Carla picked up her coffee and took a sip watching her factory. The place was full of people and yet it seemed so empty. The usual buzz from the machinists was not there, no chat, no banter. Her eyes were drawn to the two empty machines as a tear threatened to escape. Picking up a spare mu from the side Carla cleared her throat and addressed the workers.

"Alright you lot, call it a day, early finish". The usual explosion of sound and movement that followed an announcement of an early finish did not happen. The uneasy quietness was only punctuated by a few mutterings of "Pub" from Beth. Sean reached out and touched Carla's arm as he moved passed, briefly making eye contact before following the others out of the door. He knew how hard the news about Hayley must have hit her.

After hearing the door shutting behind them Carla went into her office and set the two mugs down on her desk and positioned herself back into her chair. She hated being on her own at the moment, Michelle had the day off and Peter had gone to collect Simon from school. The silence made her brain work overtime. The factory was full of so many memories, so many echoes of her past. Tears started falling from her eyes.

Suddenly annoyed with herself she thought "Today isn't about me. It's about Hayley. Oh God. Hayley". She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out the whiskey bottle. Unscrewing the top she carelessly poured some into her mug and took a mouthful.

"Come on love, you don't want to do that" Peter said moving towards her. Carla's sobs grew uncontrollably loud as Peter held her close.