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Doris stands open mouthed as she watches Jesse and a woman she believes to be Nicole walk away up the crowded street. The woman is exactly the same build and height for Nicole. Her face was older than that of the teenage Nicole that Doris had been at school with and her hair straighter in a more modern style but it was remarkable how much the woman’s face looked like Nicole’s. Doris shakes her head as a multitude of questions race through her mind. “How could it be Nicole when she had died in 1987?”
She ponders that maybe something she had done in the past mean’t some how Nicole had lived but then shakes her head “No”!
That couldn't be it because Jesse had just finished telling her how it was a mistake for him to have a last goodbye with Nicole and how he’d never been able to move on with his life. She wondered if she is seeing events out of time like she has done previously but that still explain things.
Doris then thinks she was perhaps mistaken or maybe it was some kind of trick of the light or maybe it was the affects of the alcohol she’d been drinking! The two are now completely out of sight but Doris can’t stop thinking that it really did look like Nicole and it would be way too much of a coincidence for Jesse to meet someone who looked exactly like Nicole, wouldn't it?”
Doris rubs her tired head. She’s not sure if it’s the latest events or the alcohol she’s but she’s starting to get a headache.
A few moments later Bruno enters the bar, he sees her, smiles and then walks over to where Doris is standing.
Doris smiles back, it felt comforting to be in the company of her old friend once again.
Bruno is a little concerned: “Are you okay? I got some frantic message from Coco asking me to call her back and that she was with you and something had happened, but her phone is switched off.”
Doris feels safe in Bruno’s presence: “I'm okay now, and Coco’s on stage so I guess that’s why her phone is off.”
The two sit down and Bruno notices how tired Doris looks: “Are you sure you’re okay, you look like you've been crying. What's happened?”
Doris shrugs: “It’s been an emotional few days, I guess it all catching up with me”.
Bruno nods sympathetically: “Do you want a drink?”
Doris is hesitant at first but then nods: “Okay I’ll have a vodka neat please!”
Bruno heads over to the bar and returns after a few moments carrying two drinks, his being a soft drink as he’s driving
Doris picks up her glass and looks at the clear liquid for a few seconds before swallowing the contents of the glass in one quick gulp
Bruno watches her with concern in his eyes: “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Doris gives a weak smile: “Bruno, can I ask you something?”
Bruno nods: “Sure!”
Doris: “Could you take me home?”
Bruno nods again: “Of course I Can”.
Doris pauses a moment and then continues: “And.....erm, whatever happens, will you stay with me tonight?”
Bruno is surprised by the question: “Stay with you? Why?
Doris: “I just need to be with someone.”
Bruno is still a little puzzled by the proposition and not sure he’s understood Doris correctly: "Doris, I'm a married man, remember?”
Doris blushes a little: “No, not like that, I just need a friend. I'm scared to be alone!”
Bruno squeezes her hand and smiles: "Scared of what?”
Doris shrugs: “I'm not sure, I just get the feeling something is going to happen to me tonight”
Bruno is concerned but before he can say anything more he hears his name being called from across the room. He turns to see Coco and Julie heading towards him standing up he greets both his friends with a hug.
Bruno: “How was the show?”
Julie: “It was great, it’s a shame you missed it”
Coco excitedly: “Yeah man, it felt really good to be back on stage. It’s been a while and it’s given me a real rush”.
Bruno smiles: “That’s good, I'm glad it went well.”
Coco notices the karaoke set up and motioning to Doris and Julie : “Hey why don’t we get up and perform something right now? Just like old times me singing and you two on back up?”
Bruno laugh: “You don’t really change do you?”
Julie agrees but Doris is hesitant.
Coco: “Come Doris, what's it gonna hurt? You never know it might actually cheer you up.”
Reluctantly Doris allows herself to be led to the small stage with her friends. Bruno watches as they select the song and the bar lights up with Coco’s electric performance.
"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper-thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you?
'Cause there's a spark in you
You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the Fourth of July
'Cause baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y
Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!",
You're gonna leave 'em falling down oh oh
You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane, comes a rainbow
Maybe the reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you know
You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the Fourth of July
'Cause baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y
Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em falling down oh oh
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time you let it through-ooh-ooh
'Cause baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y
Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe awe awe
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon"
Again, Doris finds that performing does actually make herself feel better. Her mind flashes back to the `time in high school when she, Leroy and Julie performed backing when Coco performed “Be your own hero”. Life seemed so much simpler then.
Bruno watches Doris and he can tell that the song is lifting her mood. A small crowd of the concert goers have moved into the bar to watch the impromptu performance, which is just so totally different from the concert they had just seen Coco and Julie perform. The crowd inspires Coco even more and by the end of the number the whole bar is clapping and cheering.
Suddenly for Doris the room changes. There’s still the sound of clapping and cheering but she finds herself somewhere else. Then for a moment she is back in the bar with Coco and Julie and she can see a puzzled Bruno staring at her. It only lasts a few seconds and she moves back to where she was previously.
Confused and unsettled by the sudden change in setting Doris looks around the room. She appears to be in another bar and at first Doris doesn't realise where she is. She looks over to the entrance and sees a teenage Bruno standing talking to an older woman. A band is on a stage on the far wall and having just finished performing a song the crowd in the bar are clapping and cheering.
A member of the band yells “Yee haw!” and loud uptempo country music begins to play. The crowd of people in the bar begin to dance and she notices that one of them is a teenage Leroy. Doris feels a little wary of him at first but he is so preoccupied learning country dance moves he doesn't notice her.
