A Man's Job

                Becky’s story wasn’t too odd.  She grew up in a Midwest town in Nebraska.  Like many Midwest girls, she wanted to move to a big city, so she chose New York and headed there.  Unlike many small-town girls who come to the big city, Becky succeeded very well in that she secured a job with Barclay’s and was doing quite well on her own.  She had made some friends both at and outside of work and was pretty comfortable with herself.  On one occasion, she went to a birthday party with her co-worker, Janilsa.  She didn’t know the person whose birthday it was, but then again, neither did Janilsa.  It was Janilsa’s friend’s sister’s fiancée, so although Janilsa knew her sister, she hadn’t met the guy yet.  Becky liked going out and dancing so she was unopposed to any excuse to do this.  While there, she met one of Janilsa’s friends named Larry.  Immediately she hit it off with him because, like her, he was from the Midwest.  One thing that she found was that although she loved New York, she realized that they don’t have the same Midwest values that she does; in that, men are not chivalrous.  The feminist movement had really blurred the lines between men and women in New York as far as responsibilities were concerned.  Men didn’t walk girls home; it wasn’t the men to blame; it was the women who would always get angry when a guy tried to act that way.  Where she came from in Nebraska, the worst thing you could say to a man was that he wasn’t being a gentleman.  This idea was foreign in this city.  Larry, however, seemed to agree with her on these values.  He still didn’t believe it to be the worst thing you could say, but it was a start.  By the end of the night, she felt very comfortable with Larry, even though he claimed he hated dancing.  Although this is frowned upon in New York, in the Midwest, guys didn’t know how to dance at all, and she was more attracted to the security he felt by stating this.  There was a certain confidence to him that she enjoyed. 

 

Larry received a phone call from his friend Janilsa and excitedly answered it.  Larry was very introverted and never called any of his friends but jumped at the chance when they called him because he felt he may hang out with them.  It wasn’t that he was arrogant or anything, it was just out of sight out of mind type of thing.  To rectify his not calling, he tried to keep his schedule open so that at a moment’s notice he could go meet his friends.  He felt this was worthy compensation, yes, I don’t call but if you ever need someone to hang out with, even if it’s last minute, you can give me a call.  Janilsa greeted Larry and then said, “Hey, I’m going to a lounge tonight with some co-workers, you want to come?”

“What do you mean ‘lounge’”

“I know you hate dancing, but there will be places to sit and you don’t have to dance.”

Larry had heard this mantra before and it rarely panned out.  He would try to sit and not dance as he said he would but his friends would drag him on to the dance floor.  He felt this was another trap but Janilsa had normally been pretty good about not inviting him to places he didn’t want to go.  He said, “Alright, I’ll come out, but if it’s a club, I’m going to leave pretty quickly.”

Janilsa smiled, “Yea yea, I know” knowing that Larry rarely ever carried through on leaving if he wasn’t happy.  Normally he just drank himself to oblivion and waited there seemingly bored.  She also knew that she had gotten him to dance and lately it had been getting easier to get him off his ass.  Still, she hadn’t intended to do this because this place really was a lounge where dancing was not forced at all.

Larry asked, “Is there anyone there I know?”

“Becky”

Larry had met Becky almost a year ago and the introduction was not forgotten.  He immediately had a decent sized crush on her and since he considered himself asexual this was strange.  Larry had pretty much shut off all feelings toward the opposite sex once he lost his virginity and was very disappointed with the experience.  This actually allowed him to be much more open and confident with girls.  Had he met Becky before, he would not have been able to talk to her because he would have been too afraid to say something to fuck it up, which he almost always did.  It wasn’t that Becky was drop dead gorgeous, she was skinny, long light brown hair, and a nice body standing at about 5’6”.  Larry at 6’ liked taller girls, although he’d say 5’10” was his ideal height, 5’6” wasn’t bad.  Larry considered her good looking but not hot.  The thing that put her over the top was that she loved sports.  Larry had questioned her about it and asked if she liked the NBA, which Larry had an obsession with.  Becky responded, “Oh not just the NBA, I love football, baseball, hockey too” With that statement, Larry was hooked.  He wasn’t quite sure if Janilsa knew his feelings about her, she certainly hadn’t led on she had, but then again, Larry was oblivious to these things and he had known that passing something by Janilsa was extremely difficult.  She could see through his fancy rhetoric better than anyone he’d ever met.  Whether Janilsa knew it or not, Becky being there was the deal-closer, he was going and said as much.

                Janilsa gave Larry the time and place and offered to pick him up.  Janilsa lived out on Long Island so she drove in when she would go out in the city because she had given up drinking three years ago.  Although Larry didn’t mind taking the subway, a free ride was always appreciated.  Janilsa picked him up, drove to the city and luckily found parking outside the lounge. 

 

                Becky had arrived at the lounge and texted Janilsa, who hadn’t arrived yet.  She decided she would just go in and have a drink at the bar before Janilsa and Larry got there.  She was very excited to see Larry again.  She liked him but where she came from, guys made the move, so she hoped that this time he would.  She would flirt a little bit with him, maybe dance with other guys to make him jealous and hope this night ended well.  Ten minutes after she arrived at the place, Janilsa and Larry walked in.  She immediately greeted them both and they got a table.

 

                Larry was pleasantly surprised with the place.  It was a restaurant upstairs and a dance area downstairs.  This meant that he could easily stay upstairs and hang out while the girls danced downstairs.  Now, he was glad he came; he would relax at the table and talk to the girls when they were recovering from dancing.  He did just that.  It worked out for Janilsa too because she had someone to watch her purse while she danced. 

 

                Becky and Janilsa ate a quick meal and went downstairs to dance.  They both found guys to dance with and had fun.  Every now and then, they went back upstairs to recover before going back down to dance.  They had tried getting Larry to come down but he refused.  The second she got downstairs, Becky saw the guy she was dancing with come over and start dancing with her again.  He was black and as the stereotype would lend, he was a very good dancer.  Becky lost herself in the music and followed his lead.  After a while, the guy asked her to come outside with him so he could have a cigarette.  Smoking had been illegal indoors since 2005 in New York, so this was a common theme for New Yorkers.  Becky told Janilsa she was going to go outside as a way of asking her to come with her.  The two girls followed him outside while he smoked.  The guy said to Becky, “You want to get out of here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know it’s getting kind of late, you want to go somewhere quieter and get a drink or something?”

Becky saw where this was going and said, “No, that’s alright, that’s a little fast for me, I can give you my number and we’ll do this some other time.”

“Oh I see, dance with me all night, lead me on, then blow me off right?”

“Umm, no, not at all, you’re a good dancer, I like dancing.  I wasn’t leading you on.”

“You seemed to get pretty crazy on the dance floor.”

“Well I’m sorry that you misunderstood, but I’m going back inside, have a good night.”

 

Janilsa immediately became aware of the situation.  When the guy first started coming on to Becky, she backed away and let him work but now that she realized Becky wasn’t interested she got closer in case she had to help her friend out.  Although Janilsa wasn’t too big, she always carried pepper spray and a taser on her.  The pepper spray was in her purse, which Larry had, but her taser was in her jacket pocket, which she had on.  She walked closer as she saw that this conversation could get ugly fast, and sure enough it did because the guy grabbed Becky by the arm and said, “No, bitch, you’re coming with me now.”

Becky looked around for someone to help.  There were a lot of people on the street but another sad fact is that nobody wants to get involved.  America is the only country where you can get sued for saving someone’s life.  It was also very common to see couples fighting on the street or subway so nobody paid them any mind.  The bouncers at the lounge were only concerned with problems inside of the lounge, so they didn’t do anything.  Luckily, Janilsa seemed to take control when she screamed, “Hey, let go of my friend asshole.”

“Fuck you spik, this has nothing to do with you.”

Janilsa was Dominican and like most Hispanics, hated being called “Spik.”  It wasn’t very common because since New York is a melting pot, you don’t hear racial slurs as often as other places.  This made it all the worse.  Becky jerked her arm away and said, “Get off me psycho.”

                Becky didn’t expect what happened next at all.  Despite what it seemed like, she didn’t think this situation was anything she couldn’t handle.  But when she felt his hand come across her face knocking her down, she came to the harsh realization that this was getting really serious.  Suddenly she saw Janilsa lunge at him only to end up lying on the ground seemingly motionless.  She didn’t know it at the time, but Janilsa had pulled out her taser and pushed the button to send the electrical current through the spike and brought it toward the man’s neck. Although she’d been carrying it for a while, she had never had to use it until now.  The man was quick however and grabbed her arm hit where the elbow bends and directed the taser to her own neck knocking her unconscious.  Becky looked around to see if someone would help.  Surely, the fact that Janilsa was knocked out would cause someone to help.  Before she knew it, she felt the man’s arm squeeze her bicep and yank her up.  She was too scared to move now; she wanted to scream but the people around didn’t seem like they wanted to help at all.  Her scream got caught in her throat as she found herself being pulled down the street. It wasn’t far until the man pulled out his keys and popped the trunk of a car a few feet from them.  He unceremoniously threw her into the trunk and slammed it shut.  Becky lay in the dark stunned that nobody was helping.  She searched for her phone only to remember it was in her purse, which was at the table.  She listened to see if someone may confront him but all she heard was the common sounds of the city. 

