~ The One I Need ~ Johlex Fanfiction ~

Hero

The next three periods, Math, Spanish, and Art, were such a breeze with Johnnie by my side the whole time. The first day never was this easy. But it was now. It's all that mattered. We talked about our favorite bands and artists, our hobbies, things like that. We had too much in common, I was overwhelmed. It was finally time to go home after eight hours of being locked up for our twelfth term of prison. I chose to walk home, since it was only six miles away. Johnnie lived the same way I did, so we walked together, thinking we also needed the exercise. Like we actually had to be any thinner.

When we finally left school campus, Johnnie pulled out a cigarette out of his bag, along with a lighter. Lighting the death stick, I looked at him in surprise. I state, "Oh, so you're a smoker?" He nods his head, taking a deep inhale of the smoke. He takes it from his lips, saying, "Have been for several months. Want a puff?" I wave my hand in response, saying, "Nah, I'm trying to not die yet." He comments, "No issue," and places the cigarette in the middle of his lips. I i kick a rock and he takes several more puffs of the cigarette before throwing it aside. Suffering a few seconds of silence, he asks, "So, what do you do for fun?" I stop walking a moment before responding, "I just listen to music and stay in the pit of darkness called my room. As you can tell, I have a very emo lifestyle." He chuckles and says, "Same. If I'm just in my room or with my best friends, Bryan or Kyle, I'm perfect." I push my hands into my thin pockets and huff a low breath. He asks, "What is it?" I bite my cheek and respond, "I just don't want to see my mom or stepdad today. Or ever." I walk ahead of him, trying to avoid geting into that. 

"Alex, stop." I take a moment to breathe and I stop walking. Johnnie questions, "Why?" I sniffle and respond, "Because I'm just another roommate to them. They don't treat me like a daughter, they treat me like I'm just another aquaintance. I don't want to be there. I don't even want to be on this planet. If I could just escape, I would. But I can't. Where would I even go?" Johnnie quickly embraces me in a hug and I let him. I whisper into his shoulder, "They never even notice what I do when I'm alone, just to try and take it all away." He holds me by the shoulders and looks down at my rubber band bracelets. I look down in shame and he asks, "How long?" I wipe away a single tear dripping down my cheek and reply, "Eight months." He cradles my face into his hands and says, "Promise me you will never hurt yourself ever again. If you do, I would lose one of my closest friends. I don't care if we've just met today, I care about you. Never forget that, because I know exactly how you feel." He pulls me closer to him and I immediately attached myself to his body, letting every tear I've held in for the past three years out, ever since my mother got into a relationship with that bastard.

We keep embracing for a couple minutes, and he strokes my hair, sending me the message that he was there for me and it was going to be okay. I felt safe when he held me. He was my only friend. He was the only person that cared.

After a minute, I slowly pulled away and Johnnie wiped away a tear from my cheek. His blue eyes stabbed my hazel ones, causing me to blush uncontrollably. He whispers, "You shouldn't be ashamed of your scars. They show that you've won a battle. A fight. They all tell a story. Yours just happens to make you a warrior. A strong one." That statement made on last tear roll down my puffy cheek. He wipes it away with the back of his hand, and he wraps his arm around my shoulders as we continue to walk down the side of the gravelly road. We converse to pass the time, then we finally reach Johnnie's house. It has a nice suburban feel to it, the white exterior was new and the roof was cleansed from any leaves or anything from the trees.

He hugs me goodbye and says, "You won't hurt yourself again, will you, Alex?" I shook my head to say that I wouldn't. "Good." He hugs me and walks towards his house. I grin when he reaches the entrance, then he waves. I wave back...then he enters the house. I proceed walking down the road to my house, and I chuckle a little as I think about Johnnie the whole time. I cross over the road to get to my house that's only a few more miles away. A dark brown truck drives down the opposite side of the road and I see the driver's face - Mark with Carl in the passenger's side. My heart beats out of my chest as I walk a little faster. They park the truck on the side of the road and exit the vehicle. I pant in fear as thoughts ran through my head of what they would do. I gulp down some saliva for my throat to stay liquidated instead of dry as I breathe. Mark calls out, "Where do you think you're going, Dorame?" I look back and take a second to breathe, not knowing they were just several feet behind me. I jump back and glare at them. I ask, "What the hell do you want from me?! Just leave me alone, I won't say one word about Carl and Greg, I swear to God." Carl pulls out a Swiss Army knife and I pant heavier. Slowly walking backwards, Mark says, "We've had our eye on you for a while, Dorame." I squint my eyes in confusion, asking, "What the hell do you mean?" Carl pushes me down to the dirt, and I try to back away. Mark comments, "It was always you. The quiet little emo girl, always listening to her music, always trying to make some friends. Now that the time finally came, we finally know. You won't say one thing to anyone. No one even pays attention to you. You have nobody. Now is the time, Carl." I pant heavy through my nose, then Carl pulls me to a tree by my bag. I try getting loose, but the straps are too tight on my arms. I scream out, "Someone help me! Help me!" Mark covers my mouth with a strand of duct tape and I try to murmur my way to someone hearing me. They pull me into a ditch and Carl pulls my bag off of my back, then holds me down by my arms. Mark crawls on top of me and gets the army knife from Carl's hand. I try kicking him off, but he's gently sitting on my pelvis. He takes the knife and gently trails it from my diaphragm to the buttoning on my jeans. He holds my throat, saying, "If you make one movement, I will not hesitate to cut your arms the long way." I breathe lowly and gulp down a salty lump. He slowly unbuttons my jeans and pulls the zipper down. Carl clutches my arms tighter, making my hands go cold. I sob into the tape and Mark raises my shirt up to my diaphragm. He makes a slow cut across my stomach, making me scream my lungs out. The wound slowly bleeds, but the pain goes away after a few seconds, then he quickly makes a cut on the right side of my body, then the other side. He makes an 'M' on my stomach and I wince in pain.

A gunshot burst into the air and Mark stops cutting me. I look over and there he is - Johnnie.

Carl lets go of me as Johnnie points the revolver at him. He growls out, "Let...Alex...go. I have a full load in here, don't fucking test me." Marks gets off of me and I pull the tape off of my mouth, then Inpull my black tee down. I hold my stomach with my hands, looking down at the blood dripping down. Johnnie walks over to me and helps me stand up. "Are you okay?" I pant and shake my head. I place my head on his shoulder and breathe. He keeps the gun pointed at Mark and Carl, saying, "If I ever see you near her again, if you ever speak to her again, if you are even one foot away from her, I will kill you." He shoots Carl in the arm and does the same to Mark, then they both scream in agony. Johnnie says, "Let that be a warning to you. Now you both are going to go home, get cleaned up, and take care of your own wounds. If you say one thing about the events that have just happened, Alex won't hesitate to go to the police, and I won't take one moment to think about killing you, because I will. Now get the fuck out of here."

They stand up as they hold their injured arms and run to the truck. They quickly get in the car, turn on the engine, and drive away. I glance up at Johnnie in shock and he blows across the gun to cool it off, then he shoves the gun into his pocket. He says, "I'm taking you home," then he helps me into the passenger seat of his car. When he helps me across the road and into the seat, I let out a moan of pain and he apologizes. I whisper, "Thank you, Johnnie. For helping me." He grins and comments, "It's not a problem, Alex. You would have done the same for me."

And from then on, he was my friend, my savior, and my hero.