The Heart Stealer

The voice left for the remainder of the trip. Kelly surprised herself by feeling kind of disappointed. The voice had come out of nowhere, and sure, at first, it had been a little scary, but Kelly didn’t want it to go away. Maybe it had been kind of comforting. Maybe it was what she really needed. Kelly wasn’t sure.

It was dark now, and as she neared Los Angeles, she surprised herself again by flipping on the radio. It was just past midnight, and she’d been driving for over six hours, saying goodbye to Phoenix before she’d ever said hello. She was tired, and maybe a little bit delirious, and turning on the radio had seemed natural. It was. At least, it used to be.

She hadn’t listened to music ever since Rebekah died. But now, music filled the small car, invaded her ears; made her feel…real again. But that was crazy. How could she not be real? Kelly didn’t know how to explain it, or if there was anyone that would even listen to her if she tried. She let the music play as she slowed in traffic.

The thought of checking into the nearest motel crossed her mind, but she wasn’t ready to call it a night just yet. Something was nagging at her, telling her that this trip wasn’t over yet. And what better way to see Los Angeles than in the middle of the night?

Kelly was just a small-town girl. She’d never been to cities as big as the two she’d already visited in the space of a few days. She didn’t know where the hell she was going, but she knew she needed a bit of a kick to keep her going. And so, she pulled up next to the curb and parked outside a small bar that seemed to be open.

She killed the engine, got out, and double-checked that her car was locked. Her mother had told her way too many times about the danger of theft in large cities. When she entered the tiny, dimly-lit bar, there was only one other person inside. He was tall and lanky, from what Kelly could tell, although he was seated. He had black, spiky hair that stood up in all the wrong places and a depressed look on his face.

It was discouraging, but Kelly thought it was to be expected in a place like this.

She ordered her drink and downed it quickly, before swallowing her pride and approaching the young man. She figured she didn’t have anything to lose, and the only person she’d been talking to lately was the voice in her head. Or car, as it seemed.

She sat down on the bar stool beside him and held out her hand. He didn’t take it. Instead, he stared right back at her with his large, brown eyes. He had nerve, Kelly would give him that. He stared right into her eyes, like he was searching for the answer to a question that Kelly hadn’t asked him yet.

She dropped her hand, giving up on formal greetings. That had never really been her way of doing things, anyway. She didn’t look away. Refused to be the once to break the gaze first. She was never one for defeat. But she had been defeated, hadn’t she? She’d broken to pieces as soon as Rebekah had left. Then again, Rebekah was the only one who had ever had the potential to defeat her, though Kelly loudly argued about it on various occasions and power-struggles over the possession of the remote control for the television.

“Why the long face?” Kelly blurted out, making it sound like an accusation instead of a question.

He kept staring.
“I’m depressed.”
Kelly kept staring.

“Depressed,” she repeated in a flat tone. A statement, not a question. The young man stared back at her and blinked a few times, obviously taken aback by her reaction. He felt like he had to explain himself to this perfect stranger, although he had no idea why.

“Yeah, well falling in love with your two best friends, telling them, and thereby fucking up their relationships will do that to you,” he said bluntly, without any trace of emotion. Kelly tried not to let her mouth fall open in shock after all that information in such a small space of time. “Wow,” she said, blinking quickly a few times. “Ouch, man. That sucks.”

He sighed. “Tell me about it.”

“I would tell you that it gets better, but it probably doesn’t,” Kelly said bluntly. This much was true. She was in the same sort of place as this guy – depressed, that is – and she honestly had no idea when, or even if it would ever get any better. She sure hoped it would. And even though it probably didn’t make any sense to anybody else, collecting Rebekah’s artworks would be her way of doing that – getting better. At least, that was what she’d been telling herself on the six hour trip to L.A.

“You suck at advice,” The guy said.

“Thanks,” Kelly said, still distracted, the ghost of a smile on her face. “Why are you here?” The guy asked now, sounding confused. Kelly rolled her eyes. “Why are any of us here?” She retorted. “What is the meaning of life? Blah, blah, blah.”

“You’re weird,” he said, not allowing himself to laugh at her blunt sarcasm. He was too depressed for that. “So are you,” Kelly shot back at him. “But I was considerate enough not to point it out.” He smiled slightly and tilted his head to the side. “You never answered my question,” he said.

“Hmm?” Kelly asked, raising her eyebrows, forgetting already.

“You being here and all that,” the guy reminded her, turning towards her slightly, seemingly interested in the conversation. “Same reason as you,” she said evenly. “This was the first shitty bar I came across. I needed a drink to drown my sorrows.”

