ã€ŠNo More Tears (Female Yandere x Male Reader)ã€‹


 Act1 - C1 - Loss

    A small figure laid on the ground. Red and blue lights shone to and from her peripheral vision and she, motionlessly, rested on a slab of cold hard concrete. Her head felt as if something was constricting it continuously, black spots appearing in her vision, cagily blocking her view of the red pile of mess in front of her.

    A larger figure was splayed across the road, crimson blood covering every crevice of their surroundings, jaw disfigured and chest broken in, widening the eyes of the tiny child who had to bear witness to abhorred sight, fear and worry enveloping their small orbs.

    A queasy feeling assaulted the girl, a mix of warmth from the blood dripping down her forehead and the frosty rain which pelted upon her frail body culminating into a feeling similar to when she¡¯d caught an ailment which had left her either sweating from her own body heat, or shivering from the lack of it.

    Tiny tears merged with the rain that thundered down upon the her, mockingly so, diluting foreign blood, aiding it in reaching the girl from the mangled body from whence it came, staining her clothes and seeping into her body.

    A small grey truck, sporting a broken front light, resulted in the yellow fog light of the car diffracting throughout the rain, highlighting the two bodies.

    ¡®B... bright... my head... If only I could cover my eyes... but my arms... I can¡¯t...¡¯ distressfully groaned the child.

    The front of the car had a large dent covered in blood, the windshield was shattered, glass embedded with blood adorning another person who laid on the dashboard of the vehicle, unconscious.

    A song played in the background, slowly growing louder as audio returned from an unwanted captor. The van¡¯s radio display from which the cheerful song was coming from has been stained with blood, waning every few seconds before loudening once again with renewed vigour.

    The sickeningly sweet voice of the vocalist which made it¡¯s way towards the small girl slowly lulled her to sleep as her eyes slowly clamped shut, under the aid of a fatigued and confused mind.

    Before her eyelids completely closed, a small vehicle with bright lights appeared at the end of road, tumbling towards the crash site.

    <hr>

    Erupting from her slumber, an unfamiliar white ceiling greeted the young girl who was slick with sweat; clearly flagging the presence of a nightmare.

    Staring at the ceiling above her, Chloe recalled what she could from her last moments of consciousness. The crimson liquid that desperately clung to her body before being washed away by the thunderous rain, a disfigured body which laid perfectly still and a damaged vehicle that was located a few metres away from the both of them.

    Peering down towards her body, the girl panicked as she couldn¡¯t see the left side of the room, or her body for that matter. Lifting a shaking hand towards her left eye, a soft material greeted her fingertips, covering her eye completely.

    She sat still for a minute or so, before resuming her scan of the surroundings, finding the room to be mostly empty apart from some cheap looking tables, a few pieces of machinery and a IV drip sat beside her. A tube was connected to her wrist, feeding some sort of liquid into her veins, eliciting a discomforting feeling in the girl upon viewing the sight.

    There was another person in the empty room.

    Grey hair cascaded around a figure, who seemed to be in her mid forties, as she sat asleep in what looked to be an uncomfortable position. Her untidy appearance would have lead anyone to rightfully conclude that she had arrived here as soon as possible.

    Well, waking up to the blaring alarm of your phone, groggily choosing to answer the call, only to find out that your loved ones had been engaged in an accident was probably not one of best situations which would lead a normal person to take the time to ensure their outfit was one of perfunctory quality.

    Not wanting to wake the woman up, the girl once again stared towards the blank ceiling and pondered.

    Chloe Barker, a girl had been dealt a poor hand of cards in life, had been cursed with a weak constitution since birth which resulted in regular mandatory hospital check-ups. It was January when the accident had occurred, the main culprit of why the skies had been so dark at only 7pm in the afternoon.

    Chloe and her father, Mikhail, had gone to the hospital closest to them by foot and being the only arduous exercise Chloe received from her day to day life, the hospital¡¯s doctors endorsed the small treck by foot over to the nearby hospital over the use of a vehicle.

    The check-up had concluded smoothly, consisting of a few rudimentary tests being performed on Chloe to gain data about the state of her weak body. Usually Chloe¡¯s father, Mikhail, would take her out to the convenience store in order to get some ice-cream, but as it was early January, it had been a cold night and thus Mikhail had ordained that it would be most beneficial to return back to their house as soon as possible to reduce the risk of Chloe contracting a cold.

    You see, Chloe¡¯s illness was quite the special one. The surgeries that the young girl required, and had gone through so far, were very costly for the middle class family of three, burdening them with loans which they had to take out.

    The common cold was a fairly low specced opponent for the common person¡¯s body to fight off. Unfortunately, this was not the case for little Chloe. The common cold might as well be a deadly illness to her, on which she had not the best of chances to fight off, hence why she had to have so many check ups.

    Mikhail offered to give his daughter a piggy back, but was promptly refused by the strong willed girl who wished to engage in physical exercise in the hope of helping improve the condition of her body.

    Settling for just holding Chloe¡¯s hand, Mikhail quickly embarked on their venture back to their abode, of which neither of them would make it to their destination unscathed. The sky above them turned cloudy as rain clouds started to appear, prompting Mikhail to pick up their pace so as to arrive home before it started to pour down.

    A few drops of rain splashed on the dense ground, catching Mikhail¡¯s attention who had reached a junction, only to be halted by an traffic light turning red as soon as they had reached the intersection, as if it were condemning the pair to their soggy fate.

    He peered down at Chloe whilst inwardly letting out a sight of relief, ¡äthankfully I made her wear a coat and some gloves...¡ä .

    The small child smiled back at him in response to his stare, prompting Mikhail to let out a large grin.

    The Barkers lived in a city, a large, large metropolis which was filled with ginormous metal monstrosities which put medieval fortresses to shame in size. Their surroundings were that of a large junction, split by a road and some evenly spaced white stripes indicating that this was indeed a pelican crossing.

    The white stripes had been worn down by the many years of use and external weather resulting in them being only half as visible as when they had first been applied to the road, whilst the traffic light, which glared at Mikhail with a red light reflected of his glasses causing him to wince as they flickered on and off.

    There was obviously some damage sustained by the light and thus it was not in a working perfectly resulting in it¡¯s abnormal behaviour. Mikhail¡¯s worsening mood was uplifted when saw the pedestrian lights snap from red to green, signifying that it was their turn to cross.

    Looking down to his daughter, he spoke in a gentle voice, ¡°Lets cross now Chlo¡±. ¡®Chlo¡¯ was the nickname that Mikhail chose to call his daughter, finding it an appropriately cute nickname for the little girl. They hastily crossed the intersection, pellets of rain starting to thunder down from the sky as two yellowish beams of light came into Mikhail¡¯s peripheral vision.

    Clearly the truck, the source of the unsettling yellow light, was tumbling forward at a speed unbefitting of a city intersection. The vehicle accelerated as Mikhail pulled Chloe ahead, walking to towards the end of the road, not yet noticing the van. Both of them were located in the middle of the street which spanned 20 or so meters, leaving 10 meters to go, whilst the truck was accelerating towards them at an unholy speed.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    As the noise erupting from the vehicle entered his ears, he quizzically looked towards it¡¯s source, finding it to have come from a speeding object which was quickly approaching them at a frightening pace, showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

    Chloe had yet to understand the severity of the situation, the speed at which Mikhail suddenly started to tug her along making her out of breath.

    She peered up towards his frightened exterior, deciding to not ask any questions focusing solely on keeping up with her father. Suddenly, she was shoved forwards, looked back towards her father with an puzzled expression.

    There her father stood, a metre or so away from the metal vehicle. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds as the van slowly inched forwards, making its way towards the man.

    Mikhail still had full contact with the small girl as time resumed to it¡¯s normal pace, resulting in Chloe being roughly flung a metre or so before landing on the ground.

