April 5, 2016 (Prologue)

The lights burned my corneas. I blocked them with my hands, impeding the work of the poor girl who was tasked with fixing up my face. She smiled, her eye red from my finger going in it, and shook my apology away.

“You’ll be fine,” she assured me as she rubbed blush on my cheeks. “Dan is great with victims’ families. You should’ve seen the family of that little girl who was killed by a serial rapist back in December. Her family was sobbing the whole way here. We could barely get a word out of the mother without tears, but every time she broke down, Dan would stand in front of her to block the shot and help her through it.”

I could hear her talking but she felt far away. Victims, killed, sobbing, broke down. All my trigger words, yet she talked about it as if she was telling her family about her new dog. I wanted to be away from her, but I had to be still and let her fix up my face. I zoned back in on her. “You know, Dan really is a good guy. I think it’s because he was in jail for-”

“I think she’s gone getting make-up, Gina,” a gruff voice said from behind her.

Gina turned to see a large, well-built man in a suit and slowly cowered away from me. “I’m sorry sir.”

“That’s alright. You should go check the mics for us. Make sure they’re nice and loud.”

She gave him a small smile and crept away. The man turned to me and stuck out his hand. “My name is Daniel Powell. How are you doing today?”

He was the first person to ask me how I was feeling. The tears I’d been repressing for months broke through my tear ducts. I laid my head on his chest and sobbed.

“There there,” he murmured as he pet my hair. “You’ll get through this.”

“I miss her!” I sobbed.

He handed me a few tissues from the Kleenex box strategically placed on my lap.”We can do this together, alright?”

I nodded and pressed the tissues onto my face to try and stop the blubbering mess before it ruined the make-up. The man hugged me tight and I felt at home. For an ex-con, he was an excellent hugger. After a few minutes, my sobs had been reduced to sparing sniffles. He let go of me. “Feeling better?”

I nodded. “Thank you,” I sobbed.

“Anytime darling,” he replied. “We’re thinking of starting in about ten minutes. And don’t worry about the make-up. Gina gets paid by the hour.”

He winked and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you ready to do this?”

I nodded. He smiled and nodded in agreement. The cameramen turned towards him while an intern signalled for Gina to come fix my make up and put the mic onto my blouse. “Waterworks already, huh?”

I ignored her. About a yard away, Daniel had started his speech. “In October 2014, we presented the story of a woman named Ana Sabura Wyatt, a twenty-five year old woman who vanished after a skiing trip with a few friends. In this episode of Spotlight, we will update this story with the help of her sister, Beatrice, her brother-in-law Ralph, her brothers Nico and Peter, and her best friend, Michelle.”

“And cut!” The director clapped from somewhere I couldn’t see. “That was beautiful.”

“Hey Tony, can I not announce their names? I mean the subtitles will tell the viewers eventually.”

“Sure, sure. You do what you feel you need to,” the director replied.

“Alright. I’m gonna take five to check on our guest.”

Dan came over to me. “How are you doing?” he asked.

I feigned a smile even though I felt like my flesh was burning.

“It’s okay to not do this. We have been interviewing a lot and if you just want to make a statement and go home-”

“No!” I said a bit too loudly. “I mean, no. I’ve been here for Ana for this long, and I want to stick it out to the end.”

He smiled and nodded. “Would you like to practice? Your husband informed me you have a nervous breakdown before along with several panic attacks and I just want to make sure we aren’t pushing you too hard.”

I nodded. The cameras were on me. I could feel my knees shaking. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said.

“My name is Beatrice Wyatt-Truman, and Ana was my younger sister.”