Chapter One

The start of my novel... Nothing Is Ever By Accident

Chapter One

           

Beep Beep Beep Beep!

Another new day begins as 23-year-old Jamie Rayne reached over and turned off her alarm. She quickly stretched and glanced out her bedroom window. The sun hadn’t risen quite yet. It was 5am so it would be another hour or so until it appeared over the horizon.

Jamie was meeting her good friend Corinne at six to hike up Mt. Carmel, their favorite nearby peak. Jamie had grown up in Colorado her whole life, which had given her plenty of opportunities to hike the many mountains located within the Rockies. It was a family pastime and still to this day Jamie would set aside time once a week to hike the trails of the local mountains. Every once in a while she would venture further away to one of the higher peaks up north.

Hiking was a way for her to get away from everything in life and just be out in nature. Nothing calmed her more than reaching the top and seeing the world beneath her, thousands of miles below. In the wintertime, everything would be sparkling white, other times of year things would be a luscious green. She would take in the beauty and breathe in the calmness around her. Just her, the mountains, and nothing else.

Jamie slowly stretched once more and crawled out of bed, stumbling over her hiking shoes she had set out the night before. I gotta pay attention to where I’m walking, she softly mumbled to herself. She grabbed the rest of her gear and walked across the hall to her only bathroom.

Jamie owned her own one bedroom apartment in little old Pickett, Colorado. Jamie enjoyed living on her own, but also enjoyed the company of her many friends. She often had them over for dinner or her always-crazy game nights. The latest game night she had hosted had her gasping for air from laughing so hard at her friend Pete, who was intensely engrossed in their game of Gestures. Never before had she seen someone use such creative ideas. The funniest creation he had was with the word ‘fountain.’ Pete grabbed a nearby bottle of water, took a sip, and sprayed it around the room, soaking his nearest teammates. It had been awhile since Jamie had laughed that hard. Just thinking back on it made her chuckle aloud.

Jamie’s friends and supportive parents were what kept her going through life. Without them, she wasn’t sure where she would be, especially after the hardships she had gone through two years prior.

Jamie was engaged to the wonderful Aaron Reynolds. A very handsome guy, with stunning blue eyes. They had fallen in love their sophomore year of high school and were engaged right after graduation. Aaron had proposed at their graduation party, right underneath the big oak tree in her parent’s backyard. They had shared many special talks beneath that tree and the most important word voiced was the squealing ‘yes’ from Jamie’s lips when Aaron got down on one knee that night. The diamond ring he slipped onto her finger was a promise of his love and their beautiful connection with each other. He kissed her gently and they locked into an embrace that Jamie would never forget.

That night was magical for Jamie. She was on cloud nine and never coming back down.

*****

 

 

They had three months until the wedding and Jamie was getting anxious. Aaron was on his way to finalize a few more plans, but unfortunately, Aaron had never made it that night. On his drive over to Jamie’s, a drunk driver had hit him head on and Aaron had been killed instantly. Jamie remembered that night as if it was yesterday.

*****

She was sitting at the dining room table, in her parent’s spacious home, with her wedding plans laid out for her and Aaron to go over that evening. They still had lots to think about and she wanted to make a little more progress before their special day arrived. The big stuff was out of the way, but they had all the little details to attend to.

Aaron was supposed to be there at 6 and at 6:30 Jamie had begun to worry. Aaron was never late for anything; in fact, he prided himself for always being on time. She called his phone, but all she received was a busy signal. That’s weird. Why would it be busy? She had thought to herself.

As she dialed his number again, her dad shouted from the living room, he had on the news, “Jamie! Jamie come here!”

Jamie hurriedly ran into the living room to see what her dad was shouting about. There right in front of her was live coverage of a devastating car accident; one of the cars looked shockingly like Aaron’s, but Jamie knew it couldn’t be. Nothing this horrible would happen to someone she knew.

“What’s wrong dad?” Jamie gave him a questioning look.

He slowly turned toward Jamie, “Hun, one of the victims is Aaron.”

“How do you know? You can’t recognize those cars! There is no way you would know if Aaron was one of those people!” Jamie was shouting at her father. There was no way that a nightmare like this was happening to her.

“Jamie I am so sorry.” Her father tried to wrap her up in a hug, but she refused. She had to know for herself that this was really happening.

She moved closer to the TV to see the footage of the accident a little better. Her eyes were all teary, but she had no idea why. There was nothing to be sad about because Aaron was on his way to see her. He was just running a little late.

