Welcome to 'Tears in Heaven'.
I'm working on the epilogue of this story. I just couldn't wait to share it with you all. I'm only going to post this chapter until 'What if I was Nothing' is complete. Otherwise I'll have four in progress stories.
Chapter 1: 'Landslide' by 'Fleetwood Mac'
"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? / Can I handle the seasons of my life?"
"Mr. Salvatore, you've been found guilty of driving under the influence. Do you understand how serious this charge is?"
"Yes, Your Honor, I do."
"You're very fortunate that no one had to pay the price for your incredibly stupid lapse in judgement," he continues. I can only nod and drop my eyes knowing full well how stupid it was to drink and drive.
"You are hereby sentenced to thirty days in the county jail. Twenty one days will be suspended if you complete one hundred hours of community service. You will serve your nine days in jail. Following that you will meet with your attorney to set up your community service requirement. If you fail to hold up your end, you will serve the remainder of your sentence. Am I clear?" he asks.
"Yes, Your Honor," I reply, my eyes focused on his.
"Mr. Salvatore, you are remanded to custody to serve your nine days in jail. I don't ever want to see you in my courtroom again." I nod. Immediately after the judge exits the courtroom, two police officers handcuff me and lead me out of the courtroom.
"Damon, you have to get started with your community service or you'll go back to jail. Do you want to spend another three weeks sharing a cell with Guido?" Ric asks, his voice angry.
"What do you want me to do Ric? What service am I to myself, let alone anyone else?" I yell back at him.
"About that, I just got off the phone with the people at the courthouse. Tomorrow you are to be at 'Happy Dale Sanitarium' to start whittling down the hours you need to satisfy your sentence."
"What the fuck, Ric?" I snap angrily. "What the hell am I supposed to do at a psychiatric facility?"
"Damon, you play piano. You can teach them how to balance a checkbook, you own your own business, well at least for now," he remarks pointedly.
"You'll teach them how to put their best face forward as they leave the facility and return to society. I did talk to the director of the facility. These are people that are on the cusp of being released. They want them to become productive members of society. None of the people you'll be interacting with have any violence in their backgrounds," he tells me, his eyes peering into mine.
"Why would you ever think that this would be acceptable to me? Certainly there are other things I could do as long as I'm being forced to do this."
"Because of your unique history, Damon. Somewhere under that cold, aloof façade, there is a decent guy underneath. I'm hoping this will help you find him again."
Grimacing, I get up and shove my chair out of the way, "Don't Ric," I seethe.
"Damon, Stefan has been covering your ass and keeping your business afloat. You need to get your life in order and get back in the game," he stresses, his voice firm. Having heard enough, I start to walk out of his office.
"Where are you going?" he demands to know, grabbing ahold of my elbow.
"Anywhere but here," I yell, trying to pull my arm out of his grasp.
"Stop acting like a child, Damon. You're a grown man and look at you! Throwing temper tantrums like a spoiled child. God, who are you?" he asks, gripping my arm tightly, his angry glare zeroing in on my eyes.
Sighing heavily, I relax my stature long enough for him to let go. "What time do I need to be there tomorrow?" I ask, my once defiant voice now soft in surrender.
"The center's director is expecting you at nine sharp."
Nodding, and with my shoulders slumped, I walk out of his office, pulling the door closed behind me.
"I'm Damon Salvatore. I'm supposed to meet with the director at nine o'clock," I tell the receptionist when she asks what I want.
"Have a seat. She's on a conference call right now but I'll let her know you're here."
"Thank you," I tell her then take a seat on one of the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area. Picking up a magazine, I start to thumb through when for some reason I raise my eyes to look out of the window. Just outside, stooping down to smell some flowers is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Her brown tresses shimmer in the sunlight and her olive skin glows under the bright yellow sundress she's wearing.
For whatever reason, she looks towards me, briefly making eye contact. Smiling at me shyly, I can't help but feel the magnetic-like pull between us as I give her a hesitant smile back. When another woman walks up to her, whispering something in her ear, she drops her eyes. Suddenly she's brandishing a look of pain so visceral that I can almost feel the stab in my heart as well. My reverie is broken when I hear my name.
"Mr. Salvatore?"
Quickly I turn away from the window and look at the receptionist again.
"Mrs. Lockwood will see you now. Come with me."
Getting up, I follow her down the hall till we get to the right suite. She opens the door then steps aside for me to walk in. Mrs. Lockwood stands up, extending her hand to greet me. Swallowing back a snide, sarcastic remark, I tell her it's nice to meet her too.
"Mr. Salvatore, I'm Carol Lockwood. How are you today?" she asks, her smile saccharine and phony.
"I'm here and at your disposal till my hundred hours are complete. Now, perhaps you can tell me what my responsibilities will be," I ask, a snarky smile on my face.
"Why do I get the feeling you'd rather be anywhere but here?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Am I that obvious?" I utter, dropping my head.
"You are. Mr. Salvatore, this is never going to work if you have this kind of an attitude," she scolds.
"I apologize Mrs. Lockwood. I really need to do my time as it were. Please just tell me what my responsibilities will be?"
"Perhaps we can come up with something mutually beneficial Mr. Salvatore?" she says walking around to the front of her desk. Sitting on the edge, she takes my chin in her hand.
"Um, what did you have in mind?"
"Well...," she starts to say when her secretary interrupts us.
Exhaling a puff of air, I thank my lucky stars that she broke in when she did.
