Previously, On Concrete Shelves
- Cassie convinced Marina to talk to Ian.
- A miscarriage put a wedge between Adrian and Gail.
- Caitlyn asked Diem to help find her daughter, Danielle.
- A car accident put many lives in danger...
[.....]
[.....]
Scene One:
Stone Creek
Jimmy’s Bar
She flashed back to a time when everything was so simple. In the front yard of her childhood home, freshly cut grass filled her nostrils and a giggle erupted from her throat as she was being chased around by her friends.
But then the screams of agony ripped her from those thoughts. Yanking her awake, Abigail Jenkins found herself not in her adopted parents home, but on the ground of what seemed to be a bathroom.
She could feel smoke and dust filling her lungs, a violent cough erupted from her throat and she began to look around.The woman’s bathroom didn’t seem to get much damage, Abigail began to lift herself off the tiled floor but she then fell. Her head, it was banged up pretty badly. Causing her limited ability to get up.
Running a hand through her hair it was made evident that she was bleeding. She must have hit the tile hard when she blacked out. But she didn’t know what happened. Quickly Abigail remembered a loud thud and screams coming from all around her.
Then she remembered that she was with Gillian when everything happened. Where was Gillian? Abigail began to panic as she looked around. There was no sign of anybody. The whole room was empty.
How could she have lost track of her best friend? What if Gillian had already left? Would she have left Abigail unconscious on the floor? Abigail groaned as her head began to pound.
Gillian would never leave Abigail behind. She knew that. Crawling around the room she began to get her bearings back and used the support of a sink to get to her feet.
The sharp pain pounded in her head, wincing she tried to keep herself under control. But her face only grew in panic as she found a pair of legs sprawled out from under a bathroom stall.
“Oh my god!” Abigail screamed, petrified. She once again returned to her knees, crawling over to the stall and tried to get in. Somehow Gillian Sutton needed to be okay. “Oh my god, Gillian! You need to wake up!”
What could she do? Getting the door open she went to Gillian’s side and lifted her friends head. “You need to wake up. We need to get you out of here!” She barked. Knowing that Gillian needed help, but not wanting to leave her alone.
Abigail didn’t know what to do.
[.....]
Scene Two:
2121 Mason St., Stone Creek. Hoffman Village Apartment #34
Ian’s Home
“So how did it get to the point where Natalie and yourself started getting closer?” Marina Thurlow asked, her lips aching for the cup of soda from all the nerves. She wanted to know more about Natalie. More about Ian for that matter.Ian looked at Marina, preparing himself to start the conversation. “Well, after I moved to San Diego in search of my real father it was actually Natalie who found me first. It took me awhile to get used to her.”
A smile crept onto his face as he retold the story. “She would tell me these stories about how our father--Jared Marlowe--would make these forts with Natalie as a child but she would never let him in until he stopped working so much.” Ian watched as Marina took it all in.
“She’s a good person, you know? Natalie just holds this wall up all the time and she knows that she doesn’t need to. But she does it anyways. Like a young girl who plans out her entire wedding before she even has her first boyfriend. Completely unnecessary but somehow to her, it is all necessary.”
There is a moment where Marina feels awkward and scratches her leg in an attempt to distract herself from getting jealous of their bond. “You two are really close, huh?”
“Marina, she’s my blood.” Ian licked his lips. “Well, not fully, but partially she is my sister and I don’t think I could have made it the last couple years without her. My father--our father--still doesn’t know I exist.”
Marina cocked her head. “Why not?”
“When I moved to San Diego I had every intention of finding my father and telling him all about me.” Ian told her, a small grin formed. “I was so stoked to see what he thought of me. But I didn’t realize he had a whole seperate life.”
The clank of Marina’s glass on the counter caused Ian to stir out of her thoughts. A deep sigh later, he continued. “Natalie would tell me these stories of how happy her childhood was and I knew, I couldn’t tell him I was alive.”
Marina let the fire in her stomach sit for awhile. She knew that Natalie’s intentions had to be to keep Ian away from her father. Although it wasn’t stated she knew how Natalie worked. “So instead you decided just to follow him wherever he went?”
Ian looked at her conflicted.
[.....]
