Perfect (Rewrite)

Chapter Forty Nine

Chloe woke up on her bed. Had she even gone down to the kitchen? Her door opened up and Margaret stumbled in. "Chloe," She said through short panicky breathes. "Come quick, it's Melanie."

"What?" Chloe asked. She followed Margaret into Melanie's room. Her eyes checked the door; the lettering that once was no longer placed on the door. David was throwing things across the room in fury. "What happened?"

"Melanie's gone," Jacob said, strolling in behind Chloe. He leaned against the doorframe and glanced around the room. It wasn't fair, Chloe thought as she strode out of the room and down the stairs. He had taken her without any warning.

She approached the camera in the corner of the living room and looked into it. "You're not playing fair," Chloe shouted before entering the kitchen and sitting in her designated seat. Jacob joined her and held her hand underneath the table; David and Margaret filed in after, he held the baby in his arms. A few tears fell from Chloe's eyes and then dripped off her chin. She looked up to Jacob and found him looking back, he was on the verge of crying too. David and Margaret were both clearly holding their emotions back too, and the little Collin was laughing as David patted his back softly. 

"What are we supposed to do now?" Margaret asked.

"I don't know," David answered.

Chloe shook her head and then pulled her hand back from Jacob's; then she pulled the key out of her pocket and placed it on the table. Everyone turned to catch a look at the object, and then Jacob picked it up and felt it over in his fingers.

"What does it do?" He asked.

"It opens up locks," Chloe answered; he glared at her in frustration. "It also unlocks a hidden door."

"Where is it?" David asked.

Chloe looked to him and then glanced under the table. His eyes fell to the floor and then widened after finding the odd crack in the wood. "How did we never notice that before?"

"Because we weren't looking," Margaret said, nodding as if she had just had a revelation. "Of course, the one way out is hidden in plain sight. This brings a whole new meaning to something being just under our feet."

"Where does this door lead?" Jacob asked before placing the key back on the table.

Chloe shrugged her shoulders and said, "Into some dark room."

David glanced underneath the table again and then suggested, "Maybe one of us should go and check it out." He looked up and gaged the room before raising his hand to volunteer. "I'll do it if none of you are brave enough."

"No," Jacob replied. "I'll go."

The others looked to him and then slowly departed the kitchen. Chloe was the last to leave; she gave him words of wisdom, "Don't go down there until after it's dark."

Then she reached to grab the key, but retreated after remembering it was no longer just hers. Chloe trudged up the stairs, wishing Jacob would stop her and request her help, wishing she could be the one to investigate the hidden room. After she was in her room, Chloe locked her door, sat on her bed, and stared at the wall.

It only took a few minutes for the power to go out, and then Chloe heard something slam. Recognition emblazoned her memory, it was the same sound that had woken her up. It was the same sound that happened before the disappearance of Melanie.