(COMPLETED): Unsent Letters

the first letter

As the years continued to roll by, Reid's longing for Kat never waned. He found solace in revisiting old memories. The time Kat received her first commission piece, and while they were still just two struggling young adults, they sat on the hardwood floor of their living room, drinking a cheap bottle of wine from the convenience store below their studio apartment. It wasn't the best place to live; The floor creaked with each step they took like they would fall through at any moment. The smell of hot pastrami sandwiches and sauerkraut stenches the whole place from the store below. For six months, they didn't have hot water since the water heater was slightly loose.  

Reid also found peace within the mementos of their time together. Any time they went to a new place, Kat always found a flower to take him. She would spend hours, intricately placing it in the correct spot of their memory journal, so that the petals did not twist and break off the core. Her favorite flower had been what she called, "a wishing flower." She said it was the first time that she felt there was nothing to wish for in her life, that she had found her happiness. The two walked home with her hand cupping the top of the flower, hoping to not lose a single stem. The journal was still in his bedside drawer, even after all these years.  Now, he had to slowly turn each page to ensure that none of the brittle flower pieces blew away.

 While the memories and the items of happiness gave him a sense that Kat still lingered in his presence, his bittersweet collection of unsent letters he had written to her, pestered his existence like a fly you keep swatting away. He knew that the letters were a waste of time. After the last break up they had, he knew it was done, but something about the letters gave him a cathartic release of emotions he could never fully express. 

As a child, Reid never saw a genuine emotional connection between his mother and father. His dad was a basketball coach of the small community college in town, yet he had always wanted more. Every weekend, he'd drive the family to big name schools- Duke, Texas A&M, UGA- to get a chance to be the head coach of their schools. During these events, his father would put his arm around his mother's shoulders and lightly rub her arm. He would kiss her forehead and always tell the crowd that circled around him like a moth to a light, that she was, "the belt of their relationship." 

Yet, in the car rides home, when he didn't get the position- the ride of shame- his father yelled at the top of his lungs about how incompetent Reid's mother was. How if she didn't wear the red dress or if she didn't have a loose hair from her bun, that he would be on the sidelines right now, winning game after game. He'd yell so loud that young Reid would shove his head down between his legs, praying God would flip the car over. That way they could just be quiet. 

These unsent letters were the only source of evidence that under all of his goofiness and carefree behavior, he could be serious and show any true signs of emotion. 

In his quiet moments, Reid would sit down with a pen and paper and pour his heart into these unsent letters, hoping that someday Kat would read them. They were a testament to the love he still held for her, even though life had taken them in different directions.

One summer, when the town's annual art fair arrived, Reid couldn't resist but attend. He hoped to catch a glimpse of Kat's work displayed among the other artists. Her pieces were distinctive, filled with the vibrant colors and unique perspective that had drawn him to her in the first place.

He strolled through the fair, admiring the artwork, yet the absence of Kat's stall left a void in his heart. His friends had urged him to move on, but they couldn't understand that Kat was an indelible part of his past.

As the sun set over the coastal town, Reid found himself sitting on the same bench where he'd first spotted Kat. The view of the ocean was as breathtaking as ever, but it felt incomplete without her by his side. The salt-laden breeze seemed to carry whispers of their shared laughter and dreams.

With a heavy heart, Reid decided to write another unsent letter to Kat. This time, he wanted to express not just his longing, but the gratitude he felt for the time they'd shared. He wanted her to know how deeply she had touched his life.

In the letter, Reid wrote about the first time they met at the farmer's market and how her smile had lit up his world. He recounted their adventures, their late-night conversations, and the way she'd inspired him to see life from a different perspective. He confessed how, despite the distance and the years, he still cherished the love they'd shared.

The letter remained unsent, just like the others. Reid wasn't sure if Kat would ever read them, but the act of writing and pouring his heart onto those pages helped him find closure. It was his way of preserving their beautiful chapter and keeping the hope alive that, someday, fate might reunite two souls who had once been inseparable.

And so, Reid's story continued, a tale of longing and the unwritten love letters that whispered his affection for Kat, across the vast sea of time and distance.