Perfect with You

Chapter 51 - Give It a Name

It kept burning in her brain. The repetitive words and prolonged breaths, stories she wanted to ignore. She felt too assured, so much that it scared the center of her heart. She could not change paths because she had given in and had decided to go down this road, mentally preparing herself to become a killer. But she wouldn't use that word. She wasn't going to kill another human being because she was angry or psychotic, but she was going to do it because it was the only thing that would end the spiral of fear.

The first few steps down the stairs had been slow, her body trying to avoid the inexorable. She hadn't heard Ryan open the door to step inside, but she could hear two indistinct voices talking over each other. One perturbed, one confused.

Her next step was light.
The next hurting her foot.
Next making the gun in her pocket grind against her thigh.
Next shining light from the living room onto the bottom of her legs.
Next making her take a breath.
Next making her noticed.

The voices were now heard clearly in her ear, but she intentionally misconstrued them; didn't want to a barrage of questions that would lead to painful answers. Now at the bottom of the stairs, she saw Alfred in the same black-red sweater, standing in front of Max's father. His eyes gave away his unease of something Alfred must have told him about the whole hostage situation or something similar. He had both his hands down in his thick blue jacket and Chloe had to wonder how long it had been since she had seen him last because his beard had grown, hiding the entirety of his chin, and the creases around his eyes made him seem older. It could just be he was tired like everyone else, Chloe figured.
Those wonderings had to be discarded when she walked close enough to initiate the first question, coming from her grandfather, Alfred.

"Dear God, what has happened to you? Are you okay, Chloe?" The first predictable question when he must have noticed Chloe's pinched face, following all the noise he had heard coming from her room.

As Chloe didn't answer but only took slow steps closer to them, Alfred decided to speak again with Ryan looking as if he had questions of his own, but respectively waited.
"Did you chase after that man? And where is Max? I almost called the police, but I was so turned around I didn't know what to do"
Alfred's voice sounded distraught, but it was an observation Chloe had become numb to, because however much her grandfather worried, there was no gain in easing his mind until she could ease her own.

Although she didn't intend to answer, Ryan was quick to speak up before anyone else could.
"You should have called the police, and yeah, where is Max?" His attention snapped from Alfred to Chloe, his composure forcefully kept.
"Alfred told me there was a guy with a gun in your house, and I... what the hell happened, Chloe?" Collecting his hands up to his face in a subliminal attempt to hide his worries, waiting for confirmation that he should be alarmed.

It was confirmation that Chloe refused to give, even though these four eyes were staring at her as if she had a voice to make everything better. But she could only make everything worse. So why should she speak?

In silence, she took a step to the right to curve around what could only be seen as obstacles with her current agenda, and noticing the attempt to simply walk by, Ryan offhandedly moved his body, partially blocking the way, his face falling down into a stern expression.

"Chloe," Alfred tried again, his voice gone soft as he tried to avoid escalating the situation into a quarrel.
"I just want to know if you're alright" The calm approach didn't please Ryan who now felt concerned enough to discard his position and stepped forward, taking charge.

"To hell with that. A man with a gun was in the house, and now Chloe won't say where my daughter is" Ryan splayed his arms out, showing his dominion but was unaware of Chloe's brittle state. The moment she perceived Ryan as preventing her from getting to Ethan's, she tensed her limbs and silently adjured for him to keep quiet. Instead, he quickly turned his attention back to Alfred.
"Stop being so soft with her. I need to know what is going on, where Max is," He said to Chloe's grandfather, as if he, himself, had the right to discipline Chloe. As if he had any influence on what she would do.
With perfect timing in accord to Chloe's rising annoyance, Ryan peered at her, looked down on her with a lifted chin. "And you're not leaving until you tell us" He spoke with a stern voice, making it clear that he meant it seriously.