break the window

this story is in no relation to the story posted above. This is a short story, one shot if you will. I'm really inspired by Taylor Swift and her writing and I've written this story below on the song "All Too Well"...10 minute version and using mostly exerts from it.

It's based on Bright and Hannah

I hope you like it


All Too Well

Hannah stepped out of the vehicle as soon as Bright put the car in park. She loved her hometown of Everwood in Colorado. She almost felt like a Hallmark movie…almost.
“We’ll probably get about two feet tonight, so it was a good thing we don’t plan to leave until Sunday.”
“That gives me plenty of time to get to know your family.”
Bright rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they’re great.”
“You keep saying they’re great with sarcasm. They can’t be all that bad.”

Rose came out of the house, wiping her hands on the kitchen towel.

“I was hoping you two would get here before the storm really gets bad.” Rose hugged her son and looked at the woman he said he was bringing. “You must be Hannah.”
“Yep, guilty, I guess.”
“Hmm, starting that legal talk already.”
Hannah looked at Bright. “Yeah, I told mom that you’re declared to be a law major.”
“It’ll be nice having a lawyer in the family.”
“Yeah, Bright told me his dad is a doctor.”
“The town doctor. Not the only town doctor, though.”
“The only one that charges”
Hannah was loosening up a little bit. “So, there’s a doctor in town giving free medical care?”
“Yep, started it the first day he arrived in town and we all told him he was crazy, but he’s still doing it.”
“How does he have money to live if he’s providing the cost of care?”
Bright handed Hannah his phone number of the article explaining Dr. Andrew Brown’s introduction to Everwood. “He makes a million dollars a year off a patented procedure?”
“He calls it a ‘nest egg’ that he acquired in New York.”
“Quite the egg.”

Hannah walked in and definitely felt the Hallmark vibe of the Abbott household. The aroma of cookies baking with some slight decorations. She almost felt at home, almost. She laid her coat and scarf on banister that led to the upstairs, all the bedrooms, she figured.

Walking through the kitchen, she was in awe of the leaves falling, like looking at a picture. The scenery took her back to once of her first dates with Bright. They were riding home from a movie and all the leaves were falling, the air was getting damper, colder and everything felt like a picture, falling into their respective places. She wished she could go back to that night when everything felt just right.

Rose sat down at the table with them, Harold joining them soon after.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived….Mrs. Drewberry, just has to see me today before the weather would get bad out. How was the drive.”
Bright and Hannah mostly silent, but shared a smile. Hannah looked over at Harold. “It was good, lots of leaves.”
“Yes, it’s pretty to look at, but driving with the leaves getting stuck to the windows…it’s not so pretty anymore. Sometimes you can’t see a thing.”
“Like red lights.” Bright mumbled, he and Hannah laughed.
“You ran a red light, Bright?” Harold asked, sipping his wine.
“I almost did, looking at something else.” His eyes flipped back to Hannah, smiling.
“When you did you decide the law profession was what you wanted to do?” Rose putting her wine glass down, motioning to Harold to add more.
“It started with my dad, he was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease and I saw how hard my mom fought with doctors to get the proper medical care my dad really needed versus what the recommended regime and I want to help families who need to fight the system.”
Harold’s eyes focused on Hannah. “The medical profession has rules in place for the proper medical care.”
“Then how come my father never really was able to talk to a doctor and just nurses and never really got treated fairly? Really, Dr. Abbott, what are your thoughts about families having to fight tooth and nail to get, as you say, the recommended care?”

Bright sighed; rubbing the back of his head feeling like this is the night the fireworks come out at the dinner table.

“Ms. Rogers—”
“Hannah is fine, I’m dating your son, you may call me Hannah.”
“Hannah, I don’t think this is the time, nor place to have this discussion.”
“Fine, I’m okay with that. I’ll probably be on opposite sides of you in a courtroom in some way talking about how your malpractice insurance doesn’t cover my client.”
“And that is hypothetically?”
Hannah smiled, grimacing. “Of course.”

~*~

“Rose handed Hannah a photo album.”
“Abbott Family Memories…volume six.” She smiled at Rose. “How many volumes are there?”
“At least thirty. I thought this might be a good transition from the bullheaded my husband shared with you this evening.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Abbott. I wasn’t exactly looking to win any points.”
“Still, I like to get to know my son’s girlfriend first before he seeks his teeth into them.”
“Fair enough.” Hannah opened the book “Is that Bright?”
Rose laughed. “I forget that Brighton used to wear glasses.”
“When did he stop?”
“When he started playing tee-ball and little league. There wasn’t much support for glasses in little league, so we got him contacts soon after.”
“Bright played baseball?”
“Yeah, he was committed to it until he saw how many girls he could get with being on the football team.”
“How many girls did he get?”
“Just between us girls; he was all talk.”
“No action?”

