Shadow-Man

13

I told Gill about Jess, since I told him about everything, and he thought that I made the right decision, and he liked Steven even less than he already did. I guess Steven didn't really make that great of an impression on Gill when they met, but, then again, Steven still hadn't made a very good impression on me, so I didn't blame Gill for not liking him. Gill thought it was kind of funny when I told him that Warren and Steven would have to act like a married couple sometimes. The thought it sucked that they would have to make themselves uncomfortable, but he still thought it was kind of funny.

I told Clair about Jess, now that Clair knew about me being Shadow-Man. I decided that it was better if I just told her everything too, because I didn't want her to figure something out that she didn't already know, and then accuse me of sleeping with Gill again or something. Clair seemed to agree with Steven. She said that I shouldn't have taken Jess to Steven's house of all places, because even if I couldn't be Shadow-Man for a while, Jess could still easily find out about it, because of the lab, the batons, and the suit. I soon had enough of people telling me that me doing the right thing and helping Jess, was a bad idea because it could endanger me.

"Listen, I'm going to be one hundred percent honest and tell you that I don't give a shit about why you don't agree with my decision. I didn't ask you to agree with me. I don't expect you to understand my choices, but I do expect you to respect them. You weren't there, you don't know what i saw, and you don't know what I was thinking." I hissed.

"I really don't think you were thinking." Clair hissed back.

"What if that was you? What if you came crying to someone on the street, without your clothes, and terrified because some guy just raped you? How would you feel if someone just turned you away and let the man get you again, just because helping you inconvenienced them?"

"That would never happen to me. Women get raped because they ask for it by wearing skimpy clothes."

"You're a bitch Clair. I want you out of my face, and I want you out right now."

"Do you really think you should be saying those kinds of things to me? I have a lot of secrets about you that yo wouldn't want getting out."

"Bring it Clair. I can handle anything you throw at me easily."

"Says the girl with three broken ribs because she got hit with a stick."

"I'm a boy." I growled. After that, I walked away from Clair, and Gill followed me. Gill looked pretty upset, and I felt bad. I knew that Gill didn't do well with people fighting around him, and I knew that I shouldn't have started an argument with Clair in front of him. I turned to Gill, and placed a concerned hand on his shoulder, and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. Are you ok?" I asked, Gill nodded, and I knew that he meant it.

"You can still be friends with her if you want." I told Gill. I knew that he valued all of his friends a lot, and I didn't want him to think that he would have to choose between Clair and I, because that wouldn't be fair to him at all.

"I don't want to. She said things that she shouldn't have and I don't want to be her friend anymore." Gill told me.

"That's ok too."

***

At Steven's house, after I had finished the physics books, I was given multiple books about various different murderers and psychopaths. The books were all about the way the people thought, and how their brains worked. Steven and Warren said that I would have to be able to understand how criminals thought, so that way I would know what to expect, and be able to act accordingly in just about any situation. I felt like the multiple criminal psychology books seemed like a bit much, but I decided to read them anyway.