(JOHNNY'S POV)
Sitting on the bench, Johnny waited for Madeleine to finish up her business in the restroom. It had been several minutes, almost fifteen to be exact, that he had been sitting there, patiently waiting for Maddie to show up.
Becoming fidgety, Johnny toyed with his thumbs, preoccupying his mind before he gave up, getting up from his spot on the bench before looking out over the crowd of people wandering the hallway.
Clearing his throat, Johnny stood beside the women's restroom and looked at his watch before noticing a woman walking up to the door.
"Excuse me, er, I'm looking for a fr- I mean, my girlfriend… her name is Madeleine; could you check to see if she's still in there," Johnny gestured to the restroom before getting an assuring response from the woman. She nodded, and walked in before calling out, "Madeleine," before walking back out to deliver the news to Johnny.
The stranger shook her head and suggested that she might be in the food court. Taking this advise, Johnny left with a courteous nod, hurrying off to the clearing.
Narrowing his eyes, Johnny scanned his eyes through the crowd of people, getting no response in finding Madeleine. Pursing his lips, Johnny left the area quickly, frantic to find Maddie and pushing out the sight of a familiar gang that he had seen earlier in the theater.
Frowning with dislike, Johnny pondered on where Madeleine could have run off to. It wasn't usual for her to run off somewhere like that. Johnny knew that she could fully take care of herself, but a prick of uncertainty filled his veins, nudging him onward to find her.
Eyes wide and wary, Johnny continued his search through the mall until a thought came into his mind; perhaps she had gone to the car, safe.
Safe… she had to be; Johnny had exited the mall now, entering a dimly lit, mostly abandoned parking garage. Looking around, Nny caught the faint sound of a whimper and a sob along with slapping and other muffled and mute noises.
Looking to his left, he continued to hear strained laughter and slurred chuckles, while he heard the sound of a zipper being pulled.
Gaping, Johnny pleaded to himself that it was not what he thought it was. Sensing movement further to his left, behind a pillar, Johnny ran to the concrete structure before looking around it and losing his breath from the disturbing sight.
Madeleine, being mostly nude, was pressed up against a wall with her arms and legs bound and spread out beside her. Several red marks, probably where slaps and punches had been thrown, dotted her face and body while small yellow beginnings of bruises lined her arms and thin torso.
Two burly men held her to the wall, licking at her face and fondling with her breasts while the smaller man before her was fumbling with the button and zipper of her jeans, slowly shrugging them off of her hips.
Infuriated, disgusted, and completely mortified at the gang of rapists, Johnny's face became numb as he stared at the scene before him; the increasing pressure of adrenaline and livid anger pulsing through him, "MADELEINE!"
Instantly, Johnny reached down to his boots and pulled out two, nine inch blades, glinting lightly in the murky light surrounding them. Chucking a single knife at the leader, the blade slipped through the side of the torso before sending him to the ground. A single stab, however, didn't kill him; it just left him screaming and crying out in agony and surprise.
Johnny's pupils grew smaller as he eyed the other two men who had seen this happening, still holding Madeleine to the wall. His eyes roamed the attackers, mouth twisted in pure disgust, furious.
Stomping onto the leader's back, Johnny pulled out the blade before throwing the other two at the men that held Madeleine to the wall. Hitting both of the rapists in their chest and shoulder blades, they fell to the floor, also screaming and hollering with pain.
Madeleine, being unable to support herself, fell to the floor, hitting her head on the hard pavement below. One of the wounded men, however, was under her; somewhat cushioning her fall, but the contact with the ground still knocked her unconscious.
Gritting his teeth, Johnny turned around and found the leader slowly getting up, crying out in pain as he shuffled onto his knees. Nny, seeing this, kicked him in the side, breaking the man's rib's and forcing him to fall once again.
Bending down to the pervert, Johnny set one hand on the floor, while his other hand grasped the handle of a single blade which had small streaks of blood lining the edge and dripping onto the pavement.
"Such a shame, seeing the society it is now be morphed into something so unstable and frightening. Such a shame, realizing what it is to live in this shit-smeared life and see it all fall before your eyes as you witness something so horrid, so mortifying. Such a shame it is to see you and your fellow faggots be so worthless… along with all the other ignorant fucks that accompany you…"
Johnny chopped off the man's arms in a few quick movements, following with several deep gashes in his chest cavity before letting the blade tear away at the man's jaw and rip it away from the skull.
