You Stole My Heart

Johnny came to a stop in front of Marco’s door, staring woefully at the brown door. He finally took a deep breath and rapped on it twice with his knuckles. After a few moments of no reply he did it again. “Marco?”

When no reply came again, he turned the knob. He popped his head in first to look around the room. She wasn’t at the desk nor was she in her bed. He knew he had seen the door open when he first came upstairs and the door never reopened so she had to be in here. His eyes trailed down from the bed to see the closet built in under it. He walked up to the bed, climbed half way up the ladder, and ruffled through the blankets as if he were looking for her.

“I guess Marco’s not in here!” Johnny announced and got down, stomping over to where he would be behind one of the doors, slowly stepping softer as if he had left. After a minute the closet door creaked open. Another minute passed and Marco slowly climbed out of the closet. Her hair was tucked in under a beanie, the hood of her purple hoodie covering most of the beanie.

Johnny shut the door of the closet, causing Marco to whip around. “Are you trying to scare me to death?!”

“We need to talk,” Johnny said simply. Marco sighed, climbing up the ladder to sit Indian style on her bed. She crossed her small arms over her chest and stared at her lap.

“What?”

“You know we have to send you back home if we found your parents,” Johnny said gently. Marco began to shake her head violently.

“No, no. I can’t go back! I don’t want to. I want to stay with you,” Marco sobbed, lunging forward to wrap her arms around Johnny’s neck. Johnny pulled her off the bed, Marco instantly wrapping her legs around his waist. He placed a hand on her head, shushing her. When he petted her head the beanie and hood came off. His mouth fell open at the blindly done bob cut. The front of her hair only reached her shoulders.

“Marco, what did you do?” Johnny gasped. He saw the missing hair tossed in the light purple trash bin by the door of her room.

“I don’t look like the picture they have. I’m not the missing Marco,” Marco cried, her face buried in Johnny’s neck. Johnny sighed, leaving the room to go to his room and then the connecting bathroom. He placed her on the toilet seat. He pulled out a comb and scissors from a drawer under the sink.

“Marco, even if you change your hair you’re still recognizable,” Johnny pointed out as he began to comb her hair, fixing the split ends.

“I don’t want to go back,” Marco repeated softly.

“I know. But why Marco?” She stayed quiet as he continued to fix her hair. After a few more clips he made her turn so she was facing him. He began to clip away at the side of her hair so they matched. “Is it because they have rules or something? That’s a bad reason to not want to go home. They’re your parents.”

“That’s not it,” Marco snapped. “I know what parents are suppose to do. What they do is nothing close to anything a parent should do!”

Johnny froze, forgetting about fixing her hair. Tears were pooling her hazel eyes, Marco’s breathing becoming eradicated. “What do you mean Marco?”

“My dad touched me places he shouldn’t have. My mom always has needles in her arm and hits me when she doesn’t. My dad drinks damn beer and smokes cigarettes and joins my mom in beating me. Sometimes they make me breathe in some weird air that makes me feel funny. Theire friends - ” Marco stopped, covering her hand with mouth as a sob escaped. “They hurt me. They don’t hit me, but put something - ”

Johnny stopped her by bringing her to his chest so she could sob. He didn’t want to hear the rest, he already knew. He rubbed her back reassuringly, cooing sweet nothings in her ear. Suddenly Marco pulled out of his grasp and puked over the side into the bathtub. He pulled her hair from her face as the stomach acid flew into the tub. He rubbed her back until her heaving stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been feeling like this for a few days now,” Marco replied, resting her head on the edge of the porcelain tub. Johnny damped a washcloth and placed it on her neck.

“So that’s why you freaked out at Brian’s and ran to the bathroom?” She nodded, beginning to fall asleep on the tub. Johnny picked her up and carried her bride style to her room. He placed her on the bed, pulling the covers over her body and left the washcloth on her forehead.

“Are you going to make me go to them?” Marco said quietly, sleep lacing her voice.

“No hun. But you’re going to need to go to the doctor.” She nodded before closing her eyes, her breathing evening out. Johnny left her room, shutting her door. He walked back to his office and stepped over the threshold. As he did he heard a crunch beneath his foot. He looked down to see melted ice cream and broken cones on the floor. He sighed, leaning over to grab his cell before heading to the hall bathroom.

“Hello?” Kell’s voice answered when the phone was picked up at Matt’s place.

“Hey Kell, it’s Johnny. Is Matt there?” Johnny asked, taking a towel from the rack and dampening it with warm water. He headed back to his office with a trash bin in hand.

“Yeah, hold on. He’s working on a new song. You should hear it Johnny, it’s amazing,” Kell breathed. Johnny rolled his eyes. Kell could get pretty fan girly if she wanted to.

“I’ll hear it later Kell.” The sound of a door opening and talking leaked into the phone.

“Johnny, can it wait? He’s kind of busy,” Kell said when she came back to the phone.

“No Kell, it can’t. Tell him he can kill me later if he wants,” Johnny replied as he bent down and begun to toss in the broken cone pieces.

“Okay.” The sound of the phone being passed around met Johnny’s ears. He scrubbed away at the ice cream that had begun to stick solidly to his hardwood floors.

“What is it?” Matt asked when the door shut again. He could hear Matt scribbling something out and writing in something else.

“I need to talk to you about Marco,” Johnny said hesitantly. He heard Matt’s writing pause for a moment before continuing.

“Jimmy told me about what you two found out today. He said he was going to leave it to you to decide when to call them. I would suggest soon,” Matt remarked.

“That’s the thing Matt, I can’t.” He heard Matt place his writing utensil down.

“Johnny, I know you’ve become attached, we all have but - ”

“No Matt, that’s not it,” Johnny interjected, tossing the towel onto the ground. “Her parents are, my god they’re monsters.”

“What do you mean Johnny?” Matt demanded. Johnny slid down the door frame to the floor. He began to tell him everything Marco had told him, Johnny himself getting emotional. Once he was finished he had his knees up, one elbow resting on his knee to hold a hand over his eyes.

“I can’t send her back to that Matt,” Johnny said after a moment of silence. Matt was still silent, the soft tapping of his fingers on the table top he sat in front of.

“Johnny, you said she was sick, right?” Johnny made some sort of noise that agreed with his words. “Did you ever stop to think she might be - well, she might have…”

“You can’t be serious, pregnant?” Johnny asked, his eyes wide. That was absurd, it had to be.

“Well, with what you said about her parents’ friends there’s always the possibility.” Johnny let out a shaky sigh. “Look, I’ll set up an appointment for her tomorrow. You and I will take her up there, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks man.” With that they said their goodbyes, hanging up. Johnny closed his phone and set it next to him on the floor. Marco couldn’t be pregnant, she just couldn’t.