Crossed Paths // Ross Lynch

twenty

Chloe had had a rough night.

After her conversation with Ratliff in the library, she had been furious. It felt like the world was closing in on her, like she was drowning while everyone else was swimming and no one could help her, like she was dying.

A thousand flashbacks of the awful night in which her parents had died had made their way into her mind and wouldn't go away no matter how hard she tried to think of something else. Their screams echoed in her ears, the scent of smoke flooded her nostrils and she was convinced she could see the orange light of flames licking walls and doors everywhere, even when the place was night on fire at all.

She was hallucinating, she was getting paranoid and scared and far too anxious than she would have liked to but in that moment, she didn't know what she was feeling. She felt scared, she felt exhausted, she felt nervous and anxious. But in a weird way, she also felt happy. She was happy that the truth was out and she knew who the killer was. But she was also furious that he had kept such a massive secret from her and that she had actually trusted and befriended him when he was such a dark and evil character in her past. 

When she had made her way back to her aunt and uncle's house, she had barely said a word. She had pushed past Rydel and Rocky who had been standing by the door of the kitchen talking to each other quietly.

All of them had known that Ratliff was going to tell Chloe everything about what had happened, so they had barely said a word either when she had pushed past them with such an angry yet terrified expression on her face. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were of the same colour - it was clear she had been crying.

Her hair was sodden from the rain that had fallen as she made her way out of the library and walked the entire way back to her aunt and uncle's house which was on the other side of the city. Once she had pushed past everyone, she made her way up the stairs into the bedroom and collapsed onto her bed with a heart-wrenching sob. Burying her face into the pillows that she and Ross slept on, she couldn't help but cry. 

Her entire body had been shaking as she cried, not bothering to wipe her face or calm herself down. All the emotions she had been bottling up for nine years had finally been let out.

She never spoke much of her parents and when she did, she tried her best to steer the subject as far away from them as possible. It wasn't that she didn't like remembering them: it was just that she felt uncomfortable speaking about them because it reminded her so much of the fire and how much her life had drastically changed because of it.

And now that she had found she was living with the person who had killed her parents, who had turned her life upside down, she knew that she was going to be reminded of the fire every single day for the rest of the time she lived with her aunt, uncle and the Lynch children.

Ross felt awful.

He knew that Ratliff had told her and he was also pretty aware that it hadn't gone down well. He had tried his best to ignore her cries, which he could hear faintly no matter what part of the house he was in, and eventually he gave in. He knew it was going to be difficult for her, knowing exactly who had killed her parents, and he knew it was also going to be difficult for him too because he hated hearing her cry.

Her heart was truly breaking and it was breaking his heart too to hear her sobs. So eventually he made his way up the stairs into the bedroom he was sharing with her.

"C-Chloe?" he stuttered as he quietly pushed the door open, letting it creak a little. Chloe didn't react, only burying herself further into the pillows so that she lay there face down, her entire body shaking as tears streamed down her cheeks.