"Only Trying To Help"

After many near misses suddenly two Doris Schwartz are standing facing each other in the doorway of one of the class rooms at the School of the Art. One of them a teenager and the other a middle aged woman.

The older woman gives a weak smile but it is not acknowledged by the younger woman, who bends down to try to clear up the pieces of glass on the floor in front of her. She curses herself for dropping the glass, which is going to cause her to be late for her next class.

The older Doris bends down and says:

“Here let me help you with that. I guess I gave you quite a surprise?”

Again there is no response from the younger Doris, instead she continues picking up the pieces of glass. The older woman is confused at the lack of response and waves her hands right in front of her younger self’s face but there is still no response from the teenager.

It slowly dawns on the older Doris that her younger self can’t see or even hear her. The older woman feels a sense of relief that she hasn’t been discovered, but at the same time she feels very concerned as to why she can’t be seen by her younger self. She’d spoken to Sherwood, Cleo, Bruno, Chris & Holly and none of them had any problems seeing or hearing her so why would teenage Doris Schwartz not be able to recognise her?

The older woman looks around and notices that the corridor is now empty. As she turns back she sees that the younger woman and the broken glass have now disappeared.

Doris feels very uneasy about the recent events and is a little light headed. She moves to the water fountain and bends down to take a sip of water. As she stands up again she hears a familiar voice, behind her, call out:

“Hall Pass!”

Doris looks across the hallway and sees Dwight at the end of the corridor, his hand outstretched expectantly waiting to see the pass. Doris slowly walks over to him, glaring.

Doris: “Do I look like a student?”

Dwight looks the woman up and down for a few seconds and shakes his head:

“No, I guess you do look a little old!”

Doris is upset by the comment and throws him a look of disgust. Then a sly smile crosses her face as an idea comes to mind.

Doris: “Do you know Quentin Morloch?”

Dwight: “Yes, yes I do. He’s the vice principal at this school.”

Doris smile widens: “Well, I’m Mrs Morloch his wife. Do you think he’ll be happy when I tell him that you’ve been harassing his wife?”

Dwight is embarrassed and becomes very apologetic:

“I’m very sorry, I didn’t realise who you were. Of course you don’t need a hall pass. Maybe we could forget all about it?”

Doris smiles at him: "Yes, Dwight let's forget all about it. You don't mention you've seen me and I won't say anything to my dear Quentin about how you spoke to me."

Dwight nods in agreement and Doris walks back down the corridor. She is relieved that at least Dwight could actually see her and she’s not suddenly turned invisible or something like that and is also pleased that she managed to fool Dwight so easily. However, it makes her more confused as to why her younger self couldn't see her.

As she approaches the auditorium she hears familiar music coming from the other side of the doors. She pauses for a moment debating whether to take a look or not. Unable to resist Doris opens the door to see what is happening on the stage.

The stage is a hive of activity with singers dancers, musicians and a choir:

“Now I burn like the sun in celebration,

Each distance star and invitation.....”

Doris watches as the kids perform the last piece of music that Bruno had written as a student at the school. Doris had always loved the song and believed it was truly one of the best things that Bruno had ever written.

In the auditorium she can see the solitary figure of Bruno sitting watching the rehearsal. Doris wonders about the situation. If the events are the same as she remembers them then it looks like Bruno still had to leave the school and her plan to change Angelo Martelli’s fate hadn’t worked. Doris sighs, as the rehearsal continues.

Suddenly something strikes Doris as odd about the performance. At first she can’t tell what is wrong but can tell that something isn’t quite right. Then she realises what is wrong, Coco, Danny and Leroy are singing and Chris is dancing but she can’t see her younger self on stage at all. She remembers that she had been one of the main performers of that song.

She watches and notices that Holly who was originally only part of the choir now seems to be standing in the middle of the stage, next to Coco performing what was Doris’ part. Doris is puzzled as to why the past has changed and wonders where her younger self could be?

After a few moments Doris notices Bruno get up from his seat and quietly head towards the auditorium exit. She quickly heads back into the lobby to wait for him to come out, remembering he'd originally left the performance before the end.

When the door opens Bruno walks straight past Doris without acknowledging her existence. For a moment Doris is concerned that he can’t see her, just like her younger self couldn’t see her earlier. She calls out after him:

Doris: “Hey Martelli!”

Bruno stops in his tracks and turns to look at her. Doris is relieved that she isn’t invisible but is concerned by the angry glare Bruno has on his face.

Bruno snaps: “What!”

Doris: “I just wanted to check you were okay? I noticed you left the rehearsal before it was over, so I assumed it must have been emotional watching it?"

Not wishing to acknowledge that Doris is right, Bruno side steps the question and asks: “What’s it got to do with you anyway?”