That was definitely true, but the spiky-haired guy didn’t seem to be buying it. “You’ve got sorrows?” He asked, disbelief present in his tone. “Doesn’t everybody?” Kelly replied. “Well, I suppose they do, but…”

“But what?” Kelly cut him off. “Because I’m blonde and skinny my life is supposed to be perfect?” She didn’t know why she was suddenly so defensive. She didn’t even know this guy, but something about his comment had bothered her.

“Something like that,” he said with a shrug.
“You’re weird,” she said flatly.
“What happened to being considerate?”
“Blame it on the alcohol,” Kelly said with a shrug, for lack of a better thing to say.

“I’m Jack.”
“Kelly.”

And that was how it all started.

*

The pair ended up in a games arcade – Kelly’s idea. She led Jack outside to her car, where he got in without question, despite hardly knowing her. When Kelly started the engine, a weird feeling came over her. She glanced quickly at Jack as she pulled out onto the street and realised why - no one had sat in the passenger’s seat since Rebekah died. She bit down on her bottom lip and refused to start randomly crying in front of this stranger, who was sort of good-looking, if she had to admit it.

Jack, knowing the area, directed her to a games arcade where Kelly parked and the two walked in. It wasn’t very large, but it would do. They both needed a distraction, and as Kelly had mentioned earlier, a bit of cheering up. Jack had laughed when she’d suggested it. He hadn’t been to a proper games arcade since he was a kid. But she was offering, and he was alone and really, what were his options?

The games arcade, despite being kind of run-down, was open 24-hours, which was sort of weird, but a blessing in disguise. Jack and Kelly changed out their notes for coins. The tired-looking boy behind the counter handed them their change in small, clear plastic bags, before heading to the back, where he would light up yet another cigarette, and ask himself for the millionth time why he agreed to swap shifts with Lorraine.

Kelly headed straight for the basketball-shooter game. It had been one of Rebekah’s favourites. She slipped in a few coins as Jack did the same on his side. There was a sort of weird tension between the two. Maybe they were both nervous, or just didn’t know what to say. Either way, the game was sure to get them talking. It certainly did. Not even half-way through; Kelly started the abuse she was used to dishing out to Rebekah during this game.

“You suck at this!” She jeered, scoring again. Jack was pathetic at the game and had barely scored at all. “You know,” he said. “I’m starting to think that you’re not considerate at all.” Kelly laughed, a genuine smile flashing across her face. She could just imagine Rebekah saying something exactly like that. In fact, Jack reminded her of her best friend more and more as the night wore on.

Kelly won the game and collected the tickets the machine spat out at her. Jack watched her do this, thinking to himself that she really was beautiful. Her blonde hair fell just over her shoulders, she had a perfect figure and her piercing blue eyes were indescribable. But it was her sparkling personality that he’d noticed first, which really was strange for him – the shallow type who would always evaluate a girl’s looks straight up.

“What game next, Jacko?” She asked, looking over at him. He shrugged and glanced around the arcade, his eyes landing on the racing cars. Kelly followed his gaze and smirked. “I’m a beast at racing cars,” she said. “No one can compare.” Jack raised his eyebrows at her before running over to the machine.

They completed two races, Kelly demanding a re-match when Jack won the first. She won the second, and celebrated with a not-so-subtle victory dance, before slumping back into her seat. Jack turned sideways in his seat to look at her, resting his face against its back. He noticed then that she was wearing a Fall Out Boy shirt, and called her out on it. Kelly then launched into the speech that she practically had rehearsed for every time someone ever mentioned Fall Out Boy. Fall Out Boy were legend to her, and just as important as breathing.

When she had finished, Jack smiled and shook his head. “Do you want to get out of here?” She asked him, feeling tired of the scene surrounding her. “But where would we go?” He asked. “Who gives a fuck?” She retorted. “Who plans anything these days anyway?” Jack laughed, nodded, and followed her to the counter, where they turned over their tickets in exchange for His and Her shot glasses.

Out on the street, the two walked side-by-side, feeling somewhat comfortable with each other, the ice most definitely broken. In a conversation about music, Jack let it slip that he was in a band. What he didn’t understand was Kelly’s reaction when he said he played for All Time Low.

Kelly’s first reaction was to cry. Scream. Or maybe just leave, right then, and never look back. But she knew that if she did that, Rebekah would never forgive her. And so, she did what came next. She laughed. Uncontrollably, it seemed. The whole thing was just so damn ironic. In a sort or morbid way, it was kind of funny. Kelly just happening to run into the guitarist of Rebekah’s favourite band in the whole world.

Jack couldn’t understand why she was laughing so hard. He sat down on the curb where she was sitting, clutching at her stomach as she continued to laugh. She plucked her wallet from her back pocket and pulled the ticket out, handing it over.

