On The Run

Chapter Seven - "Déjà vu"

Chloe

Five years ago 

I lived in a group home when I was twelve. My social worker at the time had been Kelly Chu, a lady who could never seem to stop grinning. Even walking into a building as morose as St. Peters’ Home for Children didn’t seem to squash her ever-present delight. She’d stuck me in there after Suze and Gregory McAllen had gotten a divorce, and Kelly felt that a one-parent household was unsuitable for me; especially at that age.

I’d gone without any protests; Suze and Greg had been nice people, but they had barely spoken to each other, and when Greg left, as miserable as Suze had been, she’d made me feel like I was wanted. I couldn’t stand feeling like their breakup had been my entire fault though.

Living in a group home hadn’t been particularly difficult, but one of the things I’d liked about it, were the thin walls. I could hear the conversations in various rooms at the same time, and it helped to get me out of my rather morose thoughts.

“Did you see the new boy?”

“I can’t stand Kelly. Why is she always so happy?”

“I really wish that one day, my real parents would just get off their asses and come find me.”

“I wonder where Kelly’s going to stick me next.”

“Nobody wants me.”

They were mostly morbid enough to make me feel slightly better. Until my name slipped into one of the conversations.

“Her name’s Chloe Lane.”

“I saw her a year ago when I left. You think she’s been in here ever since?”

“Chloe Lane? I think she’s kind of creepy.”

“Chloe? That girl at dinner? I thought she was pretty.”

And then, I’d be right back swirling in my thoughts.

Right then, as I heard Kayla and Trey in the hallway outside the room I was in, even the hushed whispers of their tones couldn’t stop the words from seeping through the thin walls. It was later that night, and the rain hadn’t stopped for even a second, so I was still seated at the corner of the bed, willing it to.

“I know you’re trying to be kind and charitable, but what do we even know about this girl?” Kayla snapped in a whisper.

“I know that she needs our help, Kay,” Trey replied.

A scoff, and then, “I’m not trying to be mean, Trey, but you just don’t pick people off the streets and bring them here! It’s odd!”

“It’s not any odder than Ricky helping you out when he saw you sleeping in the diner.”

“Yes it is. Besides, you said she broke into the auto shop. Doesn’t that beg the question ‘how?’ She seems sketchy,” she replied, her tone softening.

“I can’t tell her to leave, Kayla. She looks like she hasn’t eaten a thing in months; she’s terrified, and Fitch actually thought she was in enough danger that he actually brought her here. That ought to count for something.”

I climbed off the bed, my knees wobbling; I’d heard enough. I was used to people not wanting me, so I didn’t particularly feel hurt. There was a notepad on the shelf above my head; I grabbed it and wrote a quick note on a blank page: Thanks for everything. Chloe.

I had absolutely no right to impose, and I did get where Kayla was coming from. Who was I? I barely even knew myself.

I grabbed my backpack, pushed open the window, and quietly slipped out; I got drenched the minute I got out onto the fire escape steps. I could barely see anything, but the deafening sound of raindrops somehow served as more of a relief than Trey and Kayla’s voices. I pulled my hood up, and headed out into the night.