Bright sat on the opposite couch, sipping the hot coffee he had just fixed himself.

“I was great at all the sports.”
“When not watching Stacey Wilson and the other girls on the cheer team throw each up in the air.”
“Mom, they’re called basket tosses.”
Harold walked in, holding one of Rose’s cakes. “Which one are we taking to the Browns’ Christmas Party?”
“The one in the aluminum foil.” Rose said without looking up.
Harold held the aluminum covered dishes in both hands. “They both have aluminum.”
Rose looked up. “Did you get the one on the right or the left of the red Tupperware container.”
“There’s three Tupperware containers in the refrigerator.”
Rose slowly handed the book over to Hannah. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Hannah spoke quietly. She got up and sat with Bright, putting the photo album in her lap.
“Danny Green.”
“Friend of yours?”
“No, I hated the guy. He scored on every pitch you threw at him.”
“So, you were jealous?”
“I was not jealous, I don’t get jealous.”
“Did you ever ask Danny Green for help in how to be better?”
“No, I hated the guy.”
Hannah continued flipping through the pictures. “Because he was better than you.”
“Yeah, whatever you want to call it.”
“Who’s this?” Hannah pointed to a guy with brown hair that was in a lot of photos.
“Colin.”
“He doesn’t seem to be in any pictures when you were younger. Did he move away?”
Bright hesitated and then spoke. “He died.”
“I’m so sorry, was he sick?”
“No….it was an automobile accident, and I was driving and was speeding, went over a cliff and Colin was thrown from the vehicle.”
“I can see that it upsets you, we don’t have to talk about him.”
“It’s just weird because everyone in town knows so no one has to talk about him. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t know him.”
“Oh, you look happy here…. who’s the girl with the brown hair.”
“Laynie…Colin’s sister. That was Founder’s Day weekend; the day before the accident.:”
Hannah closed the photo album. “Enough memories, I think I’m drudging up all the bad ones.”
Bright put his arm around her, held her right hand in his. “I want you to know all of it…I want you to be a part of everything.”
“I do too.”

~*~

The snow was still falling that morning when Bright tossed Hannah the keys.

“Bright, I have no idea where we are going; why am I driving?”
“I want you to love Everwood and experience Everwood the same way I have.”
Hannah was excited to more apart of Bright’s life, even if it meant driving in a place she had never been. She wanted to be apart of his world, no matter how little or small he let her in.

Hannah pulled out of the driveway, finally picking which direction to pull out onto the street.

“Just drive.”
“The street ends at some point Bright, I’ll have to turn somewhere.”
“I’ll let you know.”

Hannah kept driving, waiting at stop lights. Smiling whenever she stopped at a red light, her smiling at Bright remembering how she felt when Bright almost ran the red light because he was looking at her because he was laughing at her hair going in all kinds of directions because of the wind.

They came to the end of the road that also had the entrance to the park.

“I thought we were going to the store.”
“We will, I wanted to come here first.”
“What is here?” Hannah asked, then reading the sign dedication for the Irv Harper Memorial Park.
“I feel like this place is a place that I can escape to; that we can escape to.”
“Bright, your parents are more wholesome than the Cleavers. What do you have to get away from?”
“Being the son of one of the doctors in town is one thing. Being the son of one of the best mayors this town has ever had, that’s a lot of pressure. I just come here to bring my perspective back.”
“It is pretty.”
He entwined his hand with Hannahs, looking over at her. “Now I have someone to share it with.”
“Thank you for showing me this place.”

Bright leaned over, kissing Hannah on the mouth, ending it more quickly than she wanted, and he sat there, still holding her hand. “We better get to the store before someone starts to wonder where we are.”

~*~

Hannah walked down to the kitchen, Bright was eating an overstuffed roast beef sandwich.

“Not that I’m judging because that looks really good, but you just had dinner like five hours ago.”
“I’ve mastered the art of pushing the food around on my plate and eating like every sixth time I move the food around. Apparently, that idea still works.” Bright opened up the refrigerator door, the only light filling the kitchen. “Remember that song on the radio, on the way here. The one you like with all the blues and guitar.”
Hannah finally remembered the tune. “Yeah, it was nice. Made me relax in the car a little bit.?”
“I can’t get that melody out of my head.”
“I didn’t think you liked that kind of music, Bright?”
With the refrigerator door still open, Bright took both of Hannah’s hands and slipped his right arm around her waist. “It’s a nice song to dance to.”
“I thought so too.” She let him twirl her around, landing in his arms. “Very nice, I didn’t know you liked to dance.”
“With the right partner, dancing is easy.” He let his eyes meet hers as he twirled her towards him again. “Very easy.”

