Testing: Day 7

Word Count: 42,007

Summary of Events:

Gabriel went to visit the doctor and had his suspicion confirmed that his leg wasn't broken. Ivy went to visit Thomas' grave and ended up sitting silently across from Gabriel again before she started crying, Gabriel then went to embrace her, which upset her and made her ask him to leave. Gabriel went and visited with his horses and thought about how he was probably going about things badly with Ivy. Ivy was told by the Bramwells that her parents wanted to come and visit, but only when she felt she was ready for them. Gabriel went and sat across from Ivy at the cemetery again and apologised for his poor conduct before leaving shortly. Ivy headed back to the Bramwell's house and thought about Gabriel's apology. Gabriel went to go back to work, being better now, and received an unpleasant surprise . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Arriving at the office to report for work, Gabriel found the line was short, and being as things moved swiftly, he was soon at the head of the line. The clerk startled when he looked at Gabriel, furrowing his brow.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"My shoulder's recovered, I've come to start working again," Gabriel replied.

"Oh," the clerk said, looking highly puzzled.

Gabriel didn't see what the issue was, but he waited quietly and patiently as the clerk filed through the papers all about him before finally coming back and shaking his head.

"You were released from our employ two weeks ago," the clerk replied.

"What?" Gabriel exclaimed. "I came with a note from Dr. Ellington saying I couldn't work for two weeks because he didn't want me to re-injure my shoulder, but I fully intended to come back to work once he said I could."

"Well, according to what I have here you're no longer our employee," the clerk replied. "I recall receiving the note, though."

"So then what happened?" Gabriel asked.

"I submitted it to the manager," the clerk replied. "And I guess he decided that the mine couldn't afford to run without you, and so hired someone to replace you, as we did hire someone two weeks ago."

"Oh," Gabriel said. He felt a little disheartened. He didn't need to keep up his income, as he didn't really have any plans of going anywhere. Once he was going to leave he could stop working, but right now he still needed something.

"I'm sorry," the clerk said. "You could always talk to the manager if you want an explanation."

Gabriel sighed. "No, it's alright, I can probably find something else to do."

The clerk nodded and Gabriel left the office.

He wasn't sure what else he could find. Mrs. Goddard had offered to look for him before, but she hadn't told him about anything, and on top of that, mining was the main driver of Elk City. The majority of people worked in the mine, and if the mine were ever to shut down, Elk City would likely become a ghost town.

There wasn't much for work outside of the mine, and if Gabriel couldn't find work outside of the mine then he would probably have to leave.

Being as Miss Oldford was still here, though, he wasn't sure that he wanted to. He didn't want to leave her. He wanted to give her help, and until he'd achieved that goal, he had no intent of leaving her.

Of course, she wasn't a local, so whenever she ended up going back to her hometown  he could follow her and get work there, but until then he needed to stay here and do something.

But what? That was definitely a good question, and Gabriel had no answer to it."