Right one at the wrong time

The next morning

A ray of sunlight lightly tickled her nose and some warm summer air came through the window. Ana woke up even before the alarm clock rang. Probably because the night had been more or less sleepless for her. The telephone conversation with her husband the night before was still lingering in her mind. But there was really no point in worrying about that now. She had to concentrate on what she was here for.

Today there would be another rehearsal and afterwards she and her team had decided to spend some time together in Turin. Maybe finally see something of this beautiful city... Ana loved Italy and always joked around that she wasn’t here for the contest but only for the beautiful country. Of course, that was still not true. Of course, despite everything, she was here for the ESC.

After getting dressed and almost leaving the room, she turned around once more, bent down to her rubbish bin without even glancing inside and immediately tied the bag shut. It had to be disposed of and although normally the staff would do it, she had decided to do it herself this time.

With the rubbish bag in her hand, she walked through the corridors of the hotel towards Kosta’s room. On the way, she could already hear music, sounds and voices behind some doors. She could even recognise some melodies and voices by now. But with which other countries she actually shared the hotel she didn’t know exactly, as long as it wasn’t...

Almost at the same second in which she had raised her hand to knock on the door, it opened and Kosta and others from her team stood in the doorway.

“Ana! What a coincidence. We were just about to knock on your door. You didn’t answer your phone?!”

Ana gently hit her forehead with her free hand and groaned,
“Oh crap, yeah sorry. I left it in the hotel room. I’ll have to get it later...”

Kosta’s eyes fell on the bag in Ana’s hand. Confused, he pointed at it and started laughing,
“What’s that? A rubbish bag? Why are you walking around with that?”

Only then did Ana realise that she was still holding the bag and had completely forgotten to dispose of it on the way. Her brain was racing and in milliseconds she tried to think of an excuse that would make her look less stupid. But when she couldn’t think of anything so quickly and all eyes were still on her, she said dryly:

“Yes. Why? I was going to throw it away on the way here. I forgot.”

“You’re very forgetful these days.”

Kosta eyed her. Almost a little worried now, as she didn’t normally forget anything. But then, because of the stress and excitement of the ESC, it didn’t seem so unusual for Konstrakta to be a little off track.

“The bag isn’t even full. Why do you want to throw it away anyway? Besides, that’s what the staff usually do.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to throw the bag away.”

Ana hunched her shoulders and gave him an almost cold look, and the man opposite her knew immediately that it was better not to ask any more questions and don’t mention it again.
Then another voice rose. It was Marija, a girl from her choir :

“So what now? Shall we do some sightseeing today? Drive somewhere? See something? Well, after the rehearsal obviously.”

Ana sat down on an armchair in the room and took the flyer from the table that someone had surely brought from the lobby. She leafed through it for a while without saying a word while the others just watched her silently. Then her gaze lingered on a page.

“National Museum of Cinema. That sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s go there.”

Everyone immediately agreed and so it was quickly decided. And before Ana ran back to her room she peppered the rubbish bag into the nearest dustbin on the way. Out of sight, out of mind.

When they all had a successful rehearsal behind them, they met at the bus to go to the museum together. The drive took a good 20 minutes and Ana just stared out of the window and looked around. Due to the lack of sleep last night, she suddenly noticed how her eyes became slightly heavy and she could no longer really concentrate on what she was seeing. It just whizzed by.

The houses, people, trees, dogs, shops, street signs, a small blond woman.... Ana squinted her eyes suddenly wide awake, sat up straight and hastily jerked her head back.  Hoping to see her again, or rather not to see her again as confirmation that she had only imagined it. But had she just imagined it or had that really just been her? It looked like her. But no, it couldn’t be. Or maybe it could? What if she had had the same idea as them?