What Lies Beneath
Chapter 2
Simone pulled up to the side of the meandering road and got out. If there was one place she felt semi-normal , it was here. The stillness provided a getaway for her. She didn't hurt as much when she got here. She walked for five minutes until she came to a huge weeping willow. She sat down at the plot and stared at the headstone. It bore her family's name on top and under it, the names of her parents. She fingered 'Timothy James' lightly as she let the tears flow heavily down her face. She missed him the most, because he understood her. Her hands traveled to her mother's name and she let out a mournful cry, she missed the way her mother tried to make everything equal for them.
" Hi mama, daddy. It's me. I just wanted to come and talk to you guys. Things haven't been so good for me lately. Every waking moment , I think about today and how it changed my life. Ten years ago, we were a happy family, complete, and in a heart beat that changed," Simone said as she pulled out something from under her jacket. It was a picture of them , taken at a picnic. She had held on to that picture in hopes that it would dull the pain. But just like the other things, it didn't work. She still felt the pain, the guilt. " This is all because of me. If I hadn't went back for my stupid purse, we would've missed the robbers and you both would be here..." Her tears forced her throat to close and she sat in silence as she pondered her next words. " I can't live with out you anymore. I can't live with waking up everyday for the rest of my life missing what's gone."
Simone put the picture at the bottom of the head stone and sat back. Could she finally end this pain that she carried for ten years? She took out the small blade that she carried in her pocket and flipped it out. All she wanted was for the pain to stop. All she wanted was to be thirteen again and have her parents back. But she knew that was a futile hope. They wouldn't be coming back. She then took one last thing out of her pocket and placed it next to the picture.
As she sat back she felt the wind change. The breeze that blew steadied her senses for a slight moment and she exhaled . Everything is going to be okay, she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and felt the last of her tears drop on to her exposed wrists. She then slashed quickly at the first, then the second and dropped the blade as she settled back against the weeping willow. She let her arms hang at her sides, knowing that it would speed her blood flow. The slick feeling coupled with the copper smell transported her back to that fateful night when she had felt for his heart beat, getting his blood on her hands. As she drifted into darkness, she whispered softly to herself " So hard to move on, Still loving what's gone , I grieve for you, You leave me. Life carries on...
SS
She sat in the black van watching for her. It was always bitter sweet to see Simone when she came to visit the graves. The pain that she always held with her , cut like a knife through her , because she knew that she was the cause of it. If they would've just said no to the case, she would be in their lives instead of watching from the outside. She missed the times with her little girls when they would just sit around and talk about things. Life was so much simpler then.
Calleigh sat up out of her seat when she saw the silver Jetta pull up to the curb and watched her get out. She looked so wrought with pain, gripping the handle was all she could do to keep herself from getting out and running to her. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she felt the door open.
" What's the matter, Cal?" Tim said as he settled into his seat under the steering wheel.
" She's here," Calleigh replied simply.
Tim looked over to the plots that held their last name and watched as his daughter knelt down with tears in her eyes. He ran a nervous hand through his thick curly mane and let out a shaky breath. He hated this day so much.
" She doesn't look good, Cal. Matter of fact she looks worse than she did last year," Tim said as he leaned forward to get a better look.
" She hasn't been coping well. Horatio said that she has gotten worse over the past three years. I wished that she could find a way to get over it like Sienna did. But it's like she's holding on to us."
" Hey , what's she doing?" Tim said as he saw her pull out something. Calleigh pulled the binoculars up to her eyes and peered into them.
" She's putting a picture down. Oh Tim, she's crying so hard. Why did we have to do this to her?"
Tim glanced over at Calleigh then retained his attention to his daughter. Something wasn't right about her today. Then he saw it. A glint of something as it hit the sunlight.
" Calleigh..."
" Tim , call Horatio. Now!" Calleigh said as her grip tightened on the binoculars, making her knuckles white.
" Calleigh what is it?" Tim asked as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
" Just call him and tell him to get here quick!" Calleigh screamed at him. " Please baby, don't do this to us..."
"Calleigh give me those.," Tim ordered. He wanted to see what was going on. Calleigh reluctantly took them from around her neck and snatched the cell from Tim. Tim looked into the lenses and watched in horror as Simone slashed at her right wrist then the next. He jumped out of the van and sprinted across the lawn. Calleigh stood by the van, still waiting for Horatio to pick up the other end. She watched frantically as Tim tripped and fell over on some branches .
" Get to her , Tim get to her," Calleigh said as she heard Horatio pick up. " Horatio! Get to the cemetery now!"
" We are heading there now. What's the problem?"
" It's Simone. She's in trouble. Call rescue," Calleigh said as she kept her eyes on her husband. She continued to watch as he finally made it to her and took off his jacket to fashion tourniquets for her wrists. Her head drooped lazily as he maneuvered around her. Her skin had turned an ashen gray. Calleigh saw the Hummer as it was approaching the cemetery and she called out to Tim.
" Tim! Horatio is coming! C'mon we 've got to get out of here," Calleigh said .
He glanced at her daughter's tear stained face as it began to get more and more ashen. He didn't want to leave her , but he had no choice. Feeling tears coming down his face, he reached down to lightly kiss her on her forehead and prayed that he had caught her in time. He then sprinted as hard as he could and jumped in the van.
SS
Horatio saw the black van as peeled out of the cemetery and he reached down to the radio and requested for an ambulance at the Shady Groves cemetery. Sienna glanced over at him with confusion in her eyes. Why would he be calling the rescue? Then she saw her sister's silver Jetta. A pang of nausea hit her as the Hummer came to an abrupt stop. Getting out , she saw Simone lying up against the weeping willow, her face a sickly gray. She stood there in fear as Horatio ran up to the headstone.
" Oh no, Simone..." Sienna said as she felt herself run up the hill. Coming to the head stone she saw the bright red streams of her blood as they traced down her hands. There was so much blood. She glanced away at the sight of it as Horatio felt for a pulse, and her eyes caught the picture that she put down. She knelt down on her haunches to get a better look at it. She remembered the picture of the picnic that they went to just before her parents died. Next to it she saw the paper that was folded neatly beside it.
" Don't touch anything, Sienna. We have to preserve the scene," Horatio said as he took off his glasses and stood up.
" Scene? What do you mean, scene?" Sienna asked as she stood up. The familiar sick feeling rose up inside of her.
" She's gone, Sienna." Horatio said as he looked at her with grief. His eyes emoted the feeling in his heart. He had let Simone down.
" No! Horatio, she can't..."
" Sienna, I'm sorry, but she is. There is no pulse," Horatio said moving to take her in an embrace.
Sienna let a wail go as she initially fought against his comfort, but as she realized what he had said to her, she calmed down. She allowed him to comfort her longer then she spoke into his chest.
" Today is the day that my parents died. Now she's gone to be with them. I am alone," She said softly.
Horatio continued to hold her until the ambulance came and took her covered body away. Sienna felt like her sister did ten years ago, the same feeling she felt at her parents funeral. The feeling of her life slipping away.
TBC...