Day 21

Her empathy cuts her deep

“Good evening, and welcome to Six News.”

Tiffany’s done some coke not long before going on tonight.  She hasn’t meant to, but she’d pulled the bag out to have a look while she was in the toilet and she just did.  She hopes she’s not talking too quickly.  Almost giggles on camera as she thinks about what Bob would say if she got through the whole bulletin in fifteen minutes, ads and all.  Feels incredibly sad as she reads the story about the latest suicide bombing in Pakistan.

It’s almost like she’s reading aloud to herself, like there’s no one in the studio with her, no cameras, no audience.  When the vision switches to the grainy home video showing some of the explosions at the mosque, Tiffany flinches and blinks rapidly as the sound of the explosions reaches her eardrums.  When the vision switches to people being carried away on stretchers, the dead ones completely covered, the maimed but still alive with their heads showing, Tiffany is so moved that she’s almost in tears.  She can feel the pain, her empathy cuts her deep.  Its so visceral that she feels like she’s there with the victims.  She doesn’t like the death.  These people shouldn’t be dying.  Nobody should be dying.

By the time she gets to the end of the story and the ad break Tiffany’s not sure if she’s stayed on track.  There’s too much going on inside her head.  Got to pull herself together.  While the camera’s off and she’s sorting through her notes, she takes the silence in her earpiece as a good sign.

Back from then ad break and Tiffany’s feeling steadier.  The euphoria and hyper-reality is already being replaced with the dull sludge of depression.

Now Tiffany’s worried that she won’t make it through to the end of the half hour bulletin.