Mute wailing came from the rapist as blood gurgled up from his throat.
Gathering himself up from the ground, Johnny made his way to the other two men who were rocking themselves on the floor, little pools of dark crimson flowing from the deep wounds in their chests and shoulders.
Picking out the other blade, now holding both blades in both hands, Johnny's face contorted into an expression of hate before stabbing both men brutally in the throats, cutting off their air supply.
Kicking away the dead corpses, Johnny wiped the smeared blood on his hands and arms on his coat before taking his eyes to the unconscious woman on the freezing floor beside him.
All her clothes were stripped from her except her jeans and underwear, leaving her partially naked; her exposed skin making Johnny frown all the more as a dose of unexpected and unintentional arousing came upon him.
Clearing his throat, Johnny looked over to the messy pile of clothes lying in a lump on the floor, several feet away from them. Glancing back to Madeleine, Johnny went over to the clothes and crumpled them into a ball before going back to Maddie, naturally keeping his eyes from roaming over her chest.
Her face was covered in red marks while some places on her body were growing darker shades of brown and purple, stating that she had been punched. Her torso was the same, skinny with the rib indentations running across her stomach while lower on her hips you could see dark red spots, most likely fingerprints. Her hair was tangled somewhat, and the bangs that were held back by bobby pins were messy and undone while her beautiful makeup was smudged and runny from tears.
Simply pitiful.
Taking off his own coat, Johnny wrapped Madeleine in his trench coat, covering the majority of her body. But seeing that Maddie was still unconscious, Johnny had only one option: carrying her.
Putting the ball of clothes under his arm, Johnny scooped Madeleine into her arms, easily carrying her to the car, but wary and absolutely shocked at what he had just witnessed.
If Johnny hadn't been there in time, Madeleine would have been raped and possibly killed.
Looking down, Johnny felt a slight prick of depression and possessiveness as he wiped away a tear from Madeleine's face. How could someone so innocent, so quiet, so perfect in her own way be hurt like that? How could anyone be content with the idea of violating someone; it was repulsive to even suggest the idea.
But violating Madeleine in that way? Fuck no. They deserved to be exterminated; gruesomely.
It was then that Johnny planted a quick kiss on her forehead before setting her in the back seat of his car before shuddering to himself about the emotions that pounded through his head while the sight of the rape scene filtered through his thoughts.
What has reality become?
(MADELEINE'S POV)
85 lbs.
Her eyelids weighed tons as she pried her sore eyes open. It took a couple of moments to get focus into view until her mind could finally grasp that she was lying down on something soft. Looking forward, her mind created the image of a dark, textured ceiling, shadowed and comforting to the eyes.
Picking up her head, Madeleine immediately regretted her decision as the blood in her head thumped against the walls of her skull, making the sound ring ring ring through her eardrums. Squeezing her eyes tight, Maddie grit her teeth, before taking a deep breath and licking her dry lips, testing the muscles in her hands.
Flexing her finger joints, Madeleine popped her knuckles and put her hands before her face, twisting her wrists and bending her elbows; deciding to do the same with her legs.
Propping her feet up, she noticed that she had not been wearing socks, letting her feet feel a fuzzy, warm texture beneath her. Rolling her head to the side, she noticed she was lying on a couch, the fluffy, worn material comforting and supporting her back.
Taking another try to push herself up, Madeleine propped her arms up behind her, immediately getting the response of another rush of blood to her head. Her arms gave out from soreness and tenderness, and Madeleine grunted with surprise as she fell back into the pillow. Bringing her arms to her face, Madeleine spotted several dark bruises and scratches lining up and down her arms, despite the nasty scars on her forearms. (She had caused those specific scars upon herself.)
Letting her arms fall on her torso, she nearly gasped in pain before realizing that the majority of her chest was bare except for a long trench coat that covered her breasts. Sighing with irritation, Madeleine craned her neck to where she could see her stomach.
More purple and black bruises covered her thin stomach while her ribs stood out against her skin. Her hips were covered with the trench coat, and her jeans hung low on her hips, button unbuttoned and zipper unzipped.
