The Endless Hallway Past the Copier Searching for Dana

The Endless Hallway Past the Copier Searching for Dana

I was at work but it was also my parents’ kitchen, same fluorescent lights over the sink. My manager kept asking if I’d seen Dana from accounting, only Dana also felt like my old roommate from college, same laugh. I said she was in the conference room and walked the hallway, which just kept going past the copier into our old apartment hallway. Every door I opened was a bathroom or a closet full of winter coats. I could hear her talking on the other side of a wall, sounding upset, like she was arguing with someone about a missed payment, but when I put my ear to it the voice was mine. I tried calling her and my phone showed her number as my mom’s. I was late for a meeting I couldn’t find. When I finally got into a room she was sitting at the table with her back to me and wouldn’t turn around. I woke up still trying to say her name.