The face on the statue

Original fiction extract.

The square was crowded before the projection began. A stone figure stood above the fountain, its face turned towards the town hall as it had been for decades. The woman beside me said that she passed it every morning without looking up. When the surrounding lights dimmed, everyone raised their phones.

A blue tide climbed the statue’s coat. The stone folds filled with moving water, though not a drop reached the basin below. Then the face became a hillside of passing cloud. Its fixed mouth seemed to consider a different answer each time the light changed. People around me made a small common sound, halfway between recognition and doubt. The familiar figure had borrowed another life without moving one stubborn inch. For a moment, darkness crossed its eyes, and the old face disappeared inside the shape which had always held it.

The projector stopped. The statue returned in plain yellow light, its coat dry, its expression exactly as before. The woman lowered her phone and laughed. She said that tomorrow she would probably look up. Behind the figure, the town hall clock continued towards the hour with no interest in what had happened to the stone.

Choose three powerful words or phrases from the extract above. Analyse how the writer uses language to convey the effect of the projected images on the statue.

Write about 200 to 250 words.