AFTER DARK | Johan Liebert

Chapter 44: Street justice with a gun

A/N: Hey guys, I just wanted to say that there might be/might have been strange grammatical errors and misspelled words in the chapters. For some reason, my auto-correction likes to "correct" my texts the wrong way, and though I'm trying to correct these mistakes when proof-reading, I don't know if I'm able to find them all.

"J-Johan?"

Erik must have noticed we had company, because he suddenly let go of me, turning around. As he stood up, I stared at Johan in confusion. He stood there motionlessly, his empty expression focused on Erik. Breathing heavily, trying to recover, I sat up, watching the two of them. Johan seemed so different all of a sudden - the atmosphere he gave off was much darker than usual, so dark and suffocating that I felt fear rising inside of me. 

"What are you staring at?" Erik approached Johan. "Did you come to rescue her?" He chuckled, glancing at me. "You always pick the handsome ones, do you?" He kept coming closer to Johan. I knew this wasn't going to end well. I had seen the reaction Johan had when I had told him my story. Erik was grinning in condescendence at Johan, while Johan didn't move an inch, waiting for him to come over. When Erik was in front of him, Johan tilted his head, looking right into his eyes.

"I'll keep it short."

He smoothly reached for his suit jacket, pulling out a gun underneath it, holding it at Erik's temple. I gasped out of shock. His face still looked the same - expressionless and inscrutable, the ruthlessness hidden behind it. Erik winced for a moment, his insecurity written over his face.

"Johan...!" I didn't like where this was going. I didn't want him to actually shoot Erik, despite all the terrible things he had done...

Suddenly, Erik started to chuckle like a maniac.

"I bet it's not even loaded."

Johan's face still wasn't changing at all as he spoke with his soothing voice.

"Do you want to find out?"

With ease, he pushed Erik's head with the gun to the ground, making him fall on his knees. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in Erik's eyes as he carefully turned his head to look up at Johan. I could see how his breath fastened and became more unsteady as he held the gun against Erik's head, slightly pushing it with the gun. His pointing finger was positioned right at the trigger, slightly shaking.

"Johan!"

He didn't look at me, but something in his face changed when I called his name. I stood up, stepping on the path again and wiping the rain out of my face.

"Don't shoot him, Johan, please! I know he has done horrible things, but-"

"Klara."

He still wasn't looking at me. I shuddered at his cold voice.

"He tried to assault you again."

Erik raised his voice.

"I only did it because she told lies about me-" But he was cut off immediately by Johan, who pushed the gun to his head more violently this time, giving him a death stare. The terror was written all over Erik's face.

"Please, Johan!" Still breathing heavily, I tried to calm him down. "Don't kill him! It's for your own good. Don't become guilty of murder, not for him! I beg you..."

This moment felt like an eternity - a terrible eternity, where everything was at risk, no one knowing what the outcome would be. It was torturing, seeing Johan fight with himself as he kept pointing the gun at Erik. I stared at Johan in anticipation, begging in my head for him to stop. Johan looked down at Erik, squinting.

"You're going to leave."

"Huh?" Erik didn't seem to understand.

"You're going to leave this city. For good." His hand was shaking, close to firing off, his eyes widening in rage.

"And I assure you, if you EVER try to hurt her again, I'm going to pull the trigger without hesitation!"

He was close to losing his self-control, raising his shaking voice. Erik stared at him, shaking.

"LEAVE!"

Immediately, Erik stood up, going back the path we had come from. "Fucking crazy! Both of you are insane!", he hissed before stumbling away.

I watched him leave, panting and trying to realise what had just happened. Johan was standing where he stood before, his fast breath slowing down, eventually, as he examined his gun. Tearing up, I walked towards him while he averted his gaze, and when I stood in front of him, I quickly yanked the light gun out of his hand, tossing it to the ground next to us. 

"Why?"

He looked at the ground. It frustrated me.

"Why did you bring this? Look at me!"

He glanced at me, then at the gun.

"It's a mock-up."

I stared at him in confusion. "It's fake?" That's why it was so light when I touched it.

Johan kept looking at the gun.

"I wasn't about to kill him. I just needed to scare him away. Scare him so bad that he would never come back for you."

Unimaginable relief filled me when he said that. He wasn't falling back into his old patterns.

"Are you hurt?", he quietly asked me. I looked at my arms. "A little. His grips were tight, but he didn't manage to do anything else to me."

"That's good."

He raised his head a little, facing me.

"... Can I... hug you?"

I couldn't hide the faint smile on my face when he asked me that, pulling me into an embrace. It felt so good to feel his arms around me again. I could hear his fast heartbeat. He was still uneasy, his arms slightly shaking as he held me.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth before."

I shook my head. "You warned me." I raised my hand, laying it on the back of his head. He winced, but eventually rested his head on my shoulder.

"I don't want to be a monster. If I had shot him, I would have lost you and myself."

He let go of me, observing my arms and legs. 

"You must be tired. Let's go to my home. And once you're feeling better, we can talk about everything."

I nodded. I needed time to process everything - and I was sure that I was in some state of shock, not being able to realise what had happened today - at least not yet. But I knew that the worst was over, and perhaps it was time for a new start.