Heartstrings ✓

Part One / Chapter One

PART ONE: ordeal 

noun: A difficult or painful experience that severely tests character or endurance.

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Reid was driving along an open road at midnight. Faint patterns of music surfaced from his radio intermittently. Otherwise, the night was dead silent. Moments of peace like these were rare windfalls; occurrences that coincided with supernatural happenstances. Internal peace was Reid's version of sighting a blue moon.

An hour ago, Reid was enjoying a bonfire party at the Lake with his friends, at their resident hangout. The hangout being a small clearing in the heart of the woods. The gathering was intended as a celebration of the year's end. Mallory, his girlfriend, was still with the group.

Reid left the party early to get something special for Mallory. On an impulse, he got in his car and drove to a nearby jewellery store, opting for the most beautiful solitaire ring he could find. The jewel sat in Reid's pocket, catching the light.

When Reid returned to his car with the purchase, he'd spent nearly five minutes just staring at it. The future terrified him. Getting engaged was an entirely foreign level of commitment. But Mallory was worth the fear. Reid, with all his wisdom of twenty years, knew that the hardest things to do were often the scariest.

Mallory's face swam into his thoughts, lit up by her sweet smile; rivulets of curls cascading over her shoulders and down her back. Inexplicably, things just clicked into place that night, by the glow of the bonfire.

Reid wanted to take the leap of faith. For her.

He smiled like an idiot, staring at the road as he hummed a nonsensically catchy tune under his breath. Things were perfect; too perfect for him to think about. When he saw Mallory, it would be time to make the proposal. Reid's conviction sharpened his focus, until it fixed onto the only thing he saw. The only person he could see, who he wanted to see.

Being in love was euphoric.

Simultaneously, the idea of their relationship failing crushed him.

What if Mallory said no? Reid thought that would be perfectly logical. They were only twenty three; still young, with the rest of their lives to live. There was no rush for security, because Reid and Mallory already had it.

But the possibility of their relationship stagnating? That scared Reid more than he thought it would. He had to keep their momentum going, before something made the relationship crash and burn.

Reid bit his lip, keeping his eyes on the road as his thoughts turned on their head. This was overt introspection, on his part. Mallory was fine. Everything would be fine.

His phone lit up on the empty passenger seat with a call. Reid checked the road, noting that it was empty. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he declined the call by pressing the buttons on his phone's side.

Reid was too careful to make mistakes. He didn't take risks on the road.

As if on cue, a red light turned on, in his dashboard. Fuel was nearly at zero.

Reid muttered a curse under his breath. He had the luck of being out in the open country, where there was perhaps one petrol stop if he was lucky. A wide, mostly empty road lay before him, except for the occasional car for company.