A Silence to Remember (manxman)

Chapter 23

Josh

Regardless of what Dominick said, someone scared the crap out of him at the door. It was never a good sign when he withdrew into himself. He sat at the end of the couch, sipping wine and bouncing his knee. He zoned out, not even looking at me or his parents, just staring off to the left. I put my hand on his knee to stop it from bouncing. I shook his shoulder, making him look at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

He placed his glass on the coffee table and got up saying nothing else, not even a goodnight to his parents. I said goodnight for the both of us. I walked upstairs and found Dominick brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Silence—or lack of communication—was the worst.

"Hey," I said, poking his arm, getting his attention. "Who was at the door?"

"Nobody."

"Bull shit. Just tell me."

He rinsed his mouth with water and spit. As he left the bathroom, he handed me an envelope with his name on it. He didn't stop to wait for me to open it. Rather, he kept on walking. Trailing behind him, I opened it, not prepared for what I was about to read.

Immediately I assumed the worst. Whenever I thought about Mario, my mind always jumped to worst-case scenarios. Images of him poured into my brain. Unless Dominick had pissed off one too many men, I suspected Mario taped the letter to the door. He must have been stalking me for a while to figure out Dominick's full name and the location of his parents' summer house. And he seemed to know intimate details about him.

But maybe it wasn't Mario. Maybe it was an ex-boyfriend or former lover of Dominick's.

"Where'd you find this?" I asked.

"It was taped to the door." He said something else in English, but I couldn't read his lips because he was busy getting ready for bed.

"Look at me when you speak," I said.

"Someone is stalking me," he said, speaking directly to me.

"An ex-boyfriend?"

"I have no ex-boyfriends. Stay with my own kind? What the fuck does that mean?"

Mario used to say shit like that to me all the time. He only wanted me associating with the deaf community, and he couldn't stand it when I communicated with any other man, deaf or hearing.

"I have no friends except for you and Crystal, and you're definitely my kind."

"I'm more than a friend, right?"

"Yes, of course."

If the letter was indeed from Mario, then it meant he violated the restraining order. But how could I prove it? His name was nowhere on the letter and neither of us saw him.

"How does this person know these things about me?" Dominick asked.

I wondered the same thing. It made me think that Mario would stop at nothing. "Sit down," I said. "I need to tell you some things." On the bed, I sat beside him, reaching for his hand. "I think it was Mario I saw in the club and on the beach. Mario Russo is my ex-boyfriend. I don't know why he's here. He's not supposed to come anywhere near me. I'm sorry, Dominick. I never meant for you to get involved with my shit."

As Dominick's eyes meant mine, tears streamed down my cheeks. I thought I'd left the world of Mario Russo behind me. "What did he do to you?"

Overwhelmed with shame, I averted my eyes, uncertain if I wanted to get into it.