One Step Ahead

The Real Story

May 28th:

      Ashley hand rested lightly against Briar's back as they made their way across the parking lot. "You ready for this, babe?" he inquired.

      "As ready as I'm gonna get, I guess," she replied. "How about you guys?"

      "Yeah, I'm good," Ashley replied. "To be honest, I actually think it might have been helpful if someone had thought of this sooner."

      "Got to agree with ya there, bud. It makes things a little easier to deal with when you have people to talk to that actually understand your situation," Wiley concurred, taking out his sobriety token and giving it a quick flip before returning it to his pocket. "Trust me, I know."

      Cody merely nodded before moving ahead to open the door, allowing everyone else to enter the building before coming in behind them. "Okay, where are we supposed to go, anyway?" he inquired, glancing in both directions down the halls which branched off from the entryway.

      "Nora said that the Lieutenant arranged for us to use the cafeteria in the senior-citizen's center," Briar told him. "Apparently it's the biggest room here, so there should be plenty of space, I hope."

      "According to this directory here, we need to go left, to the end of the hall, then."

      They had come to the neighborhood community center just down the block from police headquarters for an event that Garrett Sanger had organized after Nora had spoken to him about a conversation she'd had with one of her co-workers, who had taken on several of the people affected by Harris' actions as patients. The woman had commented on the fact that almost all of them had commented that they wished that they could meet the others, so that they could speak to someone who actually understood what they were going through, and, in a sense, to reassure themselves that they weren't alone.

      This had struck a chord with the detective, and had prompted him to start contacting survivors, as well as family members of the people who had been killed, when they could be found, to see if they would be interested in such a meeting. Some had passed on the opportunity, but there had been enough interest for him to arrange for use of the building to host a gathering of those who wished to participate.

      They started down the corridor, and hadn't gone very far before they began to hear voices behind a set of closed double doors, which told them that they were indeed in the right place. Wiley reached for the doorhandle, but the door swung open before he even touched it, and someone poked their head out, seemingly a bit startled to find them there.

      "Hey, I was just gonna look around and see if anybody else had shown up, and there you are!" the individual exclaimed, shoving his long black hair out of his face. "Long time, no see, chica! Glad you're finally up and around."

      Briar was slightly surprised when she realized that it was Reuben Ortega speaking to them, and she embraced the young man as he stepped out into the hall. "Dude, it's great to see you!", she exclaimed. "Wasn't expecting to do it here, though. Does this mean that...?"

      Reuben nodded, pointing back toward the room that he had just exited. "Yeah, my folks talked Diego and Renata into bringing the little ones, but they didn't feel comfortable being here without knowing anybody. My mama called the Lieutenant, and he said that it was fine for someone to come with, so I volunteered, cause I wanted to see how you were doing."

      "I think I'm finally getting a handle on things," she informed him, as she reached down and tapped the knee of her prosthetic . "I can get around fairly well on this now, and they should hopefully be scheduling me to get fitted for the permanent leg soon."