Scene Three:
Stone Creek
Jimmy’s Bar
Greta Wilkinson felt like the hangover had already settled in, although she only started drinking two hours ago. Holding her head she peered around at the destruction that was the front of Jimmy’s Bar.
Gentle particles of snow finding it’s way inside the building through the gapping whole in front of her.
Stopping cold in her tracks, trying to calculate what exactly happened and why. She knew it was too cold outside and that the snow had probably produced ice over the road. She also knew that something had crashed into the bar.Her eyes widened when she realized that her brother pushed her out of the way when the ceiling began to cave-in. “Bentley!” She hollered but knew there was nothing she could do.
The screams from everyone else were only diluting her own screams. Tears started to swell in her eyes as she tried her hardest to find Bentley under all the rubble. How could she let her little brother try to protect her?
Quivering, Greta got down to her knees when she suspected the spot Bentley was supposed to be laying. There was a large chunk of wood in the way. Taking a deep breath Greta pulled at it with all her might.
Slowly the wood began to give. She wasn’t going to give up. Greta could feel people brushing past her, some at a quicker pace than others and it only worried her more that Bentley could be hurt.
Or worse.
Greta shook her head viciously casting the thought out of her head. With one last pull the piece of wood was heaved off the body underneath and Greta grasped her mouth, muffling the scream that erupted from her throat.
It wasn’t Bentley.
She had to turn away because although it wasn’t her younger brother. The person who was wedged underneath the piece of wood was clearly dead. That only increased the chances of her brother’s own fatality.
---
Our love. Our fights. Our friendships.
On Concrete Shelves.
Forever, they shall be remembered.
---
Scene Four:
Stone Creek
Jimmy’s Bar
Being a police officer meant that you had to be calm in dangerous situations. Had he known a situation like this would have come up in his future, Miles Fowler felt that he would have prepared more for it.
But he slowly made it out of the wreck that the guys bathroom had become, he even helped a couple people make their way through the twisted mess that the hallway had developed into.His only thought was to find Greta and make sure she was alright, but as soon as he was going to make his way through the mess of a hallway he heard the whimpers and calls from the women’s bathroom.
Giving the others the signal to go ahead without him he doubled back to check on the noise. He knew someone was hurt he just didn’t know how bad. “Hello?! Anybody in here?”
Abigail snapped to attention. Someone had finally heard her calls for help. She looked back down at Gillian who seemed to be slowly gaining consciousness and then looked towards the bathroom door. “In here!” She hollered. “We are in here! Please help us! My friend, my friend is hurt!”
Miles burst through the doors to find the women on the ground. Abigail Jenkins looked as if she was in a state of shock and knew she was terrified about the possibilities that would happen.
He then looked down at Gillian Sutton. “How is she?”
“She just started to wake up.” Abigail admitted, rubbing her friends hand. “I don’t know what happened but I think she hit her head in the bathroom stall. Wh-What happened out there?”The police officer took a deep breath. He had no absolute proof but from what he gathered from one of the other civilians was that there had been a car accident. Miles found himself a spot next to Abigail.
“Let’s just focus on your friend right now, okay? I think Mr. Patrick Sutton would kill us if we didn’t take care of his precious daughter.” He knew that Abigail would find out about the depths of the accident sooner or later but he didn’t want to distract her from helping Gillian.
Especially since he didn’t think they would be able to get the injured blond through the hallway. Taking another deep breath he began to ask Abigail a couple questions about herself to keep her calm.
A skill he had taught himself to perfect in case he was in a dangerous situation. Licking his lips he was just happy to keep the women as calm as possible. But at the back of his mind is were Greta laid.
[.....]
Scene Five:
1507 Mango Ln., Stone Creek. “Hollyoak Manor”
Patrick’s Home.
Kirsten toyed with the idea of leaving the house before she got too deep in her father-in-law’s schemes. But she knew it was going to be productive to her cause. Walking around the entrance she remembered a time when she was younger and she found herself amazed by the wonders of the Hollyoak Manor.But now she felt intimidated by it.
“I’m glad that you stopped by.” Patrick spoke, descending down the stairs. “I honestly didn’t think I’d ever work with a Thurlow to get what I wanted, but here we are and I suppose not all of you are completely useless.”
