Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Thirty Four

The sound of running water brought Chloe out of her hazy state of mind. She hadn't fallen asleep last night, Melanie had kept rolling over and over again and again. The two of them ended up halfway laying on one another, and before Chloe could rearrange herself, the soft snoring from Melanie's lips stopped her from disturbing the peace.

Chloe wiggled her way out from Melanie's hold and then quietly left the room without changing. She walked down the hall and stopped in front of the bathroom; then she knocked on the door and waited for a response that didn't come. David came out of his room, then Jacob carried Collin from theirs. Margaret must've been taking a shower; Chloe didn't want to rush her, so she followed the three boys down the stairs and then waited at the kitchen table alone. They sat in the living room, staring the TV, but she couldn't bring herself to sit with them. She couldn't even bring herself to smile.

She knew what she had to do, it was the only way out. No matter what, even if the others didn't believe her, Chloe knew that getting a strike was the only way out of this house. And she was determined to leave no matter the cost.

"Be careful," The man whispered into her ear. Chloe almost replied aloud but decided against it after a moment of thought. It was best to keep calm and carry on. "You might slip in the water."

Chloe pursed her lips and then grabbed a bowl of cereal and eating it quickly to make sure she got to. It wasn't long before Melanie was sitting beside her, eating her own breakfast. Then Jacob carried the crying Collin into the room and placed him on the table in between Melanie and Chloe. They both gave him a dirty look before he disappeared up the stairs, rubbing his eyes in distress. It hadn't even occurred to either of them what it was like to share a room with a baby, let alone one who seemed to cry all the time.

The water continued running, Margaret's shower was taking forever. Chloe wanted nothing more than to strip down and rinse off, making sure to cover the camera in the corner this time. It just hit her while she was sitting at the table that Melanie, Margaret, David, and Jacob had all seen her naked. She had been so worried about the man behind all of this seeing her that she had forgotten about the others having seen the footage. This recent revelation made her wonder if it had something to do with Jacob's anger from the day before.

"Margaret sure is taking a long time," David said after entering the kitchen and sitting in his usual space. He didn't get anything to eat, instead he picked up the super old newspaper and held it up as if he were actually reading it. Chloe could tell he wasn't though; his eyes were moving too fast for it be true. He looked up to the two of them. "Maybe one of you should go and check on her?"

"I got it," Chloe said quickly before Melanie could; she didn't want to get stuck with Collin again, even though it wasn't too much of a bother to take care of him. Honestly, she needed a break from his constant crying too. It wasn't healthy for her ears to go through so much physical torture.

"Margaret," Chloe called out, knocking on the bathroom door. "Margaret, are you in there?" She hit the door harder, and then Jacob exited his room and bumped into her.

"Sorry," He tried before looking up to the door. "She's still in there?"

"Apparently so," Chloe replied before hitting the door three more times. "Margaret, can you please just open the door? So we know you're okay?"

Still no response. Jacob pounded on the door and then the two of them waited in silence, listening for any kind of response. There was none.

"Margaret!" Jacob shouted, hitting the door harder and harder with each strike of his fist. Chloe grabbed his arm and stopped him; then the sound of Collin screaming penetrated the air around them. There was no possible way Margaret couldn't hear them.

It took Chloe a few minutes to think it through before she ran to her room, retrieved the key, and then placed it into the keyhole on the bathroom door. Sure enough, it clicked with a turn, and then Jacob pushed the door open.

The water in the shower was running, the mirror on the wall had fogged up, and Margaret was lying on the ground as still as a corpse. Chloe jumped down and shook her shoulder, no response. Then she checked her pulse, still alive. Her breathing pattern was slow but constant. Chloe stood back up and turned to Jacob. "She'll be alright."

"But what happened?" He asked her.

"I don't know," Chloe replied before removing the key from the door and slipping it into her pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Jacob asked as Chloe tried to make a break for it back to her room.

Chloe took a step back and asked, "Where did I get what?"

"The key," He said. "Don't play dumb with me, we both know I saw it."

"I found it," Chloe answered solemnly before returning it to its rightful place in her desk drawer. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail before rushing down the stairs to get David.

The two of them raced up the stairs, leaving Melanie and the screaming Collin alone in the kitchen. It was a blessing to have someone else take over for once.

"What happened?" David asked, entering the small room. He checked her pulse just as Chloe had and then nodded in excitement.

"We don't know," Jacob answered.

"How did you get into the bathroom?" David asked. "I could've sworn it was locked."

"Why don't you ask Chloe?"

David looked to her, but she just shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't locked when I tried to get in."

"Then what was all the banging about?"

"We assumed it was locked," Chloe covered for her own mistake. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

Jacob stormed off into his room and then David searched Margaret for any injuries. There were none except for a small dark purple bruise on her stomach. It was oddly placed, but it looked to be the only problem with her state of health.

Chloe searched the bathroom cabinets for anything to help take the pain away from Margaret when she awoke. Luckily, a bottle of aspirin was in the top drawer. She took it down and placed it on the counter as they waited for her to open her eyes and take a deep heavy breath.

It didn't happen until an hour later, but they both stayed put, waiting for her to be okay, waiting for her to wake up. Margaret sat up and looked around, shook her head, and then rubbed her eyes before checking her stomach.

"What happened?" David asked, holding the bottle of aspirin towards her.

Margaret took two pills and swallowed them in one gulp before answering, "There was a man. He stuck a syringe into my stomach."

"And then what?" Chloe asked, hoping to get more out of her. She wanted there to a clue, something, anything that would help them in the long run. But Margaret only shook her head and let out a small whimper of pain.

David met Chloe's gaze and then bit his bottom lip. They both had a mental conversation, and Chloe hoped they were both on the same page.