Perfect with You

Chapter 52 - Revenge

Inside, soliciting for an end with the cold reaching her fingertips. The apprehension gave the room a sickly feeling, made the air thick and filled her lungs with presentiment. Chloe was standing in the living room, watching. Listening. Trying to get her body to react to any changes, any signs of movement. Her hand was on the gun, ready to shoot Ethan. He had to be in the house, for he had to face his death. He may have been hiding, but he was present. The pain in her chest screamed it.

The room hid details of itself in the dark, only showing the most obvious interior. A red couch, facing a TV. A plant in the corner. Pictures on the walls. Wooden floors. It was like any other home.

A step on the carpet in the middle was stained by Chloe's muddy shoes and she placed herself. To the left was the entrance to the kitchen. To the right, the stairs. Ethan was hiding somewhere. Waiting with panicked breaths and eyes staring up, and she could only wait to move her lips mutely as she heard the breathing. As she watched the stare. Then pull the trigger without as much as a word to prepare him.

With a blank mind, Chloe kept her dream grounded in reality and turned to the right to walk up the stairs. The floorboard creaked and gave away her position, but would simultaneously strike fear in the prey, so she welcomed the giveaway. The first step on the stairs she took made her black shirt slide along her sweaty back and it shrunk around her neck.

The air got lighter with every step as if she became more accustomed to the thought of the impending kill. More accustomed to fear. And so, as she reached the final step up the stairs, she allowed herself to take a deep breath through her nose and held it while looking around. The interior walls were all wooden, but it had seemed to rot a few places, almost making a line of rot to the right side of the hallway, which she followed with attentive steps. The first open door to her left called to her as if the very house itself wanted the owner gone. She stepped inside to see a room that some might call an office. But it was more than that. Despite her numb core, Chloe felt slightly staggered at the amount of loose papers and documents lying around. Four stacks on the table against the wall, ganging up on a PC in the middle, which could easily add up to six stacks if the papers on the ground were to be picked up. An office chair in front of the table indeed indicated that this was the place Ethan spent most of his time. Working. Scheming. Planning.

The moonlight shining through one of the windows illuminated the room just enough for Chloe to be able to find her bearings. While curling her fingers in her hand, she examined the work table and read a few lines of the documents lying around. It quickly proved itself to simply be related to his actual job as a psychologist, with patient's names, a bunch of medical words that Chloe intentionally glossed over, and a few notes written in red pen at certain key points.

She continued to search with her eyes, not being able to tell what she was looking for or even hoping to find in the bundle of white squares. The PC was closed, presumably locked, so she skipped the effort of consideration. Her scanning eyes then fell onto a piece of paper that was different from the others, and she squinted as to make herself able to read the words printed onto the piece. The biggest letters were "CAR RENTAL" written in bold under a few smaller, less significant words. She took a step closer, caught with a cautious interest. As she saw the names of the cars and the prices printed next to them, her mind found its thoughts.

There's like six cars here. Why would Ethan rent that many? Or even one. He has his own damn car.

She continued to read, the atmosphere expanding the constructed mystery.

It says he only rented them for a day. The same date for each one. April 18th.

There was only one straight line to walk across, but she had to balance and so the walk was slow. Chloe opened up her eyes a little to release tension from her head.