    Chloe felt her head make contact with the cruel concrete below her as a nauseating crunch filled her ears. As the small girl attempted to push up her body from the floor, her weakened physique rendered her helpless.

    A series of thumps and cracks entered her ears once more before coming to a dull stop filled Chloe¡¯s ears.

    Mikhail¡¯s body was flung forwards, the impact sending the damaged vehicle driver off the acceleration pedal and causing the driver to fly out his windshield. In a drunken stupor, the vehicle operator hadn¡¯t managed to see the two under the dimly lit lamps which where dotted around the junction.

    Chloe, who writhed in pain on the concrete, attempted to look around to spot her father, only to find a large truck with a dented front, paired with a broken front light and two people covered in a pool of a red liquid a few meters away. The rain wetted her stained orange hair, obscuring her view, as if to protect her from the sight in front of her.

    She laid motionless as she stared at the body of her father, the pool of blood around his body slowly making it¡¯s way towards her under the aid of the rain as she noticed a pair of glasses sitting beside the body which seemed very familiar. It then all came together, tears beginning to stream down her face as she screamt for help.

    Luckily, this accident had taken place in a densely populated city. Even if Chloe had not been able to scream for help, the large impact noise had not been covered up by the rain to such a degree where the citizens of the city nearby could not hear the accident take place.

    Chloe laid on the concrete, staring at the motionless body of her father which was dyed in crimson whilst wondering why such a thing had occurred.

    Thankfully, she somehow managed to not contract a cold during the duration of the accident, the concussion subsiding before she had woken up. Perhaps this was due to the response time of the ambulance that arrived on the scene being very fast, or maybe a result of the many protective layers she was wearing.

    Chloe¡¯s mother had been born into a middle class family and lived an standard life, marring Mikhail at the age of 23. The newlywed couple gave birth to Chloe two years later. Just when Mikhail and his spouse thought their lives couldn¡¯t get any better, Mikhail had passed away in a car accident.

    The next week of Chloe¡¯s life sped by as she arrived at the funeral of her father after being discharged from the hospital. Shortly after going back to sleep in the hospital bed, Chloe¡¯s mother awakened and left the hospital to take care of some affairs and also plan the funeral.

    Not one word of comfort had reached Chloe¡¯s ears from the grieving woman. Perhaps an empty look or two would be shot her way but that was about the extent of it.

    It wasn¡¯t that the woman was an uncaring mother, proven by the fact that she¡¯d rushed over to the two of them at once after being called. However, after she¡¯d heard the news of Mikhail¡¯s untimely death her attitude towards Chloe had changed.

    When Chloe¡¯s mother came to take her to the funeral, the small girl had noticed the vastly different way in which she was treated, confusing the girl even more than she¡¯d already had been from this whole tragedy.

    No longer did she speak with Chloe in a loving, gentle voice. Now it was a cold and uncaring tone that was used, Chloe thought she understood. ¡®It must be because daddy has passed away...¡¯ she had concluded.

    The atmosphere at the funeral felt heavy and full of sorrow, the plethora of black suits adorned on various strangers cemented the fact to Chloe that her father was indeed dead. With tears in her eyes, Chloe said goodbye to Mikhail for the last time as his casket was lifted into a hole, Mikhail¡¯s final resting place.

    Nobody consoled the little girl as she cried. Her mother was too busy wondering how she would afford to keep their house. Chloe had no grandparents, as they had passed away before Chloe had been born.

    A few hours had passed during the funeral, Chloe had been occupying a table near the coffin, sorrowfully staring at the polished black case which contained the remains of her father.

    A hand was placed on Chloe¡¯s shoulder. A large man dressed in a black suit with a small smile on his face spoke, ¡°Hello Chloe, my name is Olsen. I am a friend of your dad, you probably are not that comfortable around all these adults... if you would like you can go play with my son, Y/n?¡±

    The man pointed his index finger towards a young kid who looked a bit older than Chloe. He was dressed in a black suit like everyone else and had dark black hair which hung over his eyes. A pair of green eyes were scanning his surroundings, seemingly uninterested in the gathering. Noticing the disappearance of his father, he stood up from where he had been seated and started to look around the funeral as if he were searching for someone.

    His eyes landed on Chloe and Olsen before slowly walking over to their area. After a few seconds or so Olsen introduced Y/n to Chloe, ¡°Y/n this is Chloe, Chloe this is Y/n. Get along well.¡°.

    Chloe looked at Y/n as she greeted the boy, who swiftly returned the greeting.

    Olsen explained the situation to his son before turning around to face Chloe, a melancholic smile apparent upon his visage, ¡°It¡¯s been a pleasure meeting you, please have fun playing with my son.¡± he said before turning around and walking over to another group of adults.

    Y/n looked at Chloe and spoke, ¡°Would you like to play Hide and Seek with me?¡± he exclaimed, awkwardly playing with his hands behind his back.

    The boy clearly did not have much confidence in his social skills.

    ¡°O..ok..¡± replied Chloe with a small frown on her face. It would take a bit more than playing a game to direct her mind away from the funeral.

    ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll be the seeker and you¡¯ll be the hider. I¡¯ll count for 30 seconds, so go quickly and find somewhere to hide. I bet I¡¯ll find you.¡± he exclaimed with a smile on his face, before crouching in corner and covering his eyes.

    Chloe looked at her surroundings before deciding on hiding behind a curtain. She climbed on top of the window sill and drew the curtains shut. The sun shone down through the glass as she peered out of the window. The world seemed so warm, a sharp contrast to the cold atmosphere in the funeral.

    She felt as though she could escape all her problems. Hide away from them. Lose herself in the sense of calmness which the window sill gave her. It lulled her into a false sense of security for a short period of time.

    However, It didn¡¯t take long before the curtains were opened and a head of black hair could be seen. Chloe paid it no mind, her eyes observing the thriving and well maintained vegetation outside.

    ¡°Found you!¡± a voice called out, commanding Chloe¡¯s attention. Her eyes slowly redirected themselves towards the boy¡¯s direction, her mind coming back to reality.¡®Ah, the funeral... Dad....¡¯ .

    Tears started to appear in the corner of her glossy eyes before slowly venturing down her chubby cheeks.

    At a loss for words, Y/n stared at the crying girl before hastily reaching his hand into his breast pocket, scrambling to find a handkerchief that his dad had equipped him with, and haphazardly presented it before the small girl.

    Y/n stared at the small girl, clueless as for what to do next. Deciding on hugging the girl, he wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. That¡¯s what his father had usually done to cheer him up when he was sad.

    The two of them stayed in a hug for until Chloe has started to stop crying, Y/n backing up and staring at his counterpart.

    His attempt to cheer Chloe up were not fruitless. An occasional sniffle or two from Chloe was the fruit of his labour

    ¡°Another round?¡± he queried, to which the girl eagerly nodded her head.

    She stared at the small boy¡¯s countenance before reminding him that it was his turn to hide.

    ¡°I¡¯ll... count to 30 now...¡± said Chloe, proceeding to look out of the window and began counting.

    ¡°Sure!¡± replied Y/n before he ran away, scanning the area. The funeral was a large indoor space. The walls were a bright shade of blue whilst there were black tables dotted around the area. White curtains were located beside each windowsill, whilst Mikhail¡¯s casket was located in the northeast part of the room.

    Y/n settled on hiding behind a large grandfather clock which was not far from Chloe¡¯s current location. To be honest, the funeral area didn¡¯t really have any good hiding spots except from the windowsill with the curtains drawn. He sighed before sticking to the side of the clock. At least from this spot he could see Chloe¡¯s movements.

    After what seemed like an eternity, Chloe looked away from the windowsill and scanned the room, there were maybe twenty or so adults dressed up in posh looking black suits. Walking around the area, a lady with grey hair walked up to Chloe.

