Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Twenty

"This is Henry Clavin here on KMBC channel nine news in Kansas City, Kansas," The man on the TV said. She had seen this channel a million times, but this time, there was a picture of her on the corner of the screen.. "Local teenager Chloe Provan has been abducted from her home. We are here with her family who have a message for her." He took a step back and revealed Chloe's mother standing in their front yard; she wept, staring into the camera.

"Chloe, if you're out there, if you can hear me," Her mother said. "Then I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of this." She wiped at her eyes and her bottom lip quivered in between words.

Henry Clavin stepped forward and blocked Chloe's mother out of the screen again. "If anyone has any information on where this young girl is, then please call the hotline listed at the bottom of the screen." Numbers popped up at the bottom, and Chloe tried to memorize them.

The channel fazed out until it was nothing but a snowy blizzard buzzing on the screen. Chloe stared at the TV not knowing what to think, once again, her mother had apologized to her. Apologized for her kidnapping.

"Are you okay?" David asked as he sat down on the couch next to Chloe. He placed his hand on her back and kept it still, waiting for a response. He only gave her two minutes before asking, "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Is it possible that my mom has something to do with this?" Chloe asked as she continued to stare at the screen. She couldn't look him in the eye; Chloe knew she would cry if she did. She always cried when she felt this way, especially when she knew people were watching her. They were watching her, they were all watching her.

"For your sake, I hope not," David said; then he rubbed Chloe's back and gave her a hug. Someone else sat down on her other side, and she looked over to find Melanie sitting on her left. She took Chloe's hand and squeezed it, which only made her wonder if she too had seen the TV. Of course she had, they all had. Her life was quickly becoming a living nightmare, and she wanted to wake up and never sleep again. "Do you need some time alone?" He asked.

Chloe bit her lip and nodded her head; then she stood up and shook both of them off of her. She walked up the stairs and passed Jacob on her way to the bedroom at the end of the hall with her name on the door. After she entered the room, she sat on her bed and stared at the camera in the corner of the room. "Mom," Chloe said. "If you're listening, then let me go." Her eyes watered as she said the words. It killed her to think that her mother would be cruel enough to put her through something like this, to put anyone through something like this. Chloe looked around her room and found herself searching for the pink shoe box which was nowhere to be found. She opened the closet door and found it placed neatly back where she had found it, sitting in the floor of the closet.

Chloe removed the box from the closet and pulled the shoes out, inspecting them closely before chucking them at the wall. A few minutes later, she picked the box back up and retrieved the high hells. She placed them back in neatly and then hid the box under her bed. Someone had been in her room, and Chloe was determined to catch the culprit. She leaned back on her bed and rested her head on the pillows. Her eyes shut and she unlocked her mind as she began, searching for more memories to dream of in her sleep, hoping she could figure out how to play and remember them. An article she had read at a young age said it was possible to pull things from your mind while unconscious, during the short time your mind's guard is down, suppressed events were most commonly brought about with this method, but Chloe felt her needs were just as good as any.

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It was supposed to be the best birthday in the world, her sweet sixteenth, which had only been seven months before she was brought to this place. Chloe's father was supposed to return home from his business trip, but something came up and he couldn't make it in time. He never made it in time. He arrived two weeks late. When he got back, Chloe didn't yell at him, hate him, she wasn't even the slightest bit mad at him. She didn't know what to think of him anymore.

On the day he came back, he took Chloe to the doctors. It was in a hospital she had never seen before, it wasn't even in Kansas. He took her at least three states away to see them; he told her it was necessary. She sat in a hospital bed for four days, tests ran on her day and night. They took her blood and recorded her blood pressure constantly. They made sure she ate three meals a day and had enough of all of the food groups to stay completely healthy. An IV was jammed into her arm, doctors claimed she needed to be properly hydrated for the time being. Chloe didn't resist or argue; they were doctors, they knew what was best.

The day for her to go home came, but Chloe's father was nowhere to be found. They had already removed the IV from her arm, so she searched the halls for him. After she found him, Chloe waited in the hallway and couldn't help but listen to the conversation he was having with one of the doctors.

"I don't think she's ready," The doctor told him as she kept checking the clipboard in her hands. "Sending her in isn't a smart idea." Chloe couldn't see them, but she could just imagine the woman standing tall, firm, daunting, shaking her head in certainty as all doctors did when they knew more than a patient.

"Then when?" Her father yelled at her.

"A year at the least," She responded; then Chloe heard something fall to the floor.

"We need her there in three months," Lyle Provan shouted, his anger seeped through his voice. Chloe could see through the window that the doctor had grabbed a needle and was moments away from putting it in her father, injecting him with whatever sedative she felt strong enough to subdue him.

"It's too dangerous," The doctor told him. "She won't be ready, not with all of her problems. You need to keep her healthy and stable for a year, then bring her back and we can check her again."

"Fine," Her father said, and then Chloe took off running down the hall. She found her room; Chloe climbed up into the bed and covered herself with the sheets. Her father entered the room a few minutes later, he had an ice cream cone with him and he gave it to Chloe as they walked down the halls. Chloe left the hospital and never returned.

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Chloe woke up in a panic, but she made sure not to fall off of the bed and scream. She didn't want Jacob coming after her again; she didn't want him in her room ever again, but he wasn't important. Her father was. Lyle, Chloe's father, and her mother, Claudia, they were both part of this. They both knew about this place, about all of this. And even worse, they sent Chloe here to rot.