Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Fifty Seven

David was waiting at the table for them, dark bags under his eyes, his hair a scrambled mess. Chloe understood his anxious behavior; she wanted to rip her locks out of her own scalp. Jacob sat across from Chloe as usual and the four of them sat with their arms folded on the table top.

"You don't think that Collin got a strike, do you?" Chloe asked what they were all thinking.

David's eyes crossed path with hers, and he replied with, "I hope not."

"What do we do now?" Margaret asked, no one answered, instead they stared at the walls and waited. They would bring Collin back; Chloe knew they would, they had to. They couldn't take both Melanie and Collin away from them. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair.

Chloe looked back to the camera and mouthed a word her mother would've grounded her for saying to it. She hoped they were watching; she hoped he was watching. A ring sounded through the room, and then they looked up as the front door swung open, a man threw a package into the room, and then he closed the door behind him. They all shared a look before David retrieved the box and placed it on the kitchen table. It was small yet big, big enough to hold a child.

Chloe fought back a stream of tears as she stared at the box.

"Who is it for?" Margaret asked and then waited as David searched for a name.

"It doesn't say."

Chloe grabbed two of the flaps and pulled them back, Jacob pulled the other two away, and then David reached into the container. He dug through the packing peanuts vigorously, making sure to search every inch of the box. Once he found something new, he pulled it out, the small stuffed rabbit, the one Collin had been given.

A sticky note was placed onto its stomach, and Chloe read it at an angle in David's hands.

Tick tock.

David threw the stuffed animal rabbit at the wall before exiting the room in a rage. Margaret chased after him, hoping to comfort his attitude, but Chloe doubted she would. It was a wonder how she herself hadn't broken something out of anger. Jacob reached for Chloe's hand, but she pulled back and folded her arms across her chest.

Chloe tore the box up and threw all of the packing peanuts into the trash, leaving the torn pieces of cardboard lying on the kitchen floor with Jacob to clean up. He began before she had even left the room; she wanted to turn around and apologize, but she knew it was best to leave him alone. Who knew what was going through his head? Maybe he was just as pissed as she was,    if so, then he was a million times better at hiding it. He was better at hiding a lot more than she was.

She shut her bedroom door quietly and sat on her bed, stared at the wall and tried to avoid thinking about Collin and what could've been happening to him. Was he getting a strike? Would they really do that to a baby? A person who couldn't even make his own choices, it drove her mad to think about it, to think about him.

Someone knocked on her door and then Margaret entered the room and sat on the edge of her bed. She patted the space next to her and waited for Chloe to scoot over to her. Once they were side by side, Margaret swung her arm around Chloe's shoulder and squeezed it. "We're going to get through this," She said and then there was silence, pure heart wrenching silence. Chloe wanted to break it, but she also wanted to keep it. She wanted to say a million things yet at the same time never speak again.

Jacob entered the room and stopped in the doorframe. Margaret glanced up, patted Chloe's shoulder, and then left the room to give them some privacy. After she was gone and a door shut, Jacob sat in the place she had only moments before. He handed the stuffed animal to Chloe but didn't say anything; he didn't have to, his presence was too much for her. Chloe wiped her right eye and bit her lower lip, holding back the waterworks that were fighting to break free from her tear ducts.

His arm replaced Margarets, and he held her close. She gave up holding it back; there was no point. It was going to happen either way, at least this way she still had her dignity. Once again someone knocked, Chloe looked up and found David staring back. He still looked like a wreck and now his eyes were red and rubbed raw.

"We're having a meeting," He said before disappearing back into the hall. Jacob wiped Chloe's eyes one last time before they walked down the hall hand in hand. It was the first time he had asked her to do something for a while, and she was glad to. Chloe took pride in following this order, even though it was what he wanted for her, it was also what she wanted for herself