The Heartbreak Factor - Part Three

Chapter Thirty-Nine.

Sat on the chair in the hotel room, I looked out of the window at the busy streets of London below. In all the years of living in London, I had never actually sat and watched the people rushing down the streets, trying to avoid the madness of rush hour.

I knew everyone would be trying to get in contact with me since I disappeared three days ago and nobody had heard from me or seen me since, so I had turned my phone off. It was nice to get a bit of time alone – even if the circumstances weren’t idea, it was still nice to chill by myself.

I sat admiring London for a few more minutes before I got up off the comfy, plush chair and made my way over to the dressing table. Sitting down on the dressing table’s stool, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The girl looking right back at me wasn’t the girl who usually looked back at me. My hair was messy; my skin was blotchy and my eyes were blood shot. I just couldn’t be bothered – I had no reason to be bothered. Turning round, I looked at the unmade bed and sighed, getting ready for another movie day, hiding from reality. I switched the television on and picked a film to watch from Netflix. As I climbed into bed, the hotel telephone began to ring. Reaching over to the bedside table over the wall of pillows and cushions, I picked up the handset and held it to my ear.

“Ms. Jones, we have a message for yo from Miss Chloe Johnson,” the receptionist said on the other end of the phone line.

“Okay..”

“She’d like you to meet her in an hour,” the receptionist said. “I’ve faxed the address up to your room’s television screen already.”

I looked up at the television screen to see a message, addressed to me, pop up. The address wasn’t familiar at all – in fact it was in Surrey. I hesitated for a moment, but then reluctantly agreed. Hanging the phone up, I got up out of bed, straightening the duvet and headed towards my suitcase with all my clothes and belongings sprawled all over the floor around it. Picking up my bright pink dress and denim jacket, I decided that I wanted to put a bit of effort into my appearance as I hadn’t left the hotel room since I checked in three days ago and spent the duration of my stay in my pyjamas.

*

Rushing through the hotel’s lobby, I tried to avoid being noticed at all. I ran down the steps of the hotel as fast as I could and round the side of the building into the car park. Jumping into my car, I started the engine up before pulling away.

The radio was blaring on the way to the address but I wasn’t taking any notice of it – just like with all the movies I’d watched for the last three days. All the way to the address I’d been given I tried to work out what Chloe wanted, especially since the drive seemed to go on for forever into the middle of nowhere.

*

Pulling up to the address, I looked at the building in confusion. It appeared to be a derelict building of some sort. Reluctantly, I got out of the car and locked it up. Walking up to the building, I looked around; there was nothing for miles – I literally was in the middle of nowhere. Opening up the broken door at the front of the building, I walked in, closing it behind me. As I closed the door, it slammed, causing a slate to fall down in front of me from the ceiling. The building was lit up by the light that streamed through the smashed windows. Walking into the main part of the building, I noticed piles of bricks everywhere, along with broken record discs scattered everywhere.

“Chloe,” I called.

There was no sign of life – something definitely was not right here.

“Chloe,” I called again.

Walking further into the building, I noticed a partially burnt sign pinned to the wall. “Studio rules,” it read.

“Chloe..”

As I turned around to leave, I saw someone stood in front of the door, barricading me in.

“What?” Rio grinned. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away with this, did you?”