The answer came soon enough. A pair of loud gunshots echoed through the room and Sandra went deaf.
When she reopened them, she was surprised to find that she was still alive and that their captors were not. Simone was also just realizing that Ryan's mother had not been executed and that the men who had murdered her partner were.
A timid and shivering young woman stepped through the opening in the bulkhead and dropped a large semi-automatic pistol to the floor. The sound of a heavy metal object striking the metal of the floor was empty compared to the ringing still pulsing inside the heads of the living members of the yacht's passengers.
Alexis ran to her naked mother's side and embraced her. Ryan remained where he was, stunned and motionless, feeling more helpless then ever before in his short life. Moments ago he had thought that everything was going to end terribly. Now there was hope again, and his family was still complete.
It would take about half an hour of recovery before Simone managed to pull herself from Allyson's lifeless form. She shed nary a tear, but her heart was broken. Despite the intense sexuality of their relationship, there was an undeniable love for one another that often had taken second chair. Now those feelings could never be voiced. Allyson was dead.
The young American family dressed as they waited for the local police to arrive. When they did they quickly identified the two men as pirates and well known criminals. They were unable to help much with Allyson, only to recommend a local cabinet maker who occasionally built caskets. Late at night the remaining members of Allyson's party rowed to shore and carried the stiffening form of their captain to the local doctor who would do the necessary embalming and preservation for the long trip home. Ryan pried Simone, his first lover of the journey, from her partner's side and escorted her back to the hotel room they had rented for the evening.
No one slept, though everyone pretended too. The experience had been traumatizing and would be difficult to forget.
By mid-afternoon, the body had been safely prepared and hurried down to the yacht by a team of native workers. It and its coffin, a pinewood box, were stowed away beneath deck with the rest of the infrequently used cargo. An hour or so later, the passengers re-boarded and the long journey home began.
Ryan felt personally responsible for the tragedy. This vacation had been arranged so that his fantasies could be fulfilled. They had been halfway finished when it all came crashing down. Allyson would not have been out here if it were not for him. Now she was dead. Ryan stared off into the wake of the yacht as its engines pushed it out to see and towards home and the status quo.
Perhaps that is what bothered him most. Alexis had not even been by to see him since that night. She had avoided him and spent all her time with their mother and with Simone. It seemed as if the women had turned to each other for emotional support and had forgotten him. With another sigh, Ryan collapsed backwards into his deck chair and counted the minutes as they ticked by.
Ryan had not been forgotten by his sister. In fact, she was having a hard time keeping from thinking about him. She wanted to be with him right then, alone, screwing passionately without a care in the world. But things had changed and there were other issues which needed to be taken care of. The first of those was her mother. She had not eaten or slept in two days and was constantly crying. Half the time her body didn't even have the strength to sob or tear up. Instead she just rocked on the bed, her bloodshot eyes focused on the floor.
Alexis was determined to be there for her mother. Life had been tough and now the violence of the end of the vacation no doubt brought some sense of personal responsibility to Sandra's mind. Alexis would go to her side and stare there, constantly trying to reassure her mother that everything was okay, that they were safe now.
There was no way that Alexis could have known that her mother was not mourning from the abruptness and violence of Allyson's death. She was not traumatized by the action as much as she was by whom it was perpetrated against. Sandra had felt a new freedom since she had been with Allyson and had been on the verge of truly freeing herself from self-imposed restraints when she had discovered the murderers and her lover's body.
For hours she just stared at the floor, vaguely hearing her daughter's coos of sympathy and encouragement. She had to tell someone about she and Allyson's connection. But she was too afraid of Simone's own personal attachment to the woman to confide in her. With some suddenness, Sandra realized that her only confidante had to be her daughter.
She spoke in a broken pattern, her voice cut off by sobs and tears.
"Alexis- I miss Allyson. I really miss her. She was special."
"I know Mom. I really do, she was a wonderful lady and this trip was so perfect," Alexis answered.
"No, Alexis. Not like that. I miss her because. Well, because she helped set me free."