SHORT STORY #1 DRAFTS – Shannon's Site

Shannon O’Roak

Short Story 1, Draft 1

01/26/21

[Cecelia] It was a beautiful sunrise that morning in Florence. The wind was brushing past the curtains in the bedroom and felt refreshing as it reached me. The sky was a burnt orange with streaks of red across the sky. It almost seemed as though the universe was trying to capture the electric light that had encompassed my soul. I felt a bit saddened knowing my time in Italy was coming to a close, but I also was overjoyed with the experiences I’d had, and especially the people I met. While I laid there at dawn, I remember feeling complete peace as he softly wrapped his arms around me. I knew in that moment that I would love him for all the years I would have on this Earth.

Now as I sit here at our breakfast table my eyes begin to wander around the kitchen I am oh so familiar with. The fridge is peppered with save the date cards, grocery lists, and various notes of endearment. the chairs we sit in have been scuffed and chipped, and you can see where the polished table had grown dull. Then of course, I noticed the pictures. All the rooms in our home were covered in family photos of children and grandchildren. Birthdays, graduations, and pivotal points in our lives were all there, documented on our walls. He must have noticed my eyes were glazed over, because suddenly I heard him chuckle. “Oh, I’m sorry dear, I must have drifted off again” I explained. He looked at me with his brilliant, yet kind green eyes and said, “Don’t apologize, I was just admiring you”.

[Will] As we got into the car this morning, the air was brisk and smelled like fall. The leaves had just begun to turn into their beautiful colors. I got into the driver’s seat and started the engine, already anxious for the trip ahead. I took another quick glance at her, and noticed she was drifting off into space again. I wondered what was on her mind, but part of me already knew. As we were driving to Johnson Memorial, I tuned the radio to a station where the music immediately reminded me of our time in Europe. We had both been volunteering when we met in Florence so many summers ago. We were both so young and full of light, and I had never seen someone so beautiful. While her looks were stunning, that wasn’t what was so captivating about her. Her mind was so intricate, and you could always tell she had something important to say. When she spoke, her voice was loud and excited, like the world had infinite possibilities and she’d be damned if she didn’t get to experience all of them. As I watched her staring out the passenger seat window, I felt fortunate that she had never lost that excitable spark.

As we entered the hospital, a nurse greeted us and brought us to the oncology floor. She was diagnosed about a month ago, but today was the day we would find out her prognosis. My palms were clammy, and I had that aching feeling in my stomach that I knew probably wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. Out of a smaller corner room, the doctor peeked out “Cecilia?” he announced. She stood up beside me and gave me a soft smile. She leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon love” she whispered to me, and I rarely heard her this quiet. I squeezed her hand, and then watched her walk into the exam room.

As I sat there for what felt like an eternity, watching the hospital staff cruise by because today was just another day at the office for them. Meanwhile the anxiety consumed me. My wife of 45 wonderful years had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and I had no idea how much more time we would have together. All of a sudden, the exam room door opened, and I saw Cecelia appear. Her eyes still appeared to be glazed over, and her lips formed a thin line. My stomach immediately dropped, and it felt as though my feet were molding into floor below me. I knew that someday I would have to face the fact that Cecelia and I would eventually part, but I wasn’t ready to accept that fate.

Shannon O’Roak

Short Story 1, Draft 2

02/01/21

Now as I sit here at our breakfast table my eyes begin to wander around the kitchen, I am oh so familiar with. The fridge is peppered with save the date cards, grocery lists, and various notes of endearment. the chairs we sit in have been scuffed and chipped, and you can see where the polished table had grown dull. Then of course, I noticed the pictures. All the rooms in our home were covered in family photos of children and grandchildren. Birthdays, graduations, and pivotal points in our lives were all there, documented on our walls. He must have noticed my eyes were glazed over, because suddenly I heard him chuckle. “Oh, I’m sorry dear, I must have drifted off again” I explained. He looked at me with his brilliant, yet kind green eyes and said, “Don’t apologize, I was just admiring you”.

As we entered the hospital, a nurse greeted us and brought us to the oncology floor. She was diagnosed about a month ago, but today was the day we would find out her prognosis. My palms were clammy, and I had that aching feeling in my stomach that I knew probably wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. Out of a smaller corner room, the nurse peeked out “Cecilia?” she announced. She stood up beside me and gave me a soft smile. She leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon love” she whispered to me. I rarely heard her this quiet. I squeezed her hand, and then watched her walk into the exam room.

