Mirror – Chapter 2

Rick rose to his feet quickly when he saw a shadow standing behind the door. He opened it and was somewhat disappointed. It wasn't her…the woman that fled from him, the woman whose tears flowed so viciously from her. Instead it was Rosita with a message for Carol. She saw the disappointment in his eyes as she handed him the message. She apologized again.

"I'm sorry Rick."

Rick smiled slightly and closed the door behind her. He walked back to his seat as the other woman spoke and he tried to focus on her words. He absentmindedly gave Carol the message who read it and frowned. She then gave her attention to the woman.

"My name is Mary-Jo and I lost my daughter three months ago. She was killed by a stray bullet while she was walking home from school. She wanted to be a..."

The woman couldn't go on. She began crying into the palms of her hand and collapsed in her chair. Some of the other senior ladies in the group huddled around to comfort her while some of the new members began crying as well.

"I'm sorry." Mary-Jo cried. "I miss her so much."

Rick didn't realize that his body tensed up until Karen held his hand gently. He turned to see her smiling at him and he smiled back. Although it had been just over five years since Carl died Rick is still stunned that hearing stories like these still affect him so strongly. He remembered what Carol had told him once during a conversation when he first approached her to form the group.

'This pain Rick will never go away. The best you can do is deal with it and don't let it consume you.' She had told him but he did let it consume him and it ruined his life. He lost friends and his job with the Atlanta PD along with his pension. Then he was sucker punched in the gut by his ex-wife Lori who sued him in court. He knew that she was still bitter about their divorce three years earlier but he didn't know how much until he was served with the court papers.

He couldn't believe the things she claimed in the documents and said on the witness stand. She claimed that he was an unfit father and that the courts should have given her full custody of Carl. She even went as far as to blame him directly for the death of their son knowing damn well that it wasn't true. She said that if she had had him he would still alive today and it was because of Rick that their son died.

Rick gave Lori everything she asked for in the divorce. The house, the car, all the money in the bank and even their dog Max but still that wasn't enough. She wanted full custody of Carl too and that he wasn't going to let happen. When Lori filed for a divorce she threw him out of the house and Rick moved into a small studio apartment which Abe insisted he pay for.

He paid down the deposit and six month's rent and told Rick don't worry about it. He vowed that he would pay Abe back as soon as he got back on his feet. He stopped drinking and joined a support group and when their divorce finalized almost two years later Rick was in a good place. He started his own security consultancy firm and even did some work for the Atlanta PD.

They have tried many times to woo him back into the department but he always refused. Business has been steady since he started his company and he was able to pay Abe back in two months every cent that he owed him. He practically had to bully him to take the money. Rick even got a girlfriend too and he was happy for a while.

Andrea and Carl got along great whenever he came over for visits and Lori didn't approve at all. It was bad enough when the judge gave him joint custody but it got significantly worst when she found out about Andrea. She started making up excuses why Carl couldn't come over on weekends like he was supposed to knowing full well that Andrea would be there and was looking forward to seeing Carl.

He had to threaten to take her to court for violation of the visitation order and she simmered down abit although she would call his home phone multiple times during the day claiming that she was just 'checking up' on Carl and insulted Andrea every chance she got whenever she answered the phone.

Andrea didn't make any fuss about the situation despite him apologizing to her over and over for Lori's behaviour and it was soon after he understood why. They were happy for a year…that was until her husband showed up on Rick's door in the middle of the night. Without explanation Andrea fled the apartment through the back staircase that night. He filed a missing persons report two days later and only heard from her six days after that.

Rick was shock to hear from her when she called him and explained that she was sorry for not telling him that she was married but she was running from her husband who was physically abusing her. He remembers their conversation.

'So you're not from Philly?'

'No Rick. I'm from Detroit. I couldn't take it anymore and I had to leave him. He's a cop and his friends are cops. They all cover for him…give him alibis whenever I make a report to the station.'

'How long have you been running Drea?!'

She loved it when Rick called her by his pet name. She let out a small sob.

'Five years.' She answered softly.

