Fragility of the Mind

Gabrielle couldn't sleep for the night. She was ober and miserable, and she hadn't had a single milligram of drugs in over three months. She told herself that it couldn't be the withdraw symptoms--she hadn't gotten any when she first quit, so why now?

It was still early morning, so Gabrielle slid open her basement door and crawled past the corridors before she finally went outside to the fresh air. The shadow manipulator put some effort into closing the door behind her and tiptoed her way a little deeper into the forest.

Gabrielle sat down on the herby forest bed and began to think. Should she leave now? Nothing was keeping her here. It was frustrating. Gab reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny cellphone and expertly punched in a number. At the first ring, somebody on the other side picked it up.

"Oui allo?" Gabrielle was used to talking in English, so the sudden change in language surprised her, but a split second later she remembered the person she was calling lived in France.

"Oh, uh, it's Gabrielle," she said slowly and without any real conviction. "Could you call Uncle Joachim and tell him I won't be able to meet up with him this evening?"

Gabrielle was happy with the answer she recieved, because she uttered a quick, "yeah, à bientôt," and hung up. She was used to calling her uncle's secretary when she wanted to send him a message. That woman always had ways to get back to both of them, so instead of trying to find him, Gabrielle just called her.

She trusted the woman, but she was certain she'd have to find more reliable ways to find him independently.

Emir woke up early, going to the bathroom to do his necessities to look good. After that, he came near the living room, in his police uniform as he pins his badge on his shirt and putting his revolver in the holster.

"Morning." He said, sitting on the floor waiting for...something.

"cause If I tried to sit on the couch, Aki here would sit on me and I'll die from the impending gravity." Emir said, looking at the TV. "Besides, Did Tyler make breakfast yet?"

Emir walked in the kitchen and came outside.

"Later guys, I'll be back at 3 if I'm lucky." Emir said, still chewing down his breakfast and going to his car.

Emir opened his car's door and sat down in the driver's seat, putting the key in ignition and putting a siren light on his dashboard, he sped away from the house and to the Precinct.

Gabrielle began to wander deeper into the forest as she made her second phone call. This time it was the morgue she worked at. After getting the characteristically informal 'hi', she said who she was and said that she'd be taking her one-week vacation. Simple. With no further ado, she hung up and called up one of her friends from around town...

"Want to go to El's concert tonight?" Gabrielle asked the man over the phone, her voice clipped and measured. she was walking haphazardly on forest trails, not caring if she would lose her signal. After waiting for her response and recieving an answer that seemed to disappoint her, she hung up without saying goodbye and called up somebody else.

She asked the same question, and somehow she found herself on the side of an asphalt road. "Alright, good. Meet me there at 6." She hung up again, and paused to think. She shrugged and went left.