Chance and Reason

Chapter One

A/N: This is my first Wattpad publication, so thank you very much for taking the time to have a look! The idea for this story has been coming together for a while, so I will try to do it justice. Please enjoy, and do not hesitate to leave a comment! It would be amazing to hear from you.

Clouds, swollen and heavy, churned restlessly above the cemetery. Distant rumbles of thunder growled warningly, sending a flurry of crows up from their perches and into the sky, screeching furiously at the unknown being that had disturbed them.

Another cold gust darted over the grass and up through the tree boughs, disturbing the dark-haired woman stood alone beneath them. Her eyes lifted briefly to survey the gathering storm, before flicking back down to the scene occurring some distance in front of her.

Huddled together around a new grave were a group of mourners, dressed fully in black, with heads lowered against the wind. They were speaking to one another, and reaching out to grasp hands tightly, but any words of comfort that they voiced aloud were swiftly snatched away and carried off. The woman watched them intently from afar, careful to remain hidden from their view.

"You shouldn't be here, Jauregui,"

The noise of the tree branches thrashing back and forth had masked the sound of the approaching man, but the woman did not flinch when he spoke. She did not react at all.

"Did you hear me?" he asked, raising his voice as a hint of irritation crept into his tone.

"You have no authority to instruct me as to where I can and cannot be,"

"I'm not giving you an instruction," he responded irritably, "I'm giving you advice. Go home,"

Staring ahead ever more determinedly, the woman resolutely ignored her companion, and so he pushed on.

"You must see that you aren't doing yourself any favours by being here!" he exclaimed, "You're on thin ice with your department as it is. If they find out that you were here, it will just make matters worse,"

At last she turned her head and fixed him with an icy glare. Taking hold of his jacket lapels, she shoved him backwards behind the tree trunk and out of sight of the grieving people.

"I'm here to pay my respects," she hissed, deliberately keeping her voice low, "Unless you have intentions to do the same, I strongly suggest that you leave. That's my advice to you,"

Pulling himself up to his full height, he knocked her hand from his chest and squared his shoulders defiantly.

"I thought that you would have been able to figure this out on your own, Jauregui," he snarled, "But apparently not. You've gotten yourself into a real situation here, and you're only going to drag yourself further down if you keep on like this. Go home, get some sleep, and put this bloody mess behind you,"

For a moment he seemed a little perturbed that his attempts at intimidation had failed to provoke any signs of fear in the woman before him, but without another word, he turned and marched away.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, she returned her attention to the people gathered about the freshly dug earth. It seemed that the final prayers were being read because, one by one, they all retreated, the howling gale snapping fiercely at their heels. Soon, the dark-haired woman was the only living soul remaining in the cemetery.

Another thunderous roar from the sky above told her that it was time that she departed also. Pushing her hands deep into her overcoat pockets, she reluctantly dragged her gaze away from the grave and trudged over the sodden ground towards the road.

Her car was parked against the grassy verge, and she flung the door open, throwing herself down into the driver's seat. No sooner than the door was pulled shut, the very heavens opened. The tension that had been steadily growing over the past few hours suddenly gave way, with torrents of rain lashing down against the car windscreen. The noise was almost deafening.

At once, the view of the cemetery through the passenger window melted away into a shifting mass of watery colour. The world outside simply vanished; swallowed by the deluge. It seemed that, as the storm engulfed everything else, something inside the woman broke.

She hunched forward, sobbing uncontrollably, whilst her hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles glowed a ghostly white in the dim. Whatever part of her that had been holding this outburst inside had now torn, and the raw emotion flooded through, staining her cheeks and soaking her lap.

Gasping desperately, she fought to catch her breath, her shoulders heaving as she struggled to take in air, but the storm overpowered her cries.