Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Forty Three

Collin started screaming once the clock turned nine and the lights went out. The six of them had gathered in the kitchen for their first complete group meeting in days. David started them out, as usual, he took charge even though no one asked him to.

"We need to play it safe."

"What?" Chloe broke out, not wanting to listen to his nonsense. She couldn't see their faces, but she knew the four of them were staring in what they hoped was her direction. "We can't play it safe. There is no playing it safe."

"Then what's your proposal?" David retorted angrily. "Send Jacob out there again to get beat up? That won't help any of us."

Melanie reached over to Chloe and held her hand. Chloe squinted hard to see her shadow; her head bobbed up and down, at least someone was on her side. The box next to her feet moved slightly, and then she held her feet back underneath her chair. Any sound would've seemed enormous compared to the silence that surrounded them, hearing the thud would've only given them false hope. Chloe wasn't even sure if it was anything worth getting excited over yet.

"Did you hear that?" Jacob asked after Chloe's foot tapped the ground.

"No," She answered quickly, hoping to distract him from the noise that hadn't even existed. Chloe had been listening closely, not a sound had been made. Jacob was lying through his teeth, his perfectly straight white teeth.

"I could've sworn I heard something," Jacob replied, trying to break through Chloe's truth. Who would the others believe? Him or her? Chloe didn't exactly have their trust at the moment, but she wasn't sure if Jacob had it either, for all she knew, they were putting him under the same shunning conditions as her.

"I think you're finally going crazy," Melanie said before squeezing Chloe's hand and then releasing it just in time for the power to come back on. The two of them shared a look before the man whispered into each of their ears, at least, he did to everyone except Chloe. She glanced to Collin as he was being carried away, even he had an earpiece hooked to the side of his head. No wonder he cried all the time.

Chloe sat at the kitchen table. Jacob sat across from her, waiting for everyone to leave the room. "Aren't you going to bed?" He asked.

"He didn't tell me to," Chloe replied. "Aren't you?"

"Yes."

Then Jacob rose from his seat and walked up the stairs to his room. Chloe checked the living room and the staircase, making sure that no one was trailing behind to spy on her. "The box," He whispered into her ear, and then Chloe kicked the box under the kitchen table. Once again the thud broke the silence of the room.

She dropped to her knees and removed the box from its current space. Chloe knocked on the ground and listened as the hollowed out space beneath echoed back the thuds. A suspicious crease formed on the floor, so Chloe reached down and lifted it up. The platform stopped a few inches from the floor, a padlock appeared on the newly surfaced piece of wood, chains kept the floor from coming up any further. Bits of light from the kitchen poured into the under-space of the house, it didn't light the room up enough to make anything visible, but she knew the space was large enough for at least a couple of people to fit comfortably in the bunker.

Chloe released the floor, it slammed down harder and louder than necessary. She rushed up the stairs, but was stopped at the top by Jacob. "What was that noise?"

"What are you talking about?" Chloe questioned, playing it off as he would. Sly and confident, no one would see through her lies this way.

Jacob gave her one last glance before returning to his room and locking the door behind him. Chloe went to her room and shut the door, but she didn't lock it. There was no point anymore. She had nothing more to hide, at least not anything the others knew about. She climbed into her bed and then tried to fall asleep and forget about the hidden room under the kitchen table. She tried to forget about the dream from last night and all the other memories that had surfaced since her arrival. Her family, the hologram lady, the restraints, and the electric shocks, she shoved them all away into a dark place deep in the back of her mind.