Flowers For McGee

18 - I'm a Good Kid

Gwen hides behind the wardrobe as the screaming goes on downstairs. She had her eyes closed and her hands pressed against the dark wood. Rosaline was unhappy and now men were here to make them all go away.

"Gwen, Gwen, where are you baby?" She peeks around and sees her brother standing there with a frantic look on his face. In his arms he held on tightly to a silver box. "We need to go right now." He says and reaches out for her. She runs to him and he leads her down stairs and at the bottom, she screams as a man runs at them. Her brother hits the guy with the box and drags her outside.

"Run, run and don't stop until you get to town." He says and cups her chin with one hand. "Do not come back, understand me?"

"Please don't make me go. I don't want to be by myself." She begs him and clutches his dirty white shirt with her small fists.

"There is something I have to do. I love you, Gwen. Run." He says as two men come out of the house.

"How could you do this to me? We had a promise. You said you loved me!" Rosaline cries as a big man drags her by the hair to the courtyard and Gwen begins running down the road when Rosaline is thrown down beside Geraldine and Doug. She turns back once to see her brother running into the woods with the two men chasing him.

Gun shots cause Gwen to cry and run as fast as her little legs can carry her.
-
Rose sits up in her bed and she sees McGee staring out the window. "McGee... " she starts and then shuts her mouth as he turns to face her. She pats the spot beside her and he walks over. "I know what happened." She says softly.

"Tell me." He says in a hoarse voice. He kept his distant eyes on the ceiling and Rose felt a wave of potty.

"Rosaline was betrayed by Hodge. Hodge and some guys took your home and killed your family because of Rosaline. She loved him and wanted a family and he only wanted your land. You sent Gwen running to town and you ran into the woods with the silver box. Your brother, mom, and sister were shot in the courtyard." Rose sums it up the best she can. They way she said it made her feel guilty, but there was no way to make it sound any better for him.

"I left them?" He asks with hurt eyes.

"I don't think you had much of a choice in the matter. You said you had to do something." She says and then her door opens and her mother stands there. Maggie didn't have an expression on her face. McGee reaches out and places his cold hand on top of Rose's hand.

"Get ready for school." Maggie says and closes the door again.

"She is worried about you. She doesn't know what to do." McGee tries to sooth the doubt Rose has, but it doesn't have much effect on the poor girl.

"She can start by caring about what I have to say. She can care about me, too." Rose says in a whisper.

McGee only sighs as he stands. He doesn't say anything about Maggie caring about Rose. Rose tries to ignore that.

"I'm gonna get ready. I have a big day ahead of me." She says and pushes the blanket off her legs. She didn't get much sleep, but it's nothing coffee couldn't fix.
-
Rose sat at lunch with Johnny and Cameron beside her. The three were uncomfortably silent. It was known that Johnny didn't like Cameron, but it was different now. The two boys were pulled into something that they both wished they hadn't bothered with. But despite their own fears, they would gladly help the troubled girl.

"I can't believe you told him before you told me. It's a little insulting." Johnny says and crosses his arms with hurt clear in his eyes.

"Get over it." Cameron says and Johnny glares at him. Rose sighs heavily an places the slips of paper on the table and she was glad they were somewhere in the back of the lunch room where they wouldn't be bothered.

"Most of these are just clues leading you to Gwen herself." Rose says and groans and she looks at the drawing of the girl.

Johnny debated telling his sister everything he knew. Johnny knew that someone literally depended on the information, but it was a tough decision.

Yes, Johnny went to the graveyard, but that's not the only place Gwen took him that night. He was led to a wooded area beside a cliff, that's where he was looking. There was something there.

Johnny wasn't sure if he should tell her he was taken over by Gwen more than once, or that he has the doll in his room just so he can see Gwen.

But God, how miserable he would be if Rose knew that he was the first to be possessed.

"I... I have you tell you something." He says and Rose turns to him. "He is in the ground, but not the graveyard. Gwen has limited knowledge, but that's because Rosaline can't fully erase her memory."

"How do you know all this?" Cameron asks him.

"Because as Rose is with McGee, I've been with Gwen. I can't always see her. but she always leaves these," He says and motions toward the pieces of paper.

"Why don't you ever tell me anything?" Rose asks her brother with a scowl. Rose and Johnny have the same face, hair, eyes, smile, and laugh. They have the same parents and family, but sometimes Johnny felt like Rose comes from a different place. She felt like a stranger sometimes and Johnny didn't know how you approach her at time like that.

"You can be insufferable when you know you are right. Listen, mom will be gone today, so we have the house to ourselves for several hours. I say we get that chest and be done with this." Johnny says and Rose smirks.

"Dear brother, have you ever skipped school?" Rose asks and Johnny gives her a horrified look.

"I haven't missed a day of school since I was five, what are you trying to say? I'm a good kid, dammit" Johnny says and scoffs. He had a good reputation, he liked for his record to be perfect.

"Oh wow, of course." Cameron chuckles and shakes his head.

"Excuse me?" Johnny says. "Just because I don't go around wrecking-"

"Johnny, please. For Gee and McGee?" Rose begs him and gives him the puppy eyes that have been getting her out of trouble for years.

"Fine, but if he I coming, he has to keep his mouth shut or I'll bury him in McGee's grave myself." Johnny says and narrows his eyes at Cameron.

"Of course you can, now let's go." Rose says and Cameron looks at her with wide eyes.

"What?" He asks as the three stand.