Although she was taken back by Patrick’s words, Kirsten swallowed her pride and let him carry on. She needed to know what was going on and if she could make Patrick give Charlie his trust fund back.
Was it really about the money? Kirsten didn’t really think so, although it appeared that way. She also knew the money would help pave Megan’s future and enlighten her education. But she didn’t think it was about the money.
It was about family to her.
Something she knew Patrick was having a hard time juggling. Especially noted by the fact that none of his family was living in the Manor with him. Speaking of, “How are you going to get Gillian away from Damien? Or are you going to accept him into your family as well?”
Patrick turned towards Kirsten. “I know my daughter very well, she cannot stay too far away from the Sutton money. Yes right now she is ‘in love’ with Damien Crenshaw but once she realizes that his resources are dried up, she’ll drop him.”Kirsten was disgusted that Patrick knew his daughter so well. “She must take after you.”
He scoffed at the idea. “Gillian is too weak.”
“Either way, she is still with Damien so that makes me raise the question once more Patrick, how do you plan on getting Gillian away from him?” Kirsten watched as Patrick calculated his every move.
A devious grin on his face. “We dry up all his resources. Once Damien loses the trust of everyone around him, then he will very well lose his money and my daughter’s love as well.”
“But how do you do that?”
“Let’s just say I started my own little wildfire while Damien lay dormant and once this secret finally comes to the open he will lose any respect he had from his deepest allies.” Patrick looked at Kirsten. “How about a drink?”
Kirsten shook her head. “I’m driving.”
[.....]
Scene Six:
Stone Creek
Across the street from Jimmy’s Bar
Emily Roscoe gasped for air and leaned back in the passenger seat of her boss’ car. What had just happened? She could feel the seatbelt digging into her skin and tears began to fall from her cheeks, burning her wounds.She then remembered the car accident.
James Thurlow was in the middle of telling Emily about his family when another set of headlights veered into their lane from the opposite direction they were coming from. Good thing her boss had good reflexes or else they would have been dead.
Quickly she turned her head to see that James was unconscious beside her. At least he wasn’t thrown from the car. How could she let herself be in another car accident? Clearly she needed to just avoid cars all together.
Tugging at her seatbelt, finally she got it to unlock and she pulled herself away, briefly getting tangled up in it and wincing in frustration. “James! Mr. Thurlow you need to wake up. You need to be okay!”
She screamed in panic. “Oh my god.” Emily spoke, her mouth closing up as she caught the sight of Jimmy’s Bar in the rearview mirror. The other car didn’t drive off. The other car never regained control of itself after the initial near accident.
The other car ripped right through the bar where most of her friends were partying the night away. Emily covered her mouth, she felt like she was about to be sick.
[.....]
Scene Seven:
980 Cutler St., Stone Creek. Faustino Cottages # 12
Diem Joplin’s Home.
Something didn’t make any sense.
Diem Joplin rubbed her forehead in frustration. When she initially agreed to take Caitlyn’s case she didn’t think it would be so simple. Strangely she was pissed off that they had found Danielle so easily.
Looking through Abigail Jenkins records Diem searched for the signs that proved she was indeed Damien and Caitlyn’s long lost daughter. But nothing was adding up. She furrowed her brow.Abigail wasn’t even adopted from the area that the divorced couple were from. She knew it wasn’t a stretch that Abigail had been placed out of state by Damien. The man faked his daughter’s death for crying out loud.
“I just need a break.” Diem moaned, slipping the well bitten pencil back into her mouth. She searched through the records and tried to remember the simple things that Caitlyn had told her about Danielle.
She remembered a story about how Danielle would be so fussy as a newborn that it drove Damien up a wall. Something about their baby having colic or another type of sickness. Then she had an idea.
It was more of a break through.
Diem searched the records from the adoption agency again. There was nothing in their reports that stated Abigail had any kind of previous sickness. She knew it was a stretch but something inside Diem told her to go with it.
They needed to take the next step.
Pacing her home, she stopped in her tracks. She was so stupid, how did she miss the most viable part of this whole thing. Abigail Jerkins was born three months before Danielle’s birth.
How could they be so stupid.
