age at the time. Probably doing something they shouldn’t have been. Too scared to come forward. Saw appeal, felt bad. Not rocket science
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OrionzOreos
Behind you, United Kingdom
Nice guesswork “Scott he must have grown up where Melissa grew up.
Simon hadn’t meant to tell her. But now she knew.
The perfect, love-filled life Anna thought she would have with Simon darkened and crumbled, like the charred remnants of a fire.