[Cecelia] The sky was a clear blue as I walked the cobblestone streets of Italy. I could hear men arguing about produce, bus horns honking, and the most exquisite little birds dart past my ear chirping wildly. I felt William’s hand reach for mine, and one by one interlock our fingers. He held my hand firmly and started running down the street. I laughed loudly as he dragged me through crowds of people who seemed quite irritated with all of my excitement. As we whipped around the corner he suddenly stopped. I came crashing into him smacking my nose on his shoulder blade. He turned around grinning and said, “you should really watch where you’re going you know.” I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly as he placed his hand on my cheek. He was looking directly into my eyes, making my stomach turn. “What are you staring at” I said loud enough for those passing by to turn their heads. “I can’t just look at you?” He answered.

As I heard the door handle click, I snapped back into reality. Doctor’s offices are a great place to get lost in your thoughts, because they always take their sweet time getting to you. Dr. Barns was a slender man with large glasses and a very cherry demeanor for an oncology doctor. “Hello Cecelia and how are you this fine morning?” he exclaimed. “I’m fine, just anxiously awaiting my test results, I’m sure you know how that can be.” I explained. “I understand completely Cecelia, I hope I can answer all the questions you may have for me today” he said in a much more sympathetic tone this time. “So, through our testing we have found that you have stage 4 breast cancer, I know it sounds daunting, but with surgery and chemotherapy….” I was no longer listening. Stage 4 breast cancer. There’s really nothing anyone can say to make that diagnosis any less imminent. I could feel my heart throb as I wondered how I was ever going to be able to tell Will. He had been so worried about me the past few weeks, and honestly after decades together we relied on each other.

As Dr. Barns walked me out of his office, I tried to conceal my fear. My eyes traveled upwards to meet Will’s across the room, and I knew my efforts had failed me. He looked at me as though he already knew. I didn’t have to say anything at all for him to understand me, and he understood what Dr. Barns had already tried to explain to me. He was always the rock in our relationship, holding me in place whenever I felt like I was falling. I could tell he was trying so hard to be strong for me, but this situation was impossible. Ever since we met that summer in Europe, we both knew we were meant to spend our lives together. I was more cynical and afraid of love when I was young, but Will always told me how he just knew we’d end up together. It was a simple thing, yet he never broke his promise, and has loved me more than I ever could have hoped for every day since. Now as I stood here staring back at him, I had to be the one to break his heart.

[Will] We made it through the hospital, hand in hand, without saying a word. We shuffled past the front desk, to the elevator, through the hospital entryway, and almost ran into a security guard out front because neither of us were really paying attention. As we got to the car, I opened the door for her. She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with pain as they always did right before she was about to cry. I gentle shut her door after she was settled in her seat and walked around to the driver’s side. I started the car and the same nostalgic music drifted through the radio. I couldn’t bring myself to put the car in drive. I looked over at my wonderful wife and she had begun to cry. Her breath was shaky, and tears were rolling down her cheeks and off her chin. I reached to brush away the tears from her eyes, but before I could she placed her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and held her there. I wasn’t really one to get emotional but knowing the love of your life may be leaving you soon is something I don’t think anyone can overcome.

Shannon O’Roak

Short Story 1, Draft 3

02/03/21

[Cecelia] It was a beautiful sunrise that morning in Paris. The wind was brushing past the curtains in the bedroom and felt refreshing as it reached me. The sky was a burnt orange with streaks of red across the sky. It almost seemed as though the universe was trying to capture the electric light that had encompassed my soul. I felt a bit saddened knowing my time in Italy was coming to a close, but I also was overjoyed with the experiences I’d had, and especially the people I met. While I laid there at dawn, I remember feeling complete peace as he softly wrapped his arms around me. I knew in that moment that I would love him for all the years I would have on this Earth.

As we entered the hospital, a nurse greeted us and brought us to the oncology floor. She was diagnosed about a month ago, but today was the day we would find out her prognosis. My palms were clammy, and I had that aching feeling in my stomach that I knew probably wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. Out of a smaller corner room, the nurse peeked out “Cecilia?” she announced. She stood up beside me and gave me a soft smile. She leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon love” she whispered to me. I rarely heard her this quiet. I squeezed her hand, and then watched her walk into the exam room.

I had finally been able to let go of Cecelia and begin our long drive back home. As we were traveling down the road, I glanced at the trees just like I had earlier this morning. Then they resembled beauty but now all I saw was the death of thousands of leaves. Everyone has those moments in life where you remember how precious it is. Your wedding, first child, first home, and grandchildren are all examples of these moments. It’s as if time stops and you say to yourself, I swear I’ll never take anything for granted such pure joy in this instant. It’s as if all the stars have aligned and nothing could ever make you forget just how wonderful life is. But then days pass, and then months and then years and you forget how precious life is. Then life drops a bomb on you, and you instantly regret all the time you’ve been given and haven’t spent every single second appreciating. You kick yourself for not appreciating life as much as you promised you would. Suddenly I had pulled over and stopped the car. Cecelia looked startled and said, “Will honey what are you doing?” I looked over to her and simply replied “we’re making the most out of this, and I’m not going to let any of it go to waste.”

