Remember Me | A Steve Randle Fanfiction

Chapter 21 | Safety

🌻Juliana's POV🌻

Fast forward two more days, nothing interesting happens. Just more abuse and more starving. Evie was out again, no surprise. She wouldn't give up. She was determined to get Steve back. Meanwhile, I was close to breaking out. The chains were really close to coming out of the wall. I only tugged harder on the chains each time I got the chance. Then, as I was struggling, I made one final, really hard but painful tug, and the chains ripped out of the wall, my hands now free. I was beginning to regain hope. I cut the chains off the cuffs with a nearby buzzsaw. I wasn't about to stick around to see what Evie would do with that. I ran out of that abandoned house, and back towards town. I'd have to avoid Evie, doing anything I could. If she caught me before anyone else, I'd be dead. Literally. She never left without that blade. She knew sooner or later, I'd try to break out.

Once I got downtown, which took maybe twenty, thirty minutes. I started zig-zagging down the streets. I saw Evie on one, and just took a detour. It wasn't long until I got in the general vicinity that the DX was in, so I began to look around for it, hoping either Soda or Steve, or both, was working. I found it quickly, and ran in, seeing stressed out Soda and Steve. They quickly turned to me, and I could see the tears forming. Steve ran to me, but didn't hug me quite yet.
"I-Is it really you??" he asked. I smiled, and nodded, and that's when he pulled me into a super tight hug. "I missed you so fucking much." he said, beginning to sob.
"Juliana, what happened??" Soda asked.
"Evie happened. She kidnapped me, tortured me, I barely ate, but I was finally able to get out." I told him. Well, both of them. Steve pulled back and examined my face.
"How bad did she hurt you?" he was furious. I hated thinking about it, but it was all that was on my mind. I teared up more heavily than I already was.
"Real bad." I whimpered. My face looked horrible, and the burns she gave me were definitely visible. They were first and some second degree burns, and very red. Soda went to get a cloth from the back room to clean up the dried blood on my face. Steve couldn't stop looking at me.
"I thought you were dead." he told me. "Darry called the cops, I searched the whole town for you eight times, three by myself and the rest with the cops. I cried every single night, thinking about you, hoping you were okay. I wouldn't talk to anyone except for Soda, and every time Evie came around, I wanted to hurt her, but I wasn't going to hit a girl. I'm mean, but I'm not Dallas mean." I just hugged him, not wanting to speak anymore. Soda came up behind Steve and started cleaning my bloodied face. I wanted to go home, but Steve and Soda couldn't leave work, and I couldn't go walking the streets by myself. Pretty soon, their boss had came in, and saw me and Steve.
"What's going on here?" he asked, pretty calm. I guess he had seen the bit of redness on my skin that wasn't covered by my clothes. I turned around, a bit startled. His face then looked shocked. "Are you that missing girl??" he asked.
"Don't make her talk, Carl. She's not in the best place. Look, can I just take a little while off so I can help get her back to normal? Please?" Steve said. Carl, without hesitation, nodded.
"Yeah, go ahead. Sodapop, if you need to take off too, go ahead. I understand. You need to help your friend after something clearly traumatizing. I know what that's like. Don't hesitate to tell me if you need to leave, okay?" Carl was really nice. But I wondered what he meant by he knew what it was like. Soda and Steve both led me out to Steve's car, and Steve let Soda drive, because he wanted to stay in the backseat and comfort me.

Once we got home, I noticed the truck was still there. Darry? The three of us walked in the house, and the whole gang was there. Their eyes shot to the door, straight at me, and they immediately bursted into tears, embracing me in the tightest group hug I've ever been it. God, was I happy to see them. My burns really stung, but I ignored it, not wanting to leave the hug.
"You scared us to death." Darry said, his voice breaking tremendously. "We thought we'd never see you again."
"I thought the same thing." I sobbed. Johnny pulled away from the hug, just to look at me, and speak without his face being hidden.
"Juliana, you don't even know how terrified we were. We thought you were gone for good. We thought we were going to lose the best thing that ever happened to us. We were falling apart. We barely spoke to each other, not wanting to hear anything that wasn't your voice. We would've become strangers to each other if we'd gone without you for much longer. You keep this gang going. You make all of our lives better. We can't function right without hearing your laugh, your voice, seeing your face, being in your comfort, being assured every day that you're still with us. Without you, we become nothing. We're not complete without you. When we found out you were missing, we all went insane with worry. We wanted you to be safe. As the days went by without you, it never got better. It just got worse. We drifted, we changed. We just sat around, doing nothing but worrying all day. Only Dally slept, but it was never for long. He had nightmares every time. The rest of us slept none at all, our minds constantly filled with worries and sad but happy memories of you, hoping that you weren't gone. Every day and night, we prayed to God that you would come back to us. Our prayers have been answered. We love you more than anything." Everybody looked at Johnny, half shocked, and half in awe. That was the most any of us have ever heard him say at the same time. I smiled really wide, and held Johnny's face.
"I love you too. All of you. I was about to give up. I was losing hope, but I'm so glad I didn't. I was losing my mind without you guys. But everything's okay now. I'm in good hands. I'm in the safety of your all's company."