Eight hours later, the director yelled "Cut! That's a wrap!" and with that the torturous event had come to a close. Gladys wanted to get all the extra make up off her face as soon as possible so she excused herself and headed to the washroom. She opened the door, and rushed to the sink, splashing water on her face. The heavy eye makeup she had on began to run. Using hand towels, she scrubbed her face until it was clean. Smiling a bit at herself, she looked forward to returning to VicMu, tomorrow, the sense of belonging she felt there always lifted her spirits. Returning to the cannery floor, she turned down a hallway, and saw a flash of red hair at the other end.

Eyes widening, Gladys stood stock still for a moment, taking in her reactive thought, heart pounding. The color of it and the height of the woman that had walked past struck her in a jarringly familiar way.

'No! It can't be!' she told herself. 'She couldn't be here.'

She had to be sure. Gladys ran down the hall and looked to her right. A red-headed girl was about to walk into one of the store rooms, her back turned from her view.

"Kate!" Gladys shouted out, uncaring of who might hear.

Marion heard the familiar voice and froze. Panicking, she did not turn towards the voice, but set out in a dead blind run away from the storeroom doors and down another hallway. She couldn't stop running. Afraid to be found, she turned down hallway after hallway. She could hear Gladys's foot falls running behind her.

"Kate! Kate! Wait! Stop! I just want to talk to you!" Gladys panted out as she rounded the corner of the corridor.

Feelings overwhelmed the redhead as she hit the emergency exit stairwell. It was locked. There were no other doors. She was trapped. Her heartbeat loud in her ears, Kate turned to face her pursuer.

Gladys looked Kate over, eyes coming to rest on her face. "Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's really you," she exclaimed catching her breath. "Do you know how long we've been looking for you?"

Marion's eyes looked to the floor as she instantly grasped onto the word "we've." She knew what Gladys meant. Betty.

Wincing at the thought of where Joshua might be, Marion grasped her hands in front of her. "Please Gladys, you have to let me be," she responded softly. Her tone was desperate.

Noticing her panic, Gladys took Kate's arm to steady her. "Kate, please, calm down. It's okay."

"No! No, it's not! I need to get back soon, he'll notice if I'm gone too long," Marion stammered out, unable to stop the trembling.

"He'll notice? Who? Your Father?"

Marion dragged her eyes from the floor and looked solidly at Gladys with the mention of her father. How much had Betty told her? "No, my brother Joshua works with me. He keeps an eye on me, so please, PLEASE let me go. If he notices us he will tell my father!"

Taking in Kate's posture and desperation, Gladys's heart flooded with compassion. The man truly did terrify his own child. She was like a deer before a hunter. The taste of this moment left bitterness in her mouth.

"Kate, please at least give me a moment to talk to you," Gladys said slowly, hands softly holding her arms.

"I can't. I can't. Please, let me leave."

Gladys looked into her tearful eyes and released her. Immediately Marion ran off wiping at her face, trying to hide the massive surge of emotions and thoughts that were coursing through her. Gladys on the other hand, steadied her resolve and knew there was no way in hell she was leaving this place without Kate. She exhaled heavily knowing the daunting task ahead and headed straight for the manager office.

X

An hour later, Marion made her way up the steep iron staircase towards the cannery's main administrative office. Her nerves were running high as she imagined the repercussions once her father learned of her departure from the storeroom. Gladys' arrival had done nothing but cause her fear to spike and set her thoughts racing. Reaching the door, she flattened out the front of her coveralls, adjusted her turban and went inside. There Gladys sat alone, waiting for her.

Marion's voice came out as an intense whisper. "What are you doing?! Don't you realize that I'm going to get in so much trouble for talking to you?"

"Kate calm down!"

"My name isn't Kate! It's Marion."

"Fine…Marion. Calm down."

"You don't understand. My Father keeps a very close eye on me," the redhead replied, panic still clutching at her with a death grip. She didn't move from the doorway.

Gladys' face softened. "How would your Father even know who I am? He's never met me."

"That's not the point."

"No, you're right. The point is you're terrified to breathe here! That is no way to live." She held out her hands to the girl. "Come home."

Marion had been wringing her hands through her whole exchange with Gladys frozen between indecision and hope.

"I can't Gladys. I have to stay. My Mother isn't well and we need the money."

"I'm sorry about that, but you know you can send the money from wherever you are. Kate…" Gladys caught herself and paused, her voice filled with compassion and slowed. "I mean… Marion. Once upon a time, you ran away before for a reason."

Marion looked up towards Gladys, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "My Mother helped me leave."

"Then do you think she'd want you using her as an excuse to keep from living your life?"

"You don't know anything about me or my family! Or about what I want! You may have no respect for your parents but I still do!"

Gladys looked in shock at the woman before her. The responses were so different from the girl she remembered. It broke her heart to see her so wounded and lost. "You're right I don't. But I know my friend Kate and you are nothing like her."

"No I'm not. She was just someone I was pretending to be."

"Really?" Gladys said, walking towards her, taking the woman's hands in her own. "Because she seemed pretty real and honest to me."

The moment lingered, the words said.

Tears fell from Kate's eyes. She wiped at them, struggling to regain her composure.

"I can't go back Gladys. Not now, even if…even if I wanted too. Now did you actually really want to talk about the conditions of the cannery or can I go back to work?"

"Marion, please reconsider. I want to bring you back to where you belong. I know we can get your job back and everything can go back to being good again."

"I'm sorry. I can't." Marion turned and walked out the door.

"She misses you Kate!" Gladys exclaimed causing Marion to pause. "I just thought you'd want to know. She misses you like crazy."

Marion choked back her tears. How could Betty miss her? She had humiliated her. Anyway, it didn't matter. She couldn't go back.

"I… I'm sorry. I have to get back to work." Her voice was so small and weak the words were barely audible over the hum of the cannery.

"Kate…" Gladys sighed knowing full well that her estranged friend was struggling with her feelings.

Marion turned, her eyes sparkling from the tears that rimmed her eyes and pleaded. "Please Gladys. Don't tell her where I am. Let her forget me."

There was a heaviness to Gladys' heart as she heard the words. For her friends, for things lost, for things that should have been but weren't. She saw the sputtering of Kate within Marion, but ultimately it was for the woman in front of her to fight out the winner. For that battle, Gladys could do nothing but hope.

She closed her eyes and softly uttered, "I promise."

"Thank you." Marion turned and hopped down the metal stairs wiping her eyes as she went.

The shift end whistle blew just as Marion reached the bottom of the stairs and Gladys watched solemnly from the office window as her friend sped off towards the women's change room.