Embedded Files
Doris stares at the message in red lipstick on the mirror, knowing it wasn’t there when she enters the makeup room and wondering where it had come from. She moves closer to it and sits in the chair at the table staring into the mirror. The red lipstick suddenly rolls onto the floor and Doris looks around the room.
Doris: “Is there someone there? How can I help you?”
However, only silence greets her words. Doris is puzzled, not knowing what to do next.
Suddenly she jumps, as a song blasts out from the cassette player in the corner of the room.
Doris gets up and walks over to the cassette player and turns it off but instantly it starts playing again. The voice sounds familiar:.
"I have your photograph
I have it hanging on my wall
You neither cry or laugh
Finding it hard to forget it all
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To touch you
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To feel you
You make the evening news
You never had an alibi
Your evidence my be the truth
But they believed my lies
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To touch you
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To feel you
Is it a lie
When you're asking me why
Hold out my had
When you don't understand
Is it a lie
When you're asking me why
Who fires the gun..gun..gun..gun
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To touch you
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To feel you
Is it a lie
When you're asking me why
Hold out my had
When you don't understand
Is it a lie
When you're asking me why
Who fires the gun..gun..gun..gun
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To touch you
Oh I'm reachin' out my invisible hands
To feel you"
As the song comes to an end Doris realises that its Nicole voice and she assumes that it must have been recorded while Nicole was a student at the school. She then realises that she has no idea what time she is in and maybe Nicole is currently still a student at the school.
As Doris moves back towards the mirror she notices that the message has changed and now says:
“Tell Jesse.”
Doris repeats the message under her breath: “Tell Jesse? Tell Jesse what?”
Doris hangs her wet clothes over a nearby radiator to dry and decides to try and find Jesse to see if he has any idea about what is going on. As she leaves the room the door slams behind her and she hears the pay phone next to the makeup room ring as her teenage self rushes past Leroy to answer it.
Teenage Doris: “Touch that and I’ll break your arm. (She then lifts the receiver) Doug?”
Realising it’s not for her she hands the phone to Leroy and storms off unaware that her older self is standing next to her.
Leroy: “Hi Baby how you doin’? I was just getting ready to call you. Yeah, what’s going on?.......... How late? Two Weeks!”
At that moment there is a loud crash coming from the makeup room as though someone has fallen over, making the older Doris and Leroy turn to look at the door and then at each other. Leroy looks puzzled as he sees the older woman. Doris enters the room and the door immediately slams behind her.
On the floor she sees her old boyfriend Sandy lying there motionless. She rushes over to help him.
Doris: “Sandy are you okay? Is it you asking for my help?”
As Doris kneels over him she is hit by the stale smell of alcohol on his breath, in fact the smell seems to emanate from every pour of his body and becomes quite overwhelming. Doris realises that Sandy is drunk.
Doris: “Oh Sandy, what are you doing to yourself?
At that moment the makeup room door opens slowly but no one is there. As the door closes again Doris becomes quite frustrated and shouts out.
Doris: “For Goodness sake stop this nonsense and just tell me what you want. If you know me you know I’ll do anything to help you!”
There is no response and the only sound in the room is that of Sandy starting to stir. He puts his hand up to touch his head which is pounding more than normal. As his hand moves back down into his line of sight he notices his fingers are a red colour.
Sandy: “What...What happened? Am I bleeding?”
Doris reaches for some tissue and starts to tend to the cut on Sandy’s head.
Sandy is very much under the influence of the alcohol he has drunk and to him the room seems to be spinning around. His speech is also a little slurred.
Sandy: “Doris? Doris is that you? You seem to look a little different, although it’s hard to tell as you’re moving around so much.”
Doris: “You’re drunk again Sandy?”
Sandy: “No, I’m not. I told you I’ve stopped drinking. I must have slipped and hit my head, giving me a con.. erm concussion.”
Doris: “Don’t lie to me Sandy!”
Sandy interrupts angrily: “I’m not lying. Why don’t you trust me Doris? I told you it’s just water in my hip flask and you can taste it if you want to?”
Doris: “I don’t need to taste it. It doesn’t matter what is in your hip flask and as I told you, it’s not a question of trust. I can smell the alcohol on you and its overpowering. You’ve been drinking and you’ve consumed quite a lot to get into this state. Yes you might have slipped and hit your head and you may even have concussion but at the end of the day you are drunk and you have a drink problem, period.”
Sandy interrupts: “I do not have a problem. It’s everyone else who has the problem. Everyone is always getting at me, pressuring me and if people just left me alone, everything would be fine....”