 

                Larry had seen Becky and Janilsa go outside but left them alone.  They had found a guy and he didn’t really seem to care.  He wasn’t a jealous person, in fact, he had a cold logic to this, he hadn’t gone for Becky, made no indication that he was going to, so he didn’t really blame someone else for trying.  As for Janilsa, she was one of his best friends.  It’s not to say there wasn’t sexual tension, because there was.  In fact, they had hooked up twice, but that was eight years ago.  Larry kind of felt he was lucky their friendship survived two hook ups when most co-ed friendships don’t last one.  He reasoned that they weren’t friends when they hooked up. Although the first time, it can be argued it was true, the second came two months later, and they had gotten to be pretty good friends by then.  Still, he was quite content having her as a friend, therefore, had no problem with guys hitting on her. If anything he encouraged it because he wanted her to be happy.  He did notice that the guy was more hitting on Becky.  One thing that bothered him the most about himself was that he never fought for the girls he wanted.  He justified it to himself that that’s why he didn’t deserve them but he felt it was something he could rectify but he never did.  Seeing Becky with another guy did bother him.  It wasn’t jealousy; it was more feelings of inadequacy.  He decided he’d just go home.  Janilsa would understand.  He picked up Janilsa and Becky’s purses and closed his tab planning to go outside and give the girls back their purses and go home.  Saying good bye was always something he hated but he had had enough.  He got his card back, wrote in the tip and put his card back in his wallet.  He put on his coat and walked out the door.  What he saw, he didn’t quite believe at first.  The girls were gone, and the guy that seemed to be the guy they left with was placing someone inside his car.  The odd thing was, the girl didn’t look conscious, and although he didn’t get a very good look, it seemed to look like Janilsa.  Before he could react, the guy was in the driver seat.  Larry was drunk and had never driven drunk before, but now he seemed to think was a good time to make it his first.  He took Janilsa’s keys out of her purse and ran to her car.  He started it up hoping that he wasn’t overreacting.  While stopped at a light, he turned his phone on speaker and called Janilsa.  He dreaded the phone call because if he was wrong and Janilsa and Becky had gone inside while he was closing his tab, he just stole her car.  Unfortunately, her phone rang from inside her purse, which he had.  He decided he was at the point of no return and he would have to follow the car.  He was a couple cars behind him but knew which car he was following.  The stress from not knowing if his friend had just been kidnapped to if she hadn’t he just stole her car, to drinking and driving, had sobered him up considerably.  Still, blood doesn’t lie but he didn’t feel drunk anymore.  Just to be sure, he slapped himself in the face.  He knew that although there were many myths to how to sober up quickly, exercise and being hit were the only ones that actually had scientific backing.  Exercise wasn’t an option.

 

                The man driving the car was very happy with himself.  Nobody had said anything when he put either girl in his car and he thought he had gotten away with it.  It’s possible that they copied his license plate but there was nothing he could do about that.  Right now, he was just pissed that the white girl denied him after dancing with him all night.  The Spanish chic was a bonus.  Humans are predators but unlike any other predators, the worst ones take pleasure in preying on those that fight.  This bitch tried to stun him.  For that, he would enjoy raping her.  It was a long way to his house in Long Island but not long enough that she would wake up before he got there.  With his excitement of getting to fuck two chics in the same night, he didn’t even bother checking to see if he was being followed.  He arrived at his house and pulled into the drive way.  He opened the door and took out the Spanish girl.  He wanted to take care of her first so he lifted her over his shoulder and carried her toward his door.  He removed his keys, unlocked the door and carried her in.  This wasn’t his first time doing this, so he already had things prepared.  He lied her on the bed and took some duct tape he kept in the room and taped her limbs to each bed post quickly.  Now was the hard part, dealing with the conscious girl in his trunk.  He went back outside and headed to his car.  As he approached, he could hear her pounding at the trunk.  She had been pounding the whole time but now that she felt the car stop she had renewed energy.  He knew he was in no danger because the sounds of New York City could easily drown out the noise and with everyone in their homes sleeping in his Long Island neighborhood, it wasn’t nearly loud enough to wake anyone up.  Even if someone was awake, they wouldn’t be able to hear that.  He opened the trunk and immediately slapped his hand over her mouth to suppress any scream.  The scream came but it was muffled.  He wrapped his arm around her waist and yanked her out of the car.  She fought him the whole way but he overpowered her and dragged her to the house never releasing his hand from her mouth.  He hadn’t closed the trunk but wasn’t too worried about it.  When the door was shut, he punched her in the stomach before removing his hand from her mouth.  She went down like a rock.  He nudged her upper body back with his foot lying her flat on her back.  He then straddled her and wrapped his hand around her throat and said, “You’re going to behave, if you give me any more trouble, I’m going to fucking kill you.  If you just give me what I want, and do as I say, you’ll go home safe and sound.”

                Becky wanted to believe this but just couldn’t.  The problem was, she didn’t seem to have a choice.  She was in his house, he was in control.  Her makeup was running because she had been crying.  The tears came again as she felt helpless.  Nobody would help her on the street; they surely weren’t going to get to her now.  She wasn’t a virgin; she would just have sex with him and hope that it would let her get home, where she can go to the cops later.  All she had to do was get through this night.  She let him help her up and didn’t resist as he dragged her to the basement.  When she came in, the man pushed her against a support column and told her to stay there.  She obeyed.  He then got a roll of duct tape and told her to put her hands to her side.  Her body started shaking but she did as she was told.  The guy then wrapped the duct tape around her body and the poll a few times before lowering it to around her thighs and shins.  She was completely trapped and facing a TV screen.  The man then turned on the TV and adjusted the input to reveal Janilsa stirring while restrained to a bed.  Becky got the distinct impression that he wanted her to watch what he did to Janilsa.  The man tore off another strip of duct tape and placed it over her mouth. 

                The guy then walked out of the room and went outside to close the trunk.  He then went into the room Janilsa was in and pulled up a chair and sat down next to her.  He tapped her on her face a couple times as he realized she was coming to.  “Hey bitch, what’s up?” Janilsa pulled at her restraints and stared at him incredulously as she started to realize her predicament.  “please don’t bother screaming, nobody will hear you.  Now, that was very noble of you, to go defend your friend like that.  You’re a tough bitch with your little stun gun.  So, now that we’re here together.  Was she really worth it?”

                “Fuck you.”

                “Well you are, in a minute.” He replied with a smile. .He took out a pair of scissors and started cutting Janilsa’s shirt and said, “You might want to stay still for this.  I don’t want to cut you yet.”

                Janilsa started shaking but she knew that resisting not only would be futile but probably would cause the scissors to cut her instead of her clothes.  The guy cut down the middle and then followed up cutting the sleeves off.  He then did the same to her jeans.  She just stared up at the ceiling chocking back tears.  She focused on the only thing she could help, not letting him see her cry.  With precision, he cut away her bra and panties until she only had her socks and shoes, which were taped to the bedpost.  He said, “Well I won’t completely strip you, you can keep your socks and shoes on.  Now that you can kind of see where this is going, I’ll ask you again.  Was she worth it?”

                “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

                “I don’t think you’re in any position to do that.  Are you going to answer my question or not?”

                “Fuck you.”

                “Alright fine, you can answer later.”  The guy wanted to give Janilsa the illusion that her efforts were not in vain.  He wanted her to be a little open to the possibility of getting raped by him because she did it so her friend can be saved.  After he was done with her, he would reveal that it really was pointless because her friend would suffer the same fate she did.  He would torture her until she answered the question.  Either answer was fine for him.  A Yes meant he could take it away from her and a no would be comical because it’s like she blamed her friend for what happened to her.  It had only been five minutes since he parked his car and things were looking good.

 

                Larry had watched him pull into the driveway and then parked the car on the street.  He wanted to be sure of what he saw at the lounge.  He hadn’t received a call from Janilsa which either meant he was right, or Janilsa didn’t have any numbers memorized because they were in her phone.  The other option was that she hadn’t noticed he left yet.  It had only been a half hour since leaving the lounge so this was somewhat believable.  He thought about all this on the way over here.  The most likely scenario was the first one, he knew her brother had his cell number and even if she didn’t know her brother’s cell phone number, she certainly had her house phone and could wake her dad up to get her brother’s number.  There were so many other people Janilsa knew that had his number that he refused to believe she couldn’t get it somehow.  Still, with people’s reliance on phones these days, it was possible that she had no numbers memorized.  He got out of the car and walked along the back yards so no street lights picked him up.  He got to the house that the guy pulled up in and he walked along the side of the house.  He felt really exposed but it was dark and there were no lights on him.  If he got discovered well then, he would just have to confront him without the benefit of surprise.  He peeked around to the side of the house and saw the man with a girl over his shoulder carrying her into the house.  The lights of the house were on and he was pretty positive it was Janilsa now.  He still waited though.  The man came back out and opened the trunk.  Larry watched as he fought a struggling girl into the house.  From that distance, it looked like Becky.  Things were too coincidental and he had to act.  It was blatantly obvious that he was kidnapping two girls so even if he got involved and it wasn’t Becky and Janilsa, at least he would feel good helping two girls.  He was chivalrous enough to know that would make him feel a little better given all the effort.  Calling the cops wasn’t an option.  All they could do was knock on the door and ask questions.  If the girls are unconscious, or outside of ear shot, it means nothing.  The cops can’t go in.  He walked to the front door and peeked through the window.  He didn’t see anything so let himself in expecting to see the man but he didn’t.  He noticed a door open and he heard someone descending stairs.  Now he knew where he was going.  First thing he had to do was make sure that nobody else was in the house.  Larry shut the front door softly and slowly made his way upstairs.  He opened all the doors that he found softly so as not to disturb anyone if they were sleeping.  He heard the front door open and close and rushed to a room in the front.  He looked through the window outside and saw the man close his trunk and head back.  He stepped away from the window and listened for the front door to close.  When it did he skulked back and stood beside the door so that if it opened, the door would block anyone from seeing him and also would give him a weapon.  Part of Larry was telling him to stop being surreptitious and just come out and attack.  He wanted to make sure he had the advantage though and that required seeing if it was really just him, the guy and the two girls in the house.  He was surprised at how well he could hear things.  He heard a door close downstairs and he finished searching the rooms upstairs before making his way downstairs.  He went down to the basement this time expecting to run into the guy but instead he found Becky tied to a column.  The other reason Larry thought he had the advantage was that he carried two knives with him at all times.  He took out the spring-assisted blade and cut away the duct tape holding Becky.  Becky wrapped her arms tightly around Larry.  Larry hugged back but then pulled away slightly and put a finger to his mouth to signal for Becky to be quiet and took off the duct tape on her mouth.  Larry had noticed the screen before but now he actually looked at it.  If there was any doubt in his mind before, it was gone now.  He saw Janilsa in her lingerie as the guy was now cutting off her bra.  Becky whispered, “You have to help her”

                Larry was stunned.  Although he expected something like this to happen, he wasn’t prepared to see it.  He gave Becky his knife and Janilsa’s keys and whispered, “Get out of here, car is parked up the street, if I don’t call Janilsa’s phone, which is in the car, in ten minutes, call the cops for help.”

