A whole summer passes. Tara has immersed herself into her MBA, enjoying the challenge, after a rocky start. The investigation over, the court case hangs like an oppressive black cloud over all that are implicated, including Dan and Tara.
Dan had started at the Institute after university when he was 23. He’d had a gap year first, then a sales job, which only lasted a matter of months. After being a technician and then Laboratory Manager, he’d become Technical Manager, now for over two years.
He wanted release, not simply the opening of a door but release for his entire body his life from who he’d become. He was acutely aware that his voice, through his writing, was never heard, his words rarely saw the light of day. Most of all, he didn’t feel as though he was true to himself, he was never his true self.
Daniel stood beside Dan knowing the dilemma he was in, and also knowing that to discover who you really think you are can be fraught with difficulty and potential psychological trauma…He whispered to Dan, ‘believe in yourself, there’s nothing you have to change.’
Dan always had difficulty explaining complex concepts and articulating emotions but now he was suddenly inspired, he knew all of a sudden that he had to express himself on stage. He was often moved to tears by powerful acting performances both on stage and screen, people and situations, conflict he could identify with. Now he was going to learn how to act. He’d decided to travel to London to join students at the CityLit. This would give him the freedom to be whoever and whatever he wanted to be.
He smiled to himself, remembering how as a kid, he’d thought Drama meant playing the drums. But that same kid was terrified of being the focus of attention in public.
He’d experienced a similar epiphany to this dawning of an acting career, over ten years before, the night he’d slept with James. How he woke feeling completely young again, as if bathed in a different light, an exciting pure energy, his eyes open to brilliant landscapes of new worlds to discover.
The investigation had piled on the pressure, increasing the tension and pulling at threads in their relationship. Tara was to stay up North to finish her MBA the following year, she wanted her friends and classmates around her. Dan was to find his feet in London and hopefully find a flat for the two of them, for when she was ready.
He was driving to London to join a theatre group and to retrain as an actor. He said goodbye to his friends after a long lunch, and set off down the motorway, skies darkening…