Then it hit her like a ton of bricks and she felt sick. That meant that Abigail Jenkins was not Caitlyn’s daughter. That meant that they both were fooled into developing some kind of bond.
How would she tell one of her best friends the truth? First thing’s first, she needed proof of these findings, she needed a DNA test done.
[.....]
Scene Eight:
Stone Creek Memorial Hospital
Waiting Room
Have you ever felt like you were on one side of a busy street and one of your friends was on the other side? The whole time the two of you are trying to communicate but then nothing is working because all the noise and the distractions between the two?
Adrian Stone licked his lips as he wandered around the waiting room, although Gail had told him she would be taking her lunch soon, time was passing by slowly. Finally he took a seat and recollected himself.It was so hard to start all over with Gail since the two had shared such a vivid past. How did he go from holding Gail Schmidt every day to trying to rekindle the flame with a series of dates?
He watched as one of Gail’s friends walked by, a young blond girl with long curly hair. “Excuse me?” He jumped from his seat in order to catch her in time. “Hey, I was wondering if you have seen Gail around?”
The blond looked him up, then scrunched her nose. “We’re swamped tonight, so she might be in the basement lab. There was an accident because of the snow we just got word so she is probably working on some IVs.”
Adrian nodded along, “So where is the elevator for the basement?”
She smiled and he knew he asked a dumb question. “The basement isn’t accessible to non-employees.” Taking a deep breath she smiled, “If you’d like I can tell her that you are looking for her?”
“Thanks.” He grinned turning away from the conversation. Although Adrian Stone knew that Gail had a lot of more important things to do it still hurt him that she didn’t notify Adrian first.
Taking a breather he exited the hospital. There would be other times for them to reconnect, he hoped.
[.....]
Scene Nine:
Stone Creek
Jimmy’s Bar
Greta could feel one of the firefighters pulling her away from the bar, so she tugged back trying to break his grip. There was no sign of either her brother or her boyfriend, Miles and this worried her.
“No!” She barked, breaking into tears. “I need to stay here. I need to find my brother! I need to find my boyfriend!” She didn’t mean to be rude with the guy, but there was no other way he would listen.
The man looked at Greta. “We will find them, we just need to get you out first. Your family would want you to be safe, do you understand me?”
For a moment she thought about running away from him, dashing farther into the building. But she knew he was right and she knew she was foolish to forbid his help. Her tears strolled down her bruised cheeks.
“I just need to know if they are alright.”
Raspy, her voice was. The firefighter held her hand to calm her down. “For all we know miss, they can be outside looking for you. There have been a lot of people roaming around, looking for others.”
Greta let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she was over reacting? Maybe the guys were outside the bar looking for her? She nodded her head in agreement.
“Come on, let’s go get you some water and blankets. I’m sure they are all worried sick about you outside of the rubble. I’ll help you find them.”
Although comforting, Greta found herself not paying attention to the man as two paramedic’s carried a stretch towards the entrance of the building. Her heart caught in her throat.
Her grandmother, Penelope Wilkinson lay wide-eyed on the stretcher. Greta pushed past the firefighter and latched onto her grandmother’s arm. “Nana, what are you doing here? What happened?!”Penelope looked at the younger woman. “I made a terrible mistake Daphne.”
Her voice worse off than Greta’s. Penelope was weak, trying to keep focus on being rescued. “What.. what where you doing in the bar?”
“I wasn’t in the bar Daphne, I was in the car.” She felt so defeated seeing her grandmother in the stretcher. The woman was delusional, more than likely from the accident. She was calling Greta by her mother’s name, Daphne.
Slinging her arms down, she let the firefighter help her outside the building, away from the rubble.
[.....]
Scene Ten:
2121 Mason St., Stone Creek. Hoffman Village Apartment #34
Ian’s Home
“It’s definitely not like that Marina.” Ian protested, but even the words seemed conflicted as he spoke them. As if he was trying to sound like Marina wasn’t right in accusing Natalie of being selfish with their father.Marina sat back in her chair. “Then explain to me why you feel the need to follow your father around everywhere he goes but not tell him of your existence? Tell me why, Ian, that you are keeping this secret.”
Ian shook his head. “It’s not as easy as you think it is Marina, I think we should just drop it for now. I want to spend time with you since we haven’t really spent any time together in a long while.”
