Kate laid in her bed staring at the ceiling looking back on how she had gotten here, it had all happened so fast that she wasn’t even sure it had actually happened at all. It seemed like only moments ago she had been handed her Julliard acceptance letter and now she was in Rome.

Kate took a deep breath and her eyes finally drifted closed into a deep sleep.

Kate rubbed her sore neck as she walked back to her room. She had been throwing herself into training and Sam had done nothing to stop her from making every muscle in her body hurt in the process.

As she arrived at her door she found that there seemed to be something taped to it. She pulled off what looked to be an envelope, which upon further examination she realized was from Julliard. Kate walked into her room and sat at her desk just starring at the letter, afraid to open it. What if she didn’t get in? The envelope didn’t appear to be very big. Did that mean that it was a ‘we regret to inform you’ letter? Sure, she hadn’t told anyone that she had even auditioned but after all that practice and tie not getting in would still be pretty devastating. So, she decided to wait before opening it. She had planned on taking a hot shower when she got back anyway. She would just open the letter after. No need to rush thing, right?

Kate spent the entire time she was in the shower trying to think of anything, but that letter and failed miserably. The thing was just eating away at her. She had to know.

She wrapped herself in a towel and walked straight out of her closet and to her desk. Only pausing for a moment to look at the envelope once more before tearing it open at lightning speed.

Kate’s eyes widened as she read the first word, ‘Congratulations!’

“I got in!” She ran for her cell phone and started dialing the number of her mother before realizing what she was doing and hanging up, all the excitement gone in an instant. How many times was she going to do this? How much longer was it going to take before she let go? She had tried to throw herself into her studies and training, but at the end of every day she was still alone and her mind would wonder back to the things she was trying so hard not to think about. Even though she would go out and do something she had never done before at least once a week, she still felt trapped.

Kate sunk into her bed just staring off into space for what seemed like a long while, until all at once she stood up and marched herself into her closet.

She grabbed her suitcase and started filling it with anything and everything. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she knew she had to go. There really was no other choice.

She met David downstairs at 9PM exactly, having already eaten and written a short note that said nothing more than that she was leaving and they shouldn’t follow.

David had wanted to ask her where she was going and why as he lifted her three bags into the trunk, but looking at her expression and hearing her on the phone he knew those were questions she couldn’t answer. Kate had been so lost lately that she couldn’t tell you why she did things most of the time let alone right now. She had been kind of drifting through life in a way that made him unsurprised by a phone call asking him to bring her to the airport. He actually just assumed that she wanted to go home and as far as he was concerned it was a long time coming.

It actually only took them about 45 minutes to get to the airport and get Kate inside.

And from the moment she stepped through the sliding glass doors of the airport to the second she walked off the plane everything was a blur. Somehow she had turned on auto pilot and ended up in Rome.

So, she found a hotel, got a room, unpacked, and went to bed.

She didn’t buy a return ticket. She didn’t give them a check out date. And she most certainly didn’t call anyone to tell them where she was and that she had gotten there safely. For all anyone knew she had gone down in the Atlantic and they were never going to hear from her again.

Kate spent days in that room alone, eating room service and sitting in the silent dark unsure of what to do next. She still walked around like a zombie, lost and confused with no real direction. Somehow one little letter had brought her back into the downward spiral she had distracted herself from for so long. Now, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror just staring at her reflection and hating what she saw. Everything from the shape of her face to the color of her hair reminded her of what she no longer wanted to be.

At first the reflection made her numb. Then it made her sad. Then it made her mad. She started tearing apart the room trying to find anything to help her change something about herself. After a while she had found nothing.

The room was torn apart, but she was still the same.

She sat on the bed and looked around the room hoping to see something she had missed, something that would help, and her eyes fell on the phone.

Kate scrambled to call the front desk now knowing what to do.

“Concierge.” A woman’s voice came on the other end.

”I need to go somewhere that can change the way I look.” Kate’s voice sounded desperate and tired, “I don’t care where I go I just need to go. I will be down in half an hour. Please have a car ready to take me. Thank you.” She didn’t even wait for an answer before hanging up the phone and walking over to the small closet.

Kate pushed open the door and stared at everything inside. All the cute little dresses did was make her think of the same lost and sad little girl that she didn't want to be, and she lost it. She started pulling out the dresses one by one and throwing them on the floor like old rags tossed away and forgotten. Once she had gotten through the closet she moved on to her already open drawers and did the same.

By the time she was done there were clothes everywhere. Kate plopped down on the ground even less sure of what to do. She was actually starting to think that she would never feel like herself again. That she would always just be… lost.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Kate pulled herself off the ground to answer it.

“Hi.” The girl at the door leaned over to look around Kate, “You okay?” She asked seeing the state of the room

”Not really.” The statement came out full of defeat and sadness.

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m here.” The girl pushed past Kate carrying a large black case and walked into the interior of the room.

”Who may I ask are you?” Kate didn’t make much of an effort to force the girl out other than giving her a confused look.

“I’m here because you asked to go somewhere where you can change your look.” She put her case down on the table and turned back to look at Kate, “You did ask that right?”

Now that she was a few feet away Kate finally got to take her all in. She had brown hair that was thrown up into a messy hairstyle on the back of her head and she was dressed kind of trendy, but yet none of this told anything about who she was and why she was there. The only thing Kate really knew for sure about her was that she was American. ”I did, but that doesn’t explain to me why you’re here.”

“Well the girl you talked to is a friend of mine. So, she called me up, I work at a salon down the street, and told me about this confused sounding girl in her hotel, that’s you, and asked if I could help. I told her I would and now here I am. I mean I didn’t have any other clients for the day so why not?" She looked around the room now fully taking in the state of things, "And I’m guessing by the clothes all over the place that you aren’t really diggin’ your wardrobe either. Maybe after I fix your hair we can do some shopping. I know all the best places.”

”But… You’re American.”

“Born and raised. I moved here about a year ago for a change of scenery.” The girl opened her case and started taking out the tools she would need to change Kate's appearance.

”Oddly enough I kind of understand that.” That was probably the only thing that Kate understood out of everything the girl had said to her, but it was a start. “I’m Kate.”

“Hanna.” She offered out her hand and Kate shoot it tentatively, “Nice to meet ya. Shall we get started?”

By the end of the day change had begun and Hanna and Kate organized to get together again and go shopping, after Hanna brought Kate some clothes to wear that is. It seemed like things were finally looking up and Kate could finally see the end of the tunnel.