    ¡°Come on Chloe, It¡¯s time to go now.¡± spoke the woman. Chloe looked up at the woman with a worried expression. She didn¡¯t want to leave without finding Y/n first.... she¡¯d feel terrible if she left him hiding there forever.

    Seeing her reluctance, the grey haired woman snatched Chloe¡¯s hand and pulled her along, exiting the room before Chloe could do anything. The grey woman¡¯s grip was quite strong, leaving Chloe¡¯s wrist sore after she was let go in the parking lot.

    The whole way, a cold stare was directed Chloe¡¯s way. The culprit, the elder woman, clearly viewed Chloe with distain as she go into the car, not listening to Chloe¡¯s mumbling about leaving Y/n alone.

    Thankfully, Y/n had been watching Chloe being taken away by the grey haired women and so left his hiding place shortly, going over to his father to see what happened to Chloe. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s her mother, don¡¯t worry about Chloe.¡± replied Olsen.

    Y/n had thought the way the grey haired women treated Chloe was a bit harsh but soon forgot about it after being told they were going to leave since the funeral had concluded.

 Act 1 - Chapter 2 - Grieve

    The car was cold. January was definitely not a month renowned for having warm weather indeed. The leather seats, although comfortable, enabled warmth to seep out of Chloe¡¯s body as she looked out of the car window, seeing objects fly past.

    The sky was a murky blue colour, as it was 5pm in the afternoon. Clouds devoured the sun leaving no rays of light to lift Chloe¡¯s mood. The day had not been one of her favourites, leaving her dad in a decorated box to sleep soundly under the earth was not a memory she would have liked to keep.

    She had always been car-sick prone and thus had to always be looking out the window, the car was a four seater though, and being an only child, she could always be able to sit next to a window whether that be a window at the front or a window at the back of the car. Although, Chloe doubted she would have to use any of the rear windows anymore.

    After a series of sharp right and left turns, the car slowed down, revealing a quaint medium-sized house, to which the car stopped in front of. The walls of the house were a shade of red. Crimson red. Chloe stared at the red bricks which the house was comprised of before suddenly jerking her eyes away. Even before the accident, red was not the girl¡¯s favourite colour. Even more so now.

    The sound of a door opening, followed closely by an alarm, signified that the grey haired women was exiting the car. Chloe looked at her before reaching over to the car handle to exit the car, a trivial task for the now eight year old girl.

    She now wished to rid herself of the black dress she was wearing, being made up of a plain itchy feeling fabric that she was told to put up with resulted in it being not on of the young girl¡¯s favourite outfits to wear. The only part of the dress which Chloe liked was the black velvet rose pinned on the front which looked exceptionally beautiful to her.

    Stepping through the front door which the woman had unlocked, she scaled the stairs to reach her bedroom on the first floor. Halfway up the stairs, the woman called out to her in a stale voice. ¡°Dinner will be ready in half an hour. Come down after you have finished having a shower.¡± she stated.

    Chloe nodded in response before continuing her ascent. Reaching the door of her bedroom, which had the letters ¡°Chlo¡± in the centre of it in written in a fancy font, she turned the door nob clockwise to gain access to her room.

    Bright orange greeted her with a bountiful smile. The walls of her bedroom had been painted by the small family when they had first gotten a mortgage on their humble abode. The colour orange had always resonated with the small girl who had been granted bright orange hair upon entering this world.

    Although her bedroom was small, It had all that the little girl required:

    A small oak wood table with a polished spruce chair tucked underneath located in front of the door. Educational books were neatly stacked up on the right corner of the table, a quaint navy pencil case in the centre and a white calculator of to the left side resulted in the table being fully equipped for whatever homework was sent Chloe¡¯s way.

    A small metal bedframe with a built-in foam headrest, a comfy white mattress, a soft quilt and a smooth orange quilt cover with many drawings of pandas. She also had a teddy bear which her father had bestowed upon her for Chloe¡¯s most recent birthday, which she cherished a great deal.

    Finally, she had a wooden wardrobe filled with her clothes and a lamp on top of it, which she could use as a night light or relocate to the study table for late night studying.

    A mirror was also placed next to the wardrobe, to which she stared at the black rose placed upon her chest, promptly taking the velvet rose off and placing it next to the window sill located above her bed which could be found to the right of the bedroom¡¯s entrance.

    After gazing at the rose for what seemed like a long time, Chloe remembered that she had to take a shower, since dinner time was soon approaching. Undressing herself, she folded the black dress and placed it in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe where she put things that she would mostly like not wear again, such as the white silky clothes she wore for her parent¡¯s wedding ceremony.

    ¡®Hopefully I won¡¯t have to wear these clothes again... they feel so itchy...¡¯she thought to herself. Chloe then grabbed a towel before heading out of her room and into the bathroom, turning on the mechanism to operate the shower resulting in water shooting out of the shower head.

    The girl waited a few seconds and then tested the water to see if it was warm enough, to which she nodded her head in approval, before submerging her whole body below the water emitted from the shower.

    The hot water soon made the windows, which were located to the right of the shower, misty. Applying her usual shower routine, she thought about what had happened in the past few weeks. All of a sudden her peaceful life was disrupted, by a man in truck unfit to drive.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Chloe would like to think that she was a strong girl. After all, she felt that the sight of her father¡¯s beaten up corpse would mentally paralyse a child of her age. She was of course effected by the experience, but had not yet come to terms with the reality of her situation. For she hoped that this was all a bad dream. A nightmare. A long, long nightmare.

    Her father, dead. Her other family member had been acting cold towards the girl of eight years as well. The middle aged woman used to be so cheerful, radiating joy. Even a bystander could tell that she was really happy being with her family, but now when she talked to the young girl all Chloe could feel was contempt in her voice and expression.

    For what felt like the umpteenth time today, beads of tears appeared in the corner of the girl¡¯s eyes. It was all too much for her.....¡®Why did it have to happen to me?'' she thought. The young girl would never see her father again, he was robbed from her.

    The tears soon stopped flowing, for Chloe knew that crying would do no good for her.

    Furthermore she did not want to keep the woman waiting at the dinner table for her.

    Turning of the shower, she reached for her towel before drying her hair and then the rest of her body. Chloe disliked having long hair. She found it tedious to maintain, so her orange hair was always cut to no longer than shoulder length. Using a hairdryer to finish drying her hair, she climbed into her navy blue pyjamas and descended the stairs.

    She saw the woman had sat down on one of the three chairs which decorated the dining table, located in the top right of the ground floor. The ground floor, which was separated into three areas: the lounge, the kitchen and the dining room, were comprised of multiple walls which were a shade of turquoise, that synthesises a cool, calm, atmosphere.

    The grey haired woman was still in her funeral outfit, her facial expression a permanent frown, eyes following the little girl as she ventured over to the table. Two plates of food were located upon the table, prompting Chloe to sit down on the chair which the plate had been in front of.

    The third chair acted as a reminder of their loss. It mocked them for the tragedy that had struck the family.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to take on another job or two, and even so we¡¯ll still have to leave this house.¡± muttered the woman as she stared at the girl with a piercing stare. The woman had no parents to rely on and thus had to financially support the young girl and herself on her own.

    There was no way a single mother would be able to pay the mortgage of this house alone, especially so as Mikhail had been the bread winner in the household. A icy atmosphere enveloped the table as the woman continued to mumble to herself. Chloe looked down at the food which had a bit of steam coming off it.

    A plate of rice and kebab sat before the girl. The woman¡¯s food was always of great quality, but this dish was special. ¡°Dad¡¯s favourite food...¡± she whispered, her expression twisting as she was forcefully brought back to the site of the accident.

    It was as if it was happening all over again. The cold hard rain pounding on her frail body as she looked towards her fathers destroyed vestige, the yellow light casting a spotlight on Mikhail¡¯s body.

