Decided By Fate (Preview)

Act 1, Chapter 19

Debating my options while continuing to fail at turning the knob. There was no use. It still hadn't moved, and Cherry was getting more suspicious of me by the second. In a way, it was kind of ironic when I look back on it. The night before, I thought how easy it would be to break in, and now the hardest part was actually getting in. I was struggling with what to say. I had to make my choice; tell the truth or at least a fabricated version of one. Looking down the hallway where I had seen Cherry standing in my peripherals, she was still there, and I had no choice but to walk over. Trying to maintain my composure, I looked at the woman in front of me, ready to throw the blame as far as I could from myself.

"Why's my door locked?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?" Cherry replied as I continued pushing this charade further.

"My door? It's locked. It won't physically open." I said, speaking to her as if she was Chloe.

"Really? Well then, let's just go and check." Cherry said, taking matters into her own hands, that I didn't know how it would play out from here.

Taking point, Cherry led me back to my room and stepped up to the door. She looked back at me with a smart-ass grin while attempting to turn the knob. Nothing had changed. The door remained locked as Cherry and I started creating a commotion in the hallway. A yelling match erupted from us, going back and forth, which in turn caused Hank to come and settle the sudden disturbance. We respected his presence in the hall, as we both fell silent and watched as he made his attempt at the door without saying a word to us. His attempt would likely be the final one before this got out of hand.

Like both times prior, Hank tried to turn the doorknob but got nothing from it as a result. He then started pounding on it with his fist, trying to move the door, thinking it might be stuck on something, but the door remained closed. The options present were starting to run dry as guilt began to set in, knowing that I was leading the two of them on this wild goose chase. However, they couldn't know I was here the night prior since it would only lead to more uncomfortable questioning. Things started getting worse as Hank began using the full force of his body. He threw himself at the door, but the wood proved a worthy adversary as it knocked Hank back. With an expression of defeated hysteria, Cherry merely shook her head.

"I told you, Hank, that we shouldn't have gotten the doorknobs with locks on them, but no, your st...daughter had to have her own room and privacy in our house." Cherry hissed as things started taking a turn.

"Cherry, not now, okay? We have to get inside, then we'll talk about this." Hank fired back.

"Yeah, whatever, Hank, I'll go take care of Chloe till you fix this problem," Cherry said, stomping down the hallway.

She was visibly pissed off with me but wasn't willing to start yet another confrontation. Meanwhile, Hank was running out of ideas as his shoulder didn't seem to be a reliable means of entry. Storming off behind Cherry, he made his way down to the basement only to return a few moments later with a sledgehammer in hand. Passing Cherry once more in the kitchen, her eyes were round with fear as she thought of the many things Hank could have planned.

"What the hell are you doing with that?" Cherry called out.

"Busting down the damn door. Then probably going out to buy a new one!" Hank shouted back.

"Dad, you don't have to-"

"Step out of the way, Fate." He ordered as my attempt to stop him failed with ease.

I tried to say something else, but before I could open my mouth to convince him, he was already bringing the hammer down. The metal head went right through one of the wooden accents, allowing Hank to put his hand through so he could unlock the doorknob from the other side. A subtle click echoed out of my room as he turned the knob and opened the now-busted door. It wasn't till we were back inside my room that I was gifted with new feelings of fear as things continued to escalate.