Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Great Re-rewritten Ending (Option Six)

[3rd person p.o.v.]

Lying on his mattress on his pool, Gatsby lay thinking about Nick's words. "You ought to go away" he'd said.

Gatsby hadn't even given the though a single consideration before dismissing it. Of course he couldn't leave right now. He had to be here when Daisy called so he knew what she was planning on doing.

So he knew what she was planning on doing. That last thought echoed inside Gatsby's head as he stared up at the yellowing leaves on the branches that hung above the pool. It was still early fall, so the leaves hadn't completely lost their green yet. And amidst the green and yellow were speckles of red, and orange.

It's a beautiful sight, Gatsby thought. Just like Daisy. And when Gatsby turned his head a bit to the right, he saw the branches that the leaves had fallen off of. They had looked beautiful when the leaves were there, but the leaves had finished their purpose with them and left, now leaving the branches looking scraggly and dead. Just like Daisy, Gatsby's mind repeated.

His certainty that Daisy would call him had begun to waver. He wanted to be sure of her actions before he took any of his own, but, then again, hadn't he been sure of what her actions would be yesterday afternoon? Hadn't she assured him she'd tell Tom she was leaving him because he'd never had her love? And that certainly isn't what had happened.

With all the weight of a central dogma believed to be true for five years, the realization struck Gatsby that Daisy would never be strong enough to take a decision which may possibly inconvenience her.

He should phone her. He'd phone three times, and if she didn't respond within the hour, Gatsby would put his own life first for the first time in five years.

And with that, Gatsby threw his towel in a lump on the mattress, got out of the pool, and went into the house.

It was on the 2nd attempt that Gatsby heard shots outside. Within five minutes the deed was done. Gatsby ran back outside to find his towel with a bullet hole shot through it, a body in the bushes, and a few of Wolfsheim's men looking very confused.

Nick had a lot of questions when he came back from work.