Authors: Brittany Hope
THE GIFT
THE GIFT
By Brittany Hope
Copyright © 2014
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
Memories of that night always felt like a fresh wound to Amanda. If she had known how it would all end, there were so many things she would have changed. Just one simple thing might have avoided the whole miserable ending that seemed to know play out in slow motion when she let herself think back on it. There were gaps, bits and pieces she couldn’t quite remember, but the ending did not change. It was always the same and it always ending up in a complete darkness from which there was no escape.
It had started out like any other night of her young adult life. After spending hours at the hairdresser and in the makeup chair, she and her mother had returned home to put on the prom dress that they had picked out months earlier in anticipation of this night. With only a couple more months to go until she graduated high school, this was going to be a big night that she would remember long after she had moved on to college and eventually into a career, though she still had trouble deciding exactly what it was she wanted to do.
She sat looking at herself in the mirror and smiled. Tonight was going to be perfect. She heard the doorbell ring and knew that Dan had arrived, so she stepped out of her room and made her way down toward him.
“You look beautiful,” Dan told her as she descended the stairs to where he was standing awkwardly with her parents watching, the camera poised for impromptu pictures. Amanda smiled, she felt like she was glowing. Her hair was pulled up in long loose tendrils that trailed down her bare back. The sweetheart neckline of her strapless taffeta prom dress covered just enough to make her parents happy but not so much that she looked prudish. The royal blue color served to make her pale blue eyes that much more stunning as she stepped off the last step and lost her balance, tumbling forward, where Dan caught her in his arms.
“I’ve fallen for you,” she laughed, trying to play off her embarrassment over losing her balance.
“Of course you have, what’s not to love?” Dan responded, holding her arms as she returned to an upright position and smiled sheepishly at him.
She had been dating Dan since they were freshmen. Now, it was their senior year and this would be their last big event together until graduation. Dan’s parents were out of town and she would be spending the night there with him after prom. It wasn’t the first time they had spent the night together. Amanda had lost her virginity to Dan their sophomore year. He was her first and it looked like he would also be her last, as they never had a harsh word for one another. They were a power couple at school and completely devoted to one another.
Dan had transferred in from a nearby private academy. His father’s company had gone under and Dan’s family had to do some serious downsizing to make ends meet, but they had never come across as bitter or carried remnants of a previously spoiled life with them. They were all surprisingly down to earth and sweet. Dan had welcomed the change in schools, as he had never really fit in at the uppity private school he had attended before. Here, he had quickly made friends and become very popular. He and Amanda had clicked right away and the rest, as they say, was history.
“Well, that was nearly tragic,” her mother said, regaining her own composure after the near fall her daughter had taken onto the hardwood floor.
“Let’s get a picture of the two of you before you run off,” Amanda’s father told them. Amanda and Dan smiled happily into the camera as he snapped a few photos. “Great. Now, get going. Have fun and get my girl home safe to me, Dan,” her father told him with a serious look. Amanda had no doubt that her parents knew she and Dan were doing it and would be again tonight, but they said nothing. The only discussion of it had been the required “talking to” about being safe and how not doing so might affect her plans.
In the fall, she and Dan would start college and they had already planned on staying in one of the co-ed dorms together. Dan’s parents had wanted him to go to an Ivy League school, but their finances had never regained their previous status and they simply couldn’t afford the tuition. Though they weren’t poverty stricken, by any means, they were strictly upper middle class like Amanda’s family. It hadn’t been too hard for Dan to talk them into letting him go to school closer to home.
“Okay, we have to stop by Erika’s house and pick up the gang and then we are off,” Dan told her as they walked to the SUV his father had loaned him for the night. Fifteen minutes later, they were all chattering away as they and three of their closest friends made their way to the ritzy hotel where the prom was being held.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Dan said as he pulled into the parking deck and turned off the ignition. He pulled a small box from the console of the vehicle and opened it, exposing the most beautiful hand corsage with white roses, baby’s breath and royal blue ribbon accents that matched her dress.
“I thought you forgot,” she said.
“No way. I never forget my girl,” he said, drawing both kissing and puking sounds from the back seat as he slid it on her wrist. He kissed her softly, drawing more noises and catcalls from the others.
“I’m glad you forgot. It wouldn’t have been the same without the peanut gallery to heckle us,” Amanda laughed.
