Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Twenty Nine

David grabbed a knife from one of the kitchen drawers and then tiptoed over to the stairs. Chloe watched him carefully, following close behind with a fork for defense, which wasn't the best choice of weapon, but it was the first metal object her fingers had grasped from within the kitchen drawer. He turned back and shushed her just before they reached the last step. She nodded in agreement and then turned back and did the same to Jacob. The three of them had volunteered to scope the area out, to protect the other two, to exterminate any unwanted pests who were lurking about in places they shouldn't have been.

David entered his own room and searched every inch of it. Chloe and Jacob stayed together as they scouted out Melanie's rooming, turning over every shoe, pillow, and blanket, making sure there was no one in hiding. The closet was completely empty.

Jacob's room was as empty as Melanie's; Chloe wished it hadn't been. She, Jacob, and David stared at the only room in the hall that hadn't been checked, her own. Three steps away from the closed door. The one she hadn't closed, the one that was separating them from a stranger, the enemy. David shuffled forward and then gripped the door knob. He looked to Jacob and Chloe before swinging the door open and lunging, fearlessly, into the room.

The screaming and crying started the moment they entered the room. There, laying on top of Chloe's bed, was a baby, swaddled in a white blanket, screaming almost as loud as the screeching sound from earlier that had tortured their ear drums. "You've got to be kidding me," Jacob said, running his hand through his hair. Chloe looked to the baby and shook her head in disgust. This place wasn't suitable for any living being, let alone a child, an innocent baby who hadn't done anything to deserve to be in this house, this cage, this hell. Little Collin, the name printed on his blanket, didn't belong here. He belonged back home with his parents, or his grandparents, or even his god parents, wherever it was he used to live, is where he should've been. But no, he was here, in the house with the others.

"Move," Chloe said, pushing David away from the baby. She reached down and unswaddled the screaming child, hoping not to cause him too much discomfort. He wiggled around, finally free of the blanket.

"What are you doing?" David said before he stepped back into his place and bumped her out of the way.

Chloe swung her arm out and slapped him across the face; he stumbled backwards and she took the baby in her arms, stepped back towards the door. "Chloe," Jacob said, his arms outstretched to calm her. She was acting like a mad woman, and this was definitely not the correct time to do so. "Don't do anything crazy."

"I just need to check something," She responded, holding the baby a foot away from her, preparing herself for the worst. Jacob stepped forward, and then Chloe cradled Collin close to her again, taking another step, entering the hallway and then trying to check again. "No."

"No, what?" Jacob asked, staring at Chloe, bewildered by her choice of actions. 

"Look at his arm."

Jacob approached the two of them and then looked to the baby's tiny arm. He didn't say anything after seeing what Chloe had, instead he entered his room and slammed the door behind him, locking it with a click. Chloe turned and looked to his bedroom door, Jacob was placed in the same place as the names were on all the other doors, and under it in recently placed lettering: Collin. How had they missed it? If only they had checked the door first, then it would've at least lessened the blow.

Chloe looked back to the baby and then rocked him back and forth, calming him into a state of happiness, long enough for his crying to stop and a bubble to emerge from his mouth. He reached up and brushed her hair before yawning a vicious sound of sleepiness. David met her with balled fists. "I'm sorry for hitting you," She told him; then she looked back to Collin. "He's just like us now."

"What do you mean?" He asked before glancing at the baby. He hadn't seen what she had, not yet. Chloe caught his gaze and then nodded; David finally caught the same thing she had.

The baby, little Collin, his wrist had three empty boxes tattooed on it, just like the rest of them. "It's not fair," Chloe told him, shaking her head in disapproval as Collin closed his eyes for a short nap in her arms. He didn't even understand what was happening enough to continue fighting against it.

David turned and stalked down the hallway as he said, "It never is." He entered his room and slammed the door behind him just as Jacob had.

Collin wiggled around in Chloe's arms, and she stared down at the poor helpless child, wondering what cruel person would ever bring a child into this place. But thinking wasn't going to help her, so she held the baby boy close to her chest and found the two girls waiting in the kitchen in their usual spots. Both of them went wide eyed after Chloe sat Collin down on the middle of the table.

"How are we supposed to take care of a baby?" Margaret asked after a sufficient amount of time had passed. "We're still kids ourselves."

Chloe shrugged her shoulders. Then Melanie said, "This is no place for a child."

Each one of them shared a look before nodding in agreement. Nine o'clock was just around the corner, ten minutes away to be specific, and there was no more time to waste. It was time to make a game plan. It was time to save not only themselves, but a baby as well.