Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Eighteen

Chloe woke up for the second time this week in Jacob's arms. She slipped out of his embrace and then tiptoed out of her room, shutting the door quietly behind her. After she was in the hall, she raced to the bathroom and jiggled the knob, but the door was locked, occupied to the max limit of one. She kept glancing down the hall, hoping Jacob wouldn't get up before she had the chance to enter the bathroom. The door in front of her opened and Melanie brushed past her just as the door at the end of the hall creaked open. Chloe leapt into the room and slammed the door behind her, locking it once closed, briefly checking her reflection in the mirror. Then she flipped the lid of the toilet down and sat on its surface as she thought. Sleeping with Jacob, even though they were just sleeping and not doing other things, didn't feel right to her. It needed to stop, it wasn't appropriate.

She flushed the toilet and then brushed her hair as she stared at the mirror in front of her. The lipstick message was gone, but she could still see it in her mind clear as day. It was imprinted in her memory and it most likely would be forever. Her hair was untangled and her teeth were brushed with a toothbrush labeled with her name on the handle. She opened the door to discover Jacob waiting in the hall, leaning against the wall opposite of her. His hair was ruffled and he gave her a genuine smile before she pushed past him and took off down the stairs in a hurry.

Margaret gave Chloe a smile and patted her back after she sat down at the table; then she retrieved a cereal box, a bowl, and a spoon for her. Chloe poured the contents of the box into her bowl and then grabbed the gallon of milk from the fridge. After she filled her bowl, she gave Melanie the container and watched as she did the same. None of them said a word, as usual, there was nothing to say, but the silence was deafening. They both started eating.

"So how did you guys sleep?" Chloe finally started up a conversation. Even though her stomach was quite full, her cereal was only half gone, so she kept on eating until every last bite was gone. She looked to her right and for the first time noticed that Melanie was sitting in Rachel's old spot, almost as if she had never even existed. Then again, to Melanie she hadn't, Rachel had never been a part of  her life, and now she never would.

"I slept fine," Margaret answered as she sat down at the table and started eating her own cereal. David nodded to Chloe and smiled over the top of his newspaper, which Chloe recognized as the same one from the last time she had seen him read it. No surprise there, surely they weren't supposed to know anything about the outside world. And why would David care anyways? What was happening outside didn't matter anymore.

Chloe looked over to Melanie and waited. She gave her the usual smile and said, "I didn't sleep at all."

"Why not?" David asked, folding up his newspaper and placing it on the corner of the table, halfway hanging off the end while the other pieces seemed to grip the wood and hold on for their life.

"I couldn't," Melanie answered, staring down at her bowl of cereal as she moved the pieces around with her spoon. "I don't do well in new places." Chloe understood.

"I can understand that," David replied; then he stood up and left the kitchen. Margaret looked between the three of them and then followed David up the stairs.

Chloe looked between Melanie and Jacob and waited until the stomps on the stairs stopped before saying, "I met him." She was relieved to have said it out loud.

"You met who?" Jacob asked as soon as Chloe finished. It was was like he had already had the question in mind and was just waiting for the right time to ask it. Was it possible that he had suspected her strange meeting with the man? Had he, Jacob, met the man himself, and if so, had the others to? Maybe it wasn't such a rare occurrence.

He stopped eating and stared at Chloe until she said, "Him."

"How?" He retorted, dropping his spoon in his cereal bowl. So Jacob clearly hadn't met him.

"He gave me my first strike," Chloe said, the sound of the machine echoed in the depths of her mind.

"That's impossible," Jacob told her; then he picked his spoon up and took another bite of his cereal, unsatisfied with her ridiculous suggestion. How could she have met him? "We get them while we're sleeping, it must've been a dream." Unbelievable, he was calling Chloe a liar. A liar, but she wasn't one, and it hadn't been a dream. Chloe's mind wasn't capable of concocting something so vivid and vile.

"It wasn't a dream," Chloe told him. "He said he got rid of Rachel for me right before he gave me this." She lifted her arm and revealed the tattoo X on her wrist. Melanie scooted her chair back, threw her napkin onto the table, and then ran up the stairs before she slammed her bedroom door, most likely locking herself and shutting herself out from everyone.

"What's her problem?" Jacob asked. 

"She has two strikes," Chloe answered, he was starting to make her mad. Maybe he wasn't as trustworthy as she thought, in fact, he was proving himself to be quite a jerk. It was almost like he was a completely different person than from the night before when he held her in his arms and told her everything would be okay. Had it all been an act? Him holding her and making her feel safe? Was he doing these kind of deeds only to mess with her mind? "I think you would be on the edge of your seat too." Chloe placed her bowl in the sink and then hurried up the stairs to check on Melanie.

She found her on Melanie's bed, laying on the center of it with her eyes closed. The door wasn't locked, which surprised Chloe as she turned the know and entered the room. Melanie sighed as the door closed; then she opened her eyes and looked to Chloe without saying anything. She walked to her bedside and sat on the edge.

Melanie pulled her feet up close to her and sat with her chin resting on her knees. The two of them sat in silence and stared at the pink walls. There were footsteps in the hall every now and then, but no one bothered them. A knock came at the door; they didn't give it any response. Chloe figured it was Jacob coming to apologize, but when the door finally opened, she was shocked to see Margaret entering the room.   

"I just came to check on you girls," She said and then glanced to the camera in the corner of the room and brightened her smile. Chloe realized she hadn't had a smile on her own face in a while, so she forced one. Margaret nodded to the two of them and then left as she said, "We'll talk more later." Chloe didn't need any further explanation; she knew what later meant, nine p.m. to be specific. The only time that was safe to discuss anything of importance.

After Margaret left and her footsteps stopped, Melanie said, "I was wrong."

"About what?" Chloe asked, looking back to her and for the first time she was surprised to see something besides fear or grief covering Melanie's face. Her expression was almost indescribable.

"We are going to get out of here," She answered.