    A sudden urge to vomit erupted from within Chloe¡¯s body, quickly followed by the girl placing a hand over her mouth, forcing the urge to subside. The woman, who had turned her attention from Chloe to the food she made, looked at Chloe, who was now profusely sweating, before scoffing and continuing to eat her food.

    ¡®That little parasite... If it weren¡¯t for her... He would still...¡¯she thought. Looking down at her food, only now had she realised that she had unknowingly made her husband¡¯s favourite dish.

    ¡°We will have to move to a different location soon. I won¡¯t be able to pay for the house on my own.¡± stated the woman, to which Chloe stared at her in disbelief. Obviously a young child would not understand the choices of a rational economical agent, but a cold stare from the woman silenced Chloe.

    Eating her father¡¯s favourite dish, she remembered all the pleasant memories that she had with him and the grey haired woman. For her most recent birthday, August the 3rd, they had gone to a theme park to celebrate, resulting in the teddy bear being won as a prize. Reminiscing good memories resulted her Chloe wolfing down the dish before her, It was all gone far too quickly for the young girl¡¯s liking.

    Never the less, she thanked the grey haired woman for the dinner, washed her plate, and one again ascended the stairs. She took one last glance at the woman which was met with a stale glare from a pair of grey eyes.

    Chloe was exhausted after all of the things that had happened today and decided to go to sleep earlier than usual, brushing her teeth and then using some mouthwash before turning her bedroom light off, her night light on, and leaping into the comfort of vibrant bed.

    The young girl grappled the teddy bear with an iron grip before closing her eyes. She was scared that she would have the same dream that she¡¯d been having since the incident alone. At least the teddy bear kept her company as darkness enveloped her vision.

    <hr>

    BANG! The familiar sound of a body hitting a vehicle erupted and echoed in Chloe¡¯s ears. It was all she could hear. Opening her eyes, half her vision was filled with red, presumable from the blood that had sept into her eye as a result of being pushed and landing on her head.

    The rain struck the group with an unnecessary amount of force as it beat down on the young girl¡¯s body as she stared at the crippled body which twitched every now and then.

    Suddenly the face of the body jerked to stare down it¡¯s daughter, the deformed face glared at the young girl as it opened it¡¯s deformed mouth, ¡°It.....It.....It¡¯s all your fault..... you.... IF ONLY YOU HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!¡± the deformed face screeched with a tyrannical smile plastered upon it¡¯s face.

    Mikhail¡¯s deformed body then started to crawl over to Chloe as tears poured down her face, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry dad.... I didn¡¯t mean for you to die.... It¡¯s not my fault....¡± she whispered. Mikhail¡¯s deformed body was inching closer and closer to the young girl as she quivered in uncontrollable fear.

    Finally, the body arrived at it¡¯s destination and started to grab at Chloe¡¯s frail body before repeatedly screaming ¡°IT¡¯S ALL YOUR FAULT. IT¡¯S ALL YOUR FAULT.¡± over and over again. The sky turned red, the rain a deep shade of crimson, as Chloe¡¯s clothes were once again dyed with her father¡¯s blood.

    The only thing that could be heard from the young girl was a string of never ending apologies directed towards the mangled corpse that was her father before the world turned pitch black.

 Act 1 - Chapter 3 - Torment

    *Personally, one of my greatest fears is obtaining permanent injuries. Thus I advise against self-harm or any type of action that may cause harm to the body or mind. Talk to a trusted adult.

    The car was as cold as always. At least it was a bit warmer than last time she had rode in it. Even though February was also not a month renowned for it¡¯s warmth, it was somewhat warmer than January¡¯s harsh weather.

    The four seater slowed down as it entered the parking lot of an apartment block. As before mentioned, the middle aged woman, a rational economic agent, was not able to pay for the mortgage that had been graciously been bestowed upon Mikhail and thus Chloe and her had to move to a new abode.

    The Apartment block was comprised up of five main buildings, each nine stories high with 13 rooms on each level, making up a total of 585 apartments available to be rented. The buildings were arranged in a U shape with two buildings on the left and right and one building in the top middle, the parking lot located in the centre of the buildings.

    The middle aged woman had rented an apartment in Building 2, Level 5 , room 6, located towards the north west of the compound. Once again an alarm sounded as a car door was opened, followed closely by the sound of another car door opening.

    Stepping out of the four seater, Chloe looked at her surroundings. The building in front of her was very tall, wide and a worn grey colour. Not much decorated the building apart from posters on the ground level and a few lockers of which mail would be deposited in.

    ¡°Lets go.¡± spoke the woman, an expression devoid of emotion plastered across her countenance as she walked towards building 2. The young girl nodded in response before hastily following the wiser one. Chloe soon found out how tough it was to match the pace of a older woman, her legs were much shorter than her older counterpart and thus was very much out of breath by the time she arrived before the door of her apartment.

    The older woman gave Chloe a harsh side eye before fumbling around her handbag, pausing after locating a pair of keys, which she slotted in the locked door before twisting it and opening it.

    The apartment had enough space for the two of them. The opened door unveiled a long corridor of which the bathroom was located directly to the left of the door followed by an area which held a kitchen, a dining table and a sofa with a TV placed in front of it.

    The wise woman had ordered the furniture that was in the old house to be transported to this new apartment, god forbid she had to carry the furniture alone up all those stairs, for the building had no elevator.

    There were two rooms of roughly similar size located towards the right side of the apartment. Chloe¡¯s room was located at the end of the corridor, the door undecorated as the letters located on the young girl¡¯s old bedroom door were unsalvageable.

    Opening the door, a dull room appeared in her eyes. The layout of the room was similar to that of her old one but the wallpaper was a shade of grey, comparable to the dull exterior of the large building. No longer did a bright orange greet her eyes when she walked into her bedroom, now only grey greeted her hazel orbs upon entering her bedroom.

    Walking over to the mirror, which was placed next to the wardrobe, Chloe looked at the outfit she was wearing that was comprised of blue jeans and a simple red shirt. It was hardly an outfit geared for the harsh cold of the winter seasons at all.

    The young girl took a black rose from within her pocket and placed it upon wardrobe, for there were no longer any windowsills to place it upon.

    <hr>

    A new school was always a welcomed thing for most people. Chloe didn¡¯t mind it so much. She had quite a few friends in her old school and thus thought she would be able to make more friends in this new school.

    However, her once extroverted personality had flipped as a result of the experience of the accident. She no longer had the courage to involve other people with herself, ''Perhaps they may end up injured if they are involved with me... Just... Like dad did.¡¯ she thought.

    Thus, Chloe remained isolated for she had neither the experience nor guidance to console her that the cause of the accident was not her but the drunken driver. Thankfully, by focusing on her studies, the young girl was able to ignore the feeling of being alone caused by a lack of social interactions.

    Apart from the occasional nightmare, days were passing by without her noticing. However, today would be different. Chloe had been having trouble sleeping for the past few days and thus had been delaying her bed time, the older woman usually came home quite late as she was either at work or doing something else.

    The sky was darker than usual, clouds were not anywhere to be seen leaving the moon bare. One hour till midnight was when the older woman opened the door of the apartment. She was swaying left and right, clearly under the influence of some substance, until she saw the young girl staring at her from across the corridor.

    The heavy financial burden which had been placed upon her, as a result of Chloe¡¯s expensive healthcare treatments and the rent which she could barely afford had resulted in an increased dependence on alcohol and smoking as a coping mechanism over the past few years.

    She stood still, staring at Chloe before speaking, ¡°You.... You brat.... If it weren¡¯t for you..... Mikhail.... Mikhail would still be with me....¡°. Her tone was full of hatred, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault.... If only I... Never gave birth to you...¡± she added with spite.

    Once again, tears started to drip down the young girl¡¯s face. It seemed that everyone blamed the girl for the death of her father... even the dead vestige of her parent. The older woman then stormed over to the younger girl and slapped her harshly in the face, leaving a bright red mark, before turning around and entering her room, slamming the door shut.

