"Face To Face"

Doris walks down the main stair case to the lobby at the School of the Arts, a few students are milling around but she can’t see any of her friends or anyone else that might recognise her.

She ponders how long it will be before she learns if her warnings to Bruno about something bad happening to his father have had any effect on Angelo Martelli’s fate. At that moment Doris looks out towards the school entrance and to her surprise she sees Angelo bounding up the entrance steps. Instantly a wave of happiness washes over her as she sees him, reassuring herself that she did the right thing warning Bruno. For a moment she wonders what other bad events she may be able to change or stop happening. This new ability gives her a real sense of power and self belief.

Doris watches as Angelo stops for a moment to speak to two students dancing in the lobby, whom Doris now sees as her teenage self and Danny. She feels slightly puzzled because she could have sworn they weren’t there a moment ago. Her heart sinks a little when she realises that she has gone back in time a couple of years, to before Mr Martelli died so she can’t be sure now, whether her actions to save him have actually worked or not.

As Angelo walks straight past her up the steps without recognising her, Teenage Doris and Danny rush after him.

Danny: "You can't go up there!"

Concerned what might happen if her past self recognises her or they come face to face with each other the older Doris turns her back as the teenagers rush past her. She then hurries quickly to reach the bottom of the stairs and turns left to walk up the corridor.

As she turns the corner the lighting changes and people literally disappear in front of her eyes. She hears a voice say her name and for a moment she thinks it’s the mystery voice that she heard in the auditorium, when there was no one there, but she soon realises its not.

Coco: “Doris What’s happening to me Doris? What is this school turning me into? I mean what am I becoming?”

In front of her are Coco and her younger self sat on the bench by the side of the stairwell. The older Doris sees and remembers how upset Coco was when her Grandmother had died and wants to reach out to comfort her but remembers that her teenage self is there trying to do that. She turns and can’t help smile as she sees herself still dressed in her rabbit costume and make up, tears rolling down her face listening to Coco. It was a sad moment but now the way she was dressed seems funny.

Again Doris doesn’t want to be seen so quickly rushes off up the corridor, relieved that the girls are caught up in the emotion of Coco's persoanl life. As she approaches the dance rehearsal room the door suddenly opens and her teenage self and Leroy rush out and up the corridor, laughing and leaping in the air as they go.

Not wanting to be seen the older Doris quickly turns around and looks back where she came from and sees that Coco has disappeared and a couple of other people are standing near the exit.

As the younger Doris and Leroy turn the corner at the opposite end of the corridor they bump into Timmy and they all suddenly disappear. Doris lets out a sigh of relief that so far she's managed to avoid all these sudden encounters.

Since finding herself in the past a number of strange and unexpected events had occurred but now she felt that no matter where she turns she keeps meeting herself. Doris is concerned that if they come face to face, her younger self will know straight away who she is and she’ll have to explain what has happened. The last thing she wants is to be taken off to some kind of hospital because people think she’s mad! Having spent a short time in such a facility after her breakdown she vowed she never wanted to go back to such a place.

Doris contemplates where she should actually go next in the hope that laying low might stop her fromhaving any more of these near misses with her younger self. She sees the door to a store cupboard and thinks that might be a place of safety. As she opens the door she sees Julie and herself in there with Julie threatening her.

Julie: "When I was a little kid I used to have quite a reputation for being a tomboy and I used to get into fist fights all the time...."

The older Doris quickly closes the door so that the two teenagers don’t see her.

Doris worries why events are changing so quickly making it so hard for her to have any control over her situation. She starts to think that maybe this is some kind of punishment for trying to change the past.

Doris: “Maybe there are laws of time after all and I’ve broken them?”

Still feeling uncertain she tries to dismiss these doubts from her mind and just deal with her current predicament. She thinks surely the cafeteria will be a safe place, so heads across the corridor to the entrance.

As she opens the door she is greeted by a big dance routine, she sees herself, Leroy and Coco dancing along with lots of other students and remembers this is the first day of school when Angelo Martelli died. She looks around for Bruno who was playing the keyboards that day but he’s not there. Doris realises that he must have heeded her warnings and isn’t in school that day. She hopes he managed to save him and tries not to worry that the current state of flux she finds herself in is a consequence of that.

Thinking she’d stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of the dance routine Doris heads back into the corridor but right in front of her, she almost bumps into her teenage self standing in the corridor talking to Bruno.

Teenage Doris: "Guess which school on an over crowded island, has just decided to do an original musical, submitted by one of it's students of Italian decent..."

The older Doris turns to avoid making eye contact with her younger self. All this constant changing is making her feel a little ill. She hurries to the end of the corridor and wonders if she should take refuge in one of the classrooms.

As she approaches the door it opens from the inside. A shiver passes down Doris’ spine. Suddenly her fears have come true as she stares into the eyes of her younger self, with whom she is now standing face to face, in the doorway.

The teenage Doris lets out a shriek and the glass she is holding drops to the floor shattering into hundreds of little pieces, while the 2 women stand in silence.

To be continued.....