                “You didn’t call the cops?  Why?”

                “No time, explain later, just please get out of here.”

                Becky didn’t have to be told again.  She wanted nothing more than to get out of this house and she couldn’t help Janilsa so Larry would have to.  Larry knew they had to be on the first floor but he didn’t know where.  He walked up the stairs and Becky followed behind.  Becky didn’t like that Larry was going so slow but Larry knew that he needed to keep things quiet.  Larry walked toward a door on the first floor as Becky hurried to the front door and opened it rushing out.  Larry thought she made too much noise, but given that nobody was rushing out, maybe the guy didn’t hear.  There weren’t too many doors on the first floor, one was a bathroom and the other was where Janilsa was being held.  Since he had already searched the house, he knew there was nobody else there.  Larry creaked the door open and saw the guy with his back toward him pulling his pants down.  Larry smiled because he knew there was no more perfect time to come in.  He yelled as he ran and the man tripped over his pants as he tried to turn around to see who it was.  Larry drove his shoulder into the man’s midsection as he faced him and drove him over Janilsa and to the ground on the opposite side of the bed.  Larry wrapped his left arm around the man’s pants pulling them toward his head which pinned the man’s legs behind his head and disabled him from sliding them over his feet.  Larry then drove his right fist into the man’s face repeatedly.  The man was defenseless.  He tried swinging his arms at Larry but his legs absorbed most of the impact so the force against Larry’s back was minimal.  He was also losing a lot of strength from the shots directly to his face.  After a few shots, Larry let go of the pants and started driving both fists into his face repeatedly.  Eventually the man stopped struggling and went limp and Larry delivered a few more punches just to ensure the man wasn’t feigning unconsciousness.  Larry’s hands were bloody both from the man’s face and cracking his own knuckles on the man’s face.  He tried aiming for the nose, but some punches landed elsewhere.  He ignored the pain in his hand and focused on the rage that he was trying to rape one of his best friends.  He got up and grabbed the duct tape and taped the man’s arms and legs together.  He took out his knife and cut the duct tape off Janilsa’s limbs freeing her.  She immediately leapt out of the bed and hugged Larry squeezing hard.  Janilsa didn’t seem to care that she was naked at first.  She then pulled back and grabbed Larry’s hand with the knife trying to grab it from him.  She got the knife and turned toward the man.  Larry grabbed her arm and said, “Janilsa, don’t”

                She screamed, “Why not?”

                “Our finger prints are all over this house along with your hair and other DNA on the bed.  We don’t want a murder investigation, we leave now, there’s no risk of getting arrested for this.”

                “No jury would convict me.”

                “Why risk it?  You’re okay, Becky’s okay.  Come on, she’s waiting in the car for us.”

                Janilsa turned toward Larry for the first time, “What?  Becky’s here?  Why the fuck did you bring her?”

                “I didn’t bring her, he did”

                “He said that she got away.”

                “Okay, so he lied because she was tied up in the basement.” 

                Janilsa held the knife and looked from Larry to the man.  She was beginning to keep her emotions in check and listen to Larry.  She had always been good about rationalizing emotions and focusing on the cold truth and logic.  Logically, there was almost zero chance of being arrested if she left now.  If she killed him, then she would have to cover up the murder and that wasn’t something she wanted to do.  She didn’t think that punching him unconscious was enough though.  She turned toward Larry and said, “You may want to turn your head.”

                “Janilsa, don’t…”

                “I’m not going to kill him.  But you really don’t want to see what I am going to do to him.”

                Larry realized what she was getting at and turned his head.  This one, he didn’t have much of an argument for.  Janilsa bent down and straddled the man’s legs.  The man was stirring and snapping out of unconsciousness but still not strong enough to fight even if his limbs weren’t tied together.  Janilsa smiled and swung the knife and dug it into the man’s scrotum.  She grabbed his penis and scrotum and swung at the same spot pulling as she tried to tear it off.  The guy was screaming in pain and Janilsa looked up and said, “Scream if you want to, nobody can hear you”

                Larry hopped over the bed and left the room.  He picked up a phone and dialed Janilsa’s number.  Becky answered frantically and said, “Is everything okay?”

                “Yes, we’re fine, did you call the cops?”

                “No, it’s only been five minutes”

                “I know, don’t call them, we’ll be out soon.”

                “Soon?  Why not now?”

                “Fine, we’re leaving now.”

                “Okay”

                Larry hung up the phone.  He went to go back in the room but instead Janilsa walked out calmly holding the man’s penis in one hand and a video camera in the other.  She opened some cupboards in the kitchen and found a bag.  She then placed the penis and camera inside and smiled at Larry and said, “Souvenir”

                Larry stared at Janilsa’s naked body and decided to just ignore the comment.  He took off his jacket followed by his sweater and threw it at Janilsa.  Since Janilsa is only 5 feet tall, Larry’s sweater acts as a short dress on her.  Janilsa put it on and then walked casually out of the house.  Larry put his jacket on and followed.  As they approached the car, Becky ran out and hugged Janilsa and then Larry.   They got into the car and Janilsa had a smirk on her face.  Becky said, “Ummm why are you smiling?”

                Janilsa smiled wider and said, “Would you like to know what happened to our little friend that took us home?”

                Becky smiled this time and looked at Larry and said, “Yea, I would.”

                “I cut his fucking balls off and jammed them down his throat then took his penis off and kept it as a souvenir.”

                Becky stopped smiling and looked incredulously at Janilsa.  She was expecting to hear how Larry kicked his ass but wasn’t prepared for that.  She was too shocked to speak then she said, “How did you get out? He had you taped to the bed I thought.”

                Janilsa had already started driving but looked over and said, “How did you know that?”

                “He had a TV in the room he had me in and a link to a camera in your room.”

                “Yea, I grabbed the camera too, I thought he just video taped him fucking for his own personal enjoyment.  I didn’t know he would fucking stream it.”

                Larry chimed in, “I doubt it’s on the internet.  He just has it linked to all his TV’s so he can watch it on a bigger screen than his camera or computer.”

                “Well, you can watch the tape to see what I did to him.”

                “Umm that’s okay” Becky said

                Janilsa drove Becky home first.  Becky said, “You guys can stay at my place, you don’t have to go home.”

                Larry shrugged his shoulders and Janilsa said, “No, I kind a want to go home and shower.  I feel disgusting right now.  Larry you can stay if you want.

                Larry said, “Yea, I’ll stay, I don’t feel like taking the train back right now or making you take me.”

                “Well, it’s not a big deal and I kind of owe you, but whatever you want.”

                “I’ll stay here.”

                Becky said, “Good, because I for one don’t feel like being along tonight.”

                They both left and went to Becky’s apartment.  As soon as the door closed, Becky jumped on Larry wrapping her arms and legs around him and resting her head on his shoulder.  Larry could feel how tense she was.  Obviously she was still shaken up by what happened.  Larry rubbed her back consolingly.  She started to cry and Larry whispered in her ear that everything was alright and that she was safe.  This made her not hold back and balled on his shoulder.  Larry patted her back and let her go.  After a little bit she unwrapped her legs and stood.  She pulled back and kept her arms around Larry’s neck as she stared into his eyes and closed hers.  Larry didn’t know if it was appropriate but he wanted nothing more than to kiss her right now.  He leaned in and locked lips with her and was pleased to see she returned the jester.  They made out a little while before Becky jumped back up and wrapped her legs around Larry as she continued to kiss him.  Larry walked with her attached into her bedroom and lied down on top of her on the bed.  He unzipped his coat to reveal that he was topless and slid his arms under Becky’s shirt maneuvering it over her head.  He started kissing her neck before dropping his mouth across her breasts down her stomach and to her waist.  Becky breathed heavily the whole way.  Larry undid and unzipped her pants and slid them down.  Becky had already kicked off her heels and after Larry slid her pants off, she wrapped her leg around Larry and spun him so that she was on top of him.  She started kissing his neck and slid her mouth done his chest and stomach in a similar way he did her.  She then used her mouth to unzip his jeans and unbuttoned them sliding them off.  Larry was also able to kick his shoes off while this was going on.  Becky took Larry’s socks off with his pants and threw them to the side.  She knelt aside his waist and sat up on her knees.  She reached back and undid her bra before leaning forward and smothering Larry’s face in her breasts.  She rocked her body back and forth feeling his penis harden under his boxers and her panties.  Larry opened his mouth and sucked on each breast as it came across his mouth.  Becky then slid her body down and pulled off Larry’s boxers.  She moved her way back up licking his scrotum and used her hands to stroke his penis.  She then stood up over him and signaled for him to sit up.  Larry was smiling as he sat up and Becky put her hands on the back of his head and pulled his head toward her crotch.  Larry reached up and pulled down her panties and started licking her clitoris.  Becky moaned with pleasure.  She used her knee to nudge Larry back and then placed her foot on his chest and pinned him down.  After what she went through, she wanted to dominate a little bit and was hoping Larry would reciprocate.  So far, he was.  She dropped her knee onto Larry’s chest and put her weight onto the leg.  Larry sucked in air but didn’t have any further reaction.  Becky opened her night stand drawer and pulled out a condom.  She placed it over Larry’s penis and lowered herself on top of him so that his penis entered her.  She thrusted her pelvis back and forth before leaning forward and locking lips.  Larry made out with her and spun her around.  He dropped his hips and sucked on Becky’s breasts.  Becky wrapped her legs around him and squeezed as she turned.  She didn’t want to be on bottom and if Larry fought it, she would say as much.  As far as she was concerned, she was in control of what happened here.  She was grateful for what Larry did but this would be done on her terms.