[Cecelia] I had just gotten in line at a pop-up gelato stand. It was my last day volunteering in Europe and I had decided to stay an extra week to explore Italy and other surrounding countries. I felt so fortunate to have found the program I did. I had been able to go on a trip to Italy for basically nothing which was good since I was absolutely broke. As I stepped up to the cart to pick a flavor and pointed at the raspberry one. Suddenly a man came out of nowhere, stepped right up next to me, looked at the man running the cart and said, “we’re together” and handed the man his money. “Oh no that’s really kind of you but you don’t have to do that” I explained. “Well, I wanted to” he replied. Little did I know I’d just met the man who would one day become my husband.

As we were driving down the road I kept looking over at Will. He was concentrating on the road so intensely that he almost looked angry. His hands were wrapped around the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white, and his forehead was wrinkled from scrunching up his eyebrows. “Where are we going Will” I asked a bit hesitantly. His face softened when he heard my voice, and he took his right hand and placed it on top of mine. “It’s a surprise, but you’ll like it I promise.” We got onto the highway southbound, which was odd to me since everything we needed was North of us. Our kids, groceries, doctor’s appointments, and other various obligations were always north of home, never south. We got off the highway pretty quickly and drove across this magnificent bridge. From the bridge you could see a small harbor with fishing boats nicely planted all around the coast. The water sparkled in the sunlight and reminded me of how important it is to appreciate the little things in life. Right after the bridge Will turned left into a parking lot and I couldn’t believe where we were.

Standing right in front of me was a gelato shop that we’d found over two decades ago. I had completely forgotten it even existed and was even more surprised to see it hadn’t been sold or bought out by some other company. I turned to Will and asked, “How did you know it was still here?” he looked at me and said, “I didn’t, I was just hoping for a miracle.” Gelato had always been sort of a sacred custom for us. We’d met at a gelato stand and Will always said it was the power of a good dessert that brought us together. Gelato was something we always ate just the two of us. We did this when something really great happened, or we’d just resolved a disagreement, and especially when we encountered a problem in our lives that we didn’t know how to fix.

Shannon O’Roak

Short Story 1, Draft 4

02/08/21

Now as I sit here at our breakfast table my eyes begin to wander around the kitchen, I am oh so familiar with. The fridge is peppered with save the date cards, grocery lists, and various notes of endearment. the chairs we sit in have been scuffed and chipped, and you can see where the polished table has grown dull. Then of course, I noticed the pictures. All the rooms in our home were covered in family photos of children and grandchildren. Birthdays, graduations, and pivotal points in our lives were all there, documented on our walls. He must have noticed my eyes were glazed over, because suddenly I heard him chuckle. “Oh, I’m sorry dear, I must have drifted off again” I explained. He looked at me with his brilliant, yet kind green eyes and said, “Don’t apologize, I was just admiring you”.

As we entered the hospital, a nurse greeted us and brought us to the oncology floor. She was diagnosed about a month ago, but today was the day we would find out her prognosis. My palms were clammy, and I had that aching feeling in my stomach that I knew probably wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. Out of a smaller corner room, the nurse peeked out “Cecilia?” she announced. She stood up beside me and gave me a soft smile. She leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon love” she whispered to me. I rarely heard her this quiet. I squeezed her hand, and then watched her walk into the exam room.

As I sat there for what felt like an eternity, I watched the hospital staff cruise by because today was just another day at the office for them. Meanwhile the anxiety consumed me. My wife of 45 wonderful years had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and I had no idea how much more time we would have together. All of a sudden, the exam room door opened, and I saw Cecelia appear. Her eyes still appeared to be glazed over, and her lips formed a thin line. My stomach immediately dropped, and it felt as though my feet were molding into floor below me. I knew that someday I would have to face the fact that Cecelia and I would eventually part, but I wasn’t ready to accept that fate.

[Will] We made it through the hospital, hand in hand, without saying a word. We shuffled past the front desk, to the elevator, through the hospital entryway, and almost ran into a security guard out front because neither of us were really paying attention. As we got to the car, I opened the door for her. She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with pain as they always did right before she was about to cry. I gentle shut her door after she was settled in her seat and walked around to the driver’s side. I started the car and the same nostalgic music drifted through the radio. I couldn’t bring myself to put the car in drive. I looked over at my wonderful wife and she had begun to cry. Her breath was shaky, and tears were rolling down her cheeks and off her chin. I reached to brush away the tears from her eyes, but before I could she placed her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and held her there. I wasn’t really one to get emotional, but knowing the love of your life may be leaving you soon is something I don’t think anyone can overcome.

