So I asked my FB followers if they'd hate me if I postponed the Untamed series to start on a new project that I've been obsessing over. Most people said I should do what I wanted, to let the proverbial writing sails take me where they may.
So here is the first chapter of that (yet untitled) new series. Tell me what you think!
So here is the first chapter of that (yet untitled) new series. Tell me what you think!
CHAPTER ONE
Hannah’s awake.
Logan sped down
the white-tiled halls of the hospital, his heart lodged in his throat. He’d
spent the past week keeping vigil by her bedside, it figured that she’d wake up
from her coma the one time he actually left her side to grab some non-hospital
food and a shower. On the bright side, at least she’d wake up and find her
boyfriend clean.
Eight days ago, he
was doing this very same thing, rushing through the hospital, though it had
been under very different circumstances. Last week, the phone call he’d
received from her parents had been one of utter hopelessness and despair, their
voices so mangled that it had taken him a few seconds to grasp what they were
saying.
“But she’s on her
way home,” Logan had said, staring at the romantic spread he’d laid out on the
table on the patio. For some reason, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off
the flickering flame of the candle on the table while Hannah’s dad once again
tried to explain the situation.
“She was in a car
accident,” Dan said. “She hit the concrete median and her car flipped.”
“But Hannah’s an
excellent driver.” The flame danced around, threatening to blow out with the
evening breeze as Logan struggled to hold the phone up to his ear. “What the
hell?”
He didn’t know how
he made it to the hospital or how he even managed to remember the floor and
room number. All he could recall was walking in that small room and finding the
love of his life laying on a hospital bed surrounded by various machines and
tubes, her head wrapped in white gauze. As he crept closer, he saw that her
normally light mocha skin was bruised all over, that her right arm was in a
cast of some sort, that her chest was barely rising and falling.
“She hasn’t woken
up,” Cheryl, her mom said. “She’s in a coma.”
For the very first
time in his twenty-three years, Logan was completely at a loss. He had no idea
what to do next. In the past, when he and Hannah would get into trouble, he’d
always come up with a solution to get them out of it. Standing there at the
foot of her hospital bed, grasping the metal railing tight, he had absolutely
no clue how to fix her.
For the next eight
days, he sat by her bed and prayed. Still, the feeling of helplessness didn’t
abate because even as her bruises began to fade, she was still trapped in a
place he couldn’t reach.
Now she was awake,
and the rope that had wrapped itself tight around his lungs for the past week
was finally loosening with each step he took to her room. He didn’t bother
knocking on the door; he just turned the knob and went right inside, unable to
wait a minute longer to see her.
She was sitting
up, taking a sip from a cup that her mother held. Her dad stood on the other
side of the bed, looking on with a strange look on his face.
Dan looked up as
Logan entered the room, his expression gluing Logan’s feet where he stood.
Something was
wrong, Logan could feel it in the pit of his stomach. “Hannah?”
At the sound of
his voice, Hannah and her mother turned to him, but whereas Cheryl’s face held
a welcoming expression, Hannah’s face was completely blank.
Hannah looked back
to the woman beside her. “Who is he?” she asked in a roughened voice.
Cheryl cast a
quick glance at Logan before turning back to her daughter. “He’s Logan Pierce,
your boyfriend.”
It took Logan
longer than it should have to piece together the information. In his mind,
there was absolutely no way Hannah could ever forget him. They had been a part
of each other’s lives since they were born. He couldn’t even remember a time
when she didn’t exist in his life.
He stared at
Hannah from across the room, unable to move. She met his eye for a few moments
then turned away, looking at anything else but him.
“What’s going on?”
he asked, the need for an explanation finally spurring him to move closer to
the bed. God, he wanted to hold her, to kiss her and make sure she was well,
but something held him back, the fear that she’d shrink away from his touch.
Logan started when
Dan touched his shoulder.
“Because of the
brain trauma, she is suffering from retrograde amnesia,” Dan began. “She can’t
remember a thing. Not even us.”
Logan never once
took his eyes off Hannah, the girl he’d loved for as long as he could remember.
“How long do the doctors expect it to last?” he asked nobody in particular,
though he was really expecting the answer to come from Hannah.
“They don’t know,”
Cheryl said. “Could be hours. Could be months.”
“We’ll give you
two some time to talk,” Dan said, walking to the door.
Cheryl gazed down
at her daughter and touched her shoulder. “Will that be okay?”
Hannah nodded,
still evading Logan’s gaze. “I’ll be fine.”
After her parents
left, Logan came closer, his fingers grazing the blanket at the foot of the
bed. “So you don’t remember me?”
Finally she looked
up and fixed those big hazel eyes at him. “I don’t remember anyone,” she said.
“Those two people out there claiming to be my parents. I have no clue who they
are. I have to just believe them when they say they’re my parents.”
“You seem to be
comfortable with them.”
“What choice do I
have?” Her eyebrows drew together and she bit her lips together; telltale signs
that she was trying to keep her tears at bay.
“Hey, don’t cry,” he
said, coming even closer. He fought the instinct to soothe her by rubbing his
palm in circles on her back like he used to do. “Your memory will return and
everything will be just as it was.”
She inhaled
deeply. “I hope so.”
“At least you’re
okay, physically.”
She held up her arm
that was confined in plaster to a ninety-degree angle. “Mostly.” She studied me
for a long, quiet moment. “So you’re my boyfriend?”
Logan nodded.
“How long have we
been together?”
“Well, we were
born a day apart and grew up together. But as boyfriend and girlfriend… since
we were sixteen.”
“Long time.”
“Yeah.” He wanted
to tell her that they’d planned on the rest of their lives, but thought it
might have been too much too soon. One day at a time. “Our parents are best
friends, and we grew up next door to each other.”
“Did I love you?”
Her question,
asked so innocently, was like a punch to the gut.
“I’m sorry. You
don’t have to answer that if you don’t—”
“Yes, you did,” he
said, turning away to rub at the corner of his eyes.
“Did you love me?”
She gave a weak wave with her hand, swatting the question away. “You know what,
don’t answer that. That was a stupid question.”
“Yes,” I said, my
eyes fixed on her face even as her image was starting to get a little blurry around
the edges. “You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved.”
She lay back onto
her pillow and closed her eyes, her lips pinched together once more. “I should
get some sleep.”
It was only after
she turned away that he allowed his face to crumple.
----
Some details:
- It will be released in installments, much like the Disarm series.
- I believe there will be four novelettes overall
- If I can keep up the rate at which this story is flowing out of me, I'd say each installment should be released within 10-14 days of each other.
So... what do you think? Tell me in the comments which one you'd rather read first: Untamed or Hannah & Logan's story.
* This excerpt is copyrighted and cannot be copied or otherwise used without express permission from the author.
* This excerpt is copyrighted and cannot be copied or otherwise used without express permission from the author.