Indigo Shade, Alizarin Light — William F. Wu

DESCRIPTIONTed Chun, a young man hurting from the loss of a woman he loves, searches out an entrance to the Lost and Found Emporium, the mystic shop where lost things go. What has been lost includes physical items as well as abstract traits and principles. He's searching for his lost love and finds her in many different guises. Inside, one of the proprietors takes him to a magical doorway that opens into a different room each time he ventures inside. In each room, dominated by a different color, she appears in a different way and so does he. They both learn more about themselves and the ways their life together went awry. EXCERPTWhat's she doing here? It's still all over between us, but- maybe here it could be different."Maybe," he whispered to himself very softly. She slept, with a relaxed face that neither frowned nor smiled. Her breathing was deep and slow."I love you," he whispered. "I always have. I'm so … just so sorry." Warm tears filled around his eyes. Still she slept, naked in the bluish light. She was at rest, sleek and slender and unknowing. Slowly, watching her face, he reached down to touch her thigh. It was warm and firm. The moment he felt her flesh, though, her eyes shot open in surprise. She looked at him-and screamed, horrified. She scrambled into a sitting position with her back against the headboard."No-no, no, it's me. It's Ted." Ted spoke frantically but she screamed again as she stared at his face, not recognizing him, and his words were drowned out. Ted took a step backward and movement in the window over the bed caught his eye. No, it was not beyond the window, but his own reflection in the glass; he could tell because the image moved as he did. Yet he saw, as he looked at himself, a huge, grotesque demon- scaly, reptilian, cloven-hooved … and blue.