Julie's POV
"Merry Christmas!" Jay exclaims.
"Merry Christmas." I smile.
"I got you something."
"Why?"
"Because. Now come on." He takes my hand and walks me down the stairs, but slowly since I'm still recovering.
"See?" He asks as we walk into the living room where there's a tree with boxes around it.
Just... a tree. And not a Christmas tree. Literally a tree. Oh my god, he dragged it in through the house from outside. I can tell because there's a dirt trail.
Oh Jay. What will we do with you?
"Very... nice." I nod. "Jay."
"Yeah?"
"Where did you get that tree?"
"Umm, outside."
"Oh." I nod.
I screech when suddenly a squirrel jumps out, lands on the floor, and runs around.
"Sorry." He says.
"That's okay." I pat his shoulder. "You do know they sell trees at like Walmart, right?"
"They do?" I nod. "Oh. That's why there were always trees in store around this time."
"And you didn't get one of those, because..."
"Because I didn't want to risk going out in public and having your dads gang find and kill me."
"Jay, are you scared of them?"
"N-no."
"It's okay. They scare me too."
"Well it's not okay for me. I'm a gang leader."
"Not anymore."
"What?" He asks confided.
"You're not a gang leader anymore. You can give your gang to someone else. Like, your friend, or whatever. But you don't like being a gang leader, so I declare you retired from being a gang leader." I say sternly.
"It doesn't quite work that way, Julie."
"Well it does now."
"You're so nice."
"Yeah, well," I shrug.
"I wish I were nice like you."
"You can be."
"No I can't."
"Yes you can. Go to therapy and work on it. Carlos could use that too."
"I think we all could." He chuckles and I nod. "Here's your present." He hands me a little box.
"Why did you get me a present?"
"Because it's Christmas."
"I didn't think to get you anything, though."
"That's okay. No ones ever gotten me anything before."
"Oh."
"Well anyway, open it already." He says impatiently.
I smile as I open the unwrapped box, revealing a phone. My phone.
"It's my phone." I say as if he didn't know, even though he's the one who got it.
"I know. I took it from you, but now I'm giving it back."
"Why? Aren't you afraid I'll call the cops or something?"
"Honestly... you should."
"What?"
"I should go to jail. So go ahead, call the cops. Or your dad, or your bodyguard."
"N-no."
He's either serious or it's a trick.
"No?"
"No."
"Why not? I've kept you here, held hostage for like two days, it's Christmas and you should be out with your family. But instead your stuck here with me, looking at my terrible Christmas tree, eating my probably burnt Christmas cookies. Because I have no idea how Christmas even works, and I suck at everything I do. So call the cops Julie!"
"No!" I frown. "What's your phone number?"
"What?"
"What's your phone number?"
"Why do you want my phone number?"
"So I can keep in touch with you."
"Oh. Ok."
"Thanks." I give him a smile and he nods.
Suddenly there's a knock on the door. It's not a soft knock, and it's not a hard knock, but it is an impatient knock.
"Who is that?" I ask.
"I don't know. All my men are off work. No one but you and I should be here." He says, standing up and going towards the window.
"Who is it?" I ask, starting to walk to him.
"Don't move." He says and I stop in my tracks. "It's a girl. A lady, I guess I should say."
"What? Is it your girlfriend?"
He lets out a laugh, "No, I don't have a girlfriend. She ran away from me when she found out that I cheated on her." He laughs.
"That's not funny." I shake my head and his smile drops.
"Right. Sorry. It's not." He looks back through the blinds. "She's wearing all black, she has a good, and black sunglasses."
The girl pounds in the door now, angrily.
"Ok, I don't know if this girl is in your dads gang because I don't know everyone in that gang, but I know she's not supposed to be here. She might want to kill someone because of mental issues."
"Oh."
"Let's go." He runs over to me, but stops when it sounds like she's kicking the door now.
"Maybe you should just ask what she wants." I suggest.
"You're right. I don't run from things." He walks over, unlocks it, and opens the door.
"Hello. Can I help you?" Jay asks politely.
He's really getting better at this. My teaching paid off.
"Fuck you. Where is she?" The girl growls.
"Who?"
"Julie. Where the fuck is she?" The girl slows herself in and looks around, her eyes stopping in me. Though I can't see her eyes since she has dark sunglasses on, but I assume she's looking at me.
"Let's go Julie."
"Who are you?" I ask.
She pulls off her sunglasses and looks me in the eyes.
"Let's. Go." She mutters. Do I know her?
She puts them back on before facing Jay.
"And you, oh you're gonna pay for all the shit you put me through in the past two years!" She yells, punching his face.
"Stop!" I shout, running over to him and helping him stand.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't hurt him. He's trying to be a better person."
She chuckles lowly. "Julie, we can joke about that later. Right now you need to go. I put a bomb in this house, now let's get out of this hell."
"Who are you? Where's Carlos?" She tenses.
"Carlos?"
"Yeah. He's my bodyguard. Not you. Unless I got two bodyguards now."
"Yeah, I'm your second bodyguard. Now let's go." She grabs my wrist with her black leather glove.
As she pulls me to the door I grab jays wrist. Hey, it's a train.
"Julie." Jay says, stopping, which stops us all. "I'm staying. Go."
"No."
"Go."
"Yes, Julie. Go." The girl says.
"You have to come too."
"No. I have to stay here. Goodbye."
"Let's go!" The girl shouts, making me jump.
I don't trust her.
"Where's Carlos?"
"Carlos... he's... he's coming. Ok? Now let's go, we're running out of time."
"I want Carlos."
"Yeah, well so do I. Now let's go so we can see him." She pulls on me.
Jay hands me my phone.
"Can I at least say bye to him first?"
She shakes her head at me, "That mans father killed your mother Julie! He killed your sister! And he's going to kill you! Why the hell do you want to say bye?"
I run over to Jay and wrap my arms around him, he tenses at first but relaxes and wraps his arms around my waist.
"Thanks for listening to me." He whispers. I stand on my toes and put my lips next to his ear.
"Run our the back door. Text me when you're out and safe." I whisper.
"But Julie-"
"Please, do it. You deserve another chance in life." I look him in the eyes. "Do it for me." He sighs and nods.
"Maybe."
"Thank you. Goodbye." I place a small, friendly kiss on his cheek and he tenses.
"Bye Jay." I wave before running to the girl. "Ok, let's go." I tell her.
She grabs my wrist and I start to smell fire.
"Time to go."
"Jay!" I shout as a boom sounds from far away. "What was that?"
"A bomb." He says. "A small one."
"Yep." I look at the girl. "And here's another one." She tosses a ball like thing onto the floor and it rolls over to jays feet. "Go to hell Jay!" The girl shouts.
I get one last glance at Jay before I'm pulled out of the house and outside, where there's a bunch of cars already.