Johnny

It was the winter of 2003, my friend Johnny Dier and Gabriel Freese recently got married. I went to the wedding with my at the time girlfriend, now fiancee, Chelsea. It was in Dublin. The cold Irish air was somewhat calming to me. As my family was in some financial issues at the time. Four years later. Chelsea told me that her and Johnny’s wife were talking the other day. And that she seemed off. Not like her usually cheery demeanor. “Oliver, I don’t think the marriage is going well between her and Johnny.” She had told me. I doubted that, they were so happy together. “I’ll go see him tomorrow after work.” I said to Chelsea, she nodded. She told me that she’d shrug it off for now. I kissed her cheek and went to bed. She later followed me and laid down on my bed. Her arms wrapped around my back. I reached around and held her hand. “It’s going to be alright, I promise.” I squeezed her hand and I could feel her hand squeeze back. The next morning I woke to Chelsea on her phone, she was messaging Gabriel. They were talking about the new episode of some baking show. I got ready and told her I would head to work early. “Alright buddy. Love you!” She said, hugging me. I hugged back. “I’ll see you at four.” She said, I walked to the nearby bus stop, as we only have one car and Chelsea’s work is longer away, about thirty minutes on a bus ride. So I make the sacrifice. I arrived at my work, a small cafe in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The small chain of cafes were a family owned business, which I happened to know. I walked behind the counter and I saw Sara Won flipping on the Open sign. “How’s it going Oliver?” Sara asked, gave her a thumbs up and waited for the customers too come. It was a somewhat slow day, only about four or five people an hour. Rickey, my brother, came in at around two PM. “So Chelsea told me about Johnny and Gabriel, I hope they're alright.” He said. “Me too.” I sighed, I looked at the television on the wall. The usual sports game was replaced with a news broadcast. The headline was, ‘Married Couple Found Dead’, my heart skipped a beat. I was probably my imagination, but I was worried about my dear friends. “Sara, I’m not feeling too well. Can I head home?” I lied. She said yes and I ran to Johnny’s house, it was about two miles away, but I didn’t want to wait for a bus. I knocked on the door, with no response I knocked again. I turned the lock on their apartment door, it was locked of course. Gabriel opened the door. I asked if Johnny was home. “No, he’s at work. I think. I don’t have work today, so do you want to come in?” Gabriel asked. I complied and walked in, she flicked on the TV and sat down on the couch. She waved her hand and I sat next to her. “So, Chelsea told me that you’ve been off lately, are you and Johnny alright?” I asked, she looked at her coffee table, she sat down her drink on it and sighed. “We’re fine, it’s just that. My uncle, he. You’ve heard about the recent murders of the couple right?” I nodded, “It was him. I don’t know what drove him to do it. He keeps calling my dad and mom, pleading them to bail him out.” She stopped talking and looked at me. I stared at her. Gabriel’s eyes had welled up with tears and she brushed her hand through her hair. “I’m sorry that you have to see me like this Oliver. I don’t know what is wrong with me lately.” “It’s okay.This isn’t your fault. I hope you know that Gabbie. If your uncle is being a dick, that’s his problem to deal with.” I touched her hand and looked at it. He rings were studded with diamonds. I arrived home and Chelsea was reading a book. I told her what I talked about with Gabriel. She sighed and said she talked to Johnny over the phone. “He said it was okay. Her uncle’s being an ass. He doesn’t want to be in that problem.” She said. I stared at her. I changed the topic to her book. “It’s good, but I’m really just thinking about the last thing Johnny said to me before he hung up. He said.” Chelsea suddenly stopped talking. “Chelsea, what did he say?” “Please tell Oliver that he will promise to remember me.” I stared at her. I could feel a lump in my throat. “I was too scared to do anything. I didn’t want you to come home to me gone too.” I grabbed her hand and we drove off to Johnny and Gabriel's home. I didn’t hesitate to unlock the door with the extra key the Johnny had gave me. Inside I just stood at the foot of the coffee table. Gabriel’s cup of water was still on the table. The carpet had red spots that weren’t there before. I looked at Chelsea, her hands were over her mouth and she knelt on her knees. I cautiously walked to their bedroom. Nothing was there. I heard Chelsea screech and I ran, she was at the bathroom doorway. I peeked over her shoulder. A hand was laying out behind the shower curtain, two rings were barred. As I looked at Chelsea and she was on her phone with 911. I crept towards the shower and grabbed the curtain. As I thought, Gabriel was there.Face down, she was surrounded by beer bottles and her arms were covered in scars. “What do you two think you are doing?” A cold, emotionless voice said. I whipped around and saw Johnny staring dead eyed at Chelsea and I. “She killed herself because she was an emotional wreck. She didn’t deserve the life she had. And I don’t either. The matter of fact none of us do!” He took a step towards us and I put my hand in front of Chelsea. If one of us was going to get hurt, I didn’t want it to be her. I saw in his hand was a small handgun and in the other was a butcher’s knife. His wrists were also covered in scars. “Johnny! What the hell?” Chelsea yelled, “What did you do to Gabbie?” Johnny gave no response to us, I threw my jacket at him in fear. I grabbed Chelsea’s hand and we ran past Johnny as he was confused. “You sons of bitches! I’ll kill you both!” I heard Johnny yell, heavy footsteps were becoming closer and I started to push open the apartment door. I knew the police were coming, but I didn’t want to wait for them. As I opened the door I heard a loud bang and I was struck with a sharp, unending pain in my lower back. “I’m not letting you leave!” I heard Johnny yell, I pushed Chelsea out the door. “Go!” I managed to squeeze out, my vision blurring. I could feel blood filling my throat. I was dying, I knew it. Chelsea grabbed my hand my vision had already faded. I couldn’t feel anything but pain.

Beep...Beep...Beep. I slowly opened my eyes, a white room filled my line of vision. I heard small noises, they sounded like voices. One sounded like Chelsea. I moved my hand, then my other. My hand was held by my fiance, Chelsea gasped and started saying my name over and over again. “You’re alive, thank god!” I moved my head and looked at Chelsea, she was smiling with joy and was wiping her eyes. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you! I’m so glad you’re alive!” “What happened to Johnny?” I muttered out, Chelsea stared at me. Looking at me like I had gone mad, she said five words that still hang on to me to this day. “We don’t know a Johnny.”