Gaping at herself, Madeleine let her head thump back against the cushions, trying to focus on the silence surrounding her. Where was she? What…
It was then that she had remembered the rape attempt in the mall parking garage. The three men stripping her of her clothes and coming close to losing her virginity to rape. The sudden interruption of someone, but Madeleine didn't know who it was because it was then that she fell and everything had faded to black.
Looking back to her body, she frowned as she tried to recall where she had seen the coat before. She recognized it from somewhere, but…
Was she saved?
Was she dead?
Where the hell was she?
Her ears picked up the sound of muffled talking and pacing.
Dragging her eyes to the room, she could see that she was in a rather empty room with a television set, a book case, and a small side table which was made of wood. The television was old-fashioned, with antennas, but it was turned off at the moment. The bookshelf held an assortment of books; some covers dusty, and some seemed that it had been read or touched recently.
The small side table sitting beside her head had a small lamp which was lit. It cast off a small amount of light, brightening up only a small portion of the room and lighting up what else there was on the table.
Maddie's eyes wandered to the bottle of pills, but her eyes were too unfocused to read the label on the tube.
Sighing, Madeleine pushed herself against the armrest until she had completely supported her back. Popping her shoulder blades, Madeleine reached out her arm and took the bottle after rubbing her eyes and shaking her head.
Adjusting her eyes to the light, Madeleine looked back to the table to find a small note and a glass of water sitting beside it.
Taking the letter, Madeleine squinted her eyes to read the messy hand writing before she could finally decipher it.
Take two pills.
I know you're probably confus-(scratched out)
I need to l-(scratched out)
I'm in the living room if you need me.
-Johnny
A light bulb flicked on in Madeleine's head, suddenly remembering where she had seen the trench coat. Happy that she could remember and finally piece together the mess in her head, Madeleine's relief faded just as quickly as she put together more of the puzzle.
She was naked except for her jeans. Johnny had found her, saved her, and had seen her exposed. Johnny had taken her to shelter, and gave her his new trench coat. A homicidal maniac had saved her life.
Folding the bit of paper, Madeleine set the note back onto the table and unscrewed the cap of drugs, pouring out the suggested amount of pills into her hand before popping them into her mouth and swallowing them down with the water set out on the table.
Putting back the bottle of pills, Madeleine took another deep breath before pulling her legs over the side of the sofa, propping her elbows onto her extremely sore knees, and holding her head up as her thin, pale fingers tangled in her hair.
Focusing on the sounds outside of the door, Madeleine realized it was Johnny's voice, muttering and rising out of emotion as if he was talking to someone.
"…Reverend… I can't… this anymore," Nny's voice was mostly inaudible, making Madeleine strain herself to hear him. Rising her eyebrow out of curiosity, Madeleine tested her weight on her legs, slowly but surely getting up.
Slowly, Madeleine started to walk over to the door, watching the light from the other side of the door move as Johnny paced around the other room, outside her door.
Pulling the coat around her torso, Madeleine could hear clearly now that she was closer to the door, and a little more aware of her surroundings.
"…going to be raped! Could you possibly comprehend the shit this society thrives in? Madeleine didn't DESERVE that disturbing treatment from a couple of ignorant dicks! Meaty…. Guy, how am I supposed to love her if I can't even protect her the right way?"
She heard a sniff before hearing another voice answer him, "seal the commitment. Proclaim the emotion to her and she could be yours."
A long pause filled the air, and immediately, Madeleine's breath had become lost somewhere inside of her, understanding the stranger's suggestion.
Gripping the handle of the door, Madeleine cleared her head and throat as she opened the door and walked into the room.
It was mostly the same as she had seen it last. The stairs were over to her right on the wall adjacent to her. The windows at the front of the house were still covered with splintered, wooden panels, and the room itself was rather big. The light above was switched off, and another lamp was lit in the corner, lighting up the area in a soft glow.
Another couch sat before a T.V. in the corner of the room while a small dresser sat parallel to the entrance of the room which had a small, Bub's burger boy decoration sitting atop it. She could have sworn she saw it moving as she entered the room, but then again, she decided to push away the shock, remembering the doughboys that Johnny had earlier.
Johnny was standing, back to her, not noticing her presence as he nodded at the decoration. One hand rubbed the back of his neck as he bowed his head, frowning and scrunching his nose for some odd reason.
