Hannah's Fate |COMPLETED| 18+

Chapter Three

   It was nice to sleep in. I'd spent much of the night mapping out my fastest way to New York and hoping that they could get the part overnighted. I still wasn't 100 percent sure this would be the job for me, but at that moment, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. Without really any ideas, I knew the smartest move was to continue on the path my mom set up for me.

Or fuck it all and just run away. I thought.

I opened the giant curtains and let the afternoon June sun come into my hotel room and brighten it up. It felt nice, just standing there and enjoying the sunshine. I wished I got stranded in a town close to the mountains though. I would have gone for a hike or at least a walk where I could breathe in the smell of pine trees and fresh air. There wasn't smog in Colorado like back in Los Angeles. I might have had a harder time breathing because of the altitude, but at least what I was breathing in was clean.

After taking a shower and getting ready for the day, something I thoroughly enjoyed doing, I went downstairs. I was starving and wanted the woman who ran the hotel's opinion on the diner across the street.

"Good morning. Hannah, right?" The lady asked.

"Good morning. Yes, it's Hannah." I smiled.

"My name is Donna. How did you sleep? Well, I hope." She said, beaming with pride as if her hotel was the best in the world. I liked her confidence.

"I slept great. Thank you. Do you know if the diner across the street is any good?"

Her eyes went big. "Do I? It's the best place in town. I promise you that. My best friend Beatrice works there. Tell her I sent you. I'm sure she'll throw in a free slice of pie." She said with a wink.

"Thanks." I laughed. I wasn't used to this kind of hospitality. Everyone I had encountered so far, had been so pleasant. It was exactly how I pictured a small town would be. I told Donna goodbye and then walked over to the mechanic shop. The uncle, whose name I still didn't know, was working.

"Good afternoon. I got that part ordered for you. Overnighted. It should be here sometime today." He said.

"Wow, thank you so much. That really means a lot." I had been expecting bad news. The decision to run away or head to New York loomed over me even more. I almost wished for more time to think. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name yesterday," I said to him.

"They call me nine-toe-Joe." He said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Lost one of my toes to frostbite back in '09."

"I'm sorry." I thought about how horrific that must have been.

"Ah. Don't be. It was my own stupidity. I laugh about it all the time now." He said.

I let out a small laugh, feeling obligated to do so. "That's good. At least you found humor in it."

"If you can't find humor in the worst times, you'll never make it through life." He said.

"That's a good way to look at things." His positivity about the situation amazed me. I usually spent time surrounded by people who were so miserable in their lives that they'd think it was the end of the world if they got a paper cut.

"Been through too much to let it hold me back. If I had I wouldn't be fixing your car up right now."

I smiled at him. He seemed like such a good man. I couldn't help but wonder what his story was. Other than the toe.

"Have you been to the diner yet?" He asked with a tip of his chin in that direction.

"I was just about to head there," I told him.