    Chloe didn¡¯t sleep that night. Not only was she too afraid of being blamed by her dead father in her dreams, she was being condemned by her only remaining family member as well. Her pillow was soon soaked by the young girl¡¯s tears, going unnoticed by the girl.

    <hr>

    Two years had passed since the incident had occurred. The bullying from the older woman only got worse as she dived deeper into substance abuse, significantly deteriorating the now ten year old child¡¯s mental health. Nowadays, the main thing the older woman would say to hurt the child was telling her to go join her father. It made her feel slightly better about herself.

    Mikhail¡¯s grave was located about 5 minutes from the young girl¡¯s apartment and it had became a tradition for Chloe to go visit her father¡¯s grave on the weekend, fortnightly. Thankfully, since the grave was close to their apartment, her frail body could take walking there and back.

    She would think about how to atone for her sins as she walked to the grave and would repeatably apologise to her father whilst kneeling down in front of the gravestone. ¡°Dad.... Today I¡¯ll finally be able to repent for my sins... I¡¯m sorry for killing you....¡± she mumbled. No tears poured from her red eyelids for no more could be wept from her tired hazel orbs.

    Standing up, the little girl made her way over to her school building, which was closed since it was a weekend. She made her way to the back of the school and crawled through a gap in the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the public school.

    Chloe wanted to do it in a place where people would find her, climbing up the ladder which led to the third story roof. Unlike the day of the accident, the sky was a lighter shade of blue as it was four in the afternoon. Being January, the sun was setting, even though it was so early in the day.

    The cold winds nipped at her skin, for she was not well dressed for the harsh weather. Walking over to the edge of the roof, she looked towards the sky before pondering about what went wrong for her life to have come to such a point.

    But it was futile. The only answer was the one in front of her. Or, well, below her.

    Hovering one foot of the edge, she let gravity take her as she fell to her demise. Her memories with her father seemed to flash before her eyes, she could feel the wind hitting her body as she quickly descended down the building.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    CRACK! A wave of throbbing pain shot throughout her body as she writhed in pain. She had landed in some vegetation surrounding the school, but the impact of the fall had been fully taken on by her left leg, which contacted the ground first. It was safe to say that her left leg was not in perfect condition, bent at a weird angle with bone visible and blood pouring out of the wound.

    Unable to bear the pain, she screamt out in agony, ''Is this.... what dad felt?¡¯ she thought, clutching her leg whilst curling into a ball. Tears burst out from her eyes as she thought to herself, ''If this is what dying feels like..... then I don¡¯t... want to die...¡±. Chloe had thought that it would all be over instantly, that she would atone for her sins by joining her father in the afterlife.

    It was now painfully obvious that she hadn¡¯t accounted for suffering that might accompany a suicide attempt.

    She had not planned to be writhing around on the ground like she was now. However, it seemed as though her careful planning about how to get into the school unnoticed bore fruit. Nobody heard her screams.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna... die... I don¡¯t wanna die!¡± she wept as the young girl attempted to move herself. Another burst of pain erupted from her left leg, when she looked towards it she could see that blood had stained the vegetation that she had landed in.

    Chloe abhorred the colour crimson, it tormented her every day in her dreams and even the colour red would remind her of Mikhail¡¯s death, frequently resulting in Chloe being unable to sleep most days.

    Not wanting to bleed out like her father had, she slowly crawled over to the gap in the fence which she had entered the school from, leaving a trail of blood along the way. Each movement scrapped her broken leg against the cold concrete and after thirty minutes of excruciating pain she had finally made it over to the fence.

    Crawling underneath the fence, she felt another wave of pain, looking towards her leg to search for the source of the torture, she saw that some of the wire from the fence had gotten stuck in her broken leg. Tears blurring her vision, she gritted her teeth and pulled the wire out of her leg.

    Since she was screaming so much and had travelled somewhat close to the main road, it was no wonder that at least one person had gone to investigate what was the cause of all the noise.

    Crawling towards the front of the school, she saw the outline of a rather tall person with a hat on. They had a gun in their pocket and wore a high vision jacket with black stripes. The person was looking inside the gates of the school and seemed quite worried as to what had caused all the screaming.

    ¡°Help.... Help me.... please¡± groaned the young girl, who seemed to be losing her ability to stay conscious as she had been grappling with life and death for the past half an hour.

    The last thing she saw before passing out was the person looking over to the girl and gasping at the sight of her snapped leg, before rushing over to her and asking questions such as ¡°Who did this to you?¡± in a worried tone.

    <hr>

    It was raining once again. The same dream as usual. Chloe¡¯s hands tensed as she started to sweat profusely, She was going to meet her father again.

    A voice called out to her in the rain, a faint dull voice, ¡°Chloe....You.... Why did you survive.... It should have.... been you.... It¡¯s all your fault.... YOU COWARD¡± screamt the bloody corpse.

    Mikhail¡¯s eyes stared at the little girl with anger and contempt, as if she really were the reason for his cruel death. ¡°I¡¯m sorry dad... It was too painful.... I don¡¯t want to die...¡± Chloe frightenedly responded with her eyes shut, quivering in fear.

    Just like every time the young girl had this dream, all she could do was apologise and curl up into a ball. She was too much of a coward to join her father in the ground and was ashamed of herself, the words of her father hurt much more than the frequent verbal abuse received from the older woman.

    <hr>

    The white ceiling was no longer a foreign scene to Chloe, which was definitely a bad thing. Even before the accident, the regular hospital check-ups would not result in the young girl sleeping overnight in the hospital.

    Since the death of Mikhail, Chloe hadn¡¯t attended as many hospital check-up due to the negligence of the older woman. Their new destination was not close to the hospital, and thus Chloe couldn¡¯t possibly often walk to the hospital.

    This had led to her physical body growing worse overtime, resulting in her current weakened state.

    The older woman was normally no-where to be seen, and when Chloe saw her she was drunk, except from the occasional morning sighting where she would see the older woman cook the food that her and Chloe would eat during the day.

    Unfortunately, the older woman wasn¡¯t the most consistent person, frequently forgetting to cook meals for the younger child, leaving her hungry quite often due to the fridge being usually empty.

    Chloe never really minded about her food situation, her mental state wouldn¡¯t allow for it; how could she complain about not being able to eat when her dad would never be eat again because of her? Not eating frequently probably wasn¡¯t the best thing for her weak constitution.

    Finding herself unable to move her left leg, she looked away from the ceiling, towards her legs to see that her broken leg was now in a straight cast, suspended in the air. Remembering what had happened, grimacing when recalling the pain from breaking her leg. Chloe closed her eyes in order to attempt to lessen the pain, however the relief she felt was only momentary as the sound of a door opening entered her ears.

    A man, presumably a doctor, entered the room. He was equipped with the standard white clothes and a clipboard which contained blank spaces under the patient¡¯s details.

    ¡°Hello love, How are you feeling?¡± he asked as he calmly sat on the chair next to Chloe¡¯s bed.

    ¡°I.... I¡¯m ok¡± she replied.

    ¡°Well, the injury that you came in the ER with certainly was not ¡°ok¡±, never the less I¡¯m getting side tracked. I¡¯ve come to ask you about your details such as first name, surname, etc.¡± he explained, pushing his glasses up his nose with his left hand.

    ¡°My first name is Chloe.... Second name Barker, I live at [Postcode] Building 2, Level 5, apartment 6. My mother¡¯s name is Anastasia Barker.¡± she replied with grimace on her lips. She disliked saying the older woman¡¯s name.

    The doctor nodded his head slowly in response to the new information, noting it down on his clipboard before moving over to a desk which contained a computer on top of it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll contact your mother to pick you up. You¡¯ll have to use crutches to maneuverer around without putting pressure on your broken leg.¡± said the man, before adding extra information about tips on how to deal with the cast located on her broken leg.

