Shane stood there frozen in time. She could see all the people around her moving around, talking, laughing, flirting, smiling, drinking, nodding, staring and looking. All she could see and think right was “…. Alice has left… Carmen is standing right in front of me… carrying and talking to our daughter…” Those words kept playing in her mind for a good minute or two. She felt a hard slap on her shoulder and the image of her wife and daughter was soon replaced by Ed, who was looking at her like a foreign creature.

Shane’s eyes directed to Ed’s, who are hands on her shoulders and kept shaking Shane who is deeply lost with what just happened in the last ten minutes. Shane heard Ed calling her name but the words she tries to speak doesn’t come out. She let out a little squeak and tries to find her words to speak out.

“…Shane… Shane…. Oh my god… don’t faint Shane! This is your bloody opening night! I’ve worked too damn hard for this for you to faint!” Ed shakes lightly on her boss’s shoulder.

“… Carm… Car-Carmen is here… she’s here… what the hell is she doing here??” Shane asked Ed in a low volume almost in a harsh whisper, she looked past Ed and still sees her wife and her daughter together, and realize this is not a bad dream that she cant get out off.

“… I don’t know… I don’t know, I guess Johnny got in touch with Carmen… are you okay? Because you don’t look okay… do you need a drink? Beer? Shot of Vodka? A bottle of red?? God knows I need one… talk to me Shane!” Ed mumbled on as he looked on at the crowds.

“… uhh… uhm…” Shane cleared her throat and held her right palm on her forehead. “… I… uhh… Alice… She, she left… I saw her leave the store… I-I need to see her, explain to her… fuck…” Shane looked around the floor as if maybe the floor could help her out with the situation she’s in.

“Shane, Shane… look at me, deep breath okay… deeeeep breath… you’ll see Alice, but right now… you probably need to have a little chat with your wife…and uhm, you’ve got three other interviews in one half hours…” Ed looked at Shane.