Then Something Changed

Chapter 1

Hannah reaches over to her night stand next to her bed to stop the obnoxious sound of her alarm clock reading 6:00am before turning over to kiss Brian.

"Good morning, my love." She says as she pulls the blankets away.

A sleepy and mumbled groan was her response.

She rolls her eyes and begins to gather her clothes for the day and makes her way to the bathroom across the hall. After closing the door behind her, she puts on the playlist on her phone labeled "shower" which consists of different genres of music. Music has always been a big part of her life, so starting the day off with it would  always get her ready for whatever the day consists of. 

Kicking off her pajamas she steps in the shower and begins to clean herself, occasionally humming and dancing along to the music.

After rinsing herself free of soap she turns off the water and steps out, grabs a towel and begins drying herself off. She then puts on her work uniform, draws on some winged eyeliner and puts on some mascara before stepping out of the bathroom.

Pausing her music to be sure not to wake up her roommate Jacob she walks back into her room to grab her car keys and head to work. Walking in the door she notices Brian has already left for work. Staring at the empty spot on the bed she sighs.

He used to never leave before telling me goodbye...

A slight wave of sadness sweeps over her as she begins to make their bed, thinking back to how things used to be before a mistake she made that caused their relationship to be far from the fairytale it once was. She looks back at the bed once more before turning off the light and makes way to her car.

She couldn't help but let her mind wander back to the past, and her mistake, as she starts the ignition of her car and begins her long commute to a job she absolutely hated. Music is playing, but she doesn't hear it. The thoughts in her head consume anything else that's going on around her.

Before she knows it she's pulling into the parking lot of her work. Looking up at the big letters "WDS" on the building makes her roll her eyes. She really hated this job.

After hours of answering phone call after phone call, listening to people complain about their phone bill, and trying to teach old ladies how to check their voicemail over the phone, it was finally her lunch. Grabbing her wallet and phone from her bag under her computer desk she walks to the break room.

She instantly makes eye contact with her friend Alex as she walks in. He sets aside the Cue to pause his Pool game and walks over to her.

"Hey trouble. How's the calls going today?" Alex says with a smirk on his face.

Hannah rolls her eyes, "Oh you know. The usual. Terrible."

"Oh come on, Hannah. This job isn't that bad." He nudged her playfully.

She smiles a weak smile and pulls her cigarettes out of her pocket, "If you say so, Hondo. Wanna join me for a smoke?"

He nods in response and they both walk outside.

Leaning her back against the wall of the smoking patio she lights her cigarette, takes a big drag, and exhales in relief. She really hated smoking, but that seems to be the only thing that calms her down now-a-days. Hannah looks over at Alex to begin another conversation but realizes he's got his earbuds in and is listening to music, tapping away on his thighs as if he's playing the drums. She quickly finishes her smoke and goes back inside to get her lunch.

Hannah finishes eating with 5 minutes left to spare. With that, she get on Facebook on her phone. Scrolling through her news feed she comes across a lot of her friends making New Years Resolutions seeing as New Years was this weekend. After trying to skip through what seemed like hundreds of posts she locks her phone and makes her way back to her desk, clocking in to finish the rest of her miserable shift at her miserable job.

5:30 finally rolls around and Hannah can't clock out fast enough. She sighs a sigh of relief as she unlocks the door of her car and gets in.

Made it though one more day...

She spends the drive home lost in her thoughts about what was going to happen this Holiday Weekend.

"I wanted this to be a surprise... but I'm going to propose to you at midnight on New Year's Eve..." Brian said with a confident smile on his face.

A loud honk and the brights of headlights jerks Hannah from her thoughts and she panics and swerves back into the right lane on the road. Panting heavily she looks in the rear view mirror at the car she almost collided with and catches a glimpse of herself. She didn't even realize she was crying until now.

Hannah and Brian have been together since they were 16, and were now going on 4 years. With this job that she had, she wasn't sure what her schedule was going to be. Before her schedule was set, her and Brian were having an argument on what days she should request to have off. She wanted to take Christmas off, but he kept insisting she take off New Years. Hearing his news about the proposal at that time was probably the most excited she's been about anything. Of course that all changed. Now thinking about the proposal makes her sick to her stomach.

Hannah's thoughts were put on hold as she pulls into her parking spot outside their house. Turning off the ignition she gathers her things and steps out, making her way to the door. She takes a deep breath before sliding the key in the lock and opening the door, bracing herself for the conversation she was about to have.