Perfect with You

Chapter 47 - Half-baked Smiles

She didn't look back to make sure Ted was following. Not even if Max was following.
Having just opened the door to finally get out of her room that had been filled with a clammy stirring of fear, and a sickness that would never be washed away, she felt the urgency clashing with her anger, creating a long lost energy inside of her beating heart. She clutched the warm gun and felt a cold sweat on her arms when she ran down the stairs.

"Chloe, wait!" She heard a weak voice from behind her but chose to ignore it. Waiting was not an option and she was ready to forget about solicitude and love, to push away anything that may hinder or quash her anger.
At the bottom of the stairs, she caught a glimpse of her grandfather, but the sight of his worried and confused expression was not enough for her to even slow down.

"Chloe, what- who was that man?" Alfred muttered, taking a step forward.

"Stay here. Don't call the cops" She refrained from yelling, but it was still a demand that was put forward without as much as  a look as she continued taking quick and livid steps towards the open front door Ethan had run out of.

"I'm not letting you go before I know what's going on!" Alfred tried to negate the authority, but it reflected right of his granddaughter and his weak legs would have no chance of stopping her in her tracks.

"Like I need your permission" She glared in response before walking out of the ill-lit living room, her whole upper body shaking, and when she went out the door, to the cold outside, it only became darker. Gray clouds covering the sky, blocking the sun and silencing nature.
The car Ethan had arrived in was gone, but that was to be expected.
Just as she walked past the green bushes to get into her own car to chase him down, a yell was heard from behind.

"Stop!" It was a grating yell that boiled her blood because it was a hindrance. And so she didn't stop.
Steps came closer to her as she stood in front of her car, quickly unlocking it with the rigid key in her pocket but she didn't get to open the car door she reached for; the hand that importunately grabbed her arm didn't allow it.
"What... are you..." Max spoke, the firm grip being no indication of her courage as her voice became weak and powerless, as it had been for so long.

"Max, listen. I'll say this once, and don't question it" She didn't turn to face the girl, only watched her own reflection in the car window.
"You and I will never fully recover. We will see fear in everything we do, and even our safest times will be tarnished with pain. Never will I be able to walk into my room without my heart reminding me what had happened within those enveloping walls, and never will I be able to look at you, without my memories jabbing at the wound to stop it from becoming a scar" Max's other hand reached out to her, but it was more uncertain and more sensitive to the touch, and there was something in that feeble hand.
"But the only thing worse than all that... worse than knowing that you and I will never be able to be together to dissipate all those tragedies..." And what that hand held onto was a single black scarf.
"Would be letting the man responsible walk away"
Chloe saw it, felt the fabric of the scarf that she thought would be a symbol of their attraction, but knew that it had no meaning. It was just a piece of old fabric.

Without using force but with enough assertion to make herself clear, Chloe ripped her arm away from Max's hold and opened the door to the driver's seat. "I want you to come with me, but I will go regardless"
She quickly let out before entering the car and already trying with her shaky hands to put the key in the ignition.

If there was a moment in which Max could hesitate, she would, but she felt she had no choice other than quickly scurrying to the other side of the car to enter the passenger seat.
"How will you even find him?" She asked with a despondent tone while lowering her head and placed herself uncertainly on the seat.