She viewed the screen closely and after glancing towards the bottom of it Jamie froze. There she saw a caption at the bottom of the screen that would change her life forever, “Victim Aaron Reynolds Killed by Drunk Driver.” After that, she couldn’t remember a thing, except hitting the floor in complete shock.

Aaron’s family had gotten a phone call from the local police and had been trying to get a hold of Jamie to tell her, unfortunately, Jamie had never hung up the phone from dialing Aaron’s number and they couldn’t get a hold of her before the news came on.

For weeks, Jamie lived in a dense fog, longing for no one but Aaron. She responded to absolutely nothing. She was in complete denial after losing him.

*****

Jamie snapped back from her memory. It had been a little over two years since that fateful day and she still had a very hard time dealing with it. Her Aaron was gone from her life forever and there was nothing she could do about it. She could never love anyone the way she had loved him. She glanced down at her engagement ring, twirling it between her fingers. It reminded her that life is precious and to cherish every moment you have with your loved ones because you never know when they will disappear from your life.

She quickly finished getting ready, grabbed two bottled waters from the fridge and threw some granola bars in her pack. She didn’t want to be late meeting Corinne. One of the things Aaron had taught her was reliability and being on time was a good start to that. Therefore, Jamie was on time wherever she went.

She arrived at the base of Mt. Carmel at 5:50 and waited patiently until Corinne showed up. Five minutes later Corinne pulled up in her lemon yellow Jeep Wrangler.

They greeted each other with a hug and made their way to the entrance of the hiking trail. The distance to the top was about a 4-5 hour hike, but both girls were confident that they could climb a lot quicker than that. The sun was just beginning to rise and it created beautiful shadows through all the trees. It was a bit chilly but the temperature was supposed to rise as the day progressed.

Jamie and Corinne began their trek up the peak and both of them were eager to reach the top.

“So, have you thought anymore about school?” Corinne asked.

Jamie had dropped out of college when Aaron died because she couldn’t focus on her studies and did not want to flunk out. Lately she had been thinking about starting again. “Honestly, I have been giving it a lot more thought lately. I wanna do something more with my life. You know what I mean?”

Corinne nodded her head in complete agreement, “I totally understand.”

“If I do decide to go back to school, I believe it’s best that I go somewhere far away, perhaps the east coast. There are so many memories of Aaron here and I drive through that dreadful intersection almost every day. I need to get away and try to move on, even though I don’t want too.”

“I know it’s hard Jamie,” Corinne gave her friend a knowing glance. She carefully maneuvered under a low-hanging branch, “just do what you feel is best and follow your heart.”

Jamie looked over and smiled, “Well my heart hasn’t made its mind up yet and neither has my head.”

“I’ll pray for you Jamie. I’ll pray that God shows you clear directions on what you are supposed to do.” Corinne was an avid churchgoer and believed faithfully in her Savior. Jamie had once also, but ever since Aaron’s death, she had never really cared. What kind of God would allow Aaron to be killed like that?

“Thanks Corinne, but I doubt that’ll work. Just some simple thinking on my part will do the trick.”

“If you say so Jamie,” Corinne muttered.

Corinne prayed for her stubborn friend daily and wished more than she could count that a sign of her friend’s faith would come back to light.

The girls picked up their pace to hurry to the top.

About 3 hours later, they reached the peak. They dropped their packs on a large rock off to the side and hurried toward the edge to see the view. There was a strong metal railing posted along the edge to keep anyone from falling down the mountainside. Mt. Carmel wasn’t steep, but it would still be a costly fall.

Jamie had climbed this peak many times but each time she reached the top, the view was always breathtaking. No matter what time of year, the scenery was always stunningly, beautiful. She sensed Aaron right beside her admiring the view with her. She could feel his strong arms around her waist, his slow breathing pelting her cheek. As quickly as the feeling came though, it vanished.

The sky was cloudless, painted in a royal blue. A few eagles soared overhead, and in the distance you could see a few of the other peaks. The tallest one was Mt. Oakley. Jamie had only ever climbed that mountain once. It was a dangerous peak and only experienced hikers climbed it. Sometimes, during the year, the trails were not even open due to rock falls and mudslides.

She stood there for what seemed like hours just admiring everything around her. A gentle breeze whipped her blonde hair around her shoulders and she breathed in the fresh air. Calmness and peace washed over her in moments like this.