Doris: “Sandy, I don’t know why you drink, you’re young, good looking and so talented but you prefer to throw it all away. That’s what you’re doing, you’re throwing your life away and you really need some help. You’ve got to want to get clean, as no one else can do it for you.”
Doris remembers that Sandy did get some help and got clean again. He even sent her his AA chips to show he wasn’t drinking but a couple of years later she’d heard he was back drinking again worse than ever. She wishes she knew what to do to help her friend for the long term. She’d really cared about him but eventually had realised that he cared more about alcohol than he ever did about her. Come to that he cared more about alcohol than he ever did about himself! Doris realises that she can’t change Sandy’s future no matter how much she wants to. Yes, she could do something that means he might not drink for awhile but ultimately only he can get sober. She smiles to herself and whispers:
Doris: “Mrs Berg you’d be proud, I’m not interfering!”
At that moment the cassette player starts playing the song again:
“Reaching Out with my invisible hands...”
Sandy puts his hands over his ears: “Turn it off, the noise is too loud, my head feels like it’ll explode!”
Doris rushes over to the player and this time the music does turn off and Sandy breathes a sigh of relief.
Doris: “You know Sandy I recently lost a very good friend to alcohol. Some drunken guy who wouldn’t admit he’d had too much to drink got behind the wheel of a car and got into an accident, killing my friend. She had a wonderful talent and her life was cut short before she got a chance to share her talent with the World. It’s such a waste and all because someone like you can’t control their drinking. You know Danny was in the accident too and for awhile it looked like he was killed too but thankfully he made it through. Can’t you see that drinking doesn’t do any good?”
Sandy: “Why are you telling me this? I haven’t hurt anyone. I don’t even drive. This is what I said people blame me for everything. You know this is why I drink and I really feel like a drink right now, to be able to cope with all the stuff people blame me for.”
He pulls out his hip flask and starts to open the cap, which he struggles with at first but eventually manages it and he raises the flask to his mouth.
Doris sees and rushes over to stop him: “No Sandy, that’s no good for you. I wasn’t blaming you I was just highlighting the bad things that can happen.”
They struggle over the flask which eventually falls to the floor with the liquid slipping out all over the floor.
Sandy cries out: “Look what you’ve done! You’ve spilt it all. Are you stupid? I need that!”
With that he lashes out and slaps Doris across the face. She pulls back from him shocked by the sting in her cheek that the slap has generated. Doris’ hand gently touches her cheek which has started to glow red. Sandy looks at her horrified, with tears welling up in his eyes.
Sandy: “Oh Doris, forgive me, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to do that. I would never deliberately try to hurt you. You know that, right?”
Doris just stares back in silence. She’d felt a similar feeling many times before as her ex husband had been violent at times and the slap suddenly brings back the memories of that.
Sandy: “Doris, please you know it was an accident, don’t you?”
He reaches out his hand to touch her affectionately but instinctively Doris moves back away from him.
Sandy begins to cry: “Doris please, I hate myself, that’s why I drink. Please don’t make me feel any worse and hate myself more. I don’t know how I’ll cope with that...”
His voice trails off and all can be heard is the sound of him sobbing.
Eventually Doris realises it wasn’t her ex husband hitting her and it was Sandy. Watching him sob, she gradually edges closer to him and puts her arms around him.
Doris: “its okay, it’s all going to be okay. We’ll get you some help..”
Sandy pushes her away angrily: “I don’t need any help, why don’t you understand that? I just want to be left alone.
With than he struggles to his feet, almost slipping a couple of time and heads to the door.
Sandy: “Just leave me alone!”
Doris watches him go and calls after him: “Sandy!”
He looks back at her then falls to the floor. Morloch is nearby and sees what is happening and rushes over to Sandy.
Morloch: “What in Hades name is going on, are you drunk?!”
Morloch looks up and sees the older Doris sat on the makeup room floor and calls out: “You,...”
However at that moment the door slams and the cassette starts blasting out the song again. The noise is almost deafening until suddenly it stops and the room is left in silence. Doris looks around and notices the big mirror in the corner light up just as it had a couple of times before. Doris knows what is going to happen next and guesses correctly when she sees Lisa appear in the mirror.
Doris: “Lisa? What’s going on is this you slamming the door, writing messages on the mirror and asking for help?”
Lisa shakes her head: “No Doris it’s not me doing those things but I know who it is and I’ve just come to help. I have a message for you as she needs your help..”
Doris interrupts: “Who? Who needs my help?”
To be continued........
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