[NaNo 2011] Day 01

Over the last few days, while finishing up and checking on my other writing projects, I wasn't certain I'd be able to get into writing this year's NaNo story. But after starting it today, I feel more confident. :)

It was the sudden harsh smell that blew out from the yawning hospital entrance doors that made him nearly turn on his heel and run back to Neville's car, still sitting not twenty meters away, its lights flaring in the easing rain. That unnatural, too-clean, disinfectant smell of false promises and shattered hopes.

He hated it. Hated everything it was.

But somehow, despite the warnings from his nose and from his gut, his feet kept moving, and before he quite knew what he was doing, he was leaning over the admittance desk and asking the way to the emergency department. And then he was walking – quickly, the soles of his shoes squeaking and slipping over the well-mopped floor – down one corridor and another, following the path of yellow lines he'd been told to follow.

The swinging double doors with the big block letters for “Accident & Emergency” were just ahead, but he barely registered them, instead just thrusting both arms out against the flat metal. Cold, they creaked a little when they swung open, like something broken.

Broken like a girl's lithe and delicate body, twisted on the mossy ground with her golden hair and red dress splayed around her like reflected swirls of light in a tidal pool.

Then he thought, Her dress wasn't red.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, pushing that ugly thought down deep as he stepped through the doorway. But then his stride faltered, as Sam – her eyes rimmed by dark streaks of black where her makeup had run; she'd been crying, oh, God, why had she been crying? – turned to look at him. And with a low and rumbling fury in her voice, she parted her trembling lips and spat:

“What in hell are you doing here? Haven't you done enough?”

And then, in the same second that his feet came to a stop, Ross felt his heart stop, too.

Obviously, this is my writing at its greatest level of "abandon" - meaning, without much editing or rewriting as I go. What do you think?

I'm pretty happy with this for my first day effort. Hopefully, my enthusiasm (and the comfort I have with this voice and these characters) will only become stronger over the course of the next 29 days.

If you want to keep track of my progress in numbers, I update my NaNoWriMo profile frequently:
http://bit.ly/vyEEJa

And remember: if you are also participating in NaNo this year, I'm happy to add you as a writing buddy! Let's spread the writing love!