I have edited and reposted What Do You Want? to correct the numerous structural flaws and boo boos I created by not paying attention to what I was working on. It should be much more consistent, and make for a more readable and enjoyable? experience. It is still pretty dark, as was intended.
Then again I know I didn't fix everything, because as I'm writing this, I realized that I still didn't address the actions of Jim's three friends during the Event.
Let me try to explain here. Most people freeze in the face of an unexpected act of brutal violence. I know this from direct personal experience. It is human nature. Are we really seeing what is happening? Is that actually happening? And when something starts and ends quickly, you are often left wondering what happened as your mind tries to process and reprocess what you just witnessed. It is even more paralyzing for someone who is a trauma survivor such as myself, but even without that history, witnessing something like this is still shocking in the extreme. So Jim's friends didn't have mental stability and flexibility, the experience, and the training to be able to intervene before it was over. They were only able to help pick up the pieces.
Be well, and I hope you all and your families stay safe and healthy in these impossible times.
-Gil