12 Hours: Deleted Scenes

[LoveMrsG]

Hi everyone.
While I was writing 12 Hours, several of my readers have told me that they felt like they were in the middle of a movie and that they could see it happening as if it were on television. Not only were those compliments very flattering, of course, but they also are what has encouraged me to start this thread. Whenver you buy a special edition DVD that has special features like commentary from the director or writers or cast, etc., sometimes they also feature scenes that were deleted from the movie. For those of you who are interested, I thought it would be fun to do that here. There were a lot of scenes from 12 Hours that I had been planning on writing that I either, ha, forgot to write in admist all of the numerous new ideas I got for the story along the way, or they're scenes that I eventually decided didn't work for the story at all. At the bottom of each post, I'll be giving a short explanation for why the scene didn't make it into the story. I'll probably just be adding one or two tonight, but I will be posting more as time goes along.

And again, my love and thanks goes out to all my wonderful readers who helped me through it!

LoveMrsG

[LoveMrsG]

“Listen, Mr. Crewe, my reasons behind this decision are none of your business!” Blair’s voice raged over the telephone. Unbeknownst to her, Jo was walking up closer to the lounge where she could hear their conversation better. Ordinarily Jo would never eavesdrop, but her curiosity was getting the best of her and she wondered why Blair was practically screaming her head off over the phone. “I know that I’m only eighteen, but this is still a personal decision that’s none of anyone else’s business. You’re my lawyer, not my shrink. So just do your job. You know I have a lot of money in my trust fund, and I have to make sure it goes where I want it to go after I’m gone. It’s very important that I put my affairs in order. Look, just call me back when you’re ready to act like a lawyer again and not a therapist!” Blair slammed the phone on the receiver and then walked out of the lounge, immediately bumping into Jo.
“What was that all about?” Jo asked, her voice filled with unusual concern for her.
“It’s none of your business, Jo,” Blair snapped and then tried to brush past her, but Jo grabbed her arm before she could get away.
“Hey!” Jo said aloud. “Something very strange is going on with you today, and I want to know what it is. What’s all this about ‘putting your affairs in order’?”

I was meaning for this scene to sort of start the ball rolling in letting everybody know that there was something serious going on in Blair's life. It would start to clue Jo in on that as well, and give her and everybody reading an idea of how serious this thing was that she was facing. As I got to writing the early chapters of 12 Hours, though, I ended up writing the scene with the other girls in their bedroom and Nat's old letter from Blair and them comparing that handwriting with the handwriting on Blair's homework and discovering everything that was going on that way. That, of course, led to the bigger scene where Blair says goodbye to Jo, and because of those scenes, there was no longer a need for this one.

[LoveMrsG]

Okay, hate to quit there after just that one short scene, but it is 1 A.M. and I am TIRED!!!! I'm going to BED. I'll try and have a couple more scenes up tomorrow. Again, my love and my thanks to my readers, and God bless.

[RoryGilmore]

Oh yay I love bonus materials! Glad your doing this

[LoveMrsG]

Originally Posted by Jo/Blair Fan

Oh yay I love bonus materials! Glad your doing this

Thank you so much, Meghan. I'm glad you're feel that way. I hope you continue to enjoy this thread. I hope everybody who's been reading TH does.

[LoveMrsG]

As Blair looked around at the track and the evergreen trees and the familiar buildings of the Eastland campus, she started to become sick. Bile started creeping up her throat, but she somehow managed to swallow it back down and keep from vomiting. But as she stood on the vacant track, it all started hitting her with unimaginable force: this was what she was about to lose. This was it. This was what she was leaving behind: Eastland, her family here, all of her friends and fellow students, paintings, cooking and cleaning in the kitchen and cafeteria, keeping secrets with the other girls, laughter, tears, emotions, life, everything. All of the sudden, she was terrified beyond her worst nightmare. She started to cry and sob, and then her legs gave way beneath her and she fell to her knees.
Jo had been looking for her for the longest time since they’d talked, and she saw her fall to her knees on the track just now. Jo instantly ran up to her and went down to her knees too, and put her arm around Blair’s shoulders.
“Blair, do you want me to get Mrs. Garrett?” Jo nearly yelled in admits all of Blair’s sobbing, clearly scared to death.
Blair shook her head, and then cried, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God, Jo! Oh, my God…I’m so scared! I can’t leave all this, Jo! I can’t leave…it’s so beautiful here! Oh, my God, Jo…what am I going to do?!”
“It’s alright, Blair,” Jo whispered as she held her close. “It’s alright. It’s gonna be alright.”