Larry couldn’t care less whether he was on top or bottom, he was loving every minute of this.  He let Becky turn him over and made a note not to try that again.  This was the second time she quickly turned back around when he had her pinned on her back.  She seemed to be catering to what he wanted anyway because as soon as she did the second time, she started hovering her breast over his face again.  Larry lowered his hands from her back to her ass and pulled himself deeper into her.  She gyrated her hips and Larry caressed her ass.  They started making out again and then she pulled up and started groaning.  Larry kissed her neck and sat up and lowered his mouth to her breast before going back up around her neck and to her mouth.  Becky leaned back and wrapped her legs around Larry’s waist and her arms around his neck pulling him toward her.  Larry lowered his hands and caressed her legs as he kissed the side of he neck softly.  Becky started screaming as she climaxed before pulling her legs back and locking her lips onto Larry’s as she placed her hands on his chest and shoved him back onto his back and rode him hard.  It didn’t take long before the choke-like noises came from Larry as he achieved orgasm.  Becky rolled off him and lay on her back beside him panting.  Larry didn’t move and panted next to her.  Becky turned away from Larry and Larry turned toward her placed his right arm under Becky’s neck and his left around her body placing his hand on her stomach and closed his eyes.  Becky grabbed Larry’s hand and pressed it against her as she slid back into Larry and relaxed her body before closing her eyes and going to sleep.

The next day, Janilsa called Larry.  The call woke him up but he answered the phone still naked from the night before.  Becky groaned Larry woke her up when he slid his arm from under her neck.  He smiled and answered.  Becky turned over and placed her arm over Larry’s chest.  Larry answered groggily, “Hello.”

“Hey Larry, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, how are you?”

“I’m okay, you still at Becky’s?”

Larry looked down at Becky and smiled, “Yes, I am”

“Can I talk to her?”

“Larry brought the phone to Becky’s ear who was smiling with her eyes still closed.  He put the phone next to her ear and she said in a playful voice, “Hello”

If Janilsa didn’t think anything happened because of how quickly Becky got on the phone from when Larry did, she certainly did by her voice.  She started laughing, “Hey, have some fun last night I see?”

Becky kept the voice and said, “hmmm maybe.”

“Alright, well I’ll leave you alone then, I just wanted to know if you wanted to meet up today.”

Becky yawned and said, “Yea, I’m cool with that” looking up at Larry and said, “Larry, you wanna meet up with Janilsa later?”

Larry responded, “Yes”

Becky then said yes into the phone,

Janilsa responded, “Alright, I’ll call you when I’m in the city, let’s meet for brunch.”

Becky looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:00AM.  She said okay and hung up the phone.  She then got up and took a shower to get ready for the day. 

Larry didn’t know why but he liked that Becky didn’t seem to hide from what happened last night.  She didn’t actually say it to Janilsa but with that voice he knew that she was confirming any suspicions.  He got up and remembered he didn’t have a shirt.  When Becky got out of the shower, he showered and put on his clothes using the jacket as a shirt like he had before.  They met up with Janilsa and had brunch then all three returned to their homes.  Larry and Becky started hanging out alone after that and eventually Larry asked her out to which she said yes.  The three of them remained friends and never brought up the events of that night at the lounge. 

Stages of Lobv and Revenge

        Jenn  was a senior in high school.  Like most pretty 17-year-olds, she was a cheerleader for her school and dating a football player.  Unlike many cheerleaders, she was down to earth, humble and willing to help out.  Since she was by far the eldest of her cousins, she often found herself having to baby sit for her aunts and uncles who all lived near her.   On this particular weekend, she was excited because her uncle was in town from New York.  Technically, he wasn’t really an uncle, it was her aunt’s close friend but she called him Larry Larry given that his name was Larry and since her mother was Greek, she was raised in the tradition of using the Greek word for uncle “Larry” when addressing uncles.  She was close enough to him to have his number in her cell phone but she had never contacted him before. 

On a Friday night, she didn’t have any plans so when her mom’s brother-in-law called her she knew what this was going to be about; he wanted a babysitter for his four kids.  She answered the phone “Hey Larry Serge”

Relations between Serge and the rest of her mother’s side of the family had been strained.  Serge had been known to be an abusive husband and father but Jenn didn’t let this concern her.  Her aunt never spoke ill of him and always defended him.  She let her mother worry about Serge and his kids; Jenn was focused on being a kid.  Serge said, “Hey Jenn, I know it’s last minute but do you have plans tonight?”

“No, why what’s up?”

“I need someone to watch the kids till about 11:00 or so.”

Jenn looked at her watch, it was 5:00, she said, “What time do you want me to come?”

“Now, I’m actually near your house, I can come pick you up.”

Jenn thought this was strange because she had her license and a car so didn’t really know why Serge would pick her up.  She brushed it off and said, “Alright, that’s fine, I’m home”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

Jenn hung up and waited.  She was already dressed and didn’t have to do much so she did some dishes and texted her mom that she was babysitting for Serge that night.

Shortly after, Serge pulled into Jenn’s drive way and she came to the car.  He drove her to his house making small talk.  They pulled into his driveway and got out of the car and approached the door.  Serge opened the door and went inside.  Jenn looked around and said, “Where are the kids?”

“Mary is on her way home to drop them off before her and I are going out.”

Mary was her mom’s sister and Serge’s husband.  Jenn responded, “Oh ok” and sat down on the couch.

Serge went to the refrigerator and said, “Jenn, you want a beer?”

Jenn wasn’t sure if this was a set up.  Obviously she was underage but it’s not like she hadn’t had a drink before.  Still a drink before watching his kids seemed a little weird.  She declined but Serge brought her one anyway and said, “Oh come on don’t be shy, it’s one beer, you’ll need it to watch four kids.”

Jenn smiled and accepted the beer.  Her and Serge began talking and suddenly she realized her beer was empty.  She knew she wasn’t drinking too quickly and was a little weirded out that her aunt wasn’t back yet.  Serge brought her another beer and this time she saw him looking at her in a way he probably shouldn’t.  Serge noticed her getting antsy so decided to say, “Jesus, where the fuck is Mary?  We gotta go.”

Jenn calmed down a little bit but in the back of her head she couldn’t help but think that if he really was getting impatient, he’d call her.  She said, “Do you want me to call her?”

“No, what you’re not having fun with your uncle?” he said with a smile

“It’s not that, I’m sorry, I was just suggesting.”

“Look, I know your mom and them say horrible shit about me, but I’m not that bad of a guy.  You’ve been around me, you’re a big girl, you can decide for yourself, don’t believe everything they tell you.  Just relax, you’re getting paid for down time now,.” He said with a smile

Jenn didn’t know how to respond so she just took a long sip from the beer.  Before long, she found herself finished with it.  She wondered why Uncle Serge didn’t seem too impatient.  The Uncle Serge she knew would be infuriated with his wife for making him wait.  Something wasn’t right and she was about to find out just what it was.  Serge offered another drink and she said sternly, “No, Larry Serge, if I have another one, I’ll be drunk and that’ll be bad.” She said with a smile.

Serge smiled back and said, “You girls are such light-weights” as he leaned in closer.  He put his hand on her thigh and started rubbing it.  Jenn stiffened up and Serge said, “You know, I’ve really enjoyed watching you grow up into a beautiful woman.”

“Umm, Larry Serge, this is weird.”

Serge started stroking her cheek and Jenn began shaking now.  He put two fingers on the far side of her chin and pulled his face toward his and moved in to kiss her.  Jenn didn’t want to be rude but she instinctively put her arm out and stopped his advance.  “Larry Serge, this is weird, you’re my uncle.”

“Through marriage, it’s not like we’re blood related.”

“This isn’t right, I want to go home now, please let me go home.”

Serge took his hands off her and raised his arms in submission.  He started shaking his head and said, “I’m sorry Jenn, I don’t know what came over me.  Let me just go to the bathroom wash up a bit and I’ll take you home.”

Jenn let out a sigh of relief.  She wasn’t entirely convinced that Serge was going to let her off that easy.  She took her cell phone out and stared at it.  She didn’t want to text her parents because of the drama they had with Serge.  She just wanted out of the house, she didn’t want to sit around and have Serge be yelled at, she wanted to spend as little time as possible in the house.  That ruled out her family.  She quickly thought about her boyfriend but he may get defensive about it.  Boys had a way of getting into unnecessary fights for their girlfriends.  She then thought of Larry Larry.  It was perfect, he was not technically a part of the family, he and Serge had never had an issue with each other that she knew about so she texted him, “Hey Larry Larry, I need a ride from Serge’s house, here’s the address. Don’t knock just come in, I’ll explain later.”

