Ex Fumus: Intro

A man drinks to forget and smokes to remember his late wife. He is convinced he can feel her, even hear her in the smoke. He relentlessly pursues some means to connect with her, while at the same time laughing at himself for believing he can. His obsession leads him down a dark path. He loses his job, his dignity and his friends due to his obdurate behaviour.

His days are spent smoking two cigarettes at a time while doing menial work to survive - a conscious decision he made to lighten the load on his prefrontal cortex. He lives for his seven-minute smoke breaks, wishing his late wife would again make an appearance in the smoke as he exhales. His loneliness is overwhelming, and broken only when he relearns he has a granddaughter.

It seems his mind isn’t what it used to be.

I'm not sure yet if this story will become a novel, screenplay or a graphic novel, for now I'm enjoying writing it and I'll worry about that detail later.