Strings (A Reed Deming Fan Fiction)

8

Song: Secrets- One Republic

Kayleigh Pennel

"Of course I like you, Kayleigh. You're the best friend I've ever had." he smiled. He didn't get what I meant. "No, Reed..." I ran my fingers through my hair to brush it out of my face. "What?" he sounded nervous. I studied his expression.

His cheeks were red, redder than usual, which meant he was blushing. He kept swallowing, which he always does when he's lying or not telling me something. His eyes were sparkling and they were a dark blue. He was hiding something. "Never mind." I sighed and started walking again, my fingers still intertwined with his.

I heard Blake and Parker laughing and running up to us. "Kayleigh and Reed, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" they sang. My eyes widened and I felt my face get hot. "Parker..." I mumbled through gritted teeth. I looked up at Reed. His cheeks were as red as an apple. I looked back down at the ground and smiled to myself, thinking about him...

* * * *

I walked down a dark hallway. It had lights, but they were dim and flickering. I had to find him. I heard footsteps come from behind me, and I turned around quickly. It was a little girl. Her clothes were tattered and she had cuts and bruises all over her body. She made a motion with her hand that told me to follow her back down the hallway and I walked toward her. She led me down another hallway, and there was a door at the end of it. She opened it and held it open for me to go inside. I hesitantly walked into the room and looked around cautiously. It looked like some sort of operating room. I saw Reed. He was strapped to a metal table in the middle of the room. He was wearing nothing but shorts. I ran over to him and he looked very scared. I tried to unstrap him, but I couldn't. They were too tight. I heard a noise come from a closet on the other side of the room. A man came out of the closet. He was a big, strong man with a surgent's mask and a doctor's coat. He walked over to me, pulled me over to a chair and tied me to it. I struggled to get loose, but I couldn't. He grabbed a knife that was on a small table next to Reed and walked over to him. Reed was struggling and trying to get out of the straps. The man laughed at his failure and took the knife and swiped it across Reed's stomach. He cried out in pain. I screamed. He was torturing Reed. He took the knife again and swiped it across his shin. Reed once again screamed in pain. Tears ran down my face as I screamed and yelled for it to stop. He kept cutting Reed and blood was dripping from the table and into pools on the floor. I couldn't watch it anymore and I shut my eyes. It was unbearable. When I heard Reed stop screaming, I opened my eyes. The man was gone, and I was untied. I ran over to him and cried. He had cuts all over his body and his eyes were staring up at the ceiling lifelessly. I shook him and screamed his name, but he wouldn't wake up.

"Wake up! Kayleigh!" someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes. Reed was sitting beside me on the floor of the hotel room. I sat up and looked at his scared expression. It wasn't real. None of what just happened was real. I wrapped my arms around him and cried into his shoulder. "Are you okay? You were crying and screaming really loud." he asked, rubbing circles in my back with his thumb. "I thought you were dead." I pulled away and looked at him.

"Dead? Why would I be dead?" he frowned. "There was a guy, and I was tied to a chair and you were strapped to a table, and he kept cutting you and there was blood everywhere and I couldn't watch it so I closed my eyes and when I opened my eyes-" I rambled on. I couldn't say the rest. It was too painful.

He pulled me into his arms. "Kayleigh, I'm so sorry... That's horrible." he rubbed my back. "It seemed so real..." I muffled into his chest. "Ssshhhh... It's okay. I'm right here. It wasn't real." he stroked my arm softly. It was quite soothing. My heavy breathing slowed and my tears stopped. We just sat there like that, his arms around me, my head laying on his chest. Butterflies were banging around in my stomach.