Fiction Sample - Romance

Chapter 1

Hannah opened her front door and stepped out into the snow. She scanned the long, winding driveway for any sign of Jake’s red SUV.

He’s never late, she thought to herself. He must be stuck in traffic or something.

After a moment, her thoughts turned darker; I hope he’s alright.

She stepped back inside the warm, cozy house, lit with strings of Christmas lights that bounced off of decorations lining every available surface. A fragrant, lush tree stood in the center of the living room, adorned with mismatched ornaments Hannah had collected over the years.

She was admiring one of these ornaments - a polaroid taped to a flat wooden snowflake in which she was laughing next to her sister - when she heard a horn blare outside. Rolling her eyes, she thought, That must be him.

She quickly grabbed her purse and rushed out the door, careful not to slip on the way down her front steps. The snow had accumulated at least six inches overnight, and despite her best attempts to clear it away that morning, some icy cover still remained.

Jake had made it up her snowy driveway easily with his four-wheel drive. After all, that was the reason she had asked him to drive her, right? She pondered the question as she approached his car and climbed inside.

He had the heat turned all the way up and had turned on the heated seats. She was thankful for that, because on her short walk to the car, she was already starting to shiver from the raw December cold.

As she settled into the seat and warmed her hands against the nearest vent, she stole a glance at Jake. He had both hands on the wheel and was looking directly at her. It was actually quite disarming, the expression he had on his face.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked quietly.

“Um, yes, I think I have everything I need.” She couldn’t quite look him in the eye.

“Good. GPS says we should be there in just under three hours. If we don’t hit traffic.”

She nodded and looked down at her hands, now toasty warm and resting in her lap. As soon as he started speaking, his face had lost the melancholy look it had worn when she first got into the car. Now, he looked straight ahead, though they weren’t yet moving, and held a stiff, distant look in his dark eyes.

He shifted the car into drive and started back down the driveway, steering through the silent, snow-capped trees until they reached the main road. The only sound between them was the GPS, its confident instructions echoing through the car’s interior. Once they were fifteen minutes into the drive, Hannah couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“So… how is Rachel doing?”

She watched him swallow in response to her question, but he kept eye contact with the road. It took him a minute to summon a response.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in a month or so.”

“Oh.” Hannah was confused. She felt her brow knit together, and hated how easily her face showed her emotions. He must know exactly what she was thinking. But if he did, he didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry,” she followed up, a few seconds later.

He said nothing in reply.

Hannah felt conflicted. On one hand, she knew that Jake and Rachel had been together for six or seven months. She had never met Rachel, but she assumed that they had had something real, something that hurt to lose. On the other, and to her dismay, she had felt the tiniest butterflies rising in her stomach upon hearing the news that they had broken up. She stole another peek at Jake. He had one hand on the steering wheel now, and the other was playing with a loose strand of his hair. He seemed nervous - but why? She returned her gaze to her lap, but just before she did, she thought she saw him glimpse in her direction…

After thirty more minutes of driving in silence, during which Hannah was too lost in her thoughts to turn on the radio, Jake pulled off of the highway to get gas. Hannah went inside to get them both coffee. As she entered the small rest stop, she looked back at Jake filling up his SUV. He was staring out in her general direction and had the same melancholy look as before, almost like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. That made her heart hurt, the idea that he was hurting. It must be because he missed Rachel, she thought.

After buying the coffees, she left the crowded building and started back to the car. Jake was standing against the side, scrolling through his phone. But he looked up when he noticed her. As she stepped off of the sidewalk into the road, she saw his face change to one of panic. He opened his mouth as if to say something, and she looked at him with a confused expression. What was wrong with him?

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she saw the car headed her way in her peripheral vision. Her mind screamed at her to run, to step back, to do anything, but she just couldn’t - she was frozen with fear.

Hannah closed her eyes and waited for the worst, accepting her fate rather easily. Maybe it was easier to die when there was no one you were leaving behind. She heard the car screeching but knew that it had been going too fast and was too close not to hit her.

Suddenly, though, she was knocked out of her frozen haze by a solid object running at her from the other direction. It couldn’t be the car, could it? As this point, she was so disoriented that she couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

As she started to gain awareness of her surroundings, she realized that she was indeed on the ground, but next to her was someone else. Had they both been hit by the car?

Hannah focused back on herself and tried to determine if she had any major injuries. From what she could tell, she didn’t. She was sore, that was certain, and she had scraped her elbow and knee trying to catch her fall, but that was the extent of her wounds.

The stranger next to her, on the other hand, was lying still, face down. She turned to him and gently shook his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” She asked softly.

He responded with a groan, and after a moment, rolled onto his side. Hannah was shocked to see that it was Jake.

“Jake! Oh my gosh, are you okay? Careful, don’t move too quickly.” She tried her best to help him sit up. His head was bleeding from a small cut on his forehead.

“Oh, Jake, your head is bleeding. You might have a concussion.”

“I’m fine,” he responded gruffly.

Her hand instinctively went up to his head, hovering above the cut, not wanting to hurt him. She knew he probably wasn’t fine, but he wouldn’t admit it.

They sat side by side on the edge of the sidewalk while a few people gathered around and called 911. The driver of the oncoming car had sped off. They clearly weren’t interested in whether or not Hannah and Jake were okay.

Soon, the ambulance pulled up and the small crowd of people that had surrounded them drifted off and went back to their own lives. After a short time it was just Hannah, Jake, and two paramedics.

The paramedic that treated Hannah was tall and lanky, with a freckled face and should-length copper hair. He cleaned and bandaged the cuts on her elbow and knee, and checked her briefly for any other signs of injury.

Jake was treated by an older woman who clearly wasn’t phased by the scene. Hannah guessed that she had seen a lot worse. She treated the wound on Jake’s forehead, then recommended that he go to a hospital to be checked out for a concussion.

“Can’t you drive him in the ambulance?” Hannah asked, surprised at how quickly they had been examined.

“Not tonight, ma’am. We just got another call for a car crash on I-87. We’ll need to get there as quickly as possible.”

Before she knew it, Hannah was left alone with Jake on the curb once again. She watched the ambulance pull off onto the highway, sirens and lights blaring, as it made its way to the next, clearly more important, call.

It seemed like a dream, like a lifetime had passed, when it had really only been about forty minutes.

Hannah turned to look at Jake, who had been silent the entire time.

“So… you saved me from getting hit by a car.”

“I guess I did,” he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

“Okay, what is your issue?” She asked, turning to face him directly. “You jump in front of a car for me, then you won’t even look at me?”

His face slowly turned up to hers, all pale lips, hollow cheeks, and dark, haunting eyes. He looked awful, like he was in pain.

“Are you alright?” Hannah asked softly. “Maybe we should go to the hospital like they said to.”

He dropped his head again and swore. “Damnit, Hannah. No, it’s not a concussion. Stop asking me if I’m alright. Let’s just… just get in the car.”

He stood and reached out to help her up. She placed her hand in his and let him lift her to her feet.

“Thanks,” she said softly. She stole a glance at his face. The melancholy look was back. Such pain was etched across his features, it made her wonder what Rachel had done to hurt him so.