Crystal (my surprise)

Crystal took her last drag on the Benson & Hedges pinched between her lips before stamping it out in the Corolla's butt filled ashtray. Reaching for her now ice cold latte she told herself, once again, that was to be her last cigarette. She had driven all night from Reno. A full eight hours across the Sierra Nevada mountains through the state capitol of Sacramento and the high tech valley of San Jose. She had arrived with just a few minutes to spare. Minutes she needed to collect her thoughts and have that last cigarette.

It started almost two years ago when she packed the Corolla and left her troubles behind in Nebraska. Every six month taking another contract nursing assignment. She had slowly made here way west. From Denver to Cheyenne to Reno and now to Monterey. She couldn't drive any farther without ending up in the Pacific. She had run as far as she could. Perhaps at twenty seven it was time for her to stop running and face the fact that she was going to have to make a real life for herself, regardless of the shitty hand she had been dealt. No one was going to do it for her, and there wasn't anyone to even help her. It was going to be all up to her.

She checked hair and face in the visor mirror and then searched for a breath mint in her purse. Popping the breath mint in her mouth she looked out through the foggy morning at the County Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, or CHOMP as Sandy at the contract agency said it was referred to. The fog made the place look almost magical. She could vaguely see Christmas lights twinkling in the lobby. She recalled her high school production of Brigadoon, in which she had a two line part. It was, as if, the same fog machines had been placed out of sight and were billowing puffs of haze over the scene. But that felt like such a long time ago. If she had only known that what she knew now. She thought for a second; would it have made a difference?

Checking her watch, it was seven fifty a.m. - show time. She buttoned up her sweater and grabbed her purse. Stepping out of the car she was struck by the eerie stillness. Not an extraneous sound. She could hear herself breathe. Perhaps it was the fog. As she strode to the entrance she said a little prayer. A prayer that this was going to be the place.

(this is the first installment of the rough / preliminary draft of the copyrighted story of Crystal, I don't where this will end up, but if I don't get some feedback from you bitches it will die a sad death)