Shattered on the Ground

Reese knew she had it better than most.

She was graced with a best friend that doubled as a twin.

She had two parents who, although were rarely home, were both elite lawyers…and married

She had not one home but two—that’s not even including the guest house.

Money was never an issue within the Hanley home and her parents had enough money for them to both go to any college in America.

Reese was lucky but she was still a teenager; she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. Who really knows what they want to do with their lives at eighteen? How many people want what they did at eighteen when they’re forty-eight?

Reese didn’t know what she wanted with her life, all she knew was that it was within the safe borders of Tennessee and oddly enough her sister felt the same.

If Reese was anything it was consistent and possibly OCD. Every object owned by Reese had its place, daily routines happened on the dot every day.

Traditions were the Hanley house’s forte. If there was one thing that the entirety of the Hanley family (including family all across the country) anticipated every year it was Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, and the Fourth of July…no one threw a party like the Hanley’s; and a tradition wasn’t complete without the Vest’s.

The Hanley’s and Vest’s had been intertwined for as long as any living relative could remember. Great Great Grandfathers served together in World War I, Great Grandfathers served together in Korea. Brothers, cousins, uncles, served together in the wars, fought off relatives at out of control family reunions together, sat patiently in waiting rooms waiting for their best friend’s wife to deliver their first born. No one is exactly sure how or why the families were so close only that they had been for generations. But they had never been as close as they were when Ashley and Chris got together.

Chris and Ashley, Ashley and Chris; they were that couple that everyone saw coming back when the two were in diapers. Of course like every other kid the two went through the friend stage up until they were in Kindergarten. From Kindergarten to third grade the two hardly spoke; after all during those days boys had ‘coodies’ and it was weird to be friends with a kid of the opposite sex.

But eventually fifth grade hit. Maybe your thinking the two hit together like magnets but that wasn’t so. Ashley spent nearly six months holding a grudge against Chris for not talking to her for nearly three years. She demanded to know why he had laughed at her in front of his friends when she had fallen to the ground.

For two agonizing years the Hanley’s and the Vest’s watched their children bicker and argue and vehemently declare their distaste for the other.

But seventh grade rolled around and the hormones kicked in. The Hanley’s and the Vest’s weren’t sure whether they preferred their children’s bickering and wars of silence over this new stage. But whether the Hanley’s and the Vest’s liked it or not was a moot point. Ashley and Chris were together and grudgingly everyone was convinced that it would be forever.

But someone forgot to mention how short forever is…

Things change….

And one fateful night and a car accident can change everything…