In just under a month, I had managed to go from a grieving mother on the verge of losing her child to a partying, drunken, don't-give-a-crap frequenter of the city's nightlife. Although in reality, I was what I had been before, I tried as hard as I could to push that all to the back of my mind. I didn't need any reminders of how much pain I was supposed to be going through.

However, my time of living in the moment was in danger of being at its peak, because Richard was starting to get tired of me coming home at four in the morning and its implications.

"I swear to God, Leona," he said one afternoon after I had woken up with a hangover. "If you break anything else or get sick in my apartment again, I'm going to have to kick you out! And I really don't want to have to do that."

"Not so loud," I muttered, pulling the blankets on the couch over my head.

"You've been here for weeks," he said. "Aren't you planning on, you know, going home at any point?"

I wanted to tell him everything. How I had abandoned my husband and child in a time of emotional turmoil and grief, and how I had no home to return to, but I couldn't. He would be disgusted with me, as I was with myself. And yet, I was somehow able to live with it, even though it had become a pathetic existence.

After a while of me not responding, Richard sighed and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I have some work to do at the costume shop," he replied. "I'll see you later." With that, he left.

During the time he was gone, I tried everything to make my headache go away. Coffee, water, lying down for hours, even trying to make myself physically ill...none of it worked. But after lying back down again, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

At first, there was nothing but blackness, but then, I started to feel myself walking. It was still dark, but I could see the tiniest streak of light off in the distance. I felt around, making sure I didn't bump into anything, until finally, I reached the source of the light. It was moving slightly, and when I reached out in front of me, I felt some sort of fabric, like velvet from a curtain. When I grabbed it, it felt like there was something weighing it down. At that point, I was fairly certain of where I was, but I wanted to make sure. So, I pushed the curtain aside, and stepped out into the light.

My initial thought was true as a realized that I was standing on a dimly-lit stage. But why was I there? I looked out into the house to see if anyone was there, but it was silent, and the house lights were off anyway.

I walked around hesitantly. Although I had no idea what was going on, it was kind of nice to set foot on a stage once again.

"Are you just going to walk around like that?" a harsh, male voice said. I gasped in surprise.

"Who's out there?" I asked.

"You don't need to know," the voice replied. I frowned.

"I'm leaving," I said. "I'm not in the mood to be molested by some creep." I started to walk away, but suddenly, a painfully bright spotlight shone on me. I cried out, and I tried running away, only to discover that it was a moving spot, and whoever was operating it was pretty good at following me around.

"I'm not here to do anything like that," the man said. "I just want to talk to you. It's part of your audition."

"Fine!" I cried. "Just turn that thing off! I feel like my head is going to explode!" Luckily, he complied.

I stood there for a moment before the mysterious man made any kind of sound.

"Leona, right?" he asked.

"Of course," I replied. "Shouldn't you know that?"

"Just double checking," he replied. "There are so many people to keep track of."

"So you know my name," I said after a moment. "What's yours?" He sighed, obviously annoyed.

"Like I told you," he said. "You don't need to know. But if you really feel like you need to call me something, you can call me R, for the time being." I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, R," I said. "So what do you need me to do? A monologue, or something?"

"I don't want someone else's words," he scoffed. "I want yours." I heard some papers shuffle. "I'm going to read your resumé, and if anything is unclear to me, I'll ask you about it." There was silence for a bit, and I looked down at my feet.

"Aren't you supposed to read the resumé before all this?" I finally asked.

"I have slightly unorthodox methods," he replied. "They're probably influenced by my age and lack of experience in general."

"Your age?" I asked, confused. "How old are you?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here," he replied. "Besides, that's generally a rude question. Anyway, I've found an interesting section of this...the most recent one."

What? I wondered. I'd done so many other things than Romeo and Juliet. Even though it was the most impressive thing on my resumé, why would that be the only thing R was looking at?

"Sure," I said. "What do you want to know?"

"Why you were cast but never performed the show," R replied promptly.

My heart started racing, and I wanted to run, but for some reason, I didn't.

"Something came up," I replied hesitantly. "And it made me unfit for the part."

"Must have been pretty significant to make you leave the company," he said. "What, your dressing room wasn't big enough?" He chuckled softly, and I joined in, hoping that he wouldn't mention anything more about it, but I heard a slam, like a hand hitting a table. "Stop laughing. I want to know why you left the most prestigious theater troupe in all of Norad, is that quite all right?"

"Personal reasons," I snapped. "It's none of your concern."

"You don't know that," he said. "So, are you going to tell me or not?" I took a deep breath.

"I found..." I started, but for some reason, finishing the sentence was hard. "I found out that I was pregnant." R laughed.

"Interesting," he muttered. "I would have guessed a mental breakdown." I pursed my lips, deciding to hold back on the insults, but I was ready to fire in case they were really needed. "And the kid? Must be a year old by now."

"Yes," I said, nodding. I didn't want to add that there was a possibility he was dead.

"You sound uncertain," R commented. "When was the last time you saw him, Leona?"

"That's absolutely none of your business!" I shouted, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Let me guess," he said. "You've split up with your husband and left your baby behind with him."

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"I see," R said. "Your family was struggling. Something was wrong with your kid and so you left him and those who care about him!"

"I do care about him!" I shouted, finally letting the tears go.

"Sure you do," he spat. "That's why you left a comatose infant behind like he was already dead and buried."

"Shut up!" I cried. "You don't understand!"

"You're right!" he shouted, sounding just as angry as I did. "I don't understand! A mother is supposed to love her child, to do everything to make sure he's all right! But the way I see it, you're not a mother. You're nothing."

"I'm getting the hell out of here!" I shouted, going back toward the wings.

"Oh, no you don't," R said ominously. "If you leave like this, I can assure you that Gunie will be dead. He's barely hanging on as is."

I stopped in my tracks.

"How do you know my son's name?" I asked. Then, a figure quickly jumped up onto the edge of the stage, and started taking steps toward me.

"You should figure that out soon enough," he said as he approached me. From far away, all I could see was a mess of brown hair and bespectacled eyes. But as he came close, I gasped as I saw the eyes behind the glasses. The blue eyes that I had seen so many times before.

"You..." I started, but what I was about to say was so preposterous, even I couldn't believe it. He scowled at me, in a way that further confirmed my suspicions.

"Yeah," he said. "Now aren't you happy you didn't leave that stage?"

Talk about an actor's nightmare!

So glad I was able to put this up. There will be a part two to this, but for now, you'll just have to wait and see what happens~