The CALLBACK

Shana sat in her living room with feelings of excitement, pressure, and anxiety all at once. She nailed her film audition last week and was patiently anticipating to hear from her agent.

It had not been an easy road to even get to this point. The point of even being considered for film roles that usually were booked by established and accomplished artists seemed to be the constant denominator for Shana.

She often joked with one of her fellow creatives who was also a long-time friend, the term "wildcard" must be written somewhere next to her name on some casting director's book of truly "unknowns."

As the coffee cooled down and her left over pizza sat in front of her, Shana took a quick glance of her emails and text messages too. Any sign of new notifications was lost on the reality of her deafening, silent phone.

"Nothing, just the crickets," she quietly mumbled to herself.

As she eased back into the recliner, Shana sighed deeply. The discontent of no good news and even thoughts of self-doubt crept into her psyche.

She bit a large chunk of the day old veggie pizza, but quickly spit it out on her plate. The bitter taste of tomatoes and the hardened pizza crust was more than Shana could bare. There was no appetite for it.

Just as she entered her kitchen to discard the old food and pour out the hour old coffee, the vibration of the phone caught her attention quickly.

Shana nearly stubbed her toe as she quickly attempted to rush back into the living room. It was now 10:30pm and Jillian never called this late before. Jillian was her talent agent of more than seven years.

She had always believed in Shana's potential from the very beginning of her budding acting career even as a "wildcard."

The voicemail simply was all she hoped for and so much more.

According to Jillian, Shana absolutely made a wonderful impression in the audition and her callback had been scheduled for a quick turnaround of "11:30 am tomorrow as it's the same material" for the in-person invitation.

Tears of extreme happiness began flowing down her face as she listened to the voicemail over and over again. Even though she would have to depend on public transportation again, it didn't even matter to her. She would have some real funds later in the week and could finally get her temperamental car out of the shop.

As always Jillian immediately sent an email with all of the details regarding the location, time, etc. for the callback. Shana relied on her very photographic memory to digest and retain the information too.

With thoughts of the script (also known as sides) being rehearsed in her mind while showering and then going to bed, Shana knew she needed to get some sleep. After all, heavy make-up had not been worn in the audition, but she didn't want her appearance to be a haggard one.

As the morning arrived so quickly, Shana took great care in meditating, gulping a cup of coffee and gathering items to take with her on the short bus ride there. With one final look in the mirror and and grabbing the public transit face covering, she quickly left her house with nerves and excitement.

The bus stop was only a block away and she could actually hear the roar of the speeding bus as it approached the main intersection. The bus was pretty empty so she chose a seat close to the window.

It was finally happening. She was riding to the callback and finally felt a real sense of confidence. Shana actually felt her eyes become watery, but quickly stopped tears from running again.

As the bus roared on, she began to look in the large tote bag.

She decided to drink just a little bottled water as her mouth felt dry. Then without even thinking she dug deep into the tote to locate her phone.

As she dug deep into the many compartments and pockets of the tote, Shana felt no phone. A feeling of horror and dread began to overcome her spirit. Even a feeling of heat seemed to surface deep from within her body.

It had been left unintentionally in her haste to leave ahead of schedule.

She tensed up and looked to see exactly where the bus was on the route. The location was only a few feet away but the building appeared to be locked. There were no cars in the parking lot and even lights were not visibly on inside the lobby area of the building. The exterior windows even appeared pretty dirty.

The virtual bus stop announcement confirmed it was the location she memorized from Jillian's email. The callback was supposed to be here.

Shana thanked the bus driver, got off of the bus and watched it roll away. She approached the building with some hesitation.

THE END