Doris is a little taken a back by the harsh tone in Bruno’s voice as he’d never spoken to her like that before.

Doris: “Bruno, why are you acting like this? I was just concerned about you. You’re my friend and I just wanted to help. We are friends aren’t we?

Bruno laughs sarcastically: “FRIENDS!, Doris, we may have been friends once but we certainly are not friends anymore!”

Doris is shocked and confused and asks: “Why? What Happened?”

Bruno is angry and shakes his head:

“Oh no, not this pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about rubbish, again. I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing but it won’t work. I’m not falling for that all over again!”

Doris is feeling hurt and confused. Obviously something has happened between Bruno and her younger self that either she can’t remember or it never originally happened so the older Doris has no knowledge of the two teenagers having a fight and falling out.

Doris: "Bruno I’m really sorry, I don’t know what has happened but please can we try to work it out. You and I are lifelong friends and I don’t want anything to change that.”

Bruno is still angry: “Well maybe you should have thought about it before you interfered and lied to me!”

Doris looks at him totally puzzled: “Bruno I....”

Noticing the puzzled look on her face Bruno interrupts her:

“Are you losing your memory again, like before? What’s wrong with you Doris and why do you keep dressing up in this weird costume? It’s no wonder you’re turning your friends against you. First you tell me some strange story about a psychic warning you about my Pop and I stupidly listen to you.”

He pauses for a moment before continuing:

“I should have known it was only going to lead to trouble. Surely that should be your middle name lately? You cause trouble and lie to everyone! Well if I hadn’t listened to you my Pop could still be alive today and I could still be a student here, instead of watching my real friends perform my music without me!”

Doris feels close to tears. She is confused how her good intentions of trying to help Bruno’s Father could have ended so badly and why Bruno says she’s turning her friends against her.

Doris: “Bruno, I am really sorry, you’ve got to believe me.”

Bruno laughs again: “Doris, you’ve had your chance.. If I hadn’t listened to you, I wouldn’t have taken that day off school and Pop and I wouldn’t have argued. He’d been planning to spend that day with my Aunt Beattrice but instead we argued, which raised his blood pressure, he stormed out and had a heart attack! Your psychic friend was right something bad did happen to my Dad and I'm the one who caused it. If I’d never listened to you he’d have been with my Aunt and maybe he would have lived.”

Doris shakes her head and lowers her voice as she softly says:

“It’s not your fault Bruno. Your Aunt couldn’t have saved your Dad, I realise that now. No one could save him and it was wrong of me to try change that. It was his time to go Bruno.”

Bruno glares at her: “So you are now admitting it happened are you? Well that's the first time you've owned up to telling me about the psychic since my Pop died."

Again Doris is puzzled by his comment. Bruno notices and says:

“Oh I forgot that you get this temporary amnesia! You know that’s what hurts the most Doris. It’s bad enough that the last time I’m with my Pop that he and I fight and I can’t tell him now, how I really feel about him, but then you..”

He can feel the emotions welling up inside him. He swallows hard to force back the tears and continues:

“then you.... , just when I really need my friend..., you pretend that nothing has happened and deny even warning me about something bad happening to my Pop.

"I thought I was going mad Doris, I didn’t understand why my closest friend would lie about something so important. How can I be friends with someone who deliberately lets me down and lies to cover it up?”

Tears roll down Doris’ cheek, she knows the pain of arguing with a parent and not having the chance to put things right before they die. Now she realises that her actions have caused the same thing to happen to one of her best friends.

Doris: “I’m so sorry Bruno, I never meant for anything like this to happen. Honestly, I was just trying to help. You've got to believe me.... It’s so complicated and I don’t even know where to start to try and explain it to you. But I swear I never lied to you. When you asked me about that conversation I honestly didn’t know anything about it...”

Bruno angrily interrupts: “What do you mean you didn’t know anything about it? You've just admitted we had the conversation warning me before my Pop died, so how can you possibly say you didn't know about it when we talked after he'd died? It makes no sense Doris”

Doris doesn’t know where to start but decides the only way forward is to come clean and tell the truth.

Doris: “You see Bruno, now this is going sound crazy but there are two Doris Schwartz....”

Bruno interrupts: “What? What are you talking about? Two Doris Schwartz! Just forget it Doris. You really are acting crazy and I don’t feel I know you anymore. I really think you should see a shrink or something because I’m not interested in your lies and stupid stories!

He pauses a moment, then continues:

"My father is dead Doris, doesn't that mean anything to you? Don't I mean anything to you?”

Bruno can hold back his emotions no longer and tears start to fall. He turns and walks quickly towards the school exit and down the steps.

Doris calls after him: “BRUNO!, please wait, please let me explain!”

To be Continued....