Looking back over to where Bruno is standing Doris realises he’s talking to the older woman he’d dated for a few weeks when they were in high school. Doris signs as she also realises she’s back in the past. Her heart sinks as she’d really though she was back in her own time and had escaped from moving through various times from the past.
She worries that she’ll never get back home and discover exactly what happened to her or what happened to her son. As the music ends she hears a familiar voice:
“Thank you! We’re gonna slow things down a little now.”
Instantly Doris looks over to the stage and sees Cowboy Will. She can’t help but smile as she sees his handsome face. He smiles at the audience as he begins to sing a dreamy ballad.
"Lady, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you
You have made me what I am and I am yours
My love, there's so many ways I want to say I love you
Let me hold you in my arms forever more
You have gone and made me such a fool
I'm so lost in your love
And oh, we belong together
Won't you believe in my song?
Lady, for so many years I thought I'd never find you
You have come into my life and made me whole
Forever let me wake to see you each and every morning
Let me hear you whisper softly in my ear
In my eyes I see no one else but you
There's no other love like our love
And yes, oh yes, I'll always want you near me
I've waited for you for so long
Lady, your love's the only love I need
And beside me is where I want you to be
'Cause, my love, there's somethin' I want you to know
You're the love of my life, you're my lady!"
Doris sits down at a nearby empty chair mesmerised by Will’s performance. As the song ends, Will looks over in her direction and winks. Doris smiles and winks back with her strange double barrelled wink. Will hadn't actually been looking at her he’d been looking at the young woman sat directly in front of her who was also giving him a double barrelled wink. Will was slightly puzzled as he’d never seen anyone wink like that and now he’d seen it twice in one evening! He’d already spoken to the young girl he’d seen give the wink earlier and is taken aback by how similar she looked to the older woman sat behind her who was also winking. However, as the band launches into another song his mind is distracted by the music.
Doris had noticed the strange look on Wills face and then realised that her younger self was sat right in front of her. It eventually dawns on her that this is "Kickers" bar and this was the first time she and her friends had gone along to do some research, on country music, for a school show. Her younger self turns round and is looking right at her. For a tense few seconds Doris wonders if her younger self will actually see her this time but to her relief realises that she can’t.
Relaxing and enjoying the music Doris wishes she’d had more time with Will before he’d been murdered by some slime trying to steal his guitar. She wonders what would have happened if he hadn't died. She fantasises about them getting married and having children. She had named her son William after Will as a sign that despite their short time together she would never forget him.
At that moment Doris feels uneasy and gets the feeling that someone is staring at her. Nervously she looks around the room and notices the hooded older Leroy staring back at her. For a few seconds they silently hold each other’s gaze. Doris feels goose bumps cover her skin as Leroy’s menacing stare gives her chills all over her body. There is then a noise behind her and after looking to see what it was she turns her gaze back to where Leroy was standing but he is no longer there. Anxiously she looks around the room to see if she can see him but he seems to have vanished.
However at that moment the teenage Leroy appears to be looking in her direction and she doesn't want him to see her. She notices a large tan Stetson on a table in front of her and without thinking she picks it up and places it in front of her face. Turning round she sees the owner of the hat giving her a puzzled look. The man’s face is slightly familiar but she can’t remember why at first. She notices that he seems like he’s had quite a bit to drink.
He smiles: “Can I help you?”
Doris looks at the hat and apologises: “Sorry I've always wanted to try on one of these big hats, I think they’re very sexy.”
Thinking she’s flirting with him, the man thinks he may be in luck tonight: “Can I buy you a drink?”
Doris realising what the man is thinking smiles, hands back the hat and quickly makes an excuse. Having drunk quite a lot herself she goes to the restroom. As she goes she remembers why the man she’d just been talking to seemed familiar. When She Bruno and Leroy had first gone into the bar, Bruno had made up some story that they were with his father who was just behind them wearing a tan Stetson, so that they wouldn't get asked for ID. The hostess had then sent the next guy through the door, who fitted that description over to their table.
Doris smiles to herself as she enters the rest room. After going to the toilet she moves towards the wash basin, when suddenly there is a flash of light as if she was moving in time again. Looking around she is surprised to see that she is still in the restroom. Apart from the room being a little darker than before, everything else looks exactly as it was before the flash. Doris looks around again and then out of the corner of her eye she sees something in the mirror in front of her. She’s not sure what it is at first but when she sees it again she realises that it is a knife. The image was very quick but the sight of it caused a wave of fear to run through her body. Suddenly she feels a tightening around her neck and it feels as though someone is trying to strangle her and she finds it hard to breathe.
Doris starts to panic remembering the same feeling when she witnessed Leroy trying to suffocate the Doris lying unconscious in the hospital bed. Having seen him in the bar she panics that somehow he’s doing something to her now. She frantically looks around the restroom but there is no sign of anyone else being there.
The grip on her neck loosens and her breathing returns to normal. Doris wonders what on earth happened and is relieved that things appear to have returned to normal.
She looks at herself in the mirror and shakes her head thinking she must have been imagining things. Maybe seeing Leroy had just unnerved her. She turns on the tap to wash her hands but as she looks down at her hands, her heart starts to race with shock and terror. Slowly she moves her hands closer to her face so she can see them more clearly but there is no mistaking it. Doris can’t believe what she is seeing or what has caused it but Her hands and her arms right up to her elbows are totally covered in blood!
To be continued....
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