you aren't born with strength, you cultivate it

RHYS | Bet you didn't think I'd come back to life

Written/Published: 21 APRIL 2023

Rhys just wants to go home after work and have a good dinner with his daughters and his housemate, practical brother, Wade.

He's not allowed that liberty.
___________

"My disease is what you fed"
I can't stop with my ambition"
Like a missile on a mission"
I'm a force that you will dread"

"Stronger" | The Score

___________
TW: guns, blades, nausea, car crash, blood, gore, injury
___________

With never-ending, nerve-fraying impatience, crooked, scarred digits tap incessantly against the steering wheel. Slim, charcoal-brown hues glimmer with gallons of irritation, burning a hole into the glaring red light hovering above him. Tap-tippity-tap-tap goes his fingers against the rough material of the steering wheel, repeating a mindless beat his mind conjured. The leather produced a muted sound as short nails scrape against it. If he weren't the originating cause of the noise, he would've forced the song to stop. To the left of his old, weathered black truck a firehouse lay dormant, waiting for the firefighters and paramedics to return. He pays no mind to the vacant station 6 despite the lingering, nagging feeling in the back of his mind forcing him to stay alert.

Blinking back exhaustion, he peels his eyes back open to the light flicking green. Easing his foot on the gas pedal, his truck stutters and lurches forward, struggling to get up to the speed limit before he turns on his indicator and pulls into the gas station at the end of the intersection. Easing in beside the pumps, he cuts his engine. Letting the keys dangle from his fingertips and hang on for their life as they jingle their own desperate song. His right hand twitches, causing the keys to clink and screech against one another as they almost slip to the floorboard. He jerks the miniscule-yet-precious items back into the palm of his hand, tossing them up once while humming a tune stuck in his head(due to multiple round of purposeful off-key singing with his co-workers). Giving himself a few seconds of silence, he pauses in his rhythmic vowels, allowing his eyes to roam the near-empty parking lot connected to the pumps and convenience store.

Rhys Valentine pauses in his observations, charcoal-brown locking on tinted lack windows that edged the legal limit and a matte black paint job. The work to the vehicle appeared new, giving the car a pristine, expensive look that would come from years of grueling work or... other means. Something tickles the back of his mind, telling him this custom sedan was important in some way. Despite his crippling lack of faith in himself, he trusts his gut-feeling and leans over his seat to open the glove box of his old, loved truck. He acquires a pad of sticky notes and a pen, focusing his gaze on the front plate. With the best of his ability, he jots down the yellow letters and numbers from the black vanity plate: F09H0U4D. His gaze continuously runs over the plate, skimming left-to-right left-to-right as he repeats the phonetic pattern internally.

Foxtrot-Zero-Niner-Hotel-Zero-Uniform-Four-Delta. Foxtrot-Zero-Niner-Hotel-Zero-Uniform-Four-Delta. He blinks in confusion, why does that sound familiar?

His foot taps rapidly against the floorboard, moving his right leg up and down against the fraying seat he's poised on. Rhys' heartbeat thrums to a thunderous roar in his eardrums. The ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump of the organ almost deafened him as his stomach churns. Something wasn't right. He picks the pen up again, tearing the blue note from its companions while sticking it underneath his dash. Using a second sticky note, he details the description of the black, suspicious looking sedan. Either a Lampadati Cinquemila or a Karin Intruder. He couldn't truly spot if there was a back antenna or see if the back bumper of the car was longer or more compact by his angle. Nor could he tell the front lights apart, cursing himself for not paying attention to the little details of the two models. It wasn't like those vehicles were common in the county when he actually had to pay attention to those details.