Lost and Found

XVII

Alessandra's POV

I couldn't believe what Domenico was doing for me. This is amazing. I looked over at him as he was driving through the throng of people and cars, and just stared at him with so much love. I can't believe that he was doing this for me.

"Why you lookin at me like that?" He asked as he pulled into a parking spot near the track.

"Just lookin at a hella fine man. That's all." He looked over at me, and grew a big smile.

"Come here." He softly demanded. I leaned in as he did, and he gave me the most passionate kiss. "Now let's get you ready." I smiled and nodded my head.

As we were all walking over to the register stand, something caught my eye; a man that I hoped would never haunt my reality. Adam. I started to have flashbacks of that night when I lost those ones I loved. The screams, the shots...the blood. My lower abdomen started to hurt, almost as if I could feel my baby dying again. I felt something around my waist that helped me come back to reality. I snapped out of my flashback to see Domenico in front of me with his arms around my waist, looking very concerned. I quickly phased the fear and sadness out of my eyes so he couldn't see. I smiled at him and told him my stomach was hurting a little bit, just to reassure him. I don't think he believed me at all.

"Alessandra?" He started with a very thick Italian accent. "Ho bisogno che tu sia aperta con me, piccola. Voglio sapere cosa sta succedendo. Il tuo sguardo un secondo fa mi preoccupava davvero. Se qualcosa o qualcuno ti sta spaventando, voglio sapere chi." (1) I looked away for a split second. I nodded my head.

"Te lo dirò quando torneremo. Promesso. È solo che non voglio iniziare niente adesso." (2) I replied. He looked at me for a second, unsure of what he should do, but finally agreed. He placed his hands on my ears, bent my head up slightly, and placed a small kiss on my forehead. Then he took hold of my hand and started walking towards the register stand again.

Oh Lord. How am I going to explain this to him? Seriously?! That was so dumb. Ugh. Grrr. No, no, no, Aless, he is here for you. You got this. You can tell him. I looked back up at him, and caught him taking a look at me. I smiled to reassure him, and he smiled back. Focus. Time to race.

I was so ready to race, but I couldn't help this feeling inside me. I couldn't understand what it was, but it was starting to make me anxious. It's just your nerves, it's nothing bad. Just racing in a new country, that's all.

As soon as we were all registered, we all grabbed some food at the stand near the track and waited for our names to be called. There were so many cars; some were racing, some were hauling cars, some were here just to watch. But even though there was hundreds of cars, there was only one that I could pay attention to. Adam's. Thankfully he wasn't paying attention to me because he had a girl wrapped around him, but it still made me nervous that he was still here. The old memories and feelings that I had from that night and I lost half my family came up into my mind again, and I could feel my breathing start to quicken. I placed my hand over my heart and started to have a panic attack. I grabbed onto the sleeve of Domenico's shirt, and stared at him in fear. He looked at me, and immediately shifted his body towards mine. He moved some hair out of my face and started to talk to me, but I couldn't hear a thing. Slowly, I started to lose my senses. First, hearing. Then, touch. After that, smell. I felt my body being lifted into the air. A few moments later, the rest of my senses vanished. It went black, and I couldn't feel, smell, hear, or even taste the spit on my tongue.

When I woke up, I was in a place I didn't understand. A place I had never seen before. Bright. Cold. Scared.

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(1) I need you to be open to me, babe. I want to know what's going on. Your look a second ago really worried me. If something or someone is scaring you, I want to know who.

(2) I will tell you when we get back. I promise. I just don't want to start anything now.