The next four hours were incredible with lots of dancing and talking to friends. Toward the end, they began to play a lot more slow songs. She and Dan swayed slowly to the sounds of The Fray singing
“How to Save a Life”,
completely lost in one another as they enjoyed their final days of high school. Amanda leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the lips, pulling away before any of the chaperones chastised them for getting too frisky on the dance floor. There would be plenty of time for kisses later. The thought of the night ahead in his arms sent an ache spiraling through her.
She couldn’t wait to be alone with Dan again. They spent a lot of time making out in the car and it just made her feel a little cheap sometimes. It was going to be great to spend an entire night alone with him in his room tonight, even if that room was filled with ridiculous Star Wars collectibles. Dan could be quite the geek when it came to that kind of stuff. She often made fun of him because he had a garbage can beneath his desk in the shape of R2D2 and it made little beeping sounds when he tossed a piece of trash in it. She was jarred from her thoughts by the sound of Kirk’s voice.
“Hey, love birds, it’s time to blow this pop stand,” Kirk said, clapping Dan on the back and disrupting the moment. He smiled broadly as he wedged his way between them, telling them it was time to head out for some grub. Unlike many of their classmates, there would be no drinking after the prom for Amanda and her friends. They weren’t saints, but none of them had ever been part of the drinking crowd, preferring clean living and excursions into the outdoors as an alternative high.
Amanda and Dan followed Kirk to the door where they met up with Jane and Holly, then hurried back out to the vehicle in the light sprinkle of rain that had begun while they were inside. They planned to head to a nearby burger joint all the kids hung out at on weekends and pig out before heading their separate ways. Kirk, Jane and Holly had all gone to the prom stag and were going to an after party. Amanda and Dan were going to drop them off and finish the night out together.
Amanda and Dan sat close together. No matter where they were, they always had to be touching. It was a running joke between their friends that they were more like Siamese twins than a couple. Tonight was no different, with Kirk calling them Sum Ye and Sum Yo jokingly. It didn’t bother them, they were in love and knew they would spend the rest of their lives together, long after their friends and high school were in the rear view mirror, though Amanda hated to think of a time when they wouldn’t be surrounded by such great people and incredible fun.
They all chatted happily enough between bites of food and stealing fries from one another. It was a spectacular night. Amanda had no doubt that it would be one she would remember for the rest of her life. The prom had been wonderful and grabbing a quick bite with friends was great, but what she really was looking forward to was the night alone with Dan. It wasn’t often that they had a chance to really be alone without having to get her home to curfew or worrying about being caught somewhere they shouldn’t be, doing something they weren’t supposed to do. Her excitement built as they all stepped out of the burger joint and into the lights in the parking lot out front.
“Hey, let’s get a group photo before we hit the road,” Jane said. She called over a girl she knew that was about to go inside and asked her to take their picture with her cell phone. They all linked arm in arm like a chorus line and kicked up one leg as she snapped the photo.
“Oh, this turned out great!” Holly said, looking over Jane’s shoulder as the other girl returned her phone. “Send it to me, too.”
“I’ll send it to everyone,” Jane said. By the time they sat back down in the SUV, everyone’s phones were going off with receipt of the pic, which really had turned out fabulous. Amanda sent it to her mother, who couldn’t get enough of pictures and would find a way to add it to the collection on the mantle from the phone snapshot.
“I can’t believe that Becky showed up with Tyler Lundquist. I thought they hated one another!” Jane said with a shocked look on her face. Dan had just started across the Queensboro Bridge, which Amanda secretly hated. She had always had this phobia about bridges and being on them and often closed her eyes until they were across them, but this time she focused instead on Becky and what she was saying.
“I know! She just told me two weeks ago that she thought he was a complete troll and now here she is waltzing in on his arm like they are inseparable. What’s up with that?” Amanda replied, rolling her eyes.
“I know why,” Dan offered, but his explanation would never be known. The suburban that had been borrowed from his father was suddenly flooded with light. Before anyone realized what was happening or could react, as if there was anything that could have been done to stop it, they were struck from the side by a semi-truck that had lost control on the slick bridge beneath them.
The force of the collision sent the car careening sideways, catching a tire on something in the road and sending the large vehicle into a horizontal flip. The semi broke through the metal beams and went sailing off the edge into the darkness. Screams filled the car as the SUV rolled several times and finally came to rest upside down near the opposite side of the edge of the bridge. Then there was only darkness and silence for Amanda until she woke up later the next morning in the intensive care unit of the hospital.