Parallel - Weekly Drop #07

Recap:

Colton and Kara meet Collin. Collin is a warm and gregarious gentleman with a heart of gold. Motivation to find answers increases with each member that is added to the crew. On to 47 Hill Street…

Onward to Drop #07

As they approached the base of the hill at 47 Hill Street, acoustic music sounded from the home. It was a magnificent looking home that was tall and formidable, but they figured this was an optical illusion because the house was on top of such a large hill. Once they reached the top of the hill, the home was no less tall and no less formidable. It was a plantation home plucked from the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, with pillars that supported the structure and the gothic revival to its core. It was as if they had entered a time machine and arrived in America circa late 19^th century.

Just like Colton had done to locate Kara, the threesome followed the sound of the music. As they entered 47 Hill Street, the breeze that followed them traveled its course throughout the house as if it was the lifeblood that provided energy to the entire space. Classical acoustic music came from the courtyard which was the focal point of the home and everything was built around it. The concrete tile floor bled into the outdoor section of the house creating a vibe that was abundantly fluid. The courtyard was rich with flowers and one could hear the soothing sound of running water as it moved gracefully within the space. A giant oak tree stood in the corner of the space and was taller than the roof of the three story home, but its trunk was not cumbersome in the giant courtyard, which goes to show just how large of an open area they were stepping into.

Kara, being the most traditionally educated in the group, having received her Masters from NYU, identified the instrument being played as a cello. Colton and Collin conceded on account of not knowing anything about classical music. They ran into the courtyard where they saw a young Asian woman with glossy black hair and a beautiful face keenly focused on the precise movements it took to play this instrument so beautifully. When she finished the song, she stood up, set the instrument down and walked over to the group. She walked straight up to Kara and gently touched her face, suddenly gasping, taking a step back and nearly losing her balance.

“Who are you?” She asked sounding very concerned.

“Don’t worry, you aren’t in any danger, and we have a lot of explaining to do,” Kara responded.

“Where is my husband? When you came in, I thought you were my husband. When I woke up from my nap, I assumed he was out grabbing groceries, so I decided to get a rehearsal in. He will be back any minute in case you think you are going to take advantage of me.” She said, still with the utmost concern.

“You’re blind,” Colton said.

“And you’re hilarious. Great there’s more of you. Well take whatever you want, except the cello, just be quick about it.” She said confidently.

“Sorry, he’s just like that sometimes. No filter. Is there somewhere we can sit down and catch you up to speed? You’re going to want to hear all of this.” Kara explained.

“Sure, let’s head out to the deck, where there should be enough seats for everyone, pending it’s just the three of us,” she said calmly.

“Actually ma’am, with you, that makes four, but I’m alright standing. That’s why God gave me two legs anyhow,” Collin chimed in and the woman nodded back.

“I’m Kara, that was Collin, and Sherlock over there, that’s Colton,” Kara explained.

“I’m Gabby. It’s nice to meet you. Now let’s sit. You can tell me all that it is you want to tell me and what brought you to my home. The vibe that I am picking up is that I don’t have to call the police just yet.”

“Yes, let’s,” Colton responded for the group. Collin and Kara looked at each other smiling at Colton’s awkwardness.

Gabby led the group through her dining room and to the back deck. Colton and Kara sprung into their explanation of what brought them here and how they had met Collin, and what brought the trio and eventually the quartet here.

“It makes perfect sense,” Gabby responded.

They all thought she was being sarcastic because no one had responded so positively, so quickly, thus far. Interrupting the awkward pause that she created, Gabby continued.

“Due to quantum superposition, it is entirely possible to inhabit two worlds that are very similar to one another, but at the same time vastly different, just like Einstein’s glove theory or Schroedinger’s cat. I do believe that this is what could be happening here, while our physical bodies decide exactly what to do with themselves. Interesting.”

“But those are just theories aren’t they? Are you a physicist yourself? If so, I defer to your expertise on this one as I am only a middle school math teacher,” Kara said.

