Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Six

Immediately after Chloe dried off and put her clothes back on, she approached the mirror and looked herself up and down. Surprisingly, Chloe wasn't as much of a mess as she thought she was. Of course her hair was in knots but that was a quick fix, so she grabbed the hair brush sitting on the counter and began untangling her disarray strands. A small amount of mascara was smeared around her eyes, so she rinsed them vigorously, ensuring the full cleansing and safety of her eyes. After she finished, Chloe turned back to the door and thought for a minute. Would they notice if she never came back? Of course they would. Or would they? She was fairly knew and probably not so important to them yet. They weren't that stupid. Chloe knew she needed to find a way out of here, but she was going to need help. She was going to need their help. 

Chloe opened the door and stepped out into the hall; she walked down the stairs and joined the others still sitting at the kitchen table, almost halfway through a game of monopoly. The dark haired girl had the most money in front of her, but David seemed to have the most property on the board. There was too much property on the board. Chloe looked around, trying to locate a clock. How long had she been in the bathroom? It couldn't have been this long, or could it have?

"Have a seat," The blonde girl sitting at the head of the table said, motioning towards a chair to her right which was next to the other girl. Chloe took her seat and then looked up to Jacob who sat straight across from her, staring her down like a caged animal or a helpless little girl who had lost her sprints. Then she looked to her right and found David sitting at the other head of the table closest to the living room. "Would you like to play?"

"I'm good with just watching," Chloe answered quickly, trying to avoid being given orders. So far her plan was working. She hadn't heard the man whisper anything yet, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be long before she had a new task to complete, something even more dusting then the last.

"Are you sure?" David asked. "We can always deal you in, of course you would be at a disadvantage, but it doesn't matter. Rachel almost always wins anyways." He placed his hand on the dark haired girl's shoulder as he said the last few words. "I'm so proud of her." His smile stayed in place for the rest of the night, so did everyone else's. Everyone except Chloe's.

Chloe tried to keep hers shining bright, but it wasn't the easiest thing to accomplish. At times she felt it slipping away, but then Jacob would give her a reminder by bumping her leg under the table with his. Then she would look up to him and give the biggest and creepiest smile she could manage. A few times, Jacob had had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing, and Chloe almost felt like bursting out into her own giggle, but she didn't. Instead, she kept her posture and attitude positive as the rest of the night played out. The board game continued and a few short ended conversations started until all of a sudden, the lights went out and the other four sprung into action.

"What's your name?" A girl asked.

"Do you know why you're here?" A boy asked.

"Why didn't you arrive yesterday?" One of the girl's asked. "We were given notice about your arrival, but you never showed. What happened?"

"How many strikes do you have?" Someone else asked, but Chloe knew who this person was. Jacob, he had a very distinctive voice. The kind she wanted to fall asleep to every night. She shook her head and cleared her mind.

The room went quiet until Chloe finally answered, "None."

"That's impossible," A girl asked, and then Chloe felt someone bump into her from the right and the same voice said, "Sorry."

"How is it impossible?" Chloe asked Rachel. It didn't seem impossible to her, in fact, it was the honest truth. She had no reason to lie to these people, after all, they were in the same boat as she was. They were all in hell and there was no escape. There best bet was to cooperate and keep each other friendly company until another option worked its way into their lives.

Rachel sighed and then retorted with, "Because the only reason you shouldn't have arrived yesterday was if you messed up and earned yourself a strike."

"But I didn't," Chloe responded, and she was proud to say it.

"How do you know?" Rachel asked her and apparently she had found it necessary to move closer to Chloe; she could almost feel her breath against her ear, deep, heavy, and warm. There was no terrible stench to it though, at least she was well kept.

"Check for yourself when the lights come back on," Chloe answered and then looked around frantically but couldn't see anything more than a couple of feet away from her. Even Jacob was enveloped in the darkness, even though he was only a few feet in front of her. She wished he was visible; the sight of him would've comforted her a little. "Why are we talking about things like this? Isn't this like against the rules or something? Can't he hear us?" 

"Every night at nine the power goes out for fifteen minutes," David answered, all of their voices had finally registered in Chloe's head and she was able to recognize them without watching them speak. "It's the one flaw we've found in this place. It gives us time to discuss things."

"Like an escape," Chloe whispered, staring down at the table and at the small section of the monopoly board in her vision. A small stack of money was just to the right of her, Rachel's money was piled high, higher than most likely anyone else's if their statement about her always winning was true.

"Exactly," The other girl said and then the room went silent. Everyone had already said and asked what they needed to; there was no need to say anything else.

After the lights came back on, Rachel grabbed Chloe's arm and searched her wrist. Then she grunted and dropped her hand and stared down at the table. The other three waited for her to say something and after another minute of silence, she finally said, "She has no strikes," Then she turned her attention back to Chloe and said, "You must be special to him."

Then the room was silent again until everyone except Chloe stood up and walked towards the stairs. Jacob stopped before exiting the kitchen and turned back, his smile was finally gone, revealing an even more handsome serious expression. "It's bedtime."

"How do you know?" Chloe asked; then she stood up and walked through the living room on her way to the stairs. All of them had known instantaneously, almost like someone had told them, yet she hadn't known about it. She wasn't given any rules.

"He just told us," Jacob replied, and then he started up the stairs.

"He didn't tell me," Chloe said quietly, but Jacob must've heard because he stopped halfway up. He sighed and Chloe stood there as she waited, wondering what she should do. Go to bed or stay put? Neither of them were very appealing.

"Then you should probably wait down here, just in case," He called down to her without even looking back. Chloe nodded in response, even though he couldn't see her. After a moment, he finished the trip up the stairs and disappeared into the hallway on the second floor, leaving Chloe alone in the living room to deal with the unknown, to deal with whatever he would tell her to do, or not and suffer the consequences from disobeying his orders. One strike couldn't have been that bad, could it?

Why hadn't he told her to go to bed too? Everyone else was, but Chloe didn't want to do anything that he didn't want her to. She looked down at her wrist and thought about what Rachel had said, was she special? And if so, why? What could've possibly been so great about Chloe Provan; the girl who struggled to pass physical education with a low C? All she had to do was listen and run during that class, yet she couldn't pass it with an  A. What's so special about a girl like that?

Chloe walked around the edge of the room and felt the walls as she went by, the wood paneling felt smooth against her palm, until she reached the TV. "Sit down," The voice whispered, and then she walked to the couch and sat down on the middle seat, the same spot she had sat in earlier, and waited for whatever was going to happen to happen. After a minute, the TV clicked on and white noise filled the living room as the screen displayed a snow like fuzz, screeching in agony.

"Change the channel to thirteen," The voice whispered into her ear; then Chloe looked around for a remote but didn't find one. She looked back to the TV, buttons lined its side, after all, it was an old system. She approached the device and changed the channel until it was on thirteen, then an actual program popped up. Chloe sat back down in her seat and looked to the screen; she instantly felt a surge of panic race through her body. Her family was sitting in their living room on their couch, her real family, staring back at her through the screen was, warm, kind, genuine, smiles aimed at her.