the first thing Mary saw when she woke-up every morning was the photo of her and Mark, hand in hand in front of a glorious sunset, a really touristy snapshot that really could have been any couple's photo clipped from a travel magazine. she would roll to the other side of the bed, hoping that he might still be there and he'd catch her in his warm embrace. But all she met today was the rest of the bed linen, noticeably colder than that of the spot where she had slept.
"Mark must've gone out on his morning run earlier than usual" she thought to herself, glancing at the alarm clock resting silently on the bedside table. freeing herself of the bedsheets she had wrapped around herself by rolling over, she pulled herself out of bed and half-stumbled towards the kitchen. she opened the fridge, had a quick look and closed it. realizing she hadn't registered what she had seen at all, she opened the fridge again and searched for breakfast.
"eggs sound good today, I'll only have one, but Mark'll probably want two." she muttered to herself, picking up the egg carton. deciding on sunny-side up, she cracked the eggs into the frying pan and popped some bread into the toaster. It wasn't long until it was ready, the smell filling the kitchen. Mary put down the two plates at the table and glanced around at the clock.
"Mark would usually be home by now... he won't care if i start without him though" she thought to herself sitting down and picking up her knife and fork. She took about ten minutes to eat it, pacing herself so that she would have a greater chance of having breakfast with Mark, and stayed waiting at the table for nearly an hour before getting up.
"He must've gone straight to work... but now these eggs are cold, i'll chop them up and put them with dinner tonight..." she muttered out-loud. But Mark would never eat the eggs, because Mark didn't exist, because in actual fact, the bedside photo was indeed cut out of a magazine.