“No fucking way,” Jack said, staring at the ticket to his own show. “You’re a fan and you didn’t recognize me?” Kelly scoffed at his arrogance. “Not exactly,” she said. “That’s not my ticket. My best friend is, well, was obsessed with you guys. She begged me for months to go to a concert with her. I finally agreed. I only have the one ticket now. Had to sell hers. But I told myself I’d still go, just for her.” Kelly’s voice was soft, and Jack noticed her eyes had glazed over as she looked across the street, her face blank.

“Where’s your friend now?” He asked.
“She died.”
“Shit, Kelly, I’m sorry…”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. People die all the time, right?” Kelly couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. She didn’t believe a word of it, and hated herself for brushing off Rebekah’s death like that. How could she even do that? More importantly – why was she doing it? Because she wanted to appear strong in front of Jack? Because she wanted to be one of those people that could just “keep it together”?

She knew better than anyone that she couldn’t keep it together, and she’d been doing a lousy job of it so far. “I wish I knew what to say,” Jack said, fumbling for words. “Nothing you can say will bring her back, so just don’t,” Kelly said, biting down on her bottom lip – a habit of late.

“You wanna talk about it?” Jack urged further. “I’ll listen.” Kelly knew he was only being nice, but it was nice to know that someone cared, if only temporarily. Kelly smiled slightly. “She’d be turning in her grave right now. Me sitting with the guitarist of her favourite fucking band in the whole world. She’d be furious!” Jack nodded and smiled, encouraging her to continue.

“She was a pain in the ass, you know. Argumentive, impatient, obnoxiously loud. Her stupid accent drove me crazy. That crazy bitch. You couldn’t take her anywhere. She was a real embarrassment. But now that she’s gone, I just really miss it, you know? I just, I just want her back. Just for one night. One hour. Even one minute would be enough.”

“That’s the thing about losing people,” Jack said quietly. “When they leave, you just feel lost.”

A comfortable silence settled over the two as Jack’s words hung in the air. It started to rain, but they both ignored it, consumed completely by their own thoughts. “What was her name?” Jack asked. “Rebekah,” Kelly replied, feeling weird saying her name, and like she had to explain everything to Jack.

“She came over here from Australia for me, you know. We met on the internet. She came here for college. And I can’t help but blame myself. If she hadn’t met me, if she hadn’t come here, if she hadn’t been in that car, on that street, on that day, at that time…she’d still be here. And we’d be back at our shitty apartment, fighting over the remote control and abusing the fuck out of each other. And even though we always gave each other a hard time, I really fucking loved her, you know? She was like family to me.”

“How nice.” The voice was just as clear as it had been in the car, undeniably Rebekah’s. Kelly jumped slightly, startled by its sudden presence. She couldn’t reply, not when Jack was there, although her curiosity was driving her mad. She just had to find out if it – Rebekah – would talk to her, like she was still here.

Jack suddenly pulled her into a hug, and Kelly found herself crying into his chest, on the curb on the street in the pouring rain. She’d been crying so much ever since Rebekah had died, which was understandable, but Kelly just felt weak, and more than anything – tired. She didn’t want to be old enough to understand death. It was all too hard.

Kelly pulled away from Jack and wiped the tears from her face, despite the rain already washing them away. It was just something she’d become accustomed to in the past few weeks. She gasped for air, her breaths coming in short, ragged bursts. Jack just looked at her as she inched away from him on the curb. What could he possibly do?

Kelly didn’t look at him. She knew the guilt would take over if she did. She instead focused on her shoes, and the water pooling around them. Her hair stuck to her face and her clothes were already soaked through, but all she could do was stare at her goddamn shoes.

“What are you so scared of?” Rebekah’s voice was quiet, but definitely there. “That I’m crazy,” Kelly whispered to herself. That your voice will go away and I’ll lose you all over again. This part, she didn’t say out loud, for fear that would be enough to make her leave. Instead, she turned to Jack.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” She asked him. He was taken aback by her question. He certainly hadn’t expected it, but could understand where she was coming from. “Have you…seen her?” He asked. “It’s just a voice,” Kelly said, more to convince herself. “Maybe I’m just crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” Jack said.
“How can you tell?”

“Because the people we love never really leave us. They always stay with you, right in that special place in your heart,” he said with a small smile. Kelly found herself smiling, too. “For some guy I met in a bar, you ain’t bad,” Kelly said, her humour re-surfacing.

“Let him help you,” the voice said.
“I don’t need help,” Kelly muttered, closing her eyes.
“Liar.”

Kelly shook her head and opened her eyes, looking over at Jack again. His deep brown eyes, the understanding look on his face. The way he’d cared, when he really didn’t have to. He could have left. Why hadn’t he?

“Why didn’t he just leave?” Kelly whispered to herself, not expecting an answer.

“Because he’s gonna save you,” the voice whispered, and somehow, Kelly sensed it disappearing again.

She didn’t have a hope in hell.