The Broken Chronicles

Chapter 5

Carter's POV

I walked up the the front door of Chloe's house and rung the doorbell. Her mother opened the door, and smiled at me.
"Carter, how nice to see you."
"You too. Um is Chloe in?"
"Yes of corse, you can go up to her room."
"Okay, thanks." I said as I turned around and motioned for Elliot to come in, then awkwardly slipped past her, and up the stairs towards Chloe's room.

"Hey" I said opening Chloe's door an knocking on it at the same time.
"Oh hey." She said, turning to look at me. "What are you doing here?" She asks, getting up to walk over to me.
"Um, I just kind of have some stuff to explain." I said sitting on her bed.
"Alright." She said, reluctantly sitting beside me.
I explain to her that I almost killed myself and how Elliot saved me as he walked in the room, and that I couldn't go home and that I'm probably going to leave.
"WHAT?!" She yelled when I was all finished. She was always good about letting me talk. "What the hell, Carter?! Why wouldn't you talk to me about it?!"
"I knew you would talk me out of it!" I yelled, knowing that she was hurt that I tried to kill myself.
"Obviously! You think I want you dead?"
"Everybody else does!" I said as a single tear rode down my face. 
She didn't say anything and just pulled me into a hug. I cried hard on her shoulder and she comforted me by rubbing my back. I pulled away from her and looked behind me to see Elliot standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. I fought back a giggle and stood up, turning to face him.
"Well you have him to thank for me standing here right now." I said flatly.
Chloe didn't hesitate. She walked towards him and threw her arms around him, still crying. He hesitantly hugged her back, clearly unsure of his actions.
"Thank you." She sobbed into his chest.
"Y-your welcome." He stammered, clearing his throat.
I just laughed at him, in my mind of course. I was too busy crying in reality to laugh.
She pulled away from Elliot and turned to me.
"You have to go home." She ordered.
"No! Are you crazy?" I retorted. If I go home all hell is going to break loose and it'll make things so much worse.
"Please, Carter. Please go home." She said taking both of my hands into hers.
"Chloe I can't. You don't understand. They've probably already found the rope and-" I stopped, not wanting to tell her the next part.
"What?" She looked at me expectantly.
"I left a note..."
"Carter..." She sighed, sadly.
"Well?" I asked, accusingly.
"Look, maybe there's still time. Maybe they haven't seen it yet. You can at least go home an clean it up and leave a goodbye note or something, don't just leave your family with that."
I sighed, knowing she wasn't going to let it go.
"You're right." I said. "Elliot, you'll drive me right?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah. Of course." He said standing up from leaning on the wall.
"I'll call you later, okay?" I said to Chloe as I left.

