Flowers For McGee

6 - Johnny

Johnny sat on his bed with the book in hand and he was close to discovery a secret he didn't even know was hidden. The house was quiet and he was bored. His blue eyes were intently fixed to the page as they skimmed every word.

Dear Diary,
I couldn't find that stupid box he has. He hides it too well. Mother is leaving the house to him. He isn't even really part of this family. He isn't her son, he was papa's. I should get the house, but she says I'm too naive and persuasive. I'll show her persuasive. I'm not the one with the secrets.

"Damn, even drama from the ancient times was boring." Johnny says and turns the page to a new entry. Johnny was different from his sister in many ways, but being interested in something such as this was something they shared.

His head turns to his door when a piece of paper slides under it and he stands and sighs. He picks it up and sees a crude drawing of a girl, somewhat resembling the doll he found in his sister's closet. Johnny, assuming it is Rose trying to mess with him, he opens his door and sees another one on the ground and pounding feet on the the stairs.

He picks it up and this paper has two girls on it, one slightly bigger than the other with an arrow pointing up.

"Johnny, what're you up to?" He turns and Maggie stands in the doorway of the kitchen. Maggie was hard at work at cooking and drawing up new designs for the house.

"Rose is messing with me. I'll be a good guy and play along, I guess." He says and holds up the two notes. Johnny loves his sister, but sometimes she is plain unpredictable and strange.

"Thanks, Johnny, she needs a friend. Even if it's just you." Maggies says and sighs and crosses her arms. She leans on the doorframe with a sympathetic look.

"I try, but sometimes it is difficult when she isolates herself or gets in those moods." Johnny says as he remembers the times Rose wouldn't talk to anyone, and when she did it was only rude remarks. She tried to hide it, but she took everything personally.

"I know, hon, thanks." She says and goes back in the kitchen.

Johnny walks up the stairs and at the top of the second floor, he doesn't see or hear anything near the bedrooms. The light is off and the door is shut to his sister's room and the other is obviously empty. At the base of the stairs, he sees two red crayons and another piece of paper.

Come get me, It reads in childish handwriting with the same drawing of the girls, on this time there are squares around them and Johnny knows the room.

"Jesus, Rose, are we five?" He mutters and  shakes his head.

Johnny walks up to the top third floor and goes to the room where the doll is and opens the door. Nothing different about the room, nothing spooky or even a little suspicious. Except that the doll is facing out the window, but Johnny doesn't notice that as he searches the room for his sister.

"Okay, Rose, I'm here. Where are you?" Johnny says out loud and he grabs the shoulder of the doll, but it doesn't move and he quickly lets go. "What?" He says and frowns.

A girl turns around and faces him, the doll in her arms and a finger pressed to her lips. "Oh, my God." He says and backs up. His heart is racing as realization settles in that he isn't imagining her. She is real.

In the dark it is hard to navigate and Johnny trips over a fallen stack of book and lands on his back with a pained groan. He watches as the girl sets the doll on the ground and crawls on top of him. She presses one finger back to her lips and then places her other hand over his face.

"We can live together at the mansion!" Rosaline cries as Hodge holds her to him with an evil glint in his eye. "After we marry, it'll just be us and our new family." Rosaline says, trying to sway him. Gwen hides behind the corner of the house as she listens.

"What about your current family? Where will they go?" Hodge questions with a faux expression of concern. He didn't care at all, he wanted the house for himself.

"Who cares, it'll be ours. Hodge, I promise." She says. "You can have anything you want."
-
Rose walks out of her bathroom just in time to see Johnny walking into the room across from hers and she frowns and stops in her tracks to watch her usually grapefruit brother stumble around the doorway. Johnny fumbles with the door handle and Rose considers helping him, but the idea quickly slips her mind.

"What are you doing?" She asks him and he turns halfway in the door way, but stares straight ahead and she sees the box in his hands.

"I have to put it back." He says and his voice is oddly cold and Rose doesn't truly notice it. Sometimes Johnny is guilty over simple things so she files it as one of his paranoia cases.

"So... You are putting toys back?" She asks with a frown at his tight grip on the box.

"Yes." He says and goes into the room and slams the door and Rose jumps at the harsh sound.

She shakes her head and walks to her own door. In the key hole is a piece of paper, she takes it out and unrolls it.

"A dude holding a baby? What does that mean, huh?" She asks and goes in her room, not seeing Johnny standing in the doorway of the room holding the doll and the hand of the little girl.

She shuts her door and sets the ripped paper with the other she found. It was nothing other than a drawing of an object that looked like a treasure chest.
-
Johnny frowns as he finds himself standing in the middle of his room holding his shoes and his jacket. He gets the urge to put them on, so he quickly does and he feels something, almost physical, pulling him toward the door of his room.

He takes his phone and a flashlight and goes out into the main hall. "Mom, I think I'm going outside." He calls out as he walks to the front door.

The night air hits him and he shivers slightly. His dark hair is whisked around his face as he tugs on his hood and pulls the strings tightly together.

He turns on the light and he shines it around his yard. It was definitly creepy in the night time, he felt too much like he was in a horror movie. "Great, I'm turning into Rose." He says and he goes around the side of the house.

The grass was newly trimmed and as he rounded the back, he found the garden. He shines the light on weather colored statues and the old cobblestone pathways and he smiles. It was amazing.

His smile drops as he gets an urgent feeling and he looks out to the trees, the fog bunches together and his imagination creates a figure. He starts jogging toward the woods. He doesn't know what he is looking for, but he has to find it.

Johnny wanders around in the trees for a long time before he comes to stop in front of five neatly places rocks. He walks closer, stepping over fallen tree limbs and stones and he shimes the light on them. "Holy shit." He mumbles as he looks at them. On the last rock he sees a piece of paper and he reluctantly reaches out and picks it up. With numb, shaky fingers he unfolds it and reads the red lettering

Secret. Keep going.

Johnny makes a noise that can only be interpreted as a fearful groan and he shoves the paper in his pocket and walks deeper into the trees.