Chapter 7: The Dock And Evy's Decision
When Rick awoke the next morning all he thought about was Evy and what Joshua meant by deciding his fate. As he walked passed Jenny and Jonathan's room Jenny poked her head out.
"Rick, are you ok? You look kind of pale." Jenny had apparently been up because she was dressed and her hair was neat.
"I'm fine. Just thinking about Evy. I really miss her. Listen I'm going do to breakfast, do you want to go?"
"Sure. Let me get my phone just in case Jonathan wants to know where I am. I don't want to leave a note because that might freak him out." Jenny went back into the room and came back out with her phone. Rick and Jenny walked down to breakfast talking about what Joshua had said and Rick gave detail of how he knew Joshua. "So he's just wanting to get back at you for you leaving him there? That dumb. Why would you save your enemy?"
"That's what I thought but I didn't say it to him because I figured it would make him mad. I didn't want him to hurt Evy so I kept my mouth shut." Rick took a sip of his coffee and sat the cup on the counter as they left the lounge.
"What do you think it means by 'you and your wife will decide your fates'?" Jenny asked as they made their way back upstairs.
"I don't know but I hope I get Evy back today. If I don't, I swear I'll kill him." Rick's face went serious.
"Let me go with you. I know that might mean risking Evy's life but I want to make sure he doesn't kill either of you. I'll hide if I have to but I want to go."
"I can't let you take that risk. I don't want him attacking you either. Please stay here with Jonathan."
"Fine but I want you to be careful and I want you to bring Evy back here." Jenny kissed his cheek as he went to his room.
Rick sat there for a while trying to figure out what he could do until 5. It was only 1 so he had 4 hours to do something. He then figured that he could catch some extra sleep so, he set his alarm again for 4:20 and laid on the bed. He sat there counting the minutes till he would see his wife again and drifted to sleep. The alarm went off 4 hours and 20 minutes later. It seemed to Rick that he had only slept for 20 minutes but he got up and went down stairs. He called a taxi and went to the docks. When he arrived there he saw two people: Evy and Joshua. He was happy that Joshua hadn't brought anyone else. Joshua had a cloth covering his right side and make-up covering the scar.
"Rick, now you know why I don't go outside. If I do I have to wear make-up and this to cover my face so no one freaks out about it. This is where you and your wife are going to choose your future. I will give you a few minutes with her before I give you two options." Evy went running to Rick and hugged him tight. She knew what was going to happen and wasn't about to let him go. She kissed him and then Joshua pulled her away. "Here are your choices. You may leave here alive or dead depending on your decision. Choice number 1 is that you walk away leaving your lovely wife behind with me and you move on. Choice 2, you try to take her back and die. Choice 3, we fight for her. Finally, Choice 4, you kill her and then yourself. You must choose between life or love her Rick."
Rick knew that choice 1 and 4 were out of the question. He began to remember when Evy had to give up part of her lung to save him. He wasn't going to just throw in the towel and give up. He was going to get her back or die trying.
"What make you think that my wife will leave me for you? She doesn't love you. Why would she love a man that kidnapped her from her husband?" Rick was looking for answers and wasn't wanting the answers he thought he would get.
"Would you like to tell him or should I?" Joshua asked her.
"Tell him what. There is nothing between us. I love my husband and always will no matter what you do to me. We have something that is stronger than love."
"Fine I will say it then. Rick, it's sad to see you looking at this woman when she has a secret of her own. While she was with me she has learned to love me. A disfigured man with no future and nothing to live for has found something to live for. She is willing to leave you for me so it's no point in fighting because if you kill me she will just kill herself to be with me."
"Rick, none of that's true. I still love yo…" She was cut off by a hand across her face. Joshua had slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground.
Rick leaped at him but before he made it Joshua had pulled out a knife.
"Let's fight then." Joshua swung the knife at Rick but Rick was able to dodged it.
Rick got up from the ground and pulled his own knife out. After that it was all a blur to Evy, as she passed out the last thing she saw was Rick nearly take a knife to the shoulder. As Rick and Joshua kept up the fight, Rick had nearly been stabbed 10 times and was hit once on the hand. He had swung his knife 4 or 5 times and him 3 times. As the battle between them became more heated Rick managed to knock the knife out of Joshua's hand. It fell into the water and Rick had the advantage. Rick swung the knife again and hit Joshua in the shoulder but wasn't able to pull the knife back out. Joshua pulled the knife out and was using it against Rick when they heard a gun fire. Rick looked at Joshua and then both men looked to the shore. There stood Jonathan, rifle in hand smoking. Jonathan had nailed Joshua in the upper chest just below his other shoulder. Rick picked the knife up and was about to plunge it into Joshua's heart when a hand stopped his. Evy had stopped Rick from killing the man that kidnapped her.
"Evy, what are you doing? This man tried to kill me."
"He doesn't deserve to die. He should have to live with life's consequences."
"He kidnapped you and nearly killed me and you want to leave him alive?" Rick was getting confused about Evy's feelings.
"He may be a monster but he is still just a man. He doesn't deserve to be killed. I also don't want to see you go to jail." Evy bent down and helped Joshua back up. Rick grabbed her hand and tried to pull her toward Jonathan but she let go. "Look, I'm sorry that your wife left you and I'm sorry that you lost your daughters but you shouldn't take it out on other people. It's your own fault that they left. If you would have stayed home like Rick wanted to you would have had a family to go back to. I forgive you for everything you've done. All you need to do now is go out and look for a person that will accept you for you and not judge you by these scars or past life." Evy kissed Joshua's left cheek and walked toward Rick.
"Evelyn, I thank you for what you've said and I will try to live by that." Joshua kissed her on the mouth for a while and then backed up toward the end of the dock. "Thank you again Evelyn." Joshua crossed his arms and jumped into the water. He swam to the bottom of the river and grabbed on to a support under the dock. After Rick had gotten over the fact that he had jumped in, he jumped in after him. Rick went to the bottom to look for him and finally found him floating under the dock. When Rick came up he shook his head at Evy. He got back onto the dock and left with Evy at his side.
As they made their way back, Rick couldn't help but think that this was the second time that he could have saved Joshua and he hadn't. He felt guilty about letting Joshua die this time when he actually wanted to do something for him.