We drove to my house and climbed in trough my window. The rope and the note were still where I had left them. I took the note and put it in my back pocket. I turned my head quickly and cringed when a bolt of pain shot through my neck. At first I was confused but I looked up and realized: the rope left a bruise. I ignored it and turned to a small shoebox that sits on the top shelf of my closet. I grab the small bundle of money that I hide I their and threw it at Elliot, who was now standing in front of my window. He caught it and held it in his hands, looking back and forth in between it and myself. 
"Keep it. I owe you." I said no longer looking at him and focusing on the task at hand. I stood on my bed and turned my attention to the knot I tied to keep the rope in place. I reached up to untie it and at this very moment the worse that could possibly happen in the situation, happens: my mother walks in.
"Hey Car- OH MY GOD!!"
"Relax mom, you're a little late for that show." I say as my mother burst into tears. At first she was sad and speechless, standing in my doorway, covering her hung open mouth with her hands, but then she got angry.
"What the hell Carter?!"
"Ha, never heard that one before." I laughed bitterly.
"What were you thinking?! Huh? That your life was oh so horrible that you have that right to make everyone in this family's lives actually miserable?! Are you kidding me?!!"
"Nope, that's sounds about right." I say, still trying to untie the rope. I eventually untied the knot, and the rope falls to the floor, my eyes following it. I have yet to make eye-contact with my mother. There was a long silence before my mother screamed at me again.
"Carter?!!"
"Yes?" I said, finally looking at her. And lemme just say, the look on her face was priceless. I'd given up on my mother a long time ago, when I tried to tell her that I was being made fun of by a group of girls and she shrugged it off and said "suck it up, things could be much worse" and walked away, so I didn't expect her to be comforting at all right now.
"And who the hell is this?" She yelled, gesturing to Elliot, who was standing in pure shock and anger.
"Who the hell are you to say that to her?!" He yelled stepping closer to my mother. I hopped off my bed and stepped in front of him, placing my hand on his chest, trying to calm him down, but he just gently pushed me aside.
"You have no idea what she's gone through, but you don't give a damn! Do you?" He yelled, even frightening me.
My mother started to tear up at his words and slapped him across the face, so hard his head jerked toward me. I stepped in front of him once more and looked at my mother.
"Mom what the he-" she slapped me too.
"Don't call me that. You're not my daughter anymore." She angrily cried as she walked out of the room.
That's where I broke. Even though my mom was a total bitch, she was all I had left of a family, and I had just lost her. I bawled.
Elliot held me close to him and whispered shh's and comforts into my ear as I cried into his chest.
"Let's go." He said, looking at me and I just nodded my head. I grabbed every bag I had and shoved everything from my closet and drawers into each of them, which wasn't much, just old t-shirts and jeans. I packed almost everything else from my room, basically my laptop and phone chargers and a couple other things, and we climbed out my window again. It wasn't easy to get the bags down to the ground, but we managed. We got back in his car and drove back to that house.
"Do you live here?" I ask as we pull into the driveway.
"Uh, kinda. I mean I still technically live with my parents, but they don't give two shits about where I am or why I'm not home, so I stay here most of the time. The boys used to stay here with me sometimes, but they obviously hate me now so..." He trailed off.
"Oh." I said, not knowing what else to say.
"You can have Ryder's room. He's the cleanest." He laughed, and so did I.
"Alright." I smiled.
I pulled the things I would need for then night out of his car and we went inside. Sitting on the bed, staring off into space, I was snapped back into reality when Elliot cautiously walked in the room, knocking on the door.
"Yeah?" I asked, my eyes turning to him from the floor.
"Um... Yeah." He laughed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "Here are some towels if you wanted to take a shower, and if you need anything else I'll be in my room at the end of the hall." He said, setting two towels down on the end of the bed, then turning and walking out.
"Hey, Elliot?" I called.
"Yeah?" He said standing in the door way again.
"Thank you." I said, looking him in the eyes.
He took a deep breath an wore a weak smile. "Your welcome, Carter." And he left, closing the door behind him. I sat and stared at the scars on my wrist, and a single tear fell down my cheek. I dismissed it and walked toward the bathroom in the corner of the room. I turned on the shower and let the warm water cascade over my tender body. I was exhausted from today and just so ready to sleep. I got out of the shower and put on my comfy, soft pajama pants and a tank-top, before climbing under the comforters on the bed. I just laid there and stared at the ceiling until I heard a soft knock at the door. I hummed in response and it opened, Elliot now standing in the doorway.
"Hey." He wore a weak smile as he walked over and sat on the end of the bed. "You okay?"
"I think I'll be alright. Just need some sleep." I said, yawning.
"Okay. Look, I'm really sorry about what happened with your mom today. I shouldn't have said anything, maybe then you'd be at home right now, without having to deal with me and just going back to your normal life."
"Are you kidding me, Elliot? Don't apologize, you stood up for me, nobody's ever done that before. And you really think I'd rather be back at home with my mother than here? Don't forget that my 'normal life' made me want to kill myself. Literally. Elliot you saved me, not only from death, but from life too. So please, please don't apologize for that."
We sat in silence for awhile, before Elliot inhaled, as if to say something.
"Get some sleep." He said before getting up and exiting the room. I would have stopped him, but I had nothing to say. I reached up and turned off the lamp on the bedside table, then adjusted under the covers and stared at the wall, replaying today's events in my head until my eyelids fluttered shut and I drifted off to sleep. The last coherent thought to go through my mind: Thank you, Elliot.

____________________________
Hey! So what are they gonna do now? Well thanks for reading! I'm trying to make the chapters longer, and I'll try to update as often as I can. But please, let me know what you think, feedback is always appreciated. Anyways, thanks love!
-Jo