"Mrs. Lockwood?" she asks, looking from her to me and then back at her.
"What did you need April?"
"A representative from the court is on the phone. They're checking to see if Mr. Salvatore kept his appointment."
"Why don't you take him back to the waiting room with you. I'll be right out Damon so I can give you a tour of the facility and explain what will be expected of you."
Nodding, I get up and follow April out of her office, thankful to have escaped this cougar's clutches.
Apparently she's done with her phone call because within minutes she walks out of her office and directs me to follow her. We walk down the hall and into the main facility. It's quite a nice place. There are a lot of windows letting in a lot of daylight. There are scenic pictures on the walls. I see one of the Grand Tetons mountain range and another of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. That's always been my favorite place. Maybe someday I'll go back. Staring at the pictures, I turn towards her when she calls out for someone.
"Dr. Mikaelson, this is Damon Salvatore," she says, introducing us.
"May I call you Damon?" he asks.
"Um, sure," I reply, shaking his hand when he offers it.
"Damon needs to fulfill his community service requirement. I'm just showing him around."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Salvatore."
"Damon," I reply. Just as Carol starts to say something, her cell phone chimes. Pulling it out of her pocket, she looks at the caller ID.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to take this," she says, walking off.
"Come Damon, I'll show you around. My name is Nik." We walk around the building, he shows me an entertainment room that has a big piano in it as well as a billiard table and an air hockey table. They have a big screen TV and seating too. Then he takes me to a generic classroom and explains what services other 'volunteers' provide to the facility and the people who live here.
Then he takes me outside. The grounds are beautiful full of gardens and shade trees stretching quite a distance. As I scan the horizon, I'm once again enthralled when I see the girl in the yellow dress. She sitting under a tree reading to some kids. I wonder if they live in this facility too. I also can't help but wonder if she's one of the patients here or if she's one of their employees. When our eyes meet again, I once again earn a quick albeit beautiful smile from her. With a slight nod, I acknowledge her before turning my attention back to Nik when he starts to talk.
"Now you've had the tour. When do you start here?" he asks, his hands on his hips.
"I don't know. I guess I'll have to talk to Mrs. Lockwood about a schedule," I reply honestly. It's nearly eleven in the morning by the time we're done with the tour. It's really a massive facility that also houses dangerous psychopaths who've committed crimes but were found incompetent to stand trial. I'm glad I won't have to work in that section of the facility.
"I'll walk you back to her office. It's easy to get lost here," he chuckles.
"Thanks." Fortunately Carol is nowhere to be seen when I get back to her office. After talking to her secretary, she hands me a tentative schedule, telling me to go through it and let them know which days don't work for me. Finally done, I go outside and wait for my ride since the judge took away my driving privileges for the next month. I may have to get a bicycle or something. I can hardly expect Ric or my family to taxi me around every day till I get my hundred hours completed. There's a bus stop within walking distance of this place so if nothing else, I can get here that way. When I hear a car honking, I look up to see Stefan pulling up alongside me. Rolling my eyes, I slide in the car and we drive.
"So how did it go?" Stefan asks, looking at me momentarily before turning his eyes back to the road.
Sighing, I stare out of the car window. "It went. Can we not talk about this?"
"No, damn it. You will talk about this. I shouldn't have to be the one holding your business together. I'm sick of it. So either you take this seriously or prepare to wave goodbye to it," he snaps at me angrily.
"Fine, it went fine. They gave me a schedule and I'm supposed to let them know if it works for me. Are you satisfied now?"
"Yes, I am. Because one way or another, Damon, I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm not going to continue to hold your water for you. You need to quit the pity party and start caring about your business."
"Pity party? Really Stefan?" I ask, shaking my head at the irony of it all.
"You know what I mean," he says to placate me.
"Look Stefan, I know you mean well but I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's just go back to the office. I need to start working on that prototype I've been thinking about."
"What's that?"
"It's a secret."
"Fine," he remarks. Apparently done with this conversation too, he reaches forward to turn on the radio.
Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please
Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure
And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven
When I hear the words on the radio, I swallow thickly. Dropping my head, I pinch the bridge of my nose trying to keep my tears at bay. Without saying anything, Stefan quickly turns off the radio just as we're pulling into my business.
I jump out of the car before he even pulls it to a full stop. As fast as my legs will carry me, I hurry to my office and lock the door. Feeling the weight of the world once again, I sit down. Looking at the wall, my eyes well up. Dropping my head into my hands, I let my tears fall freely, my mind wondering what might have been.
I hope you're intrigued enough to review and follow along. This is long, over 20 chapters. As I said, I only have the epilogue left to complete but I have a good start on it.
Thank you so much Eva. And thank you so much Kate for the lovely cover image. I can never thank either of you enough for all you do for me. I love you both.
Please give 'Rainy Days and Mondays', 'The Unforgiven' and 'What if I Was Nothing' a read. Please remember to hit that review button. They really are the lifeblood for a writer.
I absolutely adore Cary Grant. He's at his hysterical best, playing Mortimer Brewster in 'Arsenic and Old Lace'. It's from this movie that I got the name of the sanitarium.
I worked the last two night so the synapses are slowing considerably. And since I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open, I'm going to go to sleep now for a few hours.
My other stories will all update in a few days. I'm anxious to hear what you all think of this one.
As always, stay safe and have a lovely day.. Thank you again for all of your support with my stories.