On The Run: Part Two

Chapter Thirty-Nine - "Aftermath"

Chloe

It was easier to get to the Five Points Correctional Facility than I expected. Especially without anyone knowing.

I’d told Sarah and Jake I was going to spend the night at Courtney’s – a last hoorah before she left for the Adirondacks with her family – which I did. But the next day, before Ryan and Hal were supposed to come and get me, I left their house, under the pretense of going to Vinnie’s down the street. ‘I left a book over at his place, I said.’ Thankfully – as I’d predicted – Courtney was not willing to get off her pool float just to play tail with me, so I made my way out.

I realized, it would be just as easy for me to run away, but for the first time in my life since Annie and Harold, the thought was completely unappealing.

Where would I even go?

I did go to Vinnie’s, and I begged him to drop me off at the mall – it was all becoming a convoluted lie. He was on his way out, so he did.

I didn’t really know why I was going through all these hoops to get to the man who had ruined whatever purity was left of me, but I was going anyway. I’d heard Steph was dead – Jake was talking on the phone to someone – and, I know it’s completely and utterly horrifyingly awful, but I felt . . . happiness. A rush of elation.

A drug overdose, Jake had said.

I felt joy.

I grabbed a cab at the mall, and before I knew it, I was being led to a chair behind a tall piece of glass, a telephone on the side.

My heart rammed hard against my chest, and I wanted to turn around and run, but my legs wouldn’t do as they were told. Instead, I sat.

A guard led him out – orange jumpsuit, cuffed hands, and a wild head of hair that made him look almost like a stray animal; filthy and overgrown.

He was shocked to see me, to say the least.

I was shocked to realize that I wasn’t freaking out. My hands were shaking, my ears were ringing, and I was so afraid, but I was staying put.

As he picked up the phone, I knew that I should too, but for a moment I just wanted to take it all in. The glass that divided us, the telephones that disconnected us, and the realities that sat at two extremes.

He pointed at the phone, gesturing at me to pick it up.

Did I really want his sinister voice in my ear? Of course not. But I picked it up anyway.

“Chloe, what a surprise,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Chills. Violent angry chills. I swallowed. I couldn’t find my words; I searched, but I couldn’t. They were just gone.

“Did you come to offer your condolences? I take it you heard about Stephanie,” he said, his expression anything but sorrowful.

Much to my surprise, I laughed. An actual laugh. It sounded foreign, and for a second, I didn’t realize it came from me, but Robert’s surprise made that evident.

“You think it’s funny?” he snapped, riled up.

As the anger in his face grew, it dawned on me: he can’t touch me. He couldn’t reach me, or grab me or hurt me. I was right in front of him and he couldn’t hurt me.

“Yes. Yes, I do,” I said, suddenly enjoying my realization.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, hatred in his eyes.