 She walked up to the door and unlocked it and sat back on the couch.  She figured she could just text Larry Larry when she got home and call it off.  This was really just for precautionary purposes in case Serge didn’t really take her home.  She knew Larry Larry wasn’t too sensitive and maybe would tease her a little bit if she all of a sudden called it off as quickly as she called it on.  But, he always teased her and he’d get over it and she could handle his innocent teasing.  Serge came downstairs with rope.  Jenn got up instinctively and tried to say something but Serge grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against a column.  He pulled his face toward her and said, “You fucking bitch, you think I would want you?  I’m a married man with four kids, you pretentious little shit.” Jenn’s eyes widened as she was stunned stiff.  Serge reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone and threw it at the wall as it shattered upon impact.  He said, “I’m sick of your bitch mother saying that I hit my kids and my wife.  I’m not a fucking monster yet you think the worse of me.  I thought you could think for yourself you fucking whore.”

Serge lowered his body and put his arms to the side of Jenn as he drilled his shoulder into her midsection repeatedly.  Each shot fired the wind out of Jenn’s body and she was powerless to stop him.  Finally he stopped when he rammed her to each syllable of, “I’m going to teach you some manners.”

Serge backed away and Jenn collapsed on to all fours heaving as she tried to regain her breath.  Her midsection was in a lot of pain and she didn’t know what to think.  She started crying because she didn’t know what else to do; she was helpless.  Serge stepped over Jenn so that she was between his legs, took off his belt and wrapped it around her throat and pulled up choking her.  He said a little too calmly, “Let me tell you something about your parents.  The only reason you’re pappou (grandfather) let your mom marry your dad is because she was pregnant with you.  If it wasn’t for that, you’re mom wouldn’t have been another Greek girl stolen by xeni (foreigners) and your blood wouldn’t be corrupted.” 

 

                Larry received the text from his niece Jenn while he was visiting a friend.  He stared at it for a while, he knew it was close but he also assumed that Jenn would have to be in a lot of trouble to send that text message.  He knew of Serge’s reputation but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.  He wondered why she didn’t call him or why she didn’t contact anyone else.  She had never contacted him before.  The part about just walking in seemed a little shady and he used that as confirmation that this was an emergency.  He jumped into his car and plugged the address into the GPS.  Luckily he wasn’t too far away.  He pulled into the drive way and parked the car.  He got out and walked toward the door and hesitated.  He put his ear to the door and thought he heard faint moaning.  He decided to just open the door and what he saw stopped him.  He gazed at Serge with his back to him and Jenn between his legs being choked by him.  At that moment, all human compassion and emotion had left his body.  He wanted a fight and he knew just what to say, “So Serge, I see you’ve graduated from 8-year-old girls to 17, congratulations.”  Larry was referencing Serge’s eldest daughter.  Serge dropped Jenn and ran at Larry enraged.  Larry lunged his palm out striking Serge in the sternum stopping him dead in his tracks as he bent over trying to regain his breath.  Larry grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall.  He looked back at Jenn who crouched to her side crying and coughed while grabbing her midsection.  He turned back to Serge and said, “So you hit her in the stomach I see”  as he drilled his knee into Serge’s chest and stomach.  He then grabbed his arm and pulled him toward him as he continued driving his knee into his midsection.  He backed up and watched Serge fall at his feet.  Larry said, “A little harder fighting men your size, isn’t it?”

                Larry straddled him just as he had seen him do to Jenn and took his belt off wrapped it around his throat and pulled up.  To add insult to injury he used his right leg to push down on the back of Serge’s neck as he yanked up and said, “Doesn’t feel so good does it?”

                Serge was writhing in pain as he was pulling at the belt to no avail.  Larry then noticed the rope.  He let go as Serge started coughing violently.  Larry walked over to the rope and picked it up.  He stared at it then at Serge then to Jenn and said, “You were going to tie her up?”

                Larry walked back to Serge and grabbed him by the head and stood him up.  He shoved him against the column and wrapped the rope around his arms and chest.  He wrapped it behind the column and tied him in place.  He reached to his waist where he always kept a knife and removed it.  He cut off the unused part of the rope and used the remaining strand to tie his legs to the column as well.  He then walked in front of Serge to inspect his work.  He saw a distinct mark across his neck where the belt had been.  Serge spit in his face and Larry punched him across the face.  He noticed a trace amount of blood from Serge’s lip and hoped it was from internal bleeding but figured it might have been from the punch. 

Larry went over to Jenn and put his hands on her shoulder.  She wasn’t coughing any more but she was still crouched and crying.  He put his arms under her arm pits and lifted.  Jenn helped him out and got to her feet before jumping and wrapping her arms and legs around Larry as she cried on his shoulder.  Larry walked toward the door and opened it before going to his car.  This was the part he dreaded.  He wanted to know exactly what happened but making Jenn relive it was a little cruel.  He knew that since she was the first person to ever call him “Larry Larry” that he had a soft spot in his heart for her and it would make it harder to do the right thing by forcing her to let it out so she didn’t keep it repressed inside.  He hated admitting he was old, but he knew that he would have to act as an adult and as an uncle not as a friend.  He opened the passenger side door and placed Jenn inside who did let go.  He got into the driver side and started the car before leaving.  As far as he was concerned, Serge could starve to death tied to that column.  Jenn was visually shaken up and had her head down with her arm across her chest.  Larry looked at her and said, “What happened, Jenn?”

She shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Larry nodded and decided to fight this battle later.  For now, there was something he needed to do and he had a feeling she’d fight him on it.  “I need to take you to the hospital.”

Jenn shook her head, “No, I’m fine, I’m just a little sore, I’ll be okay.”

“Jenn you’re holding your chest, that’s where most of the vital organs are, if he hit you there, a lot of shit could be going on.  It’s probably nothing because you’re not spitting blood but if something happened to you, I would never forgive myself, you need to be checked out.”

“If it gets worse, I promise I’ll go.”

“Not good enough, I’m sorry, I have to take you.”

“They ask questions at the hospital.”

“I know, if you don’t want to tell them the truth or press charges on Serge, just say that you got in a fight at school and you don’t want to press charges.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, hospitals send bills to the house.”

Larry knew this was where this conversation was going and he was ready for the onslaught after he said this, “Yea, I know but we have to tell your parents Jenn.”

Jenn turned to him exasperated, “No, you can’t do that, they’ll flip out.  My dad will kill Serge.”

Larry didn’t doubt this.  Jenn was technically his friend’s niece that he kind of adopted as his own niece and he almost killed Serge for it.  But this wasn’t something to keep from her parents.  He said, “I’m sorry Jenn, I have to do this.”

“I thought you were cool, that’s why I texted you and not them.” She said as she folded her arms tightly across her chest and then let out a slight gasp as she felt the pain from doing it.  She looked at Larry hoping he didn’t notice but he just gave a wry smile as if to say he did.

“Jenn, I’m not cool, I never have been.  I’m a dork and I have to do the right thing here.”

“Fine whatever” as she turned away.

Larry smiled to himself.  This was helping him realize that he was dealing with a high school girl.  She got real immature at the end.  They drove in silence to the hospital and got out.  He gave her name and sat down in the emergency room knowing this would take a while.  In a way she wanted to get checked out.  She turned to Larry and said, “Can you call Soha?”

Soha was her boyfriend.  Larry didn’t see a problem with this.  He’d heard a lot about him but never actually met him.  He said, “Sure, what’s the number?”

Jenn remembered what happened to her cell phone and said, “I don’t know, Serge broke my phone and I don’t have it memorized.”

“Does your mom have it?”

“Yes…but”

Larry finally saw a loop hole, “Jenn, if you want him here, we have to call your mom, unless you have numbers memorized” knowing that people these days only have their house phones and cell phones memorized everything else is saved in a phone. 

“Yea, I know but you don’t have to tell her what happened.”

“Yes, I just randomly want Soha’s phone number, that’s not suspicious at all.  Also not suspicious is I’m asking her and not you and that I’m calling instead of you.”

“Let me call her.”

Larry realized his plan was backfiring but begrudgingly gave her the phone.  She called her mom and she answered excited.  Jenn knew that her mom loved Larry and wasn’t too surprised to see her excitement when she saw Larry’s phone number.  She half wondered if finding out it was her daughter would be a disappointment but spoke, “Hi mom, it’s me.”

Gissell got serious, “Jenn, what happened?  Why are you calling from Larry’s phone?”

“Mine broke, I need Soha’s number.”

“How are you with Larry?  I thought you were babysitting for Serge?”

“Yea, he didn’t need it so I decided to hang out with Larry Larry.”

Her mom knew something was fishy about this but let it go.  She went through her phone and gave her Soha’s phone number then said she wanted to talk to Larry.  Jenn tried saying she wanted to call Soha but her mom was adamant so she gave the phone to Larry and looked up at him mouthing the words, “Please”

Larry looked back and got mad at himself that Jenn was having an affect on him.  He answered the phone, “Hey Gissell” but watched as Jenn interlocked her hands mocking begging. 

“Larry, what the fuck is going on? Where are you?  This is a little sketchy, first she’s babysitting Mary’s kids, now she’s with you.”

Larry was looking at Jenn and finding it hard to say what he wanted to say.  He said, “Everything’s fine, don’t worry” then switched to Greek and said, “Hospital.” Without changing the inflection of his voice so Jenn wouldn’t know that he just told her where they were since Jenn didn’t speak Greek.

Gissell yelled into the phone, “What?!” and Larry hoped Jenn couldn’t hear her.  “Holy shit, what happened?  Wait, was it Serge?  Is he with you? What the fuck happened?”

“No he’s not here, just don’t worry”

“Should I come?”

“Yes”

“Alright, I’m on my way.”

“Alright, talk to you later”

Larry hung up the phone and Jenn said, “Thanks for not telling her.”

“She has to know Jenn”

“I know, I know but I want Soha here.”

