Alice was sitting quietly listening. This was something new for Dana to experience. She was used to Alice just reacting and talking. Not now, Alice appeared to be having her very own conversation in her head.

“Al, are you ok?” Dana questioned, looking at the blonde, a bit worried by the uncharacteristic silence.

“What? Huh, oh yeah, I’m fine.” Alice replied.

“You’re really quiet. It’s not like you.”

“I’ve changed a bit since you’ve been gone. I not quite as outspoken as before. Anyway, I was just thinking. I guess I’m a little taken aback by all of this and well, more than a bit surprised that I ranked.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Well, I guess I never really thought about it. I mean it’s not like I ever thought I was a bad person, but it’s not like I’m Mother Teresa either. I don’t know.”

“Al, of course you’re a good person. And it isn’t like most people are Mother Teresa. I think it’s judged more like real people, caring about other people and doing right by them, that sort of thing.”

Alice shook her head, like she was trying to shake the thoughts out of her mind. “Ok, so we so we both passed, that’s good. So you pass these criteria and they just send you back?”

“Yup. They give you instructions, and you don’t break the rules. They don’t really tell you what would happen if you did, but it’s ominous enough not to break the rules. OK, so you got the answers you wanted; now it’s time for you to answer me.”

“Fine, so what do you want to know?”

“Alice for quite a few months, I’ve heard you talk to me. I’ve heard you say things that I found sad and that I wish I had a way to answer you about. But that night, when you talked about needing to stay away from Helena and her kids, it just made me so sad. For you to think that you can’t have people close to you anymore. I guess I just don’t understand why you would say that.”

Alice looked at Dana in disbelief. “You seriously don’t get it? Why would you think I would say that? Dana, I lost you before we all lost you. I had a friend, a good friend, and I tried crossing a line that I never should have let us cross. But we did, and we didn’t come back from it. I lost my friend, not just my lover. In the process, I lost my belief. It’s not like you were my first love or my first loss for that matter, but it was the most significant of both and it just affected me. I don’t think that it’s all that strange that it did.”