REM

Next On Replay

Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, I looked at my reflection. Pressed black suit, looking sharp, yet not convinced the colour of my cuffs and tie were good enough. I tugged at my cuffs as I scrunched up my face.

"Sweetie," my wife called over to me from the bathroom, "you look great. Stop making such a fuss."

"There's something about the tie. I don't like it." Grabbing hold of it, I pulled it left to right to loosen it a hair. It did match my red cuffs, but for some reason I was feeling blue that night – not sad, just the colour.

My wife sighed loudly and placed her hands on her hips. I glanced over at her and held my hands up in the air in surrender.

"All right, I'm done," I told her. "I won't fiddle around with anything else."

"Good," she smiled before returning to her makeup. Her white dress looked pure, bathed in the bright lights of the bathroom mirror.

Tonight was an important night for me. I was to be receiving a highly coveted award for my recent work with the company. When I first started managing projects there ten years ago, I had never imagined making it so far.

"Sir, we're ready when you are," a security detail announced as three others entered the hotel room.

Anyone who didn't know me would think I was famous, but that wasn't the case. Big city, important night, no expenses spared – simple as that.

As we drove down the highway, the lights from the skyscrapers were all that I could see. My wife sat to my left, her hand on my thigh as the limo drove to the conference building a good twenty minutes or more from where the hotel was.

When we arrived, I stepped out of the limo, only to find that my jacket was missing.

"Where's my jacket?" I asked, peering back into the limo. "When I left the hotel room I was wearing it, wasn't I?"

"We'll find it, sir," assured a security detail as others searched the limo. As I stood there next to my wife, I became nervous. Such an important night and now I was misplacing things.

Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, I wasn't satisfied with how the red cuffs contrasted with the black sleeves of my suit jacket. Even my red tie looked a bit too flashy.

"I should have warn the blue one," I mumbled, scrunching up my face in dismay.

"Sweetie, you look great," my wife assured me from the bathroom in a white dress. It sparkled as she finished applying her makeup. She was wearing the dangling diamond earrings I had purchased for our first anniversary. They were her favourites. She always told me she would die if something ever happened to them.

"You look beautiful," I commented as the security detail entered the room. She flashed a smile at me before applying a final touch of lipstick.

"Ready when you are, sir," announced one of the security details.

"Thank you. We'll be ready shortly."

Riding in the limo, my wife right next to me on my left, I peered out the tinted window at the city lights as they passed by. Most were skyscrapers in the large city, which the highway winded in between. My wife placed her hand on my thigh and gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance that everything would be fine. Without me saying a word, she could tell I was nervous. I glanced over at her and smiled before returning my focus to outside the vehicle.

When we arrived at the conference building some twenty minutes later, I realized my jacket was nowhere to be found.

"I can't find my jacket," I announced, slightly confused. "Where the heck did it go?" Looking at my wife, she said nothing, stepping closer to place her arm around my waist as the security detail searched the limo for my jacket.

Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, I carefully weaved my red tie together. The blue one sat on the bed next to my suit jacket, a backup in case I changed my mind. My wife was busy in the bathroom, unzipping her makeup bags in search for what would look best for tonight.

It was an important night for me, one that I didn't want to screw up. The company I had worked for the past ten years was recognizing me for my achievements. My wife told me how proud she was and even offered to join me on stage when I accepted the award. Sometimes I wondered what I would do without her.

As I finished looping my tie, the hotel door opened and a janitor walked in.

"We didn't ask for anything," I told the tan skinned man with a clean shaven face just like myself.

"Oh, sorry, wrong room," he apologized quickly and turned to leave. It looked like he grabbed something before he left, so I chased after him.

"Hey!" I yelled, darting through the door into a bathroom. Looking around in confusion, I wondered why I wasn't in the hallway with the janitor. "What the hell is going on?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, keeping a neutral look on his face.

Confused, I furled my brow, then ran out the next door in front of me and into a hallway. Finally where I had expected to be, I shook off the yellow themed bathroom with the janitor and turned around to reenter my hotel room.

As I stepped inside, I was back in the yellow bathroom with the janitor once more. Confusion beginning to leave, frustration and worry were now taking over.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded. Once more he looked at me with little expression, yet this time he shrugged. "Why do I keep entering the same room?"

Again he shrugged, muttering something in what I could only guess was Chinese. I exhaled, keeping my emotions in check before I did something I would regret.

I looked at the door in front of me, realizing I could just go back through the door I entered in the first place, perhaps reversing what was going on. Turning around, I grabbed the knob and twisted it, hoping that my wife would be on the other side.

Before pushing the door open, I closed my eyes and envisioned where I wanted to be. When I opened them again, I was standing in a dingy washroom with small tiles lining the floor. This can't be the hotel anymore, I thought to myself.

Wanting to break down and cry after what had just occurred, I entered a stall at random so I could think in solitude. As I closed the door behind me, I realized there was no toilet and a redheaded woman stood there in a sparkling black dress.

"Who are you? Do you know what's going on?" Both questions were asked immediately, but all she did was smile at me for a few seconds.

"I was waiting for someone else, but... don't mind if I do." As the words finished leaving her lips, she grabbed the back of my head with both hands and pressed her lips against mine.