Wednesday Writings # 37 - You Say We Need A Resolution?

Welcome to my weekly "Wednesday Writing" post. These weekly exercises serve as motivation to ensure that I spend at least 30-60 minutes each week doing some creative writing. In the ideal week, I will write every day. But at the very least, I will do at least one writing segment which I will share here on my blog.

I intended the "wednesday writings" to be individual exercises or stories but since April, I have been continuing the same story thread and doing some general free writing using the same characters and continuing the plot. There are some definite continuity issues in the overall course of the story, but I have slowly come upon a cohesive plot (which will require significant editing of earlier editions to make them valid). You can find the entire story by clicking through the following chronological links:

1. Morning Machinations
2. Communication Between Friends
3. Daydreaming Decisions
4. Off to the Park
5. Driven
6. Coming Home
7. Revealing Photographs
8. Just a Dream?
9. At the Tower
10. Caught
11. Revelations
12. Lunchtime
13. The Watch
14. Visions
15. Escape
16. Evan (part 1)
17. Evan (part 2)
18. Evan (part 3)
19. Formulating a Plan
20. Testing the Boxes
21. Betrayal
22. Julie
23. Out of Time
24. A Problem of Paradoxes
25. Taking Charge
26. The Chase Begins
27. Friends Reunited
28. Freedom?
29. Unraveling the Plot
30. Motivation
31. Applying Pressure
32. Parallel Theories
33. The Enemy?

Enjoy.

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You Say We Need A Resolution

Awkward silence hung in the room. Gabby leaned close over Dalton's for a moment then snapped into a sense of urgency.

"He's not breathing!"

She glanced quickly at the two men standing behind her, then felt his neck.

"He's got no pulse!"

In a flurry of instinct and necessity, Gabby quickly laid Dalton's body flat and began the motions of CPR. Midway through her first round of compressions, Gabby glanced up at the men. Evan noticed her glance and quickly looked away. Carlisle held her gaze a mix of anger and confusion mirrored in his eyes. She looked down again to the task at hand, her own mind wheeling with the accusations Carlisle hadn't yet voiced.

'What am I doing?', she thought. 'This man tried to kill me. He killed my best friend. He killed my mom.'

"Gabby. Gabrielle. Gabrielle. Just stop Gabrielle."

Carlisle's voice interrupted Gabby's thoughts. At first it felt distant and she didn't acknowledge his words. But slowly they sank in. She stopped pressing against Dalton's chest and looked up at Carlisle. She was suddenly aware of the warm trickle of tears on her cheeks.

"Let him go Gabrielle. After all that's happened, none of us will think any less of you for letting him die."

She looked back at Dalton. His face was placid and calm. After all the events of the past few days. After the pain. The hurt. The hate. She truly hated him like she'd never hated anyone before. And yet, the more she stared at his lifeless face, the more conflicted she felt. She'd always been taught to respect life. To give everyone a fair chance. To help people even if they were ungrateful or appeared undeserving. Her fear, hatred and anger were fighting against years of lessons taught her by her mother. Her mother. She missed her mother so much.

"I can't. I have to find a way to save him. It's what my mother would want."

As she mentioned her mother, Gabby had to fight down a new flood of tears. She turned back to Dalton and resumed CPR. Tears began to flow freely and before long she was sobbing uncontrollably. Her compressions against Dalton's chest grew more and more uneven. Finally, she brought her hand up to her face to wipe away the tears and then fell forward on Dalton's chest and cried.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. It gently rubbed her shoulders and down to the center of her back. The hand was strong and warm. Reassuring. She forced down her tears and let her emotions stabalize a bit more before sitting up and looking around.

Evan knelt on the floor beside her. His eyes were full of sadness. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gabby interrupted by whipping her arms around him and pulling him into a tight embrace. She buried her face in his shoulder and let the tears come again. He held her close and patted her back. He rocked back and forth softly, whispering some gentle words to her. Her mind was emotionally overwrought and she didn't understand what he said. But his voice was soothing. His closeness was a strength. She gritted her eyes together and tried to clear her thoughts. She forced her mind as blank as possible.

She focused on the blackness on the back of her eyelids. She felt the soft rocking of her body and the strong hands on her back. The warmth of Evan's body against hers. Her own body grew warm. The darkness in her mind started to lighten. She pictured her mother. The vision expanded and she recognized her home growing up. Her mom smiled at her from across the living room and opened her arms to welcome Gabby into a hug. A feeling of warmth spread over Gabby. She felt tingly. She realized again just how much she missed her mom. How much she loved her. How much she wanted her back.

Suddenly her mind whirled and filled with thoughts. She whipped her eyes opened and stared around her. Carlisle stood a few paces away, silently watching. She pulled back slightly and stared into Evan's soft eyes.

"We have to save him."

Carlisle scoffed but said nothing. Evan cocked his head to the side and gave a soft smile.

"I don't know if we can save him Gabby. I don't think there's anything more we can do."

Gabby stared back at his sympathetic eyes. She felt his love and concern. She met his gaze and opened her eyes wide with confidence.

"There is a way. I know what we need to do."