An Excerpt From My Novel

Called: It's Been Long Enough.

Well it's not called that. And I'm not writing a novel. Although sometimes I think I should. Anyway, here goes:

"It was one of those weird drives home. The kind where it's awkwardly silent. Where you're just waiting for someone or something to break the tension. We walked out of Denny's only thinking about what had just transpired. No words were dared spoken. The shocking revelations brought up over some late night apple pie would eventually cause a definitive divide between us. We hopped in the van and sat quietly. The radio was off for some reason. No one spoke. We just looked out our windows and we waited. For what? Anything. A cough, a sneeze, a honking horn. Anything that would spark a conversation. Even a pin dropping would have sufficed. But nothing. And as we drove through some of the darkest streets I'd ever seen, I wondered, “What's going to happen next?”. I thought of all we'd been through. The good. The bad. The unnecessarily ugly. My heart was telling me it would be OK but my brain was a bit more pessimistic or realistic depending on who you ask, and telling me to prepare for the imminent end. This wouldn't just be the end of a relationship though; it'd be the end of an era. The end of something, that back when it started, had the potential to go and eventually went far beyond anyone's expectations. Now, it looked like the things said prior to our entering the vehicle, would be the dose of reality that no one wanted to hear. This night would be the no turning back point.


We finally reached our destination. One of us quickly escaped the silent jail cell we'd created and continuing with the rules of silence, exited the van without saying a word. It seemed as though a slamming door would be the last sound left behind. The silence was back. A conversation outside the van started but was drowned by the sound of the running engine. It was like watching a silent film where the engine doubled as spinning wheels of a film reel. When all was said and done, one door opened and another closed."