This scene didn't make it into the story for much the same reason as the Affairs In Order scene. After I'd written the longer goodbye scene between Blair and Jo, there was really not a need anymore for this one.

[LoveMrsG]

“Listen, Mrs. Garrett…I always knew after I started going to Eastland that one day, my uncle would catch up to me here and kill me, just like he did my brother. At least this way, I get to die in my own way, on my own terms. People think that I’m so young and I’ve got my whole life ahead of me, but considering my brother and all the kids who are trapped…my brother died when he was four years-old, and most of those kids are four and five years-old, and if we don’t help them, they won’t make it to another birthday. Don’t you get it, Mrs. Garrett? Compared to those babies, I’m as old as Methuselah. They could only get to have five or six years of life. Stevie didn’t even get that long. I got to have eighteen years…and that’s enough for me.”
Edna grabbed Blair’s shoulders and stared into her eyes, her heartache quite visible on her face, and told her, “It isn’t enough for me.”

This scene was going to be one of several scenes I was going to use if I had decided for Mrs. Garrett to find out about Blair's plans before it was too late and she, of course, would have been trying to talk Blair out of it. This is basically an argument that Blair was making as to why she felt she had to do this, and Mrs. Garrett's reaction, of course, which was to try and dissuade her. Clearly this scene was cut from the story when I decided against Mrs. Garrett finding out "Helen's" identity in time.

[RoryGilmore]

All of these would've made the story go different ways. its interesting

[LoveMrsG]

Originally Posted by Jo/Blair Fan

All of these would've made the story go different ways. its interesting

Thank you. I'm glad you feel that way, Meghan.

[ZeldaGilroy]

Wow...you are obviously a pro! I can't believe you have deleted scenes. They are great by the way. And I completely agree with Meghan...these stories would have changed the direction of the story and it would have been so different.

Thanks for sharing these!

[LoveMrsG]

Originally Posted by FactsFan

Wow...you are obviously a pro! I can't believe you have deleted scenes. They are great by the way. And I completely agree with Meghan...these stories would have changed the direction of the story and it would have been so different.

Thanks for sharing these!

Oh, you bet! I'll be adding some more whenever I can. Like I told you in my PM, my laptop went out on me yesterday and I'm scrambling, trying to figure out how to get another computer. I'll try my best to return to my work here ASAP, not just with TH deleted scenes, but of course with the sequel, The Fifth Floor. I hope it doesn't take me TOO long to get this computer situation straightened out. Is it just me, or do computers go out on you at the absolute WORST possible times???

[RoryGilmore]

Originally Posted by LoveMrsG

Oh, you bet! I'll be adding some more whenever I can. Like I told you in my PM, my laptop went out on me yesterday and I'm scrambling, trying to figure out how to get another computer. I'll try my best to return to my work here ASAP, not just with TH deleted scenes, but of course with the sequel, The Fifth Floor. I hope it doesn't take me TOO long to get this computer situation straightened out. Is it just me, or do computers go out on you at the absolute WORST possible times???

Everything breaks at the worst possible time. Hope things work out for you soon though!

[LoveMrsG]

Hi all. As many of you know, things have been incredibly hectic in my own personal life this past month and as a result, I haven't been able to get much writing done. I've been trying really hard to get in the "writing spirit" so to speak and do some work on TFF but I really haven't been able to yet. But while I'm here online at the library, I thought I'd at least get a scene or two written for the deleted scenes thread of 12 Hours. You see, I haven't written out these scenes and discarded them. They're just scenes that I'd been planning to write for 12 Hours that I decided didn't work for the story or that I...um...kinda forgot to write. Anyway, here's a scene for everyone that's really special to me. I hope you all enjoy it.