“Well have your mom wait with you, and I’ll go get Soha.”

“He has his license, give me your phone so I can call him.”

“Alright”

Jenn called Soha and immediately her voice changed to make her sound vulnerable.  “Soha, I need you to come to the hospital.” Larry was sick to his stomach at how pathetic she sounded.  Why do high school girls do that he wondered before realizing it was how women got men to do what they wanted.  She then heard him say, “Oh, Larry Larry can pick you up.”

Larry turned toward Jenn surprised.  Jenn ended the conversation and said, “Soha’s dad has his car, can you go get him?”

“I’m not going to leave you here alone, I’ll call your mom to stay with you.”

Jenn didn’t want to be left alone either.  She was still a little shaken up from what happened at Jenn’s house.  She didn’t really see any alternative.  “Alright, but she’s going to flip.”

“Understandably”

Larry mocked that he was calling her mom knowing that she was already on her way.  He pretended to speak to her and said in the phone, “Yea Gissell, you need to come the hospital.” He paused as if he was getting a response and continued, “Jenn is alright, it’s just precautionary, I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

Two minutes after Larry ended his fake phone call, Jenn’s mom walked through the doors of the hospital immediately coming toward Larry and Jenn.  Larry stood up and said, “Alright, stay with her, I’m going to go get Soha.”

“Oh, I could have picked him up.”

“Yea, well I need to have a little man talk with him.”

Gissell said, “Wait, Soha has something to do with this?”

Larry and Jenn both blurted out, “No” at the same time before Jenn continued, “Larry Larry, I know you want to interrogate him because I’m dating him but can you do it after I get out of the hospital?”

Larry smiled, “I’ll be back soon” and walked out the door.

Larry plugged Soha’s address into his GPS and drove there.  Since they all lived locally, it was not long commutes between places.  Larry picked up Soha, introduced himself and then drove away.  Soha immediately asked, “What happened?”

“I’m going to show you.”

“What?”

Normally Larry would ask very assertive and aggressive questions to test him but he didn’t have much time.  Instead he was going to give one quick test of Soha.  He started driving toward Serge’s house and Soha noticed it wasn’t the way to the hospital.  He said, “Where are we going?”

“We’re making a stop first.” And glared at Soha

Soha rolled his eyes.  He knew what was going on and he was used to it.  Adult male family members were always protective over the girls of the next generation thus harsh on the boyfriends.  He knew that he was supposed to remain calm and expected to be threatened some time soon.  Larry pulled into Serge’s driveway and told Soha to come with him.  Soha was very confused.  He had been to Serge’s house before but he didn’t realize why they were there now.  He walked in and Serge was still tied to the column to Larry’s delight.  He turned to Soha and said, “Serge decided to attack Jenn, which is why she’s in the hospital.  I just want to show you that if you ever lay a finger on Jenn with the intent to harm, I will do this to you.”

Soha stared at Serge and then glared back at Larry.  He said, “Jenn is in the hospital because of him?”

Larry nodded and Soha rolled up his sleeves and unleashed rights and lefts to Serge’s stomach, sternum, midsection and face.  Larry watched calmly as he listened to Soha taunt Serge then Soha stopped and Larry saw blood streaming down Serge’s face while he was coughing up blood.  As Soha approached him, Larry glanced at Soha’s knuckles and saw them bloody and cracked a bit realizing that some of the blood may be Soha’s.  Soha got up into Larry’s face and said, “Her uncle did this, not a past boyfriend, you’re more similar to that fucker than I am, so if you ever do what he did to Jenn, that is what I’ll do to you” as he pointed at Serge. 

Larry stepped closer and said very calmly, “Correct answer.” 

Soha was confused by this.  Larry walked into the kitchen got a rag and some ice and gave it to Soha.  “Here, clean up your hands, we’re going to the hospital”

Serge screamed, “You can’t just leave me here”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Mary will come back eventually.” Larry said as they left.

Larry drove to the hospital and Soha felt that he may have overreacted.  He said, “Okay can you tell me what happened?”

Larry told the parts of the story he saw and Soha wished he would have done more to Serge.  He turned to Larry realizing that if it hadn’t been for him, Jenn may be dead and said, “Hey man, I’m sorry about threatening you before, I know you helped her, it’s just I wasn’t ready for that.”

“Soha, do you know how fucked up you have to be to attack a man who’s tied up?  I mean you have to be really fucking enraged.  Nobody would have blamed you if you just took my threat and said, ‘ok, can I go see my girlfriend now’ but that’s not what you did.  You snapped and viciously attacked a defenseless man and then you threatened me.  If you didn’t give a shit about Jenn, you wouldn’t have reacted that way.”

“Great, so I’m going to get arrested because you wanted to test me”

“Ah, you’re 17, you’re still a minor, Serge’s still alive, you won’t be tried as an adult, this will be wiped from your record if Serge is dumb enough to press charges.”

“You really thought this through.”

“I know we just met, but as a heads up, everything is a test with me.” He turned toward him and smiled. Soha smiled back and shook his head.  Larry continued, “But I do have a favor to ask you.”

“What’s that?”

“Find out what Serge did before I got there.  Jenn wouldn’t tell me and I know she’ll tell you things she won’t tell me.”

“Okay, if she tells me I’ll tell you”

They arrived at the hospital and went inside just as they were calling Jenn in.  They followed Jenn and Gissell into the bedroom and Gissell turned toward Larry and said, “Let’s leave them alone for a little bit.”

Larry and Gissell walked out and Soha held Jenn’s hand and soothed her.  Larry walked outside with Gissell and Gissell said, “Okay, what the fuck happened?  Jenn doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s why it’s good Soha’s here, we can get Soha to tell us what happened.” 

                “What do you know?”

                “You’re going to want to sit down for this.” Gissell sat on a chair and sighed for she was prepared for the worst.  Larry continued, “I got a text from Jenn to come pick her up and to just let myself in.  It seemed sketchy but I didn’t know if I was just being paranoid.  I got there and when I went inside he had her on the ground and was choking her with a belt.” Gissell’s eye widened in shock and anger but Larry kept going, “I then got in a fight with Serge, basically did the same thing to him that he did to Jenn and tied him to a column before leaving.”

                Gissell said, “Where’s Serge now?”

                “Still tied to the column at his house I imagine.”

                “Why didn’t you call me?”

                “I didn’t want to worry you unless I was absolutely sure.  I called you when I was.”

                “Larry, that fucker attacked my baby.”

                Larry took a deep breath; he didn’t have a response for that.  He was worried that Gissell was going to call her husband.  He knew that if that happened, he’d have to go back to Serge’s to make sure her husband didn’t kill Serge.  Gissell pulled out her phone and Larry asked “Who are you calling?”

                “Serge”

                “He won’t pick up.”

                “I’m making sure of that, and I’ll leave a nice message.”

                “Don’t threaten him, he’s a little fucked up right now, and I don’t want you to give him anything he can use in court”

                “I dare him to try it, remember my daughter is in there receiving medical attention…Hey asshole, look, I know that you beat the shit out of your kids and my sister but you know what?  That’s kind of my sister’s fault for letting you.  But you fucking put your hands on my kid.  I should go over there and cut your fucking balls off.  You ever come near my family again, I’ll end you.”

                Larry rolled his eyes and nodded; so much for not leaving threatening messages.  Gissell then hung up the phone and called Mary.  Mary picked up, “Hey Mary where are you?”

                “I took the kids to a water park, why what’s up?”

                “Oh, that’s weird Serge asked Jenn to baby sit, do you know why?”

                “Umm no, the kids are with me.  Maybe Jenn got confused maybe he didn’t mean today.”

                “Yea maybe, except Serge picked Jenn up at my house and brought him to yours.”

                “Well I don’t know Gissell” she said rather defensively, “I’ve been at a fucking water park all day, why don’t you call Jenn or Serge and find out what’s going on?   Why the fuck do you people always treat my husband like he’s some kind of pariah?”

                “Well, I would do that, except I’m at the hospital right now because Serge beat the shit out of Jenn.”

                Mary scoffed in shock then composed herself realizing that she had to defend her husband, “Jenn is lying, it was probably Soha and she just doesn’t want to admit it.”

                “Yea, except that Larry walked in on Serge doing it because Jenn texted him to come get her.  Sorry, my daughter isn’t like you, she doesn’t date men that beat the shit out of her.”

                “Fuck you Gissell”

                “Fuck me?! Your husband just fucking attacked my daughter bitch.   Fuck you!” as she hung up the phone.

                Larry gave a mock smile and said, “Feel better?”

                Gissell glared at Larry and replied, “Maybe you’ll understand if you ever have kids”

                Mary hung up the phone and tried calling Serge but kept getting his voice mail.  She knew that she was scheduled to stay at the water park for the night but she dreaded going home to him tomorrow.  Serge would be angry for getting exposed.  What she didn’t know was that Serge would be tied up all night and probably be a little angrier then. 

                Gissell was calming down slightly and she looked at Larry and said, “Wait, this doesn’t make sense, why would Serge attack her?  What did he do, say oh I’m home alone, I have nobody to hit, I’ll just call my niece and kick her ass?”

                “Jenn shot me down when I asked, I’m hoping Soha can get it out of her.”

                At this point, Soha came out and said, “She wants to talk to you.” to Larry and continued, “She kept trying to tell me and then would just stop”

                Larry walked in and sat on a chair near Jenn.  Jenn turned toward him and said, “I’ll tell you what happened, I can’t tell my parents or Soha, it’s just too hard.  It’s easier to tell you because you’re in New York, you’re not as closely attached but I need you not to react to anything.  I don’t know if I can handle that right now.”