    ¡°How did you get this injury?¡± asked the doctor.

    ¡°I ... don¡¯t remember.¡± replied Chloe, an obvious lie. The doctor frowned slightly before letting out a deep sigh, his eyes glancing towards her wounds. All the doctor could do was take the information at face value.

    The man then fiddled with the computer for a minute or so before noting down a number and leaving the room, notifying the young girl that he would contact her parent. Chloe once again closed her eyes, knowing that it would probably be quite a while before the older woman would come to collect Chloe.

    The young girl was completely correct. The ¡®accident¡¯ occurred at about 4pm, she arriving at the hospital at 4:30 and woke up at 6pm. It was 9:30pm when the older woman came to collect the younger girl. It would seem that the older woman was not worried about Chloe in the slightest, or perhaps she couldn¡¯t afford to leave whatever she was doing.

    The older woman came in formal wear with make-up applied. It was clear that the woman did not rush to get to the hospital at all. Signing a few documents and receiving information on how to help the young child deal with her cast, she gave Chloe a cold hard stare before confirming to the doctor that she understood.

    Having to get used to crutches was quite difficult for the small girl, who received no aid from her supposed caretaker.

    The drive home was colder than usual, despite the fact that the heater was enabled. Chloe had some trouble using her crutches and received no help from the older woman when exiting the hospital.

    A voice erupted from within the silence, ¡°I see you finally went and did it. You coward. You should have laid down like the little brat you are and waited for death, just like mikhail had to.¡± spat the older woman.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sorry.. for being a ... coward... I couldn¡¯t do it...¡± Chloe responded as her hollow eyes stared at her lap.

    ¡°Pathetic¡± the older woman added.

    Eight weeks had passed since Chloe¡¯s suicide attempt. The older woman was obligated to take Chloe to the hospital to see how the younger girl¡¯s leg was healing. The past eight weeks had been pretty bad for the Chloe; not only did she have to deal with the older woman¡¯s verbal abuse, she was slowly transitioning to more physical abuse by adding a slap here and there on top of telling the younger child to off herself.

    Chloe had been struggling to manoeuvre around, her weak body resulted in her having poor stamina, using crutches got tiring quickly. Furthermore, the five flights of stairs that she had to scale two times a day to get to school made her normal trips a monumental task.

    The policeperson who had helped the young girl had investigated the area the younger girl had came from, thanks to the trail of blood left by the little child. The school was contacted promptly after and had cleaned up the area on Sunday, choosing to be quiet about the incident lest other parents started to get worried that there might be a murderer of some sorts in the vicinity.

    After arriving at the hospital, the doctor informed the older woman that Chloe¡¯s broken leg had healed up nicely, but that she would still have to use the cast for another few weeks before taking it off to ensure that the healing process had fully finished.

    The older woman scoffed at this information, looking someone infuriated, but the doctor chose not to comment on her behaviour. Chloe, on the other hand, didn¡¯t say much, only the obligatory ¡°yes¡± or ¡°no¡± when asked a question.

    And so, months continued to pass, Chloe¡¯s cast was taken off in mid June, which significantly eased the younger child¡¯s daily routine.

    September came quickly, Chloe, who was in the last year of her old school, had to join a new secondary school resulting in another fresh start. The younger girl didn¡¯t plan to capitalise on this in order to make new friends, rather she was annoyed that she would have to walk further to this new school which was about twice the distance away.

    Thankfully, as she grew older, her body grew somewhat stronger allowing for Chloe to go on longer travels. The now eleven year old girl had focused on her studies quite a bit, it was her escape from the situation which she was stuck in. Whenever she didn¡¯t want to go to sleep, she would instead study, resulting in her grades being very high.

    However, her insomnia was not cured in the slightest. The young girl was still very much afraid of going to sleep, and when she finally did it was not by her choice but rather that her body was so tired that she was forced to sleep.

    The same repetitive dream, over and over and over again. It never stopped, neither did the verbal, and now physical, abuse of the older woman.

 Act 1 - Chapter 4 - Academia

    Due to Chloe¡¯s excellent academical prowess, the headmaster had recommended her into a somewhat prestigious secondary school, which he had hoped would allow her to excel further. The school was about a 15 minute walk there and back, a distance which would leave Chloe with enough energy to focus on her classes, but not much more than that.

    Never the less, Chloe had been a tiny bit happy that she would be challenged further, since she spend so much time studying that it might as well have been her hobby, her previous school did not provide a good environment for academia. (noisy libraries + classes etc)

    The school had a modern vibe to it, having been built ten or so years ago, the facilities were all in good condition and the library had quite a few books . Furthermore, the teacher¡¯s all had lots of experience in their teaching careers as thus would be able to impart knowledge onto the kids with great efficiency.

    Chloe wore the standard blue and white uniform which consisted of a white t-shirt, a grey vest, a dark blue blazer and a blue skirt. The men¡¯s uniforms swapped out the blue skirt for blue trousers, which female students could also wear instead.

    The older woman had been reluctant to buy the uniform, but conceded after Chloe pleaded with her drunken state multiple times, although Chloe hadn¡¯t received it for free, having to tolerate the intoxicated shouts and slaps of a woman who lacked empathy.

    Walking to school, Chloe saw the neighbourhood shift from working class to middle class, no more apartment blocks to be seen, rather suburban houses with mostly 3 stories. The other children she saw along the way which wore the same uniform as her all had at least one other person accompanying them.

    You see, the secondary school she was going to attend had a sister lower school which nearly all the students, which passed the grade requirements for the secondary school, joined. Thus most students had already formed cliques. Finding any friends would be a tough challenge, not that the young girl would try to make any, as she thought it would be a futile act.

    She had received her time table in the mail a week prior to the first day of the year. Chloe did not discriminate between the subjects, she liked them all and had no particular favourite. The school separated each years students into 4 groups, labelled 7-A, 7-B, 7-C and 7-D respectively.

    Chloe had been allocated to class 7-B and thus followed the signs on the walls of the building to reach the classroom that had been given to 7-B for roll call. Opening the door, multiple pairs of eyes greeted her before looking back out of disinterest. The young girl did not mind, rather choosing to survey the available seats.

    The classroom was split into five rows of seats, each with six desks each for a total of thirty students in a class and one hundred and twenty students accepted every year. Chloe ruled out the three rows closest to the back, before deciding on a seat in the second row, closest to the door which she just walked through.

    There were two entrances to the classroom, the one Chloe had just walked through revealed a large whiteboard to her right and a projector above it. The young girl maneuverer over to her chosen seat, putting down her bag, and sat down.

    She pulled a book out of her bag and flicked through it before stopping on a bookmark. Starting to read, she tuned the other student¡¯s conversations out, focusing on the book. It must have been ten or fifteen minutes before she someone tapped on her shoulder, pulling her out of the book.

    The young girl cast her eyes over to the owner of the hand. A head of scruffy dark black hair covered the boy¡¯s eyes. He wore the same uniform that Chloe had been wearing, confirming to her that he was indeed a fellow student.

    The index finger which he used to to tap the young girl¡¯s shoulder was now pointing towards the whiteboard at the front. Chloe looked towards the front of the classroom to see that the homeroom teacher was introducing herself.

    ¡°Hello class, my name is Mrs. Smith. This homeroom you guys will be introducing yourselves to myself and your fellow classmates. We¡¯ll go from left to right, starting from the front row.¡± explained the teacher.

    A few disgruntled sighs erupted from within the classroom before the first student stood up introducing themselves. Chloe was not particularly bothered by the obligatory introduction, on the contrary actually. This would save her having to individually introduce herself to every student that came up to her, although she doubted that many would.

