Past
Johnny had lived his life as an only child until the age of fourteen; that's when Michelle came into his life. Michelle was only ten years old when her mother died. With her father not willing to take her in, Michelle had nowhere to go; however, she then moved in with her aunt, the only woman willing to deal with the young girl. Luckily for Michelle, her aunt had a soft spot for her mother; she didn't truly hate the woman like everyone else did, which led her to not hate the child just like everyone else did.
At first, Johnny opposed the idea of bringing another child into the house; he didn't want to share his parents with a stranger. Still, Johnny's opinion didn't matter; he couldn't stop his mother from bringing the girl into the house. She had arrived on a Wednesday afternoon; it was only three whole days after her mother's death. She had a yellow sundress on and a small suitcase in her hand.
Johnny didn't see the girl's face as she was staring at the ground; however, he could still tell that was scared. The girl looked like a small rabbit stuck in a cage with a big snake. She was just so small and so scared, seemingly she was shaken up by some traumatic events no one knew about.
Johnny was ordered by his mother to take Michelle's bag and direct the girl to her room. He did as he was told and took Michelle's bag before instructing her to follow him to the guest room. At first, Michelle was reluctant to follow Johnny. Although he didn't seem dangerous, Michelle didn't know him or his intentions; she didn't know where he was leading her or what he was going to do to her once he got her there.
Still, Michelle's aunt encouraged her to follow Johnny into the house by promising her that she would be safe with the boy. Of course, Michelle didn't believe the woman; however, she swallowed her fear and followed Johnny into the house. As they walked, Michelle made sure to keep her distance; she didn't want to get too close as her mother always told her to stay away from strange men. Yes, Johnny wasn't a man, he was only a young boy; however, he was still a stranger and Michelle was determined to protect herself. She had no other choice but to protect herself; it wasn't like her mother was still here longer to do so.
Johnny didn't know anything about Michelle or her mother; she didn't even know her mother had a sister nor did he know that he had a cousin. Still, he knew that something was wrong with Michelle; she had gone through something that left her scarred for life. Johnny had mentioned that Michelle was fragile; he was instructed to be gentle with her and make sure she felt comfortable with him. Seemingly Michelle wasn't too fond of the male gender; she didn't have a good history with them due to the things she had witnessed and gone through in her home. Johnny wasn't given any details about Michelle's trauma; he was too young to know such things anyway.
"Umm, this is your room, " Johnny said, leading Michelle into a fairly large room. "It used to be my dad's office but my mom made me clean it up for you. It's not much but I hope you like it, especially when I spent all night cleaning it up."
Johnny stepped aside and allowed Michelle to enter the room. He then watched as the young girl immediately gravitated toward the bed. The bed wasn't anything special; it was just a regular bed dressed in regular white sheets. Still, Michelle seemed to like the bed. For some reason, it was the center of her attention the moment she entered the room. She didn't even bother to look around; she seemed too tired to care about the rest of the room.
Johnny entered the room behind Michelle and placed her suitcase down. "Here is your stuff, your suitcase that is. If you want to you can unpack it and place your clothes in the dresser. Then again, my mom is most likely gonna want to wash your clothes. It's nothing personal, she just doesn't want to risk you bringing any bugs inside the house. Believe me, she does it with everyone she lets stay here. Umm, would you mind if I opened your suitcase?"