She knew his words were only a defense mechanism used to derail Marina from the conversation. So Marina sighed. “This is me spending time with you. But I want to spend time with the real Ian, all of you.”
“When I was younger I didn’t even know I had a father, or a whole extended family for that matter. Do you know how it feels to just have your mother as your family?” But Ian knew that Marina didn’t. “It hurts.”
“But now you know your real father, Ian. Isn’t this what you have always wanted? To get to know him?” She scooted closer to him. “This is your chance to talk to him and step out of the woodwork.”
But the man in front of her shook his head again. “Doing that will possibly eject him from my life. I don’t think I can do this on my own. I have Natalie now and I get to see him at social events with her.”
“If I reveal myself to him now then there is a chance that he will forbid me from being around him and his family. There is a chance that the only family I have left with be gone!”
Marina watched as a tear fell down his cheek. Somehow, during the conversation she had hit a nerve with him and his guard started to fall. This was all new territory with Ian. She had never felt so vulnerable next to him.
“What about your mother Ian?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know where she is. When I was eighteen she completely dropped out of my life. She was a stewardess at the time, she called me when she was on a trip to Hawaii one day and told me that she wasn’t coming home.”
“Have you talked to the company she worked with?”
Ian nodded. “She never came back from that trip.”
[.....]
Scene Eleven:
Stone Creek Memorial Hospital
Emergency Room
Daphne Wilkinson watched as the injured started rolling into the hospital. She had known this night to be one of the worst in Stone Creek, but to know that so many had been involved in the accident.These were her people. Even though she didn’t grow up in Stone Creek she married into one of the most prominent families in town and she felt like she was apart of the community.
Now her family and friends were being wheeled into the hospital, one bye one, some more serious then the others. She spotted her daughter, Greta Wilkinson, sitting on a chair, crying.
“Have they found Miles Fowler yet?” Daphne asked one of the nurses, the young man shook his head no. She then went to her daughter’s side. “How are you holding up?” It was the only thing she could think of.
Greta looked up. “Mom, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be helping everyone else?” The younger woman looked around the room and held the ice bag tighter to her head. “Shouldn’t you be helping them?”
“I just need to know that you’re alright.” Daphne spoke. She watched as two paramedic’s burst through the doors and her heart sunk when she found that it was her son, Bentley on the stretcher.
“Oh no!” Greta jumped to her feet.
Holding her daughter back, Daphne pulled her into a hug. “I will take care of your brother, okay? Sit here and wait for Miles to come in. He needs you to be there for him right now.”
Greta leaned against the chair. Defeated.
Across from her, Caitlyn Thurlow sat. The woman was known for being calm in most situations--that was until recently when her ex. husband came to town exacting revenge. The woman tried to keep calm.
News had started spreading through town and Daphne Wilkinson had called Caitlyn as soon as she heard that James was involved in the accident. Since then Caitlyn had been waiting here in the hospital.
She had seen so many faces that it started to feel so awkward being there. James had come into the hospital earlier in the night and quickly whisked to one of the operating rooms.
What was she going to do without him? Simply Caitlyn waited for the rest of their family to show up.
Catalina Cortez burst through the emergency room doors hell bent on finding answers. Approaching the front desk she demanded somebody tell her what happened to her sister, Isobel.
But they were much to busy to help her.
“Excuse me.” Mac Kern spoke, grabbing Catalina’s attention. He had been watching her as soon as she entered the room. “You’re Isobel’s older sister, right?”
She looked him up-and-down. “What is it to you?”
Mac took a deep breath. “I was with your sister when the accident happened. I was with Isobel when the car plowed through the bar and when the ambulance brought her here.” His words confused Catalina.
“Well then where the hell is she?”
“ICU.” Mac fiddled with his fingers. “She isn’t waking up.”
The words caught Catalina off-guard. Her mind was fuming at the words, how could these people hurt her sister so badly? How could she ever rely on these idiots? But deep down, her heart was breaking.
Someone had to pay.
Next Time, On Concrete Shelves
- Diem challenges Patrick Sutton
- Caitlyn has a breakdown.
- Clifton confirms the divorce to Cassie.
- The catastrophe continues...