    When her turn came to pass she stood up and spoke, ¡°My name is Chloe. Chloe barker. I went to ST Anthony¡¯s lower school.¡± said the young girl with a quiet voice before sitting down. The boy next to her seemed to have some sort of reaction when Chloe had introduced herself, it seemed as thought he knew her.

    The boy¡¯s turn was next, ¡°My name is Y/n. Y/n Johnson. I hope we can work well with each other.¡± he stated. Whilst sitting down he side eyed Chloe, as if trying to see if she had any reaction to his name. No dice.

    The young girl had already gone back to reading her book, the only reason she hadn¡¯t been reading was to ensure that she would introduce herself in a timely fashion. Y/n seemed to be somewhat disgruntled from her reaction, or rather lack of.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Never the less, Y/n decided that he would attempt to start a conversation with her whenever she was alone. He wasn¡¯t that good at talking to people, especially so when there were more than one person in the vicinity.

    The bell rung, signifying that the students should get to their first class. Chloe put her book in her bag and went to her first class, English. Each class lasted an hour, with there being 5 classes in one day for a total of 5 hours of learning.

    After English, science followed and then 15 minutes of break time which Chloe spent searching for the library. She had already decided that she would study during lunch in the library, as it was the place most devoid of distractions. Walking down the corridor, she read the sign next to a set of mahogany double doors before opening the door.

    Unfortunately they wouldn¡¯t budge. It seemed as though Chloe lacked the physical force to push the heavy set of doors open. A cough sounded from behind her, prompting the girl to look over her shoulder. Y/n was there, ¡°I¡¯ll open it for you.¡± the boy said before walking next to Chloe and pushing the door open, exerting some effort.

    Y/n was taller than Chloe by a few inches and certainly was stronger than his female counterpart. Even so, ¡°Heavy¡± the boy mumbled under his breath before turning around to give a small smile directed towards Chloe.

    ¡°Thanks¡± said the little girl before she walked past Y/n. A nice smell invaded her senses, Chloe had always liked the smell of books and the library in front of her contained what seemed like an endless sea of shelves upon shelves of books.

    There were a few rows of tables with adjacent chairs which a few students were using to read books. ''Perfect'' Chloe thought before moving over to a vacant table, sitting down and reading her book.

    Y/n had been observing Chloe¡¯s actions before deciding to browse for an interesting book. ''Perhaps If I read with her, I¡¯ll be able to start a conversation with Chloe.¡± he thought.

    Chloe who was consumed in her endless journey for knowledge had not noticed Y/n as he shuffled around her table before gaining the courage to sit down in a seat somewhat far away from her.

    The table was 2 metres by 2 metres, with 6 chairs, three on each side. Chloe and Y/n where sitting on opposite ends of the table, it would seen Y/n had yet to build the confidence to sit in front of her.

    The past month had definitely been arduous for Y/n. Starting from two seats away from his goal, every lunch time he would follow his classmate into the library, opening the door for her and then sitting on the same table. A week ago he finally managed to move a seat closer to his goal but had yet to take the last step.

    Chloe, on the other hand, had not yet noticed Y/n¡¯s advances. She was thoroughly satisfied with her new school, the classes were sublime in comparison to the time she spent in her abode, and she could ask the teacher if she didn¡¯t understand anything. Her previous school¡¯s teachers weren¡¯t exactly that bothered with extra questions.

    Furthermore, the young girl had been able to spend her lunch breaks in a library which was actually quiet. The librarian was a nice old lady who had many great book recommendations thus, Chloe didn¡¯t even mind the 15 minute walk to the school if it meant that she would get to spend more time in the library.

    Unfortunately, her insomnia still make the weak girl constantly tired and not eating three meals a day made the situation even worse. On this particular day, she had been awake for about 2 days straight. The frequent walks to school had made her even more tired than usual, resulting in Chloe accidentally sleeping in her precious library time.

    Coincidentally, this was the day that Y/n was planning on making his final move to the seat located in front of Chloe. As he sat down, Y/n had yet to notice that the young girl in front of him was asleep.

    ¡°Good morning Chloe! You probably know that my name is Y/n .... I attended your father¡¯s funeral a few years ago and we played together for a bit.¡± Y/n mumbled whilst looked at his desk.

    Silence. After around thirty seconds, Y/n finally looked upwards, only to find the girl he thought he was talking to fast asleep. He ruffled his hair in annoyance and sighed, ¡°How did I not see that she was asleep...¡± he muttered quietly.

    ¡®I¡¯ll try again tomorrow... for now I¡¯ll just read my book like usual...¡¯he thought. The book he was reading about was a fiction book about a murder mystery case. He liked the genre as he tried to guess who was the killer before they were unveiled. Spoiler, he got it wrong most of the time.

    Occasionally peaking at Chloe¡¯s sleeping figure every once in while, the period of time that he spent looking at the girl increased. It took only fifteen or so minutes for Y/n to fully abandon the book in lieu of staring at the girl¡¯s sleeping form.

    Unfortunately, such moments of peace are usually short lived for the bell signifying that school was about to start had sounded out. Chloe, awakened by the curtly sounding noise, frowned as she realised that sleep had bested her resulting in a loss of reading time. Her eyes scanned the area before resting on Y/n¡¯s orbs which lied in front of her.

    Their eyes connected, Y/n flinching in surprise before hastily redirecting his gaze towards his bag. The young girl rubbed her eyes as she stood up, picking up her things before heading towards the door, tactfully waiting for someone else to exit before following them in order to not have to unfruitfully attempt to open the door.

    ¡®What a failure...¡¯ Y/n thought with a frown on his face. Never mind. He would try again tomorrow.

    Like Chloe, Y/n had lost a family member, his mother, and thus lived alone with his father, Fredrick Olsen. Y/n often immersed himself in fiction books, such as the murder mystery book that he was reading in the library. His favourite fiction series was called ¡°A Series Of Unfortunate Events¡± in which three siblings lose their family in a fire and are chased by the arsonists in order to inherit the children¡¯s large fortune.

    Y/n didn¡¯t really have many other hobbies, thus his room was comprised of shelves full of books, a solitary single bed and a workspace for studying. Despite his hobbies, Y/n was quite the socialite and enjoyed hanging out with, and making new, friends.

    Chloe was a bit different from all the other kids that he wanted to become friends with; he could spend what seemed like an eternity gazing upon her for and would get somewhat nervous being around her, even though he was an extroverted kid.

    Days passed as usual for the young girl, apart for Y/n sparking one-sided conversations with her. Chloe was not much of a talker, especially after her little ¡®incident¡¯. Sometimes, whilst Y/n was talking, she would look down to her leg and feel shivers as she recalled the state it used to be in.

    As the days passed with Y/n making occasional small talk, Chloe¡¯s mother started to spent much less time at home, and for when she inevitably did come home it was because she was completely drunk and or had brought someone home.

 Act 1 - Chapter 5 - Companion

    W/n Every time I try to spell omelette I write omlet. Enjoy.

    <hr>

    Due to Chloe¡¯s excellent academical prowess, the headmaster had recommended her into a somewhat prestigious secondary school, which he had hoped would allow her to excel further. The school was about a 15 minute walk there and back, a distance which would leave Chloe with enough energy to focus on her classes, but not much more than that.

    Never the less, Chloe had been a tiny bit happy that she would be challenged further, since she spend so much time studying that it might as well have been her hobby, her previous school did not provide a good environment for academia. (noisy libraries + classes etc)

    The school had a modern vibe to it, having been built ten or so years ago, the facilities were all in good condition and the library had quite a few books . Furthermore, the teacher¡¯s all had lots of experience in their teaching careers as thus would be able to impart knowledge onto the kids with great efficiency.

    Chloe wore the standard blue and white uniform which consisted of a white t-shirt, a grey vest, a dark blue blazer and a blue skirt. The men¡¯s uniforms swapped out the blue skirt for blue trousers, which female students could also wear instead.

