She couldn’t make out the rest of the lines after that because they had been erased. She looked through the papers on the desk. Most of them were written on, just a few lines as if the writer had written them and then given up because she had difficulty conveying her feelings. Carmen tidied the papers into stack and left them on the desk. She couldn’t find it in herself to throw them away along with the rubbish because they echoed a person’s heartbreak and loneliness, and it all felt too real to be merely made up. She dragged the plastic bag out and wondered whether there really was more to this Shane McCutcheon than she had previously thought.

Carmen spent the rest of the day tidying the living room. Shane had gone out and when she came back, she didn’t seem to be sober at all. She tripped over her own feet and when Carmen wanted to help her, she had shrugged her hand off. She entered her room and shut the door in Carmen’s face. Carmen looked at the time. 10pm, it was time for her to knock off work. She grabbed her bag and then she heard an angry yell from Shane’s room. “Carmen….” She rapped on the door with her knuckles and went in. ‘What the fuck is this?” Shane was holding the stack of papers in her hand. “I thought they were your writings,” “I told you to clear my desk, meaning these are useless….get it?” She flung the papers onto the floor. “All you have to do is to obey my instructions, that’s what an assistant is supposed to do!” Carmen bristled at Shane’s harsh tone. “Miss McCutcheon, I don’t care what your reasons are for wanting to throw these away, but I’m not going to because the feelings in these words are genuine and heartfelt. If that’s your way of trying to escape from your pain, it’s fine with me. Just don’t ask me to do it,” Carmen knelt down on the floor and started picking up the papers one by one. She cast a look at Shane, whose face was now ashen pale and she leaned forward to put the papers on the desk. “Miss McCutcheon, if you don’t mind I’m leaving,”