"You love this girl, yes? You protect her and want the best for her, yes? You killed yourself when you heard that she had died of anorexia, yes? You would do anything for her. You've succumbed to the emotion in which you were supposed to feel," the burger boy said with the shine of plastic glinting in it's eye. It smiled widely, but it's attention flicked to Madeleine, abruptly stopping with a sly smile.
Johnny continued to nod his head, oblivious to the fact that Madeleine was standing behind him, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Speak of the devil…," the boy said with a low chuckle, gesturing to Madeleine.
Johnny stopped rubbing his neck, tensing up before letting his hand fall to his side.
"Johnny…," she whispered lightly, "what is he saying?"
"Shitty timing… horrid," Johnny turned around, face soft and completely washed of any stress. His eyes shone lightly with tears as he looked at her, pressing his lips together and contemplating on his words.
Madeleine studied him warily and tiredly, seeing that the drug had also been a sedative, making her somewhat sleepy. But despite this, Madeleine kept her eyes glued to Johnny, curious and somewhat worried at the current situation at hand. Frowning, Madeleine narrowed her eyes and questioned, "why are you crying?"
Johnny then took Madeleine in an embrace, holding her tightly as he grumbled out, "no matter how corny this may sound, please, bear with me…"
Still frowning, afraid for the sudden act of emotion, Madeleine tried to soften her face as she nodded.
"Do you remember when you first saw me? You smiled. Do you remember when I knocked you out, dragged you to my torture chambers and chained you to a wall, upside down; I was going to commit suicide and take you along with me. You helped talk me out of it. Do you remember when we were on that hill that one summer night, talking about our backgrounds and why we are who we are? You told me your life story; completely truthful except for the part about the anorexia. We became friends."
Johnny's voice had started to become uneven as he tried terribly to keep himself together. Taking a long, deep breath, Johnny continued on, resting his cheek on her head.
"Do you remember the day that I had left you for your own safety, leaving you in that hotel room after all that had happened with Mr. Fuck? We both died that day.* When I heard that you had died, several months later, I let go; killed myself. My one and only friend, the only one who had even the slightest ounce of care, had died because I couldn't keep a promise. Heaven," Johnny cleared his throat, trying to keep his voice stable before continuing, "Heaven had no place for me, and neither did Hell; both casting me back to Earth where I woke up. Not long after, I found you, alive. Maddie," Johnny sniffed, letting out an uneasy breath, "I love you; I had lost you once. I… couldn't even begin to comprehend the idea of losing you again…horrible, shitty timing for this…"
Madeleine was speechless; at loss for words. Memories flooded back to sitting in the corner of her hotel room, blood running from a cut in her jawbone, laughing insanely from the fact that someone whom she loved was leaving her. The scene changed to when she had applied for a job at NERVE, and getting accepted into the company. The memory had faded yet again to when Johnny had shown up at her doorstep on Christmas Eve with shaved hair and a baffled expression.
More memories overcame her: falling in the snow with Johnny, the kiss, the meeting at the cemetery and being introduced to Todd. The beginning of their date, the movie, and the too realistic memory of the rape attempt.
It all came to her in less than a second, silent tears creeping down her face as she buried herself into Johnny's chest, "what are you trying to sa-."
"Will you marry me?"
(AUTHOR'S NOTE:)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… sappy… BUT YOU KNOW YOU LIKED IT! YOU KNOW YOU DID, SO SHUT UP! :D
AHH JOHNNY PROPOSED! What next…? Will she say yes? No?
Uh… the beginning of the chapter was your dose of violence, so, I hope that satisfied your needs.
LAST CHAPTER IS NEXT! I WILL ADD ONE LAST STORY TO THE TRILOGY! But it will be fairly short, considering the fact that high school is coming up pretty soon.
(*) when I said that they died, I meant mentally…, not physically.
Just to let you know, romance is VERY HARD TO DO WITH JTHM characters, especially if you are trying to keep them as in character as you can. So, please, do restrain yourself from saying 'OMG JOHNNY IS TOO OOC', because I already know what I've gotten myself into.
I do, also know how FAST I moved the romance, seeing that they had only gone on one date… but I was getting NOWEHRE with the story line, so… I changed it up a little bit, forcing Nny to act quickly. (please, don't mention that either in the reviews…)
Disclaimers…:
Johnny and any JTHM characters belong to Jhonen Vasquez. Not me.
I own Madeleine.
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