|
|
|
After realizing just how hungry they all were, Ryan drove until they found somewhere they were all happy to eat. The down market nature of the eating establishment meant that the three ladies got some strange looks because of the dresses they were wearing. After all they’d been through, a few strange looks were very easy to handle. Not wanting to talk in a public place about what had just happened to them all, the five of them managed to converse on trivial matters.
“So who is the best Superhero of them all?” Ryan started one such very trivial conversation.
“It has to be Superman”– Lori threw herself into the debate wholeheartedly.
“By the best, do you mean who would win in a fight between them all?” Lee checked.
“Because if so then you’d have to go for Superman.”
“Not just who would win a fight, although that would have to be one of the factors you’d take into account”– Ryan responded. “My vote would go to Batman, Superman has that one weakness he just can’t hide from.”
“Kryptonite”– Rachel said whilst nodding.
“Exactly! Even if you say that Superman would win a direct fight between the two, his overall Superhero status is undermined by the fact that being in the presence of Kryptonite renders him completely useless. In fact Batman probably would win a fight because he would outthink Superman.
“Yeah he’d probably have some Kryptonite spray in his utility belt”– Rachel was getting into the conversation almost as much as Ryan.
“Exactly”– Ryan said. “The thing I like most about Batman is that he doesn’t actually have any super powers as such. He’s got where he is by wits and sheer hard work.”
“Definitely the biggest overachiever of all is the Super hero”– Lori agreed.
“What do you think Shannon?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know, because I’m twenty-seven”– Shannon’s deadpan tone was beginning to become familiar to the other four.
“Ooh, Shannon’s all grown up”– Ryan laughed.
“How horrible!” Rachel joked.
“Yeah, what’s that like?” Lori added.
That was one of the most trivial of conversation topics during the meal. Once they got back to the privacy of the van, the conversation changed completely.
Rachel was told by the other four all about their exploits between being gassed in the mansion and finding her.
“So what do we do now?” Ryan asked.
“Well the logical thing to do would be to contact the police”– Lee replied.
“The thing is though, I’m not feeling too logical right now”– he added.
“Well what else can we do?” Lori asked.
“The way I see it – Shannon began – there are three general possible courses of action for us to choose from. We can either go to the police and let them deal with it. We can not tell anybody, go back to our lives and try to forget it ever happened. Or we can go after the guy ourselves.”
“I’d love to go back to my life before any of this happened”– Lori said.
“But how can we?” Rachel wondered.
“We can’t”– Ryan said. “Sorry guys but whichever course of action we take our lives are forever going to be affected by what the maniac has put us through.”
“Yeah even if we do nothing, we’re going to spend the rest of our lives wondering if he’s going to find out we’re alive and come after us again”– Lee added. “I say we go after him.”
“Don’t you think we’d be better letting the police handle it?” Lori asked.
“Not really no. Maybe my view of the police isn’t an accurate one. But I really don’t have that much faith in the cops catching this guy. Remember the cops should have been able to put him away four years ago”– Lee replied.
“I take your point”– Lori said without looking convinced.
“The other thing is that if we tell the police, best case scenario is that they catch him and he spends life in prison. Personally I think he deserves a hell of a lot more than that for what he has done to us”– Shannon spoke of vengeance with an icy tone.
“I can’t argue with that”– Ryan said.
“Look I understand everything you guys are saying. But it is just that, well, I know that I don’t know you guys well. And we don’t seem like the sort of people to go around exacting a bloody revenge on some evil killer”– Lori said.
“I know I’m not like that”– Rachel conceded.
“Like we said before, extreme circumstances can make you do extreme things”– Shannon said.
“Yeah, you’ve seen Shannon with her knife”– Ryan couldn’t resist an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Lori, honey, we’re not going to make anybody do anything they don’t want to do”– Shannon said. “But I think some of us want to take control of the situation our way.”
“Absolutely Lori, no pressure to do anything, you too Rach”– Ryan added.
“We know”– Rach replied.
“How about we drive home, have a nights sleep and a full day to think about it. Then we will take it from there”– Lee suggested.
“Lee that’s the best thing you said, in all the time I’ve known you”– Ryan said.
“I sure could do with getting out of this dress and these shoes”– Shannon said.
“Oh I hear you”– Rachel agreed. “Although they are all classy dresses, the fact that it was bought for me by the sleazy psycho that wants me dead, definitely makes it something I’m not comfortable wearing.”
On the drive back to their respective homes they agreed that anybody wanting to take it upon themselves to gain their own revenge on Bret Jensen’s revenge.
He or she was to meet in a particular bar that they all knew at eleven the following night.
On the way home Lori was unusually quiet. None of them were particularly loquacious during the drive. But Lori was especially so, barely saying a word.
 |  |  |
|
|
|