    The older woman had been reluctant to buy the uniform, but conceded after Chloe pleaded with her drunken state multiple times, although Chloe hadn¡¯t received it for free, having to tolerate the intoxicated shouts and slaps of a woman who lacked empathy.

    Walking to school, Chloe saw the neighbourhood shift from working class to middle class, no more apartment blocks to be seen, rather suburban houses with mostly 3 stories. The other children she saw along the way which wore the same uniform as her all had at least one other person accompanying them.

    You see, the secondary school she was going to attend had a sister lower school which nearly all the students, which passed the grade requirements for the secondary school, joined. Thus most students had already formed cliques. Finding any friends would be a tough challenge, not that the young girl would try to make any, as she thought it would be a futile act.

    She had received her time table in the mail a week prior to the first day of the year. Chloe did not discriminate between the subjects, she liked them all and had no particular favourite. The school separated each years students into 4 groups, labelled 7-A, 7-B, 7-C and 7-D respectively.

    Chloe had been allocated to class 7-B and thus followed the signs on the walls of the building to reach the classroom that had been given to 7-B for roll call. Opening the door, multiple pairs of eyes greeted her before looking back out of disinterest. The young girl did not mind, rather choosing to survey the available seats.

    The classroom was split into five rows of seats, each with six desks each for a total of thirty students in a class and one hundred and twenty students accepted every year. Chloe ruled out the three rows closest to the back, before deciding on a seat in the second row, closest to the door which she just walked through.

    There were two entrances to the classroom, the one Chloe had just walked through revealed a large whiteboard to her right and a projector above it. The young girl maneuverer over to her chosen seat, putting down her bag, and sat down.

    She pulled a book out of her bag and flicked through it before stopping on a bookmark. Starting to read, she tuned the other student¡¯s conversations out, focusing on the book. It must have been ten or fifteen minutes before she someone tapped on her shoulder, pulling her out of the book.

    The young girl cast her eyes over to the owner of the hand. A head of scruffy dark black hair covered the boy¡¯s eyes. He wore the same uniform that Chloe had been wearing, confirming to her that he was indeed a fellow student.

    The index finger which he used to to tap the young girl¡¯s shoulder was now pointing towards the whiteboard at the front. Chloe looked towards the front of the classroom to see that the homeroom teacher was introducing herself.

    ¡°Hello class, my name is Mrs. Smith. This homeroom you guys will be introducing yourselves to myself and your fellow classmates. We¡¯ll go from left to right, starting from the front row.¡± explained the teacher.

    A few disgruntled sighs erupted from within the classroom before the first student stood up introducing themselves. Chloe was not particularly bothered by the obligatory introduction, on the contrary actually. This would save her having to individually introduce herself to every student that came up to her, although she doubted that many would.

    When her turn came to pass she stood up and spoke, ¡°My name is Chloe. Chloe barker. I went to ST Anthony¡¯s lower school.¡± said the young girl with a quiet voice before sitting down. The boy next to her seemed to have some sort of reaction when Chloe had introduced herself, it seemed as thought he knew her.

    The boy¡¯s turn was next, ¡°My name is Y/n. Y/n Johnson. I hope we can work well with each other.¡± he stated. Whilst sitting down he side eyed Chloe, as if trying to see if she had any reaction to his name. No dice.

    The young girl had already gone back to reading her book, the only reason she hadn¡¯t been reading was to ensure that she would introduce herself in a timely fashion. Y/n seemed to be somewhat disgruntled from her reaction, or rather lack of.

    Never the less, Y/n decided that he would attempt to start a conversation with her whenever she was alone. He wasn¡¯t that good at talking to people, especially so when there were more than one person in the vicinity.

    The bell rung, signifying that the students should get to their first class. Chloe put her book in her bag and went to her first class, English. Each class lasted an hour, with there being 5 classes in one day for a total of 5 hours of learning.

    After English, science followed and then 15 minutes of break time which Chloe spent searching for the library. She had already decided that she would study during lunch in the library, as it was the place most devoid of distractions. Walking down the corridor, she read the sign next to a set of mahogany double doors before opening the door.

    Unfortunately they wouldn¡¯t budge. It seemed as though Chloe lacked the physical force to push the heavy set of doors open. A cough sounded from behind her, prompting the girl to look over her shoulder. Y/n was there, ¡°I¡¯ll open it for you.¡± the boy said before walking next to Chloe and pushing the door open, exerting some effort.

    Y/n was taller than Chloe by a few inches and certainly was stronger than his female counterpart. Even so, ¡°Heavy¡± the boy mumbled under his breath before turning around to give a small smile directed towards Chloe.

    ¡°Thanks¡± said the little girl before she walked past Y/n. A nice smell invaded her senses, Chloe had always liked the smell of books and the library in front of her contained what seemed like an endless sea of shelves upon shelves of books.

    There were a few rows of tables with adjacent chairs which a few students were using to read books.

    ¡®Perfect ''Chloe thought before moving over to a vacant table, sitting down and reading her book.

    Y/n had been observing Chloe¡¯s actions before deciding to browse for an interesting book.

    ¡¯Perhaps If I read with her, I¡¯ll be able to start a conversation with Chloe.¡± he thought.

    Chloe who was consumed in her endless journey for knowledge had not noticed Y/n as he shuffled around her table before gaining the courage to sit down in a seat somewhat far away from her.

    The table was 2 metres by 2 metres, with 6 chairs, three on each side. Chloe and Y/n where sitting on opposite ends of the table, it would seen Y/n had yet to build the confidence to sit in front of her.

    The past month had definitely been arduous for Y/n. Starting from two seats away from his goal, every lunch time he would follow his classmate into the library, opening the door for her and then sitting on the same table. A week ago he finally managed to move a seat closer to his goal but had yet to take the last step.

    Chloe, on the other hand, had not yet noticed Y/n¡¯s advances. She was thoroughly satisfied with her new school, the classes were sublime in comparison to the time she spent in her abode, and she could ask the teacher if she didn¡¯t understand anything. Her previous school¡¯s teachers weren¡¯t exactly that bothered with extra questions.

    Furthermore, the young girl had been able to spend her lunch breaks in a library which was actually quiet. The librarian was a nice old lady who had many great book recommendations thus, Chloe didn¡¯t even mind the 15 minute walk to the school if it meant that she would get to spend more time in the library.

    Unfortunately, her insomnia still make the weak girl constantly tired and not eating three meals a day made the situation even worse. On this particular day, she had been awake for about 2 days straight. The frequent walks to school had made her even more tired than usual, resulting in Chloe accidentally sleeping in her precious library time.

    Coincidentally, this was the day that Y/n was planning on making his final move to the seat located in front of Chloe. As he sat down, Y/n had yet to notice that the young girl in front of him was asleep.

    ¡°Good morning Chloe! You probably know that my name is Y/n .... I attended your father¡¯s funeral a few years ago and we played together for a bit.¡± Y/n mumbled whilst looked at his desk.

    Silence. After around thirty seconds, Y/n finally looked upwards, only to find the girl he thought he was talking to fast asleep. He ruffled his hair in annoyance and sighed, ¡°How did I not see that she was asleep...¡± he muttered quietly.

    ¡®I¡¯ll try again tomorrow... for now I¡¯ll just read my book like usual...¡¯ he thought. The book he was reading about was a fiction book about a murder mystery case. He liked the genre as he tried to guess who was the killer before they were unveiled. Spoiler, he got it wrong most of the time.

    Occasionally peaking at Chloe¡¯s sleeping figure every once in while, the period of time that he spent looking at the girl increased. It took only fifteen or so minutes for Y/n to fully abandon the book in lieu of staring at the girl¡¯s sleeping form.

    Unfortunately, such moments of peace are usually short lived for the bell signifying that school was about to start had sounded out