11:11 PM [Mother Nature's Dirty Little Joke]
an excerpt

Ophelia Chase is getting to be very tired. Tired of all the sleepless nights, tired of writing unanswered letters. Tired of watching the news night after night, hands shaking as the names are read one by one by another emotionless newscaster. Seven killed in Iraq. None of the names familiar, none of the faces recognized. Exhaling. A fire rampages an apartment complex. A cat is born with two legs. The world moves on.

She is tired of anticipating and fearing the moment when the sheer force of her world crashing down around her forces her to her knees. Tired of being afraid of something as simple as a name. His name. She is tired as she crawls into bed as daylight breaks over the distant mountains, her boyfriend rolling over to wrap his arms around her. She is tired.

All she can think about is the times they spent together, the times they spent apart. She cannot drive anywhere without seeing something that reminds her of him. Poncho’s Donuts. He always insisted their donuts were far superior to any other donut in existence. Crick Creek. The amusement park where they had their first date. Lumiere Drive. The road they had been stuck on for an hour as a train passed by in front of them.

She had met Alex Flannigan five or so years ago. He had been a customer, a regular really, back in her coffee slave days. He would come through the drive through every time she worked, always with some zany idea in mind. The most memorable was the day he came through the drive through backwards and demanded that she climb through the window and into his car. He wanted to go to Boston and get married. She had no idea how serious he was then but if she had known, she would have gone. They had not even really been dating then, but it wasn’t long after that that they finally decided to have a go at it.

It got complicated as their two extremely explosive personalities began to take things further and further, just letting things rocket ship up into the unknown and letting their feelings reign over every decision, no matter how big or small. Always a daddy’s boy, his family thought they were too young to be getting so serious so soon. They broke up, they got back together, they lather, rinse, repeated. He broke her heart, she broke his. Eventually it had gotten to the point where she realized she could not take anymore of it. Anymore of the rollercoaster ride. The exact moment would always haunt her.