Blair was so hurt now, and that was the only word that could even run through her mind, hurt. After Blair had seen the blood and known for certain that she’d been injured, she had desperately wanted to see Eastland and the faces of the people she loved one last time. But now it only made it even more painful, because she realized that soon, she’d never be seeing them again. As strongly as she did feel about putting her past right with God and with her baby brother, she realized as she sat there on the edge of Jo’s bed, trying to read her Bible, looking for some last words of comfort, that she really did love her life and her friends. She did not want to lose it, and now it was inevitable that she was going to. She did not want to say goodbye, but she knew that now, she had no choice. As painful as it was to admit, she had to. Her life was now finished. It was over.
Blair had just flipped open her Bible and had she tried to read, but her vision kept blurring and she had to give up. At the moment, she didn’t even have the strength to get up from Jo’s bed and put the Bible up. She just sat there, holding on to it, doubled over in pain, gasping for each breath.
In that very instant, there was a knock at the bedroom door. Blair wasn’t even strong enough to tell whoever was there that it was alright to come in. In the next moment, Edna stuck her head in and asked if it was alright to enter, and Blair simply nodded.
Edna walked up to Jo’s bedside where Blair was sitting and said, “Blair, I want to apologize for this afternoon. I got a suicide letter from an anonymous girl here at Eastland and the girls and I have been going crazy trying to figure out who sent it so we can help her. She claimed she was going to do something drastic by this afternoon and it’s almost night time and nothing’s happened, so maybe she’s changed her mind. I think she’ll be alright now, or that’s what I’m hoping and praying for anyway. But that was still no excuse for me to talk to you the way that I did. I was just so worried, and I took it all out on you. Please forgive me.”
For the longest moment, Blair said nothing. “Blair,” Edna continued, “I know that something’s wrong. You want to tell me why you up and left school today?” The silence continued. Blair couldn’t talk. She could hardly even breathe. Edna was still lost in her own world, still caught up so deeply in denial that she couldn’t even see that which was right before her. She had been so lost in her own world when she was talking that she was looking over Blair and not down at her. If she had lowered her gaze just a little, she would have seen the sweat pouring down Blair’s face and how gray her face appeared, and how she was gasping for air…and had she taken the Bible away and looked closer, she would have seen the blood starting to appear on Blair’s uniform.
In the one second that changed everything in both their lives, Blair was no longer able to hold on to Bible, and it fell from her hands with a resounding thud that hit the floor like a shattering earthquake to the ears of heaven. It was in that moment that Edna’s fearful, frantic denial finally began to leave her. She had no choice now but to look at Blair, really look at her, and see the horrendous truth.
“Blair, are you alright?” Edna asked in the smallest voice, and then picked up the Bible and set it down on Jo’s bed next to Blair. Then she took Blair’s hands in her own and gasped, “My Lord, Blair…your hands are just like ice.” And then, at very long last, Edna allowed her eyes to look at what she’d been too terrified to see before. Edna knelt before Blair and gasped, “You’re bleeding!” And then the truth hit Edna Garrett’s heart with full force. “Oh, my God, Blair!” Edna cried. “Not you! Not you!” Tears started streaming from her eyes.
“This was my choice,” Blair whispered, her voice heavy with sorrow. “Edna,” she said a little more loudly, the first time she ever called Mrs. Garrett by her first name, and Edna looked up and into Blair’s eyes with the most devastated expression Blair had ever seen on her face, “no matter how badly I know you want to,” she continued, “not even a Wisconsin gal as stubborn as you are can save my life now.”

Okay, I wanted to slit my throat when I realized that this scene would not be making it into the story. As some of my fellow Lord of the Rings fans will notice, this scene is based on the key scene between Arwen and Elrond in Return of the King. I have been in love with that scene for the LONGEST time over the years and I DESPERATELY wanted to recreate it in my own story between Blair and Edna. As I got to writing 12 Hours out though and seriously got to thinking about it, I got to thinking about the death scene between Theoden and Eowyn and I got the idea to have Mrs. Garrett show up in the field by surprise and rescue Blair, and I realized that that would be much better for the story. I also realized that in order to write this scene out the way I'd been planning it, with Blair sitting on Jo's bed in the girls' bedroom, I would have to get Blair to somehow get someone to fly her in the helicopter back to Peekskill and she would have to get back to the Eastland campus, and it just was not realistic to do that and have her walk upstairs and be sitting there with a gunshot wound. Plus, it really casts a bad reflection on Mrs. Garrett that she's THAT badly steeped in denial that Blair's sitting there with a gunshot wound and she doesn't see it. But I STILL, to this very DAY, hate it that I lost this scene. As all of you can probably tell, it was so beautiful and I wanted so badly to have something like it in the story, so I passed it on to Tootie. Plus, the scene between Theoden and Eowyn is between an uncle and niece, really between a father and daughter for those who know the story, and it's about an older man who's made peace with his impending death and helping the niece to accept it. If you reverse the scene and make it between a child and parent with the child dying and the child accepting her death and trying to help the parent make peace with it, it's only going to make the parent (and readers) want to fight harder to keep the child alive, and that's ulimately what I wanted, for you guys to want to fight to keep Blair alive. But I SITLL hate it that I lost this scene though!

[ZeldaGilroy]

That was a beautiful scene. I can see why you were upset to have to leave it out. But the story was amazing even without it!

[LoveMrsG]

Originally Posted by FactsFan

That was a beautiful scene. I can see why you were upset to have to leave it out. But the story was amazing even without it!

Thank you. I'm glad you feel that way.