Mis-directed email

chapter1-2

Chapter 1

With a jerk Dominic Carrera woke from the nightmare that had plagued him for the last 2 months. He glanced at the clock. It was only 5:10AM. What a hell of a way to start the day, or the week for that matter.

Taking in great gulps of air he tried to calm down. His heart was racing, his breathing labored. It took several minutes for his breathing to calm and he shakily wiped the sweat from his face.

Wearily, he got up and went into the bathroom. Staring gloomily in the mirror, into eyes shadowed with pain, anger and regret, he sighed heavily. He splashed some cold water on his face, took a long drink of water and released the tension that had knotted up his shoulders.

Flexing stiff fingers he ran his hands thru his overly long black hair, hair that was starting to curl behind his ears and landed untidily across his forehead.

The shadows under his eyes reflected the lack of rest, nights plagued by nightmares and an overwhelming sense of guilt and anger. He hadn't had a decent night's sleep since Stan's death.

Yeah, he'd managed to make it through the funeral, to say the right things to Evelyn, to hug her at the gravesite. But most of the last 2 months he had barely existed. He functioned as if he were in a fog. He was irritable. He had snarled at anyone who had offered any compassion or sympathy. He refused to go to church, he wasn't ready to forgive God, and he wasn't ready to talk to Father Bennett.

His dad had even suggested that Dominic needed to talk to a professional, a grief counselor. He needed to talk about the death of his partner. Dominic furiously told him he was fine. He had accepted Stan's death and He told his dad that he just needed people to "leave him the hell alone". He had only agreed to come to his parent's house because he knew that his mother would fret if he shut himself up in his condo as he had wanted. His father had promised that they would be leaving on their cruise and he'd have the whole house to himself. He would be away from the constant calls from friends and colleagues and he could have some peace and quiet. Watching their house and the change from his condo was supposed to give him some breathing space from the constant calls that had poured into the apartment and to the station after his partner's death. He needed to get away. His mother had hovered and Dominic had considered returning to his condo. Realizing that they weren't helping their son his father and mother had finally left to visit his aunt and then to go on their cruise to give him the space that he said he needed.

Dominic needed to get his life back together. He wanted to forget the past. He wanted to be whole again. After hours of physical therapy he was just now getting his physical health back. He wasn't sure he'd ever get back his mental health back.

Going into the spare bedroom he used the hand weights to help strengthen his weaker left arm muscles. They still ached and he tired easily when he strained too hard, but he kept pushing himself. He had to pass the physical to be put back in the field, pushing himself to do just a few more reps than he'd done the day before.

CHAPTER 2

Saturday was a scurry of activity, packing bags calling her brother only to leave a message on answering machines each time, talking with her neighbors, arranging for the collection of her mail, the many little things she felt needed to be dealt with before she left. Exhausted from so many things she'd slept deeply and dreamlessly.

She had attended St. Michael's church earlier that morning and was feeling very good about her up coming trip. Rosa couldn't believe she was finally going.