Oh, Marcel!

"Tell Her What You Saw"

~Ember~

"Marcel, I do what I want if you haven't noticed. I told you to keep quiet and you didn't." Johnny says sliding the gun down to the base of Marcel's throat.

I feel so faint as I cower behind Marcel. Jimmy was on the phone, not Johnny. It was Jimmy's car, not Johnny's. Right? What the hell is going on?

"Johnny, I didn't tell anyone!" Marcel whimpers as Johnny draws the gun down to his chest.

"Oh? Not even that body guard of yours? Or this little lady right here?" Johnny says grabbing me by Marcel's hoodie and dragging me to Marcel's side. I shiver.

Body guard?

"Let me go Johnny." I manage to squeak. His eyes soften for a quick second before a cold chilling glare comes back.

"No. But you talk again and I won't be afraid to squeeze this trigger here." I put my head down, but my hand reaches out and grabs Marcel's.

"Johnny let her go. She doesn't know anything and she won't." Marcel pleads again, suddenly gaining courage.

"Naw. She knows now doesn't she? You think I'm just going to let her go? No. She's a witness. However, since she doesn't know, why don't you tell her anyway Marcel?" Johnny suggests by pressing the gun harder into Marcel's chest. Marcel lets out a small cry.

"DO IT NOW!" Johnny screams. A few birds up in the trees flutter away from the sound of his voice.

"Okay. Okay." Marcel says, bowing his head. "The summer after eigth grade, something happened."

I nod encouragingly, afraid to speak.

"I was just walking in the woods, thinking about stories and other things, when I heard a scream. It wasn't an bloody murder scream either. It was more of a drunk girls scream from having too much fun.

"I decided that I was going to go check it out. Maybe I could use it as a story line or something. But when I did check it out I-I..." Marcel trails off, not able to continue.

"Tell her Marcel. Go on. Tell her what you saw." Johnny says with a smirk.

"Johnny. I saw Johnny. Jimmy was there too. They were carrying a drunk woman deep into the forest. So I followed them, curious as to what was going on. I figured I was pretty sneaky, so I wouldn't get caught.  

"Just outside of a rock cave, they stopped and let the woman fall to the ground. I could over hear Jimmy asking why they had to do this and Johnny yelling at him to shut up." Johnny's grin was growing wider, like he was proud of himself.

Marcel began to breathe faster and stutter.

"T-then Jimmy took a rock and b-beat her in the head with it. I could see the blood pouring out cuts by her temples as she fell into un-unconsciousness. I b-backed up, a twig snapped sending both boys heads towards me.

"I could hear th-them whisper and then shrug, r-ready to move on with their deed. Johnny took out a knife and cut off her hair. Tugging and sawwing until it was short and c-choppy making the woman unrecognizable as to who she was before." Johnny clapped his hands together.

"Keep going! You're getting to the good part Marcel!"

"Then u-using the knife, h-he cut her mouth into a smile. Just like t-the joker from batman. S-she lay there limp, nothing moving. Johnny handed the knife to Jimmy who held it away from him. Then pulled a small black revolver out of his hoodie pocket and handed it to Johnny. H-he took it h-happily and pointed it straight at the wo-woman's throat." Marcel gulped. He was shaking so bad now that I was shaking.

"Finish Marcel." Johnny slurred.

"One shot." Marcel continued. "I s-screamed. I couldn't help it. J-jimmy turned, the first to see me, but I ran. I got out of those w-woods and hid in a dumpster near the road. They didn't find me and eventually gave up. I p-peeked out and saw them run back into the woods.

"I stayed in that dumpster for longer than t-two hours and they came back, opening the lid and throwing in things. The knife t-they used..."Marcel began to roll up the sleeve of his hoodie. His left arm. "It caught me." I looked at where he was now point on his arm, my finger lightly touching the puckered wound.

Why hadn't I seen this before?

Because I wasn't looking at him, I was just looking at his abs.

"And that shouldn't have been all you got from spying on us!" Johnny spat. " I should have just killed you then. I didn't know why I didn't. It would have been a hell of a lot easier that killing my mother."

"You killed your own mother?" I say and then clap my hand over my mouth as the gun moves away from Marcel's chest.

"Didn't I say not to talk?" Johnny shoves the gun right between my breast, straight at my heart.