“Actually, I have no formal education in the matter as I have been traveling with symphonies and orchestras professionally since the age of 8. But,” she added, “When everything suddenly goes dark, you read—or in my case, listen—to anything you can get your hands on in terms of scientific exploration, innovation and the like in an effort to restore hope,” She said.

“Hope?” Colton asked

“Yes, without hope, I would have been dead a long time ago, that is if we really are dead, and hope tells me that’s not the case,” Gabby summarized.

The group was energized and revitalized by Gabby’s presence. Like Collin and Kara, she had passion, but her thirst for life and gratitude was unmatched. It was as if she had already been given a second chance at life and she didn’t plan on blowing this one.

It was pretty late at this point and no one in this cohort had really thought of sleep until this point, aside from Kara who maybe tallied a total of two hours over the course of her first 48. They agreed that the best course of action was to stick together and sleep at Gabby’s because she had no shortage of bedrooms. They would continue the search for the occupant of 45 Hill Street promptly in the morning.

Until then, they remained hypnotized by the stories Gabby shared from her life. She had dropped out of school to join a traveling orchestra at the age of 8. A few weeks short of her 10th birthday, she woke up completely blind. She went through several surgeries to claw her way back to normalcy, but she would never regain her eyesight. She was devastated that she could no longer play music at the level she used to. She left school at age 8, so she had no back up plan. The orchestra tried to hold on, but they needed to replace her so that they could resume their tour.

After moving back in with her parents, she began to practice. When she thought she was done practicing for the day, she would practice for two more hours. She would spend every waking hour practicing her music, which caused her to miss meals and go to bed with blisters all over her hands. She would physically break down at the end of most days because she hadn’t had sufficient water or food throughout the course of her rehearsing. Her parents continued to support her, but they desperately wanted her to return to school. She fought them on this, because how could she go back to school after being away for two years. Not only was it social suicide walking into a class full of 8 year old kids as a 10 year old, but she couldn’t sacrifice her music. She agreed to be homeschooled because it didn’t involve her interacting with others and it was the most efficient way to finish her schoolwork in a timely manner and return to playing music.

At this point, Gabby had barely adjusted to being blind. She could hardly walk in a straight line without the assistance of her father. She could finesse her way through an entire Vivaldi song, but couldn’t walk in her own home without the help of her mother or father. To her, every ounce of effort that she placed on adjusting or on schoolwork, directly took away from time that she could be spending on music. However, Gabby continued to progress through homeschooling to please her mother and father. In fact, she zoomed through middle school and high school, earning her diploma by the age of 17, which is remarkable considering the two year break that she took from ages 8 to 10. At the age of 12, she rejoined the orchestra while managing the rigorous homeschool education program her mother created for her.

She continued to excel, eventually creating her own orchestra so that she could design the an entire show, from writing the music, playing it, designing the set and creating an extraordinary audience experience. She was truly a master of the arts and the trio was blown away by her accomplishments despite everything she had been forced to endure.

After only a couple more bourbons, the boys were asleep. Before that, the quartet set up a schedule for the night to monitor 45 Hill Street from the balcony of Gabby’s home. Every hour a new shift would begin and the individual on watch would wake up the next in line to keep an eye out for any development at the house nearby. Gabby valiantly offered to keep an ear out during her shift, and that was probably the more effective, since the others could hardly see past ten feet in this darkness. It was clear that the boys were going to sleep through an earthquake so Kara took the first shift, while Gabby took the third shift, that way the boys wouldn’t be relied upon for the success of this mission.