“Ready to make our way back down?” Jamie turned to look over at Corinne.

“I’m ready whenever you are.” Corinne bent down and picked a purple wildflower from between two rocks. She carefully slipped it behind her ear. “Would you like one?” she handed one to Jamie.

“Sure, why not?” Jamie took the flower and gently tucked it behind her ear as well.

With their colorful, new hair accessories, the two friends made their way back down to the bottom.

 

Author's Note

I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Please let me know your thoughts and feelings on it and reviews will be greatly appreciated! I'm hoping I am doing a good job so far, cause I am not really sure if I am.
Please let me know!

Reviews

[Daniel Hennessy]

All right, since everyone is painting a pretty picture for you, perhaps a real review is in order. Relax, this is structured criticism, so don't take it personally. I'm only helping you become a better writer.

The first paragraph needs to be separated into 2, the new one starting with Jamie meeting her good friend, Corinne. The reason behind this is that you started off with describing the scene and her actions. You have the idea of a paragraph down, but a paragraph's purpose is to discuss 1 to 2 things at most. Jamies meeting Corinne is a whole new subject and a new paragraph needs to be made.

You've actually made this error a couple of times throughout the chapter, not to mention you've missed a LOT of periods, comma's, and even a semi-colon or 2.

Also, when starting off with the character speaking and then taking a minute to describe his/her actions, you always capitalize when he/she starts to speak again.

EX: Here's your paragraph...

Corinne gave her friend a knowing glance, “I know it’s hard Jamie,” she carefully maneuvered under a low-hanging branch, “just do what you feel is best and follow your heart.”

Here's what you should say...

"I know it's hard, Jamie," Corinne said, giving her friend a knowing glance. She carefully maneuvered under a low-hanging branch. "Just do what you feel is best and follow your heart."

Go over this chapter once more and fix the errors you made. You already have a great vocabulary, all you have to do is learn how uset that to your advantage.

[Arielle Ann]

well I got RR for the fourth chapter so thought starting with the first...a great start I must say...I don't know about others, but I enjoyed it- the hope, the strength and the pain...it has a positive touch...great..will continue with the succeeding chapters now :)

[Summer'sBreeze]

wow i love it
great first chapter
can't wait to read more!

[Coyote Poetry]

A very sad ending to a very good chapter. I like the history of family and happiness in her up-coming marriage. The car accident change the feel of the story. Hard to live with sadness in your mind and heart. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Jamie Raintree]

This is a great start. Your writing style is very clear and you obviously have a strong understanding your characters. My suggestion would be to get to the action of the story as quickly as possible and save some of the backstory for later. Allow your readers to get to know your character by how she interacts with others, such as during the time Jamie spends with her friend. They seem to have a great connection.

[A. L. Allen]

Stunning, absolutely stunning. I love it! The descriptions of the mountain scenery was so real, I felt as if I was there, breathing in the air and viewing the scenery. It's so sad that Aaron died! You've got me hooked! I can't wait to read more! :D

[13ReasonsWhy]

ohhh cant wait to read more!! loved it!!

[Kelly M.]

You definitely have me hooked! :D

You have such a refreshing, rather relaxed style that's quite enjoyable to read. :)

I loved how you described her past... and Aaron. I fell in love with him from the start. :] It was such a heartbreaking story!

Just a little tip... when her Dad is calling her to look at the news and such... I feel like he was being just a little overemotional. I know that if I had been the father, I would be in complete shock, even too amazed to speak.

But, with a bit of editing on that part, it will be flawless! I know it takes me quite a while until my writing is perfect. And it's even more special when it is! :)

For a beginner at writing books, I must applaud you! There have been quite a few books I've started to read that don't really keep me hoping for more... they sort of start something, and then bore me, and sometimes get a tad bit annoying when their spelling and grammar isn't right ;) I found your grammar and spelling all in good order. I think there was one part you wrote, "too," instead of "to." Other than that it seemed all grammatically in place!

So, overall, I really liked it. Honestly. I am very excited to see this plot unfold. :)

[Katie]

good detail:] i love your style of writing!

[Wren]

Great start, but I found it to be to more to the point, if you know what I mean. It was very precise and acurrate with not much detailed description. But in this stories case, too much description would ruin it, so i think the way you wrote it was very good. maybe just add a bit more, like describing in detail the view from the mountain or the total shut down of her systems after Aaron died. other than that, a great plot and story:)