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.