Here is a teaser from MOMENTS IN TIME by Serenity Hawk THE HEALING OF SORROW The heavens opened and the angels’ tears flowed. Their anger echoed as the thunder roared. One by one, family and friends gave their respects to the woman veiled with sorrow and the younger man whose spirit seemed almost lost. “I’ll be back in a moment, Mom. I forgot something in the car.” The younger man walked briskly away with his head bowed. The elderly woman stared at the men who threw the dirt upon the small cherry-oak casket. Her insides sank pulling the rest of her into the abyss of her pain. Clutched within her frail hands she held the picture of her grandchild – a beautiful little girl with dark auburn hair and laughing green eyes. “Ma’am, it’s time to leave.” A young man in his early twenties with coal-black hair gently touched her shoulder. “A few moments more, please.” She looked back to the hole in the ground. The young man dressed in black wearing a hat stood over her, shielding her from the rain with his huge umbrella. He was the driver of the family limousine. From behind them, her son dressed in a smoke colored suit briskly walked up. In his right hand, he carried a small doll with curly blonde colored hair; it was his daughter’s favorite. He motioned for the men who were tossing dirt upon her casket to stop. Kneeling at the grave, he tossed the doll into the hole, “Here baby, now you will be able to sleep in peace.” The man slowly stood and turned to look at his mother. “Mom, we really need to get you out of this rain,” he said reaching out for the woman’s hand. Madeline took her son’s hand and slowly made it to her feet. Just one week before they had buried his wife and now today his daughter – both the victims of a hit and run. As they pulled away from the cemetery Tom broke down. Madeline placed her hands on his, slowly speaking she said, “We will find out who done this terrible thing and they will pay.” Madeline turned to the window pursing her lips. The first day she met Mary, she fell in love with her, she knew that Tom was making the right choice when he asked her to be his wife. Mary’s parents had died in a fire during the first year she was away at college and she easily took to Madeline as though she was her own mother. Madeline had moved in with Tom and Mary just before Destiny was born. Mary had had such a hard time with the pregnancy and Madeline was eager to help. She had been so lonely since Tom’s dad passed away three years before and the news of Mary’s pregnancy was music to her heart. She had been there since day one of Destiny’s birth. Madeline had watched Destiny take her first step, and she was there the first time she rode her bike without training wheels. Tom squeezed his mother’s hand feeling her pain as well. He had worked late the night it had happened, his heart ached with guilt. How could he have lost them both? Who would share his dreams with him now? What if he hadn’t worked late? All these questions and more echoed in his thoughts. Once they were home and Madeline was resting peacefully, Tom called the investigator who was in charge of the case. After being discharged again, he slammed the telephone down. It was hard for him to be in the back seat, he was use to being the one in control. He looked in on his mother and then walked into the living room. The pictures of his wife and daughter seemed to scream out to him. Tom couldn’t take it anymore. He went to his room, got his gun and left. He had a description of the car and a partial license and he wasn’t going home until he found it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a run-down motel room a young man stood in front of the mirror. His face was red and swollen. His blonde shoulder length hair tossed about on his head and his clothes were two weeks old. He hadn’t bathed since he checked in on October 13th. In his right hand, he held a half-full bottle of Yukon Jack and in his left he held a pistol. He trudged back and forth in front of the mirror. “You damned fool! What are you doing? What did you think you were doing, Bobby? Now look at you!” A paroxysm of rantings echoed. The maid was in the room next to him cleaning and listening to his crazed screams when suddenly she heard a thud. The young man had thrown what was now an empty bottle against the wall – his rantings fading. The maid walked out to her cart carrying the soiled linen. “They don’t pay me enough to go knock on that door.” She pushed the cart right past his room. Bobby sat at the round table cutting out lines of cocaine. He peeped out the curtains to see the maid gathering her cleaning supplies before entering the room on the opposite side of him. “That’s right, you better stay away from this room, and from me.” He pushed his chair back and walked over to the television. The rays of the afternoon sun were piercing through the cracks in the curtains. The stench of uneaten food rose from the pizza and carryout boxes that lay scattered around the room. There hadn’t been a maid in the room in over a week. Bobby turned the television on, but the local channels were still exclaiming the same news he had heard for two weeks. “An unknown man driving a blue 76 Monte Carlo was being sought in connection with the hit and run deaths of Mary Stokes and her daughter Destiny. Anyone having info…” It was more than he could stand. He turned the television back off and returned to his solution awaiting him at the table. Two hours later the maid had finished the remaining rooms and pushed her cart back in the direction of Bobby’s room. She slowed to a creep, listening for the next bout of rage, but there was nothing … only silence. She cautiously knocked on the door. “I know that room is in need of cleaning by now.” There was no reply to her knock. She knocked again, “Housecleaning, do you need anything?” Still there was no reply. The short stout woman figured the enraged man must have left and so it would be safe to finally clean the room. With her keys she unlocked and opened the door. The foul stench of rotted food remains escaped the closed up room. The maid gagged. Briefly looking into the room, she saw the pistol lying on the floor and the lifeless body of a man alongside of the bed. Fearful that Bobby may have killed someone and was still lurking close by, the maid left her cleaning cart a quickly ran to the office to report her findings to the manager. The timid small frame man snatched up the telephone and promptly dialed 911. Within moments three patrol cars pulled into the parking lot. The officers all got out of their cars in their slickers. The rain dripped from their hats. The manager gave one of the officers the room key, told them the man registered as Robbie Riggins, and then he ran back inside to the safety of his office. The officers positioned their cars outside the room. Two officers approached the partially opened door on either side while the others stood at their cars with guns drawn. The lead officer knocked on the door. “Mr. Riggins this is the police.” There was no answer. Twice more the officer attempted to get Bobby to open the door, but there wasn’t any reply. The officer announced he was coming in and slowly began to push the door open. Still, only silence was returned. The officer moved through the opened door, and the stench flowed out. Both officers standing just inside the door gasped. Holding their breath, they inched further into the room. There behind the door in the corner beside the bed laid Bobby with a film of white powder on his face. The table was overturned and cocaine coated a small area of the carpet. Cautiously, the older of the two officers leaned down to check for a pulse. He looked up at his partner and then grabbed the radio off his side. He radioed in for an ambulance. Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket, he desperately tried to clean the powder from Bobby’s face. The other officer had run to the car to retrieve the CPR kit. The officer at Bobby’s side once more brushed Bobby’s face and with the safety film in place, he commenced to perform CPR. After a few minutes, Bobby coughed. His body spasmed and he barely opened his eyes. Ten minutes after the call went in the first response team pulled up in front of the room. They rushed inside and the officers stepped back while they went to work to access the situation and try to stabilize Bobby. The four other officers that had remained outside were dismissed and the two that entered the room followed the ambulance to the hospital. There was a wager as to whether or not Bobby would pull through and another as to whether or not he was the hit and run killer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Emergency Department was hectic; nurses running from rooms to the nurses’ station to other rooms, patients screaming in frustration and agony; and doctors walking with the latest patient’s file up and down the halls. The emergency doors slammed against the walls as two EMTs rushed in with the gurney carrying the barely alive Bobby. The nurse who had kept in contact with the EMTs had gathered a team; they took the lead and ushered the gurney to the already prepared area. As soon as they were in the room they started switching over the oxygen and EKG leads, vital statistics were being taken, blood was being drawn, clothes were being removed and the lead nurse busily assessed Bobby’s situation. Off to the side, the EMTs were being debriefed about the proper supportive care to give to a cocaine OD. They were praised for immediately responding to the tachycardia spikes on the EKG. Once the team had finished their assessment and the IV was in place, the lead nurse went in search of the doctor. The doctor looked over the notes as he returned to the room with the nurse. After the doctor’s orders were completed and a bed was made available, Bobby was transferred to CICU. Bobby’s condition deteriorated, and he was now in a coma. There was a flag on his chart in the nurses’ station of ICU that Detective Stoltz should be called as soon as Bobby regained consciousness. Right now, there was a good chance that would never change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tom drove all afternoon and all night in search for the killer. He checked every bar in three counties and drove up and down every road looking for the blue 76 Monte Carlo with a dented in front right quarter-panel. There were times when the rain was so thick he couldn’t see through his windshield and so he’d have to pull over … giving his rage more time to fester. By nine o’clock that night, Madeline had given up hope of hearing from her son. She called the investigator in charge of the case of her daughter-in-law and granddaughter’s death. Luckily, when she called he was in. He told her of the possibility of them having found the driver and she expressed her concern of Tom. The investigator happened to have been the son of a close friend of Madeline’s and he offered to look for Tom personally. Tom had pulled in to a Gas Hub to fuel up, and grab a snack and soda. Just as the cashier rang him up, a dark blue sedan pulled up to the storefront. Out climbed a man whose hair was receding, but his stomach was advancing. It was Jack Stoltz, the investigator in charge of the hit and run murders of his wife and daughter. Tom glanced up at him briefly and then paid the lady. “Where were you at earlier when I tried to reach you?” He walked to stand with the man just outside the door. The rain had finally slowed to mere drizzle, but the roads were still flooded – bad drainage on the town’s part. Tom and Stoltz listened to the sirens blaring from every direction. “Well, we went and retrieved a suspect. Don’t know if he’s going to make it out of ICU, but he owns a blue 76 Monte Carlo. Where it’s at is the only thing we haven’t figured out yet. What have you been doing all day?” Jack replied. “I’ve been out trying to find that Monte with a dented in fender.” Tom flashed his eyes at the investigator. “Well Tom, I really think you should give your mom a call, she’s really worried. I know you think we have just pushed this case aside, but Tom, it takes time to resolve these things. You need to let us worry about bringing in the criminals. Trust me, your mom isn’t going to let any of us rest until the killer is behind bars.” Jack’s eyes were sympathetic as he cracked a small grin. “Stoltz, I know you’re right, but it’s just hard sitting there day after day, knowing that man is still out there with the ability to kill again while my wife and daughter are in the ground!” Tom’s voice had caught the attention of the cashier who had been busy at the cooler putting up the latest delivery of intoxicants. She peaked over the shelves trying to hear more of the conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, Tom made notice of the cashier. “I best be getting home. Thanks Stoltz. Give me a call as soon as you are sure that the guy you have is the one we are looking for.” “Will do Tom. You be careful driving home in this mess.” As Tom drove home to quiet his mother’s fears, he reflected on his short time with his wife. The wedding was held in his mother’s rose garden on a bright May afternoon. He took Mary’s hand in his beneath the same trellis he had broken his arm on after his mother had told him not to climb it. As he looked into her eyes and pronounced his love for her, he couldnt see past forever with her. He had never imagined that their time together would be cut short. They had planned their life together, even past their kids being grown with kids of their own. The day Mary told him she was pregnant was the first Father’s Day after their first anniversary. Destiny had been the image of her mother and was their sunshine. The blaring of sirens going by shook Tom from his memories. Missing his turn, Tom jerked his car into the next side road and quickly put his car in reverse. His bright lights reflected back at him, curious he pulled further down to see what was on the washboard drive. There slightly hidden beneath some brush was the car he had been searching for all day. Tom sat gripping the steering wheel; his face flushed of all color. Could this be the same car? Could this be the same one that had taken the lives of his wife and daughter? ~*~*~*~*~*~Read the whole story in Moments In Time ~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 03:07:10 +0000
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