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Wendy's body slowly slumped down onto the cold tile floor, heart thumping in her chest. She was being ridiculous, she knew. She, Jason and Kevin were watching a slasher movie together, and the hand of anxiety suddenly gripped her heart, and before Wendy knew it, she could hardly breathe, her chest tight. She barely remembered excusing herself to use the bathroom before she started fully hyperventilating in front of the guys.
Normally, when she got freaked out, Carrie would talk some sense into her. They'd put what they were doing on pause and hash things out, and she'd manage to convince Wendy that she was just being crazy, and then they'd carry on like nothing happened. But Carrie wasn't there. She hadn't spoken to Wendy since that stupid string showed up around her finger. Yeah, that was the impetus of everything. The second that string appeared, suddenly Carrie was pulling back and breaking up with Kevin. It started everything.
See, it was a regular Wednesday a few weeks ago. Wendy was getting through her Calculus class in the afternoon when she felt a strange lightheadedness followed by gut-lurching vertigo. There was a faint sound, like rhythmic clacking in the distance, and when she got her wits about her and looked down at her hands, there it was. A golden string, casting a dim light, tied firmly around her left pinkie finger. It trailed off her desk and disappeared into nothingness at a certain distance, but Wendy knew that there was someone on the other end of it.
She just hadn't expected who it would be.
Soulmates weren't anything new. They weren't very common, and accounts of them wildly varied from person to person, but one type was well-known. The red string of fate. A red thread tied around a person's finger, forever leading them to their soulmate. It was a fantastical kind of romance, the kind little girls dreamed of. There were only two problems. The red string, when documented, was invisible to all but the two it bound. That and, well, it was, you know, red.
Everyone could see the golden string attached to Wendy's finger, and it didn't take long to figure out where the other end led. In the very next class, English, she got her answer. That gold thread lead straight to Kevin Fischer. Everyone caused a big scene about it, and Wendy understandably panicked a little, and their teacher sent them to the school counselor to learn about their new soulbond. Jason and Carrie, who shared the class with them - the only class the four of them all attended at the same time - tagged along for answers.
"Your soulbond is very rare," the counselor had explained. "I've heard about it before, but only once. The gold string of fate is a lot like its counterpart, the red string, but there are two notable differences. First, the soulbond isn't predestined, but a bond earned in a previous life. Second, it isn't romantic like the red string. The gold string seems to bring people together as friends, so don't worry, none of your relationships are in danger."
She'd laughed when she finished explaining, brushing off Jason's concern and Carrie's lengthy silence as regular teenage drama that would blow itself over. Wendy resented her a little for that. The next day, Carrie very publicly broke up with Kevin, and when Wendy tried to talk to her about it after school, she accused her of stealing her boyfriend and told her to fuck off. Seven years, all down the drain in two days thanks to that stupid string.
Jason hadn't left her, though. They had a long talk after her falling out with Carrie, and Wendy had to reassure him in about ten different ways that she still loved him and wanted to be with him, and under no circumstances suddenly wanted to date his best friend. Kevin was honestly annoying most of the time, and way too interested in ogling girls for his own good. Seriously, he was like a mini-Frankie sometimes.
But as the days passed, Wendy found herself hanging out with Kevin more often. They shared P.E. even though neither had needed to take it - Kevin because he loved all things exercise, and Wendy because she wanted to stay somewhat fit. During class one day, they sat on the bleachers as they watched their classmates duke it out in a game of capture the flag that didn't really appeal to them so soon after everything, and they got to talking. Like, actually talking.
"You didn't wanna get in on that?" Kevin had asked her, motioning to the field. "I figured, you being you, that you'd have a great time telling everybody else what to do." Wendy rolled her eyes at his unsubtle jab. Yeah, she could be controlling sometimes, but after Jason had made a comment early into their relationship, it suddenly became this big thing when people talked to her. Looking back, Kevin's words didn't bother her as much as she was expecting.