I had finally been able to let go of Cecelia and begin our long drive back home. As we were traveling down the road, I glanced at the trees just like I had earlier this morning. Then they resembled beauty but now all I saw was the death of thousands of leaves. Everyone has those moments in life that make you remember how precious it is. Your wedding, first child, first home, and grandchildren are all examples of these moments. It’s as if time stops and you say to yourself, “I swear I’ll never take anything for granted because of the joy in this instant.” It’s as if all the stars have aligned and nothing could ever make you forget just how wonderful life is. But then days pass, and then months and then years and you forget how precious life is. Then life drops a bomb on you, and you instantly regret all the time you’ve been given and haven’t spent every single second appreciating. You kick yourself for not appreciating life as much as you promised you would. Suddenly I had pulled over and stopped the car. Cecelia looked startled and said, “Will honey what are you doing?” I looked over to her and simply replied “we’re making the most out of this, and I’m not going to let any of it go to waste.”

[Cecelia] I had just gotten in line at a pop-up gelato stand. It was my last day volunteering in Europe and I had decided to stay an extra week to explore Italy and other surrounding countries. I felt so fortunate to have found the program I did. I had been able to go on a trip to Italy for basically nothing which was good since I was absolutely broke. I stepped up to the cart to pick a flavor and pointed at the raspberry one. Suddenly a man came out of nowhere, stepped right up next to me, looked at the man running the cart and said, “we’re together” and handed the man his money. “Oh no that’s really kind of you but you don’t have to do that” I explained. “Well, I wanted to” he replied. Little did I know I’d just met the man who would one day become my husband.

As we walked inside together, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. Will’s kindness never ceased to amaze me, even after so many years together. I think that’s part of why I loved Will so deeply. Life with him was never boring and with each day came a new way for him to love me. Will truly had only unconditional love for others and a kindness that set him apart from everyone else. “So what kind are you thinking?” he asked me. “Oh honey, why don’t you surprise me” I said practically glowing with amazement. Will let out a small laugh and said, “Okay but if you don’t like it you can’t say I didn’t warn you.” He ended up getting me raspberry, which was my favorite and of course he already knew that. He grabbed both our cups of gelato and headed for the door, always rushing so he made sure he could hold it for me. As we sat in the car enjoying our gelato, I realized it tasted of summer and youth. It brought me back in time to when life seemed so simple. I could see the sun setting in the distance and remembered all the times Will and I would drive during sunsets, as if we were trying to catch up to them before the last beam of light ran out.

[Will] It was dusk now, and the streetlights around us were beginning to come on. “Will shouldn’t we be heading home soon?” She asked me, and I could tell she was getting tired “I actually have one more surprise for you, if that’s okay” I said to her with a hopeful glance. “Will I cannot tell you how much I would love that” she said as I admired her smile, which was one thing that had been left unchanged by the aging process. I began to drive again and this time we were heading towards towns and cities I knew Cecelia wasn’t familiar with. I’d lived in Northern California my whole life, so I knew the area like the back of my hand. I was taking her to a spot I had gone to when I was young, it was a great place to look at the stars. Cecelia loved the stars so much that we had spent every night of the week we met in Europe gazing at the stars. She used to point out constellations and ask me what I thought they meant. We would be laying on the ground talking when suddenly, she would yell so loudly you’d think she was hurt. In reality, she’d just seen a shooting star. I thought of these moments fondly as I pulled into an abandoned parking lot. It had a view of the ocean and you could see all the lights from the nearby city. I could tell Cecelia was puzzled by the look on her face and as if on command she asked me “What are we doing here Will?” I looked at her and touched her cheek with my thumb “We’re here to look at the stars.” She just stared at me for a second, and then she reached over to hug me. We just sat there, holding on to each other for a few minutes. Sometimes appreciating the moment you’re in becomes a pivotal point in your life. This moment was definitely pivotal for me.

It was a fairly cool night, so we decided to stay in the car to stargaze. We had a sunroof that we opened up and we reclined our seats back, so we were looking directly up at the sky. We always stored blankets in the back seat for sporadic adventures like these, so I grabbed one and used it to cover both of us so we wouldn’t get cold from the swift breeze coming through the window. As I lay there with her, I realized that even if the cancer took her away from me, I would never really lose her. We had lived such a wonderful life and created beautiful things. Our children were successful, and they now had families of their own to care for. Cecelia and I had spent years traveling, working, laughing, and simply just enjoying life. She was the light that had inspired me to reach for all of my dreams. Even if we weren’t able to defeat this challenge, I knew in my heart that I could never ask for more than she had given me. As we laid there together with each other, the car began to shake. The leaves were falling off the trees at an alarming rate and I could hear buildings rumbling with destruction coming from all around us. I looked over at Cecelia and her golden-brown eyes were the last thing I saw. Sometimes you just don’t know how much time you have left, and sometimes, you don’t even know the end is coming.