Each and Every Piece

Prologue: Eveline

Eveline's phone buzzes incessantly in her backpack, and she sighs heavily; She shifts once more in the seat near the airport gate. It is taking everything in her to avoid pulling it out and checking the messages. Instead of giving in to that foolish desire, Evie forces herself to focus on the book in her hands. Reading has always been a good way to calm her anxiety. Since childhood, there has rarely been a time that Eveline's nose wasn't stuck in a book. In fact, it is probably because of the fact that she always found herself to be lost in the pages of various novels that she was almost entirely unaware of how terrible her anxiety was until right after senior year of high school.

Now, seated in the center of the Detroit airport, Evie was determined to use the turning pages in front of her to keep myself from checking her phone every five seconds. Usually this would be an easy feat to accomplish. At this point and time though, the bustle of the airport around her, and the incessant vibrating of said phone is making it hard to lose herself in the words on the page. Sighing heavily, she pulls the device out of her the front pocket of her backpack.

Three missed phone calls, five texts, all from the same person. This should be good.

Nate Hunting: Hey kiddo.

Nate Hunting: We haven't talked in a few days...

Nate Hunting: How are you?

Nate Hunting: I know you probably hate me...

Nate Hunting: Kiddo please talk to me...

Eveline deletes the voicemails before even listening to them; it's not hard to hypothesize that they will be saying much of the same thing that the text messages do. She keeps the texts, but refuses to answer right away. Instead, she dials the only number she can think to call. The other end rings only twice before the recipient of the call picks up the phone.

"Eveline? Are you at the airport? How are you feeling?" Marianne Robinson always sounds so motherly when she answers phone calls. Given that she is Eveline's therapist, Evie knows that it's Marianne's job to make her feel comfortable talking; even so, the combination of a cheery and concerned tone still makes Eveline crack a slight smile. She runs a hand through a tangled mess of honey blonde hair and heaves a heavily weighted sigh before answering the woman on the other end of the line. When she does respond, her usually evenly tempered voice comes out soft; it is hard to speak strongly when feeling backed into a corner.

"I'm okay; I think I'm okay. I'm waiting at my gate but my flight doesn't leave for another thirty minutes. Nate has been texting me. He's been calling and leaving voicemails too." The more Evie speaks the harder it is to choke the words out of her lips. As she says his name his icy blue eyes float across Eveline's vision, making it harder and harder to breathe. Marianne pauses on the other end of the phone. 

Evie focuses on picturing her in her office, starring at a point on the wall while she concentrates; Marianne is organizing her thoughts before she responds to the news she has just been given. The image grounds Eveline and allows her to pull air into her lungs at a normal rate for a moment.

"You know that it would be better to block him altogether. It would be less painful for you to have to hear from him. He knows how badly he messed up. And he knows that he could get in a lot of trouble for what happened. He's not going to leave you alone until he confirms with you that you're not going to say anything." As Marianne's voice floats over the speaker, Evie's phone vibrates subtly in her hand to let her know that another text message has just come through. Eveline pulls the device away from her ear to check the notification. Seeing who is trying to contact her, she yanks her headphones out of the front pouch in my backpack and plugs them into her phone while she answers Marianne.