“Never was a war did cease, Ere bloody hands were washed, with such a peace.”

Haven sighed before setting down her tattered copy of Cymbeline, stretching her legs out across the bed, and turning off the ringing alarm. She’d been reading for a few hours and didn’t notice how stiff she was. She has a bad habit of forgetting to move as she becomes engrossed in a story.

She looked over at her bunny Ralph, settled on the end of her bed, “You know, some people make liking Shakespeare a whole personality trait, but all they’ve ever read are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and maybe Hamlet. The classics are good, Ralphy, but the true beauty is here, where almost no one can see it.”

She set the book back on the shelf, where the entire Shakespeare collection sits neatly in alphabetical order. She was careful to allow herself a solid five minutes to grab her jacket, a snack, and dinner and to feed Ralph before heading to work at Village Vehicle Repair. That was all she needed; she wanted to get as much reading done as possible in her free time. She grabbed her next book off the shelf at the last minute, just in case she could take a break long enough to read.

“Alright, Ralphy, you be a good boy, and I’ll see you later.” She smiled as he turned his head slightly and twitched his ear in her direction. He’ll probably sleep the whole time.

“Good afternoon, Haven,” said a bright and chipper Charlie as she walked into the employee door and plopped her bag on one of the tables.

“Hey Charlie, how’s it been today?” Charlie always worked mornings, and they crossed paths as he clocked out.

“It’s a quiet one today, Carl’s working on the Mustang, and we’re expecting a couple of drop-offs, but Al has to order the parts. “

“Cool, I’m all for a quiet day; we’ve been way too busy lately.”

Mundane small talk wasn’t her favourite, but it was better than awkward silence, and with Charlie, at least she knew it would be over soon. Besides, she couldn’t deny that his always-positive attitude set a good tone for the rest of the afternoon.

“Have a good one, Haven,” Charlie said with a smile as he slipped out the door.

“Thanks, Charlie. You too,” she replied without looking up. She was almost done putting on the required outfit as she made her way to the shop.

Sure enough, Carl was hard at work underneath the Mustang that came in yesterday. Haven sighed once before quickly stretching her shoulders and plastering a smile on her face, “How’s the Mustang holding up there, Carl? What’s on the docket for today?”

And with that began another busy but monotonous day at the shop, where Haven appreciated the solid pay and laid-back environment but didn’t particularly like cars. Getting a good job in this small town wasn't easy, so she tried to stay focused on the positives.

“And it’s closing time!” Haven jumped as Carl’s declaration snapped her out of her thoughts. The realization that it was finally time to go was a relief, and Haven quickly finished cleaning and put everything away.

The afternoon shift wasn’t ideal, but finishing at 7:00 pm still left some evening free time. Despite being tired, she still looked forward to getting home and spending a few hours with Mason, who should be arriving at her place any minute. He’d been suggesting they move in together recently, but she was hesitant. Practically, it made sense. They were both paying for small apartments, and a pooled income could get them something nicer. And yet, something stopped her every time she considered it.

Haven smiled as she opened the door to see him sitting on the couch, flicking through some movie choices.

“Hey babe,” he said, flashing a smile of his own. “How was the shop today?”

“It was alright, we got that Mustang all fixed up, and Carl was sad to see it go. I thought he might just drive it home himself.” Chuckling, she hung up her keys and sank into the couch herself, greeting Ralph, who jumped up to sit beside her. “You wanna do a movie tonight?”

“Yeah, I was just seeing if there’s anything new. Were you gonna make some food at all? Or are ya not hungry?”

Before he was even done talking, Haven felt the familiar spark of irritation. “Yeah, I’m hungry, but I was just on my feet for hours. You’ve been off all day. Did you not even make some lunch?”

“Yeah, I ordered some pizza earlier,” He said, avoiding eye contact and flipping aimlessly through more movies. “I thought maybe you’d pick something up on your way home.”

Haven sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day as she stood up again, mustering the energy to grab a snack. Tension settled in the air as she sat back down. “You pick the movie. I don’t really care tonight.” She said, not making eye contact with Mason.

They both relaxed as the opening credits rolled, equally relieved to be tuning out and escaping for a little while.

Mason yawned as the movie came to a close. “You want me to stay over tonight? I don’t have to be logged in until 9, so I won’t disturb you too early.”

“You can if you want, but I want to read a bit before bed, so I was hoping for some quiet time.”

“That’s fine. I can just watch some TV. I don’t like driving too late at night if I don’t have to. But take the rabbit with you, he always tries to chew my clothes when we’re alone together.”

Haven laughed. “He just wants some attention. Try petting his head; he’ll mellow right out.” She scooped Ralph up and brought him into the bedroom, where he happily went into his corner and flopped over for a power nap.

Unable to read at work after all, Haven was happy to pull out her next selection and wind down before getting some sleep. Cymbeline was a re-read, but she was excited to dig into a new story this time. The classics had her heart, but there was nothing like the thrill of some fresh drama and twists. The rest of the night flew by as she lost herself in another world.