                Larry took a short breath and nodded.  He was preparing himself to shut off all emotions, which he was all too good at.  Jenn said very deliberately and her eyes wandered from staring at Larry to staring in the distance at emotionally distressing parts and said, “He picked me up and everything was normal.  He then gave me a couple drinks and kept telling me Thea Mary was running late.  Then all of a sudden, his hand was rubbing my thigh and he tried to kiss me.  I pushed him away and he seemed to be embarrassed and said he was going to go to the bathroom then take me home.  That’s when I texted you.  Then, all of a sudden, he came down the stairs with rope, I got up and tried to plead with him, I was ready to just go home and not say anything, the whole reason I contacted you was I wanted someone to get me without attacking Serge because it wasn’t a real big deal, he tried, he failed, he was taking me home.  But then he grabbed me by the throat and threw me against the pole, stole my cell phone and smashed it against the wall.  He then just kept hitting me with his shoulder like a football player.  I started to cry and he stopped, I thought it was over then he stood over me and just started choking me.  I thought he was going to kill me.  He started yelling at me and dissing my parents, told me I was a half blood and my dad like contaminated my mom and I’m the only reason they got married.  I mean I figured that out but he extended it to like an insult on Greek people.  At that point, I’m sorry to say this, but I wished I had called my dad or Soha.  I wanted him dead, you came in and…well….you know the rest.  She looked at Larry and said, “You saved my life Larry Larry.”

                Larry knew he had to choose his words carefully.  Jenn was still in a very emotional state.  He did well not reacting outwardly to the horror he had just heard but he needed to respond.  First, he was going to deny all implications no matter how obvious, “Jenn, you don’t know what would have happened.  I mean, you were in a precarious situation, if he wanted to kill you, he would have.  You just hurt his pride a little and he reacted badly.  But whatever, I did come, I roughed him up a little bit and you’re talking to me, relatively healthy, when the doctor decides to stop taking his sweet ass time, he’ll make sure you’re okay and we can go home.”

                “Come on, I’m not stupid, if you didn’t show up, I’d be dead.”

                “You don’t know that?  And it doesn’t even matter, focus on what happened not what could have happened.  What happened is I did come, you’re here, he’s tied to a pole in pain.”

                “Soha told me you guys paid him a visit.”

                “Yea, we had a little man to man chat.”

                “That’s not what he said; he said he beat the shit out of Larry Serge”

                “That is true, but that’s how men talk sometimes.”

                Jenn smiled.  The doctor came in and asked Larry to leave so he could do some tests.  Larry assured her that they would be right outside.  He went outside and told Soha and Gissell what Jenn had told him.  They took it as Jenn had expected they would and Larry had to hold both of them back from storming into the room while the doctor was examining her. 

                After a little while, the doctor came out and said to Gissell, “I believe she has cracked ribs, we’re going to take X-Rays to confirm.”

                Gissell gasped and said, “So what does that mean?”

                “We’ll put padding on it to make her comfortable but there’s really not much to do except wait till it heals.”

                “How long?”

                “I’ll have a better idea of that once I see the X-ray”

                “Okay, thank you doctor.” After the doctor left she continued, “That fucking dick cracked her ribs.”

                Soha and Larry shared her anger and all three were independently thinking of going back to Serge’s.  The x-rays came back and confirmed that she had three cracked ribs.  The doctor informed Jenn that there would be slight pain when she breathed but that was normal but she should be okay in about three weeks.  They all left the hospital and Gissell, Soha and Jenn went in Gissell’s car while Larry took his.  They decided to get something to eat.  At dinner, Gissell’s head was in her hands, she finally blurted out what she had been wrestling with since she got to the hospital.  “I don’t know what to do?  I mean if I call David (her husband) I think he might kill Serge but I mean, we can’t just keep this from him.”

                “Make it too late.” Larry said

                “What do you mean?”

                “You never told Mary what we did to Serge.  I mean he’s probably going to sue us but maybe we should press charges first.  We have the doctor’s report; we can get a police report.  It’s probably enough for a restraining order against Serge for your whole family.”

                “I don’t know, I’m not quite sure if I have a problem with David killing Serge, it would solve a lot of problems.”

                “Except send your husband, who has a wife and two kids that depend on him, to jail for murder.”

                “You and Soha attacked him, why not David?”

                “I was trying to get Jenn out of a dangerous situation.  A jury may have sympathy for that.  Soha is a minor, no matter what the charge; it goes away in a year.  Nobody tries assault and battery cases as adults.  If Soha killed him, then he may be charged as an adult.  So that’s why it’s different for me and Soha.”

                “I have to tell David.”

                “Tell Mary first, let her rescue him, then tell David so that way Serge is in a hospital or something and Jenn is home safe.”

                “He’d still go after Serge.”

                “Well I don’t know, like you said, you can’t just withhold it from him forever. He has a right to know, it’s his daughter too.  This just kind of gives it the best chance of him not coming after him, Serge probably needs a doctor too, if he’s in a hospital, there’s security that may stop David from doing anything too drastic and permanent.”

                “Yea, I’m going to call Mary, then I’ll figure out what to do about David later.”

                “Okay”

                Gissell called Mary and was surprised when she answered.  Mary took the offensive, “You know, I haven’t been able to get a hold of Serge, what the fuck did you people do to him?”

                “Yea, you may want to come back from the water park because he’s tied to a pole right now and from what I’ve been told by Larry and Soha, he’s in bad shape.”

                “You couldn’t tell me this before?”

                “I was going to but you pissed me off, kind of like you’re doing now.  You’re just lucky I haven’t told David, because he’ll kill him.”

                “Whatever, I can’t talk to you, let me talk to Larry.”

                Gissell put the phone out to Larry and said, “For you.”

                Larry looked at the phone incredulously and said, “Why the fuck does everyone want to talk to me?” and answered the phone

                “Hello”

                “How bad is my husband?”

                “Pretty bad”

                “How’s Jenn?”

                “Three cracked ribs.”

                “We’re sure it’s Serge?”

                “100%”

                “What did she do to provoke him?”

                “You know what? You ask him about that, I don’t think you should hear it from me.”

                “Yea I figured they would turn you against me too.”

                “Nah, I just don’t really have respect for men who hit women, especially high school girls half their age.”

                “Did you talk to Serge?”

                “No, somewhere between him choking Jenn with a belt and him charging at me I wasn’t in a very chatty mood.”

                “So you only got Jenn’s side of the story.  Trust me, teenage girls lie.”

                “Yea, well when you talk to Serge, you let me know what Jenn did to justify getting three of her ribs cracked and choked from behind with a belt.”

                “I will”

                Mary packed the kids up and headed home.  She was two hours away and the fact that Serge was in bad shape actually made her feel better.  She didn’t want him strong enough to lash out at her for what Larry and Soha did to him.  She could never admit this to anyone in her family.  She didn’t want the kids around to see their daddy hurt so she called her sister-in-law who she hoped had no idea about anything that had happened.  She answered the phone and Mary said, “I need you to watch my kids but it’ll only be for a couple hours.”

                “Why what’s up?”

                “Serge hurt himself, and I don’t want them to see him like that.”

                “Oh my God what happened?”

                “I don’t know, I was out, but he just called me and sounded very hurt.”

                “Yea, bring them over.”

                Mary dropped the kids off at her sister-in-laws then went to her house.  When she walked in, she saw Serge tied up and gasped. She ran to the kitchen to get a knife and cut the ropes holding him.  Serge fell to the ground and said, “9-1-1”

                Mary rushed to the phone and dialed 9-1-1 and had an ambulance sent to them.  She cradled Serge in her arms and said, “Honey, what happened?  What did those fuckers do to you?”

                “Jenn well…” Serge started before coughing violently as he shot blood onto Mary’s shirt.  Mary interrupted, “Save your breath, tell me later.”

                “The ambulance came and rushed Serge to the hospital.  Mary called her sister-in-law and asked him if her kids could spend the night because Serge would need to be held overnight.  The sister-in-law was sympathetic which just confirmed that nobody had told her yet.  The doctor came back and revealed that Serge had been bleeding internally for a while now and had a broken sternum, severed trachea, two cracked ribs and a fractured jaw.  The prognosis was bad.  They would go into immediate surgery to try to stop the internal bleeding.  A couple hours later, Mary received the news that Serge didn’t make it.  The doctor said that if he had been sent to the hospital right away, they could have helped.  He asked her how it happened and Mary said, “Some guys broke into the house, he was defending it, I wasn’t home at the time, but they roughed him up and tied him to a pole.”

                The doctor said, “That explains a lot.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Well bleeding is a way for the body to cleanse itself.  Even with the damaged trachea, he was still bleeding okay and able to cough up blood.  If he wasn’t restrained and was allowed to keel over to throw up the blood, it wouldn’t have been swallowed back into his system and probably his wind pipe.  In a sense, he was choking on his own blood.”

                Mary was trying to bring herself to be mad at Soha and Larry.  The hospital had already called the cops for a statement but Mary told them she hadn’t seen anybody.  They offered to go to her house and take finger prints but Mary refused.  When they asked how she knew about the intruders when Serge couldn’t speak too well, she snapped at them and told them to go away.  The cops suspected that she was lying and since nobody else was pressing the issue, decided to leave it alone.  She went back to trying to generate anger for Soha and Larry or sadness but all she could feel was relief.  She didn’t want to admit why she felt relieved but she was.  Despite it being 3:00AM she called her sister Gissell.

                Gissell had decided to sleep on her decision to tell her husband what happened.  From all outward appearances beside a mark on Jenn’s neck, Jenn looked okay.  Gissell’s husband owned a bar and by the time he would get home, everyone was already sleeping.  Both Gissell and David woke up to Gissell’s cell phone ringing.  Gissell answered it and David tiredly asked “Who the hell is calling at 3AM”

                “Gissell answered groggily, “Hello”

                “Gissell, it’s Mary, I’m coming over.”