Bright’s phone started to vibrate, and he grabbed it before the very loud ringtone started.

“Hey, Colin! When did you get back into town?”

Hannah let Bright have his time with his friend who he hasn’t seen in years while she cleaned up the kitchen and shut the refrigerator door. Almost immediately Bright turned on the light, illuminating the area that just moments ago felt like something serene and something that was just there for them. Hannah’s spirit damped a little bit.

“Yeah, I just got back into town too…just for the weekend. Yeah, just with friends. Come on over…tomorrow sounds great, I’ll let mom know to set another place. Oh, two places? You have a girl now? No, nothing special. Alright, see you tomorrow night. Later.”

Bright turned around to see all the kitchen cleaned up and Hannah slowly wiping the counter with a sponge.

“You remember Colin, right? He and Wendy are going to be in town tomorrow…and they’ll be over for dinner.”
“I do remember Colin. Why did it sound like you didn’t want to mention me? Mentioned you were just friends.”
“Because it’s Colin. He makes a huge deal out of every little thing. He’ll want to know when we’re getting married, having kids. All the stuff we don’t know what’s in our future for.”
“Okay.” Hannah kissed him on the lips, rubbed his chest and headed upstairs to bed.

~*~

Hannah looked at her phone, it was past three in the morning when she felt Bright crawl in the bed next to her.

“Bright, what is that smell?”
“Oh, Brandon texted, said he was in town and we went for a few beers.”
“In the middle of the night? You smell like you drank the bar.”
“I had a few too many beers, mom, and you can relax, I had someone drive me home.”
“So it’s okay you have a few beers, come home, crawl into bed with me smell like a liquor store.”
“What is the big deal? Just because you don’t drink, doesn’t mean others can’t.”
“No, Brighton I’m talking about high school when you went on benders every weekend and almost got yourself killed sixty-five thousand times. I’m talking about you going on these binges where everything is just fine until it’s not.”
“What is all of this about?”
“Does Colin know you have a girlfriend?”
Bright smiled. “I’m not attracted to Colin, if that’s what you’re asking.” He rolled his eyes, laughing at his own joke.
“Never mind.”
“Hannah.” Bright sat up, putting the pillow on his lap. “What’s going on, why are you so angry with me?”
“You told Colin you were here with friends? I thought you were with me, your girlfriend.”
“I told you, he would ask questions that neither of us are ready to answer?”
“How do you know I don’t want to answer them. I barely know Colin, he might not even ask.”
“He asks every girl I’m with when the wedding date is?”
“And I bet he was sober, too.”
“He was.” Bright paused. “Thirty-nine percent of the time.”
“Why do you not want me to meet Colin or any of your friends. I wanted to come back to Everwood to meet your friends and get to know the real you.”
“Hannah, we’ve been together for five years, you do know to real me?”
“Really? How come this weekend has been a complete eye opening experience? I’ve learned more about you talking to your mom than talking to you.”
“I just don’t talk, you know this….why are you doing this? It’s a weekend with my parents.”
“Usually the guy brings his girlfriend to meet his parents because he has a special question to ask her.”
“What question would that be?” Bright had a blank face and a lowered voice.
“If you have to ask that question, then you’re never going to ask the question.”
Bright had a light belch, he saw Hannah roll her eyes. “Okay, maybe I’m a little, teeny, tiny bit drunk.”
“Now the truth comes out, which it always does.”
“You want the truth?”
“Sure, and yes, I handle the truth, Jack Nicholson.” Hannah threw back at Bright the same thing he says to her when he’s trying to win an argument.
“I want to be that guy for you, I do. I thought bringing you home, to my parents, to where I grew up, it would change something for me?”
“Like change your feelings for me?” Hannah stood at the end of the bed; her arms folded.
“Yeah.”
“How do you feel about me, Bright?”
Bright looked at Hannah and knew this would be the break of their relationship. “I…” He cleared his throat. “I want to love you, the way you deserve to be loved.”
“But…”
“But…I can’t. I don’t feel it and I really, really…” Bright stopped when he saw Hannah change back into her clothes from earlier and throw everything into her overnight bag. “Hannah, please don’t leave. I’m just being honest.”
“You make me think, for five years that this, us might be something special only to say that you can’t find the feelings to love me.”
“I’m must being—”
“Honest, yes, I know. You said that already.” Hannah opened the door sharply and closed it softly and not wake up anyone in the house.”

