It had all started with a mistake.

Sam had been bored and fancied a change…

Heading up north for a long weekend sounded like a good idea. He had booked the room over the little pub in Scotland as a nice place to spend his time, with plenty of walks and other things to visit in the surroundings.

He’d had to rush to change trains at Manchester, and that was where the mistake had happened. He was so unused to going on long trips, he’d forgotten about his large bag, and left it on the previous train. By the time he had realised, he was hours away from it…

A call to lost property services led to assurances that it would be located, but the problem was he would have to visit the Manchester lost property office to collect it.

Deciding he could ‘make do’ and maybe buy locally any clothes and other items he needed, Sam carried on with his journey and got a taxi from the station to the pub. Luckily the booking info was also on his phone, as was his payment cards, as all he had in his small bag was his medication.

A quick call to the bank had frozen the lost cards and assigned him a temporary number to the app on his phone, so money wouldn’t be too much of an issue. He settled in easily, quickly making friends with the landlady.

The he noticed the picture behind the bar…

He couldn’t take his eyes off of the portrait of the gorgeous woman staring back at him. She was wearing a red satin dress and a pearl necklace. Her brunette hair literally rolled down from her head and vanished below her shoulders. But it was her smile…

The landlady noticed what he was staring at.

“That’s Marnie, my daughter”, she said. “I miss her. She disappeared almost a year ago, now. No-one has any idea what happened to her. Weird thing, all her clothes are still here. Literally nothing is missing. It’s like she just faded away…”

Sam was even more fascinated. Even more so, when he found out he was going to be staying in Marnie’s old room…

After a pleasant evening in the bar, talking, drinking and eating, a slightly inebriated Sam bade goodnight to the landlady and went upstairs to bed.

Following the landlady’s instructions, Sam found the room and settled down to sleep. For some reason, he found himself looking through the drawers…

Something hit him, emotionally. Wondering what had happened to Marnie, as well as crying about a life lost, he found himself sitting on the bed, hugging one of Marnie’s nightdresses, rocking back and forth slowly, feeling a real connection with the missing young woman.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes…

Next morning, Sam woke early and went to wash and dress.

He then looked down at himself.

He was wearing the nightdress that he had been holding the night before. He also felt different. The room felt a little more familiar…

With a conscious effort, Sam took off the nightdress and went to put his normal clothes on. Something stopped him, however…

He wanted something fresh to wear, but all his clothes were in Manchester…

Looking through the cupboard and drawers, he found a manly looking t-shirt, as well as a nice pair of denim shorts. Some underwear looked almost like his briefs, and his existing socks and shoes matched well.

Sam slipped the clothes on and went to find the bathroom.

Once there, he went to shave, only to find he didn’t need to. His skin was smooth; no fuzz at all. Also, his hair seemed much richer than it had been. Slightly confused, Sam went downstairs to see about breakfast.

The crash of the tray hitting the floor woke him up with a start. The landlady was staring at him, with a shocked expression on her face.

“Marnie…?”, she gasped. “Oh, honey, where have you been…! How did you get back in without me seeing you! God, I’ve missed you!”

She hurtled over and threw her arms around a bemused Sam. Sam then caught sight of himself, reflected in the bar surface. With a gasp, he found a mirror at the back of the bar and stared into it…

Marnie’s face stared back at him. Her cheeky, lopsided but shocked expression stared back at him, looking just like the young woman, whose picture he had been staring at the night before.

“But… but…”, Sam, now Marnie, spluttered.

At the same time, things were getting much more familiar to ‘her’…

“Any idea whose things are in my room, mum?”, Marnie asked. “I’m gone for a while, and you let my room out…!”

“We had someone stay last night, but he’s gone already”, she said, with a quiet smile. “He didn’t need those things anymore… Anyway, where have you been? You seem to think it’s not long, but it’s been almost a year…!”

“Are you sure?”, Marnie asked. “Everything was where I left it, apart from my nightdress.”

“I’ve been keeping everything as it was, waiting for your return.”, she replied. “And now, you’re back!”

The landlady hugged her daughter, now home…

Sam was a loner, with no family. A few friends wondered where he had gone but weren’t too bothered.

No-one claimed his belongings when his flat defaulted due to the rent not being paid, and they were disposed of and auctioned off.

Sam’s love and feelings for Marnie, even though he had never met her, had brought her back to life and given her a second chance; Marnie was loved, she had a family. Sam felt loved now, as well, and was quite happy to settle back and let Marnie take over.

“Thank you…”, Marnie whispered to Sam, as Sam faded forever…