'Five years?! Why didn't you tell me this? You knew I was a cop! I could have helped you!'

'You are such a good guy Rick and it wasn't fair to bring you into this mess. I was afraid of scaring you off. I had a boyfriend when I first left Michael and was living in Chicago. I told Phillip everything after we have been dating for almost a year. He kicked me out the next day. I didn't want to take that chance with you.'

The anger and hurt Rick felt for those days when she disappeared instantly subsided.

'Where are you?'

'Safe."

'Where!'

'I love you but I am not going to tell you. Move on with your life Rick. Find a nice girl with no complications….and no husband waiting to crawl out of the dark.'

'Andrea! Please let me help you!'

'I know you want to but I have to do this by myself. I know that now.' She paused. 'I'm so sorry Rick.'

Then was a dial tone and he never heard from Andrea again. Six months after Andrea left, Carl died.

Rick has come to accept that the first meeting with new members are always the hardest. It starts out with a cry-fest and ends in one and having seven new emotional parents in one sitting is bound to be stressful.

The ladies have been trying to gather themselves for the past ten minutes to no avail. They apologized to Carol, Karen and Rick but Carol assured the ladies that it's ok…that they were in the right place to cry and let it all out. She decided to adjourn today's session till next week.

They watched as the ladies filed one by one out of the room with Rosita by the door handing out pamphlets for them to read and discuss for the next class. Karen also left. Carol glanced at the note again.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes but it is me who should be asking you. What's wrong? You looked disappointed that it was Rosita at the door and you zoned out on us during the session."

"There was this lady who came in earlier. She should have been in this session."

"Where is she?"

"She ran."

"Hmmm. That's not uncommon for someone who is grieving Rick."

"You don't understand Carol. This woman needs help…real bad."

Carol turned around in her chair to give Rick her full attention.

"Go on."

"Rosita said she was the first one here this morning. She took a form and sat down to fill it out but she didn't. She just stared at the paper."

"That's still not uncommon."

"She was doing that for three hours Carol...just staring. You can't tell me that's common too."

"It's not common but it's not unheard of either."

"When I came and Rosita told me I approached her and she ran like a bat out of hell. I went after her to stop her…to try to convince her to stay but she was already gone."

"Ok. She is grieving Rick and we can't force her to seek help. She has to make the conscious decision to step through those doors. Until then, there is nothing that we can do other than doing what we are already doing…that is keeping our doors open hoping that people like her decides to come through."

Suddenly, Rick sprang to his feet, rushed outside and came back with a clipboard in hand. He shoved it in her face. She noticed that the paper on the clipboard had water marks and some of the words were faded.

"What's this?"

"Tears Carol…tears. Her tears."

Carol eyes widen as she looked up at him.

"Are you going to sit here and tell me that we are supposed to just wait for her to come to us?! That there isn't something that we could do to make her come in or atleast strongly recommend that she seek help immediately?"

Carol was strangely quiet as she stared out the window and it was noticed by Rick. She gripped the clipboard until her knuckles grew white.

"What? What is it?"

"This is a very rare and extreme case." The tone in her voice worried him. "I have only seen one other case like this before."

"And what happened?"

A full minute passed between them.

"Carol?"

She finally turned towards Rick her face filled with worry now.

"What happened?" he asked softly almost afraid of the answer.

"She killed herself."~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michonne watched as the post man drop the coloured envelope into her mail box. Ten minutes later she was opening it with trembling fingers. This envelope holds the key to her sanity or insanity. She looked at the single piece of paper inside. It read:

August Valley

Cinnamon Hill

Under an old, weathered Sequoia Tree

Three stones mark the spot.

Michonne closed her eyes, a small tear escaping.

'Could this be it? Will I finally have peace?'

She took up her bag and walked out her door and hailed a cab. Ten minutes later the cab pulled up in front of the Atlanta PD. She pushed through the door and stood, scanning the sea of faces for the one she was looking for. An officer saw her and frowning, bumped his partner who looked up.

"Fuck. She's back."