                “Umm okay but if you’re just going to cause trouble maybe you should just stay outside or something.”

                “We need to talk, no trouble.  I can stay calm if you can.”

                “Well after what happened, I can’t promise anything.”

                “Well, Serge’s dead, so that should help you out a little don’t you think?”

                Gissell was too shocked to speak.  Now she was worried about Soha and Larry being arrested for murder.  She decided she had to try to diffuse this situation but didn’t know if she could, she said, “Umm yea, come over.”

                Gissell hung up the phone and David said, “What’s going on?  Who’s coming over? And what happened?”

                Gissell looked up at her husband.  She figured now he could tell him since David couldn’t kill Serge anymore.  She started, “I know I should have told you earlier, but I was a little messed up trying to handle it.  Long story short, Serge attacked Jenn, Larry and Soha paid him a visit and now Serge is dead and now Mary is coming over.”

                David woke up real quick to this one.  “And you tell me this now?”

                “I just found out Serge was dead, I didn’t want you to do anything that would get you arrested.  Larry caught Serge in the act and Soha came later to finish the job I guess.”

                “Well, we’re talking to Mary together.”

                Mary came over and sat down.  Gissell and David were sympathetic to the fact that she just lost her husband but all that did was allow them to speak civilly.  Mary started, “Look Gissell, I know we’ve been fighting today but let’s just start over.  Is Jenn okay?”

                “Yea, she’s got a couple cracked ribs but she’ll be fine in a couple weeks.”

                David stared at Gissell and she realized she had left that out of the story but Mary said, “That’s good.  Did she say what happened? Serge couldn’t really talk when I saw him.  Larry and Soha had him tied up and he was bleeding internally so they say he choked on his own blood.  If he would have gone to the hospital right away or not have been tied up he would have made it.”  Gissell and David said nothing.  They really had no sympathy for Serge at this point, “Anyway, I don’t know what happened, I need to understand what happened.”

                “Serge came on to Jenn, Jenn said no, he attacked him”

                “Can we bring Jenn down here?”
                “No, she’s resting, she’s been through a lot today.”

                Mary glared at her as if to say she lost her husband, she had been through a lot too.  “And we’re sure that Jenn didn’t come on to him?”

                Gissell said, “I told you not to be trou…” before David interrupted, “Alright, look think about what you’re saying Mary.  Jenn came on to Serge, he then got pissed off that she did so attacked her?  Does that make any sense?”

                Mary sighed, “No, I suppose not, but we’ll never know Serge’s side of the story.”

                David continued because he didn’t think that Gissell could keep a level head.  He said, “Okay, tell me what Jenn could have done to justify having three of her ribs cracked.”

                “What if I asked you, before you knew anything, what Serge could have done to warrant severed trachea, broken sternum, broken jaw and two cracked ribs?”

                “I think we got that answer, and if Jenn was attacking your children, then maybe I could understand. How are your kids doing?”

                “They were with me the whole day.  They’re fine, I found someone to watch them for the night so I could take care of this.”

                “What do you want to do?” David said

                “I really want to talk to Larry, you won’t let me talk to Jenn and Larry was the only one who was actually there.  Look, I know you think you don’t owe me anything right now, but try to remember that I didn’t do anything to Jenn.  I didn’t tell the cops anything, I just want to understand what would drive my husband to attack Jenn.”

                Gissell said, “Me too, I’ll call Larry and Soha see if they’ll come over. They’re young, they should be up” 

                Both of them were sleeping but agreed to come over.  While they waited, Gissell went up to wake up Jenn.  She said, “Jenn, don’t be afraid to say no, but Thea Mary is downstairs, Serge died in the hospital, and she wants to know what happened.  I completely understand if you don’t want to but Larry and Soha are on their way over so if you want them to handle it, that’s fine.”

                “No, I’ll come down”

                They all arrived and Mary said, “Jenn, I know this is hard but I need you to tell me everything that happened.”

                Jenn started shaking; there was way too much pressure to say what she wanted to say.  She started stuttering before Larry interrupted, “Mary, she’s a little nervous because based on what happened it’s hard to tell his wife.  Earlier today she couldn’t even tell her mom or her boyfriend because of how they would react but she told me.  So if it’s alright, let me tell you what happened and Jenn can correct me when I’m wrong.”

                “Okay, I guess that’ll work.”

                Larry revealed the story just as how Jenn told him then added what he did from the time he found her to the time he took Soha to the hospital.  Mary said, “What was Jenn wearing?”

                Gissell jumped in, “A sweatshirt and jeans”

                “Gissell, you weren’t there”

                “It’s what she had on at the hospital.”

                “Larry, how did you find Jenn?”

                “I didn’t put any clothes on her if that’s what you’re implying.  I found her on all fours with Serge straddling her as he was choking her with a belt.”

                “I don’t think he was trying to kill her just scare her a little bit.”

                “I agree, but still messed up.” Larry said before anyone else could be offended

                “Yea…He’s been under a lot of stress lately; I just can’t believe he would do this.”

                Gissell blurted out, “Oh spare me Mary…” before David put a hand on her leg to indicate for her to calm down. 

                Mary glared at Gissell but she didn’t expect any sympathy.  She turned to Soha and said, “Please be honest with me.  Did Larry tell you to hit Serge?”

                “No, actually, he took me there to threaten me.  He said if I ever hurt Jenn, that’s what he would do to me.”

                Jenn stared a hole through Larry and Larry just smiled back.  Everything was on the table tonight.  Mary said, “So why did you hit Serge?”

                “Because Larry didn’t do enough, Serge had a little bit of blood on his lip.  I was pissed at what he did to my girlfriend so I showed Larry just how to punish him and I started punching him until my knuckles bled then I told Larry the same threat.”

                Larry chimed in, “I got him some ice for his hand, and by the way kid, it’s Mr. Rozakis to you.”

                Soha shook his head but sat up straighter, to him, he just stroked his ego, to Mary, he just confessed to murder.  “Okay, I think I know what happened, Serge was drinking and he always hated when Greeks married non-Greeks so he took that a step too far tonight.”

                Soha added, “Yea, and he got pissed that a 17-year-old girl denied him maybe if you…”

                “Easy tiger” Larry said

                Soha looked back and forth and then Mary filled him in on what everyone else realized.  “Look son, you just admitted to killing my husband.  All you and Larry had to do was untie him and he’d be alive today.  You’re very lucky that I had spent a lot of time trying to be pissed at you two.  I could easily have you both in jail for murder and accessory to murder since Larry just watched it happen.” Since Mary was looking at Soha and she had her back to him, Larry took this opportunity to put his hands out and motioned them down to signal to Soha to stay calm during this.  Mary kept going, “but, Serge was always like this.  I was getting better at stepping in the way of it for my kids but every now and then they got it but they knew daddy loved them.  But, this is just too much.  He attacked other people’s kids and that’s not right.  Jenn, I’m sorry but as for you Soha and Larry, don’t take it personally if there’s some hard feelings.”

                Larry responded, “That’s understandable”

                “And don’t worry, I didn’t tell the cops anything and I’m not going to”

                “Yea, you’re so..” Soha continued before Jenn slapped him in the chest to stop. 

                Mary was getting upset with Soha.  This was hard enough on her and this kid wasn’t helping, “What was that Soha?” she blurted out.

                “He was…” Larry started until Mary interrupted, “No, let him speak this time.”

                Jenn stared at Soha and Soha realized retreating may be the better option, “Nothing”

                “Yea that’s what I thought” Mary said “Now as I was saying, we never really know Serge’s side of the story but I’m not going to get it from any of you.” She paused to see if anyone responded but nobody took the bait.  She took a deep breath and continued, “I’m going to go home.”

                On the drive home Mary knew that the more she thought about it the more any justification for Serge didn’t make sense.  Why would he call and pick up Jenn if he had no intention of her baby sitting?  It didn’t make sense why Jenn would text Larry if she came on to him.  She just didn’t want to believe that her husband would try to seduce their 17-year-old niece.  She knew that he was abusive but he didn’t know him to be unfaithful.  That’s the part that bothered her, the rest was predictable.  She still felt relieved he was dead; she could finally live without fear of him.  The next day she picked up her kids and told them the same lie she told the police.  Over the next few weeks, she started mending the bridges with her friends and family that she had burned while with Serge.  She was relieved to find a warm reception to it.  Most played lip service to having sympathy for her loss but she couldn’t blame them because she was doing the exact same thing.  She arranged a proper funeral but she really was more relieved than anything.

                Jenn and Soha continued dating into college.  Her wounds healed in two weeks and she went on as if it never happened.  Everyone was impressed with her emotional toughness.  Soha on the other hand was a little too cocky about what happened.  Luckily, Mary avoided him since she couldn’t bring herself to like someone who killed her husband regardless if it benefited her or not.  She wasn’t going to believe a 17-year-old boy rescued her.

                Gissell was happy to mend her relationship with her sister.  David got over not being told because he agreed with the assessment that there wouldn’t be much to stop him from going to Serge’s house and killing him himself.  In fact, he felt a little emasculated because his daughter’s boyfriend did the dirty work for him.  It did endear him even more in both Gissell and David’s heart but still David, in principle, wished he was the one to do it. 

                Larry went back to New York and basically pretended nothing had ever happened.  He wasn’t one to call people anyway and Mary never contacted him.  He preferred it this way because in the back of his mind he knew that if Mary ever got pissed she could probably get an indictment for Larry as accessory to murder…Soha was still safe since he was a minor, Larry would end up getting the harsher sentence even though he wasn’t the one who killed him.  Luckily, Mary never pressed charges.