— —

Haven woke to the familiar tone of her alarm. Rolling over to shut it off, she realized that Mason had already left for work. This was a pleasant surprise, as his waking usually disturbed her sleep and forced her to get up earlier than necessary.

Her renewed optimism was short-lived as she walked into the kitchen to find a mess of dirty dishes from what appeared to be a pancake breakfast. Hoping to at least find some left for her, she opened the fridge—to find it no different from last night, less a few batter ingredients.

She whipped out her cell phone, her first instinct to text Mason, asking why he left her place in such a state, but she ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the mental energy. At least she had the day off and could clean up a bit without rushing. She had quite some time before meeting up with Lara for the night.

Some dishes, sweeping, dusting, and laundry later, Haven heard the familiar ding of her phone. If it was Lara, she was right on time for once.

“Hey girl, I’m outside, ready for a great night?!”

It was just what Haven needed after a few long, tiring days. Grabbing her jacket and purse from their hooks, she made her way out the door and hopped into the car with Lara.

Haven gave Lara a once-over, surprised by her outfit. “You’re a little dressed up for a movie, don’t you think?”

Haven's stomach sank as soon as Lara made eye contact — she knew that expression. “Change of plans. Tony’s Pub is throwing a rager downtown, and we’re going!” She said, hitting the gas before Haven could even do up the seatbelt.

“Some warning would have been nice. I’m not exactly dressed for a party.” Haven exhaled sharply, not caring much about what she looked like but wanting to protest anyway.

“You would have said no!”

“That’s true.” Haven definitely would have preferred a night in with Ralph, but she’s now effectively been kidnapped, so what could be done?

"Is Mason working? Should we pick him up?” Lara asked after a short, awkward pause.

“Yeah, he had a full day ahead, I think.” In truth, Mason would have dropped everything for a raging party in the city since you can do that when you “work for yourself.” But Haven didn’t want to deal with him right now. He’d probably done half an hour of work for his “online marketing business” before picking up a video game controller instead.

“So cool that he’s building an online business, it must be awesome to make money at home and pick your own hours.”

“Right,” Haven scoffed, “guess how much he’s made in the last month?”

“I dunno, a few hundred?”

“Nothing, Lara. It’s not going anywhere because he never commits to anything long enough for it to start working. He doesn’t even know anything about marketing; he bought some $500 course from an Instagram guru, and he thinks money will magically start flowing in as he sleeps and plays games.”

“Oh. Well, maybe it’ll work eventually. Not all those guys are scammers.”

“No. Overpriced, maybe, but what they “teach” still requires you to make an effort and stick with it.”

The rest of the drive went by without incident, Lara babbling excitedly about what tonight’s event would entail. Haven already felt exhausted. It was going to be a long night.

Upon grabbing a booth inside, Haven immediately ordered a gin and tonic with a double shot. There was no use wasting time when this was the only way she would find even an ounce of enjoyment from this evening. Despite her distaste for loud environments, she was looking forward to catching up with Lara.

“So-“ Haven started, but was instantly cut off by a sudden presence.

“Lara? Lara M?” Startled by a sudden, deep, booming voice, Haven looked up to see a tall, broody, and entirely unfamiliar man standing over their table, apparently here to see Lara.

“Rick! Hey!” Lara exclaimed as she jumped up to hug the mystery man. “Sit down.”

Rick slid in across from Lara, never taking his eyes off her. “Rick, this is my best friend, Haven. Haven, this is Rick.”

Haven reached over to shake the guy’s hand and looked over at Lara suspiciously, “How’d you two meet?”

They exchanged a glance, and Lara smiled, “Well, we met online, and I thought this would be a fun place to see each other in person.”

“Of course you did. Well, Rick, it’s nice to meet you. If you’ll excuse me.” Haven said, then got up and made a beeline for the quiet safety of the bathroom. She took a deep breath to collect herself and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She was almost at her limit with Lara, always dragging her around to things she should know by now, Haven doesn’t care for. Haven accepted they’d taken different paths and donned different lifestyles, but she didn’t think it would mean a complete disregard on Lara’s part.

Walking back to the table, Haven quickly spotted Lara and Rick on the dance floor, his hands quickly travelling all over her. She sighed, went back to their table, and decided to order some food.

Ten minutes later, Lara and Rick returned to the table, followed by a few additional strangers, all laughing sloppily. “Haven, these are Rick’s friends. Come dance with us!” Lara slid onto the bench beside Haven and tried to pull her out by her arm.

“Lara, I don’t want to. I’m just gonna go.” She pushed through the crowd of laughing people before turning back, “The nachos are on me, I guess. I ordered them before you made this night even more insufferable by adding drunk strangers to what was supposed to be a time for us to hang out and catch up.”

Mason’s phone went right to voicemail for the third time in a row. Surely he was done with work by now, but he couldn’t be bothered to answer a call when it actually mattered. Gritting her teeth, Haven ordered a ride-share instead, cringing at the cost but knowing she had no choice.

Pathfinder

Chapter One: Haven

Other paths