Colton woke from his slumber to Gabby nudging his shoulder gently. She had been doing this for the last fifteen seconds until finally he woke up. This finally confirmed for him that they weren’t all a part of some collective dream. Despite Kara mentioning this when they first met, Colton didn’t believe her until experiencing it firsthand. While he was asleep for the last three hours, he dreamt. Surprisingly, he dreamt about Kara. She joined him on his journey to Reno. She met his brother, his brother's kids. His family fell in love with her. During his dream, she was enjoyable to be around and there wasn’t the added pressure of an actual existential crisis. She was sexy and confident and able to be her true self, which was a combination of adventurous and fun loving. He never saw her like this because he was too busy fighting the uncertainty of their current situation and wondering what the hell had happened to him. The genesis of their relationship was concurrent with the most traumatic thing either of them had ever experienced, death.

The dream abruptly ended when Gabby informed Colton that it was the beginning of his shift. It reminded him of the countless times he woke up in a daze to someone shoving him saying the classic line, “Hey… hey, you’re on fire guard.” Just thinking of those moments in the Army always made him laugh. Gabby walked him to the balcony and as she did, she thanked him for having the courage to explore. She would have never found them, if they never found her, she explained. Colton smiled even though she couldn’t see it, but he never knew how to handle such authentic appreciation, which made him feel so awkward.

He told Gabby that he had the shift covered and she could return to bed. She declined his offer and said, “By the time I fall asleep, it will be time to wake up again.”

“So you have trouble sleeping too?” He asked.

“Only if I try to sleep do I have trouble,” she responded.

“How about you?” She asked.

“Most nights I wake up on the hour, but usually I’m able to piece together a total of four hours, which I’m happy with, it’s enough for me,” Colton answered.

“Enough for you now, but soon your body will shut down on you if you keep on this path,”

“I’m not really concerned with the future. I try to live for the moment and not really worry about the consequences,” Colton responded.

“Oh, right. Kara tells me you have it all figured out. No, because that’s good. I was going to ask you where you stood with all of this, but I think I got it. No further questions,.” Gabby answered, slightly facetiously.

“Thanks. Yeah, I like to just live my life, and I like when other people live theirs. I don’t try to tell others that my way is the best way, so I enjoy when someone feels the same,” Colton responded.

“Totally, makes sense,” Gabby said.

There was an awkward pause and a timely breeze passed over the balcony and in through the glass doors, pushing the curtains into the home and making sounds when it met resistance elsewhere throughout the open concept home.

“It’s just that this is crazy right? Like someone must have placed me here as a part of some experiment or something. All of you have perfect little lives and mine is just not the same. Things just never work out for me like they work out for you all. That’s why I am the way I am, you know? It’s like why even try if I’m just going to end up disappointed and disappoint others? It’s like the cards are stacked against me kind of thing,” Colton interrupted the pause in conversation.

“I certainly agree. I’ve felt that way many times,” Gabby responded calmly.

“Oh gosh, I am so sorry. I’m not trying to say my life is harder than yours or anything like that. I’m not blind, but I can imagine it’s extremely difficult and you definitely got a raw deal yourself. It’s amazing that you were able to still turn it into something productive and come out on top. For me, its just that I’ve never found anything that’s worth the sacrifice, the hours of practice, the time and the energy. I used to have a passion for life and what was next and now I’m here and it’s just not what I thought it was going to be. It’s like the line from that Mac Miller song, ‘Do you want it all if it’s all mediocre?’ I feel like my expectation for this life is not lining up with what life really is at its core: mediocre. I feel like I’m finally here and it’s just not what I expected it would be.” Colton explained.

“And who says you’re here?” She asked.

“What do you mean? You’re talking to me aren’t you? If I’m not here, that makes you crazy or me crazy or both of us crazy,” he said, getting frustrated.

“What I mean is that you’re the only one saying that you’re here, that you’ve arrived. You can just as easily change your perspective and go from ‘I’ve arrived and it’s just not what I expected,’ to ‘I’m still figuring this out, and that’s okay’. Because, if it’s one thing I’ve learned from 41 years on this planet, it’s that no one has it figured out, even the ones who can see.”

Their conversation was interrupted by sounds of power tools and chainsaws in the distance. It appeared to be coming from 45 Hill Street.

“Hold that thought, I’ll go get the others,” Colton exclaimed.