~*~

The next morning Bright strolled into the kitchen to find Hannah, still dressed in the outfit she had on from last night, slowly drinking coffee.

“You’re still here.”
“Yep, turns out Colorado gets snow, Bright. Like sixteen inches of it in the middle of the night. The car is buried in it, I didn’t have the strength to start digging the car out in the dark.”
“Maybe it’s a sign…that we can work things out.”
Hannah laughed, anxiously. “You can’t love me, how can we work around that, Bright?”
“Give it some thing.”
Hannah strangled the coffee mug. “Five years…how can we work on it now if five years can’t fix it.”
“I don’t know, but I really, really want to.”
“What’s going to change? We’re going to work on our relationship today and tomorrow morning wake up as new people and have this wonderful connection? This isn’t high school, Bright. We can’t just wait for next period and have historical events burned into our brain and forget about the fight we had not even twelve hours ago.” Hannah put the almost empty mug into the sink, filled it with water from the faucet. She paused, straightening her sweater. “Who was she, Bright?”
“Who was who, Hannah?”
“The girl you turned me into thinking I could be here and wake up one day and realize that I’m not her.”
“The girl you told me you wanted to be in high school.”
“High School? We say a lot of things we don’t know what we’re talking about, we hadn’t experienced life yet.”
“That’s the difference, the person who I thought you were and the person you really were.”
“What are you talking about?” Hannah asked, watching Bright walk over to her, as she stood over the counter.
He whispered in her ear. “If you were older, you’d understand.” He put on his jacket and went out he front door.

Hannah wanted to scream and did not care who would hear her. She knew their relationship was in trouble before even coming to the Abbott home, but now, she just wanted to die.

Rose came in after hearing the front door slam. She rushed over to Hannah.

“What’s going on, what’s happening?”
“Bright….Bright is what’s happening.”
“I don’t understand, did he say something to make you so upset.”
“This was supposed to be a fun weekend, getting to know you and Doctor Abbott, but it’s a mess.”
Rose stood Hannah up. “What did my son say to you?”
“I’m not the girl he wants.”
“You’re perfect. He talks about how he wants to be with you forever.”
Hannah wiped her nose with a napkin and cleared her throat. “You should ask him which Hannah he is talking about.”

~*~

[TWO MONTHS LATER]

“Hannah, delivery.” Her roommate said to her on the front porch when Hannah was walking home alone from the library.
“Thanks.”

Hannah took the box into her room. She was excited to open it until seeing that it was from Bright.

Reading the note, Here are your things, I thought you might need them—Bright

Hannah opened up the box to see all of the things he ‘accidentally’ left at Bright’s house. She read an article about the little things to do when you want to give signs, you’re ready to move onto the next step with a guy. Apparently, the article wasn’t for everyone.

Plaid shirt, the twelve CDs that she left all over his car. Hannah couldn’t help but smile at Bright’s attempt to like her music when hearing it blaring in the car. The pairs of jeans she left in his hamper when wearing his clothes around the house when he would be taking a shower.

The box feels like a lifetime ago, a different person. Maybe that’s what it was all supposed to be. A steppingstone. An event that would have Hannah pushed into her next phase who she was meant to be. The box, Hannah thought, was supposed to be dramatic and all the sad things, but she felt healing until she rummaged through the things and didn’t find the one article she really, desperately wanted back. She also wanted to sit there and run her fingers through it all and remember every moment she spent with Bright where each of these articles existed in their relationship.

Hannah dialed the familiar number since he wasn’t assigned to her contacts anymore.

“Hello.”
Hannah had to remember she would always have courage. “Hey, it’s Hannah.”
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good,” she half lied. “I got the box.”
“Great, I was hoping it wouldn’t take forever to get there.”
“I’m missing a scarf.”
“What scarf?”
“The black one with grey and white stripes. I wore it…it doesn’t matter when I wore it.” She lied, when she wore it meant everything.”
“I’ll look for it, but I didn’t see a scarf?” Bright sounded like he was looking around his bedroom. “Nope, but I’ll keep a lookout for it.”
“I’d really like that back.”
“And if I find it, I’ll mail it out right away.”
“Thanks.”
There was a long pause. “Anything else.”
“Nope, I guess that’s it.”
“Okay, we’ll talk later, I guess.”
“Yeah.”

The line went dead on Hannah’s side as she put the receiver back on the base.

Bright saw his parents getting ready to leave and got his coat ready. He reached down and picked up the scarf that had dropped. It was his favorite. Black with gray and white stripes.

[THE END]