"I'm not super keen on barking out orders and getting pummeled into the ground today," Wendy had replied dryly, watching as Lewis tackled some poor guy. Kevin winced in sympathy. "Besides, it's a good yearbook opportunity." She waved her chrome camera back and forth in front of Kevin. In actuality, the yearbook had totally slipped her mind after that string had appeared, but when their P.E. teacher assumed that's why she was sitting out, who was she to correct him? It was a convenient excuse.
"Not letting a single opportunity slip by, huh?" Kevin questioned. He huffed a laugh. "Guess someone's gotta do it. I know I couldn't right now." Wendy had snapped a few photos, the flash off, to capture Lewis zigzagging between members of the opposing team, flag in hand, but Kevin's words made her pause. She lowered the camera, looking over at him. He was watching the game, Lewis scoring the victory for his team. Where he'd usually be cheering or loudly booing, he was hardly reacting at all. Wendy didn't know if she'd ever seen him so still.
"Hey," she'd said, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder. She still didn't know why she'd reached out to him - the two barely exchanged greetings without some obligatory snarking and head-biting - but it just felt right. "I'm sorry about Carrie. I know how much you cared about her." There were a lot of things Wendy could've said, like how stupid Carrie was being for making a fuss over a platonic soulbond, but she didn't bother with it. Deep down, some part of her knew that Carrie mattered more than anything else to Kevin, and she didn't want to taint that.
"It's okay, Wen," he told her. When did Kevin start calling her Wen? It sounded easy, natural, but looking back, Wendy couldn't recall a single instance of it before that moment. "Really looking at things, I know it would've been a miracle if we worked out. We probably would've broken up in college if I'm being honest. It’s just..." Kevin trailed off. He worked his mouth for a bit, trying to find the words, and ended up whispering, "I was gonna propose, you know."
"Yeah," Wendy had replied, simple as breathing. It was a big thing to drop on a high school sweetheart, but somehow, the admission didn't surprise her. She couldn't help but think that, before all the golden thread business, she would've looked at Kevin like he was crazy. But after it appeared, she couldn't anymore. Wendy hesitated for a few seconds before she held open her arm. Kevin did a quick double-take, but he didn't say anything either as he scooted closer and let her put her arm around his back.
Things between them were so... easy. Instinctual, like they'd been spending their whole lives around each other without noticing. Subjects that used to turn into arguments between them never rose to verbal sparring matches again, and the two commiserated a lot on how much Carrie and the gossip and following eyes sucked. After a week, Kevin had to be the one to tell Jason that he had no intention of 'stealing' his girl, and that seemed to settle Jason at last, but nothing was ever quite the same as it used to be.
With Carrie giving her the cold shoulder, Wendy had to sit through fast, painful breathing on the bathroom floor alone. She didn't want to worry Jason, he'd already been through enough the past couple of weeks. It was just a bout of paranoia, just her mind taking off with all the campy violence on the screen. Still, the images of victims screaming, trapped with their killer, and being methodically cornered was seared into her mind. Horror had never really affected her before this, but suddenly Wendy found herself helpless in the face of it.
There was a knock at the door. If she had the ability, Wendy would've been able to scramble for an excuse, force herself to get it together. Then, no one would have to worry about her. But she could hardly keep herself from passing out, her vision flooded with light and dark spots, head heavy and weightless all at the same time. Wendy could only close her eyes and hope whoever was outside left. Of course, just then the door had to open, and what do you know, it was Kevin on the other side.
"Hey, you were taking a while, and Jason and I were getting kinda-" Kevin cut himself off the moment he saw her shaking on the ground, short breaths coming and going faster and faster. "Shit! Wendy!" He joined her on the ground immediately, unsure what to do at first before he decided to wrap his arms around her. "You gotta breathe, Wen. C'mon, breathe with me, okay? Deep breath in, deep breath out," he instructed.
Wendy tried to follow along, anything to get this situation over with as quickly as possible. It was hard to focus with her heart pounding out of her chest and Kevin's beating underneath her forehead, but she strained her ears to pick out his breaths over everything else. She coughed, her lungs fighting against deeper breaths, but gradually, the sting she felt and the tightness of her chest eased, and she gasped in air when she realized she could again.
"There we go. Just like that, okay? Keep breathing nice and deep," Kevin said. Wendy nodded against his chest, forcing her breaths to steady. Her body was pushing for great, heaving breaths, to replace all the oxygen she was depriving herself of, but she fought against it. If she didn't, she really might pass out in the downstairs bathroom at Jason's house, and she really didn't want to end the night that way. She'd never admit it, but it felt nice to be held by Kevin, a different kind of nice compared to Jason. Jason made her feel safe and warm. Kevin felt like a post tethering her to the ground.
"Sorry," Wendy muttered weakly. "Got- Got in my head. Didn't mean to ruin things." Kevin shushed her, holding her tighter. As her senses returned to her, Wendy became more aware of the way one of Kevin's arms was resting on the back of her neck, his other hand splayed across her back. Probably keeping track of her breathing, since it wasn't like it was rubbing up and down or anything. He shook his head, or she assumed he did - her forehead was still pressed to his chest.
"You didn't ruin anything, Wen," Kevin assured her. He pulled back, letting her wriggle out of his grip, though Wendy didn't stray too far. His eyes searched her face, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. "You said you got in your head, right? Do you wanna talk about it?" She strongly debated shaking her head and putting an end to the conversation, but she couldn't go through with it. Something was telling her that it was okay, that Kevin would listen and not laugh or judge.
"It was... Look, horror doesn't really do anything to me, right?" she began. Kevin nodded. "I mean, it's all just pretend at the end of the day. A bunch of paid actors read out a script and cash in a quick buck on some cheap thrill flick. Sure, it can be surprising. Usually, they can even be pretty funny. But scary? Never." Kevin tapped her on the shoulder with a finger, finally getting Wendy to meet his gaze in a moment of weakness.
"You're rambling."
"Shut up, Kevin," Wendy scoffed without any heat. "Anyway, my point is; me and horror? The best of friends. But when we were watching that movie... I don't know, I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible it was to see those people trapped, running for their lives when I knew they were never gonna make it." She swallowed. "Made me want to throw up, and then all of a sudden there was that sound like a train coming down the tracks and I couldn't breathe anymore. I thought, if I could just get away and wait it out, then you and Jason wouldn't have to worry."
"Wendy, I'm gonna tell you two things, and I need you to listen to me," Kevin said. Wendy straightened up, preparing herself for anything from the 'I'm not mad, just disappointed' speech all the way to a joke at her expense. "Jason and I are already worried about you, so you don't need to keep us out of this stuff. We're here for you because we want to be. Let us help you," he fixed her with a stern stare, "okay?" Wendy nodded.
"What's the other thing?"
"Oh, right!" Kevin replied. "The other thing is that you're still wrong about what that sound is. I've told you a hundred times Wen, it totally sounds like a rollercoaster. You only disagree because you never ride rollercoasters." He held up a finger when Wendy opened her mouth to rebuke him. "And you can argue with me all you want about it... after you've been on a rollercoaster." Wendy rolled her eyes, swatting him on the shoulder playfully.
"Maybe you haven't been around enough trains, ever consider that?" she shot back. Kevin chuckled, shaking his head. He rose off the ground. When Wendy tried to stand up, he pushed her back down. It wasn't hard enough to hurt or anything, it just made her fall back on her butt. She glared at him, to which he shot her a cheeky grin and sprinted out of the bathroom. "Kevin Fischer, you're dead meat!" Wendy hauled herself up, grabbing onto the bathroom counter, and then she was off after him.
No, things had been far from perfect since that thread appeared. It'd made her and Kevin the subject of the school's rumors and singlehandedly destroyed a friendship and relationship in less than a school week. But, as Wendy raced out of the bathroom, the string humming against her skin with a warmth that was hard to describe, she couldn't deny that some good had come of it, too. Maybe it was exactly the push she'd needed, to realize what a great friend she'd been missing out on in Kevin all this time.