Morning all, ready to see what becomes of the last prompt of the week? Excellent. Set those timers for fifteen minutes and don’t stop writing until the timer goes off.
This feels like something that would be followed with…Six months earlier…and then have the story circle back to this moment. Which could be fin. I’d have to figure out the story though. I might fiddle about with some ideas over lunch.
Friday, August 14th: The gallery was silent.
The gallery was silent. What before had been whispers sounding like the ocean at a distance was now gone. The silence wasn’t the absence of sound. The room wasn’t empty. I could feel the silent gallery behind me, a heavy weight. There was no mistaking that they were still present.
I stood with my back to them, facing the long table. Seven people sat in a long line. I knew the truth was that only one of them mattered. Only one would make the decision and the others would simply go along with him. I knew he hated me.
The hate wasn’t personal. He hated my family, he hated what they stood for and by turn what I stood for simply by existing. I was the stand in. A target he could actually hit with impunity. He was not going to miss this chance.
I knew that before the day began. I had known it in a general way all of my life. He was rude to me when he could get away with it, politely chilly when he knew he couldn’t. He avoided me when possible but events had put us all on a course. I knew that once the whispers began. He would use them. So I prepared for the worst, even hoping for the best.
All my assets that I could move were relocated overseas. I quietly divested myself of anything local and made certain that anything I held dear was out of his reach. From the outside it looked as though nothing changed. It looked as it always had. In reality, the life I had here was just a hollow shell.
Still, I hoped for the best.
Officially there was no designated start to the complaints. But I knew he began them. He built on them in the shadows until even lifelong friends, turned away when I greeted them on the street. And now the gallery waited in silence for me to be officially declared persona non grata and to be asked to leave the community.
My bags were packed that morning and settled in my trunk. It was the least showy vehicle I could find. Something old and worn and not worth them trying to keep as they knew it would take me from their lives. I had hoped for the best but knew I wasn’t going to get it.
I was past the point of raging now. It was done and I simply wanted to see how the end would be phrased. He looked smug as he gave his verdict.
“You will be gone from the town limits before night fall and you will not return. Everything remaining in this town will be forfeit to the community.”
It was succinctly put, no grandstanding and I answered in kind.
“I understand.” I turned and walked away. I was no longer a part of this community so I had no reason to stay and hear anything more they had to say. I heard huffing behind me as I was certain there were more words at least one of them wanted to say. I expected there would be some type of guilt soothing comments made. Something to make it seem as though I brought this on myself and that they couldn’t be blamed. I knew where the blame lay and I had no desire to soothe anyone’s conscience. I walked straight out of the meeting hall and to my parked car, taking out the keys as I moved. I walked to the car, got into the vehicle and drove away. My tank was already full and my bags loaded. I did not need to stop for anything. I headed directly out of town.
I drove well past the town limits and kept going. If I hurried I could make the ferry and be on the continent before the day was out. It would be best to be as far away as I could be by the time they inventoried what I left behind. The bank accounts were empty, the properties sold off quietly, the rooms I just vacated rented. There was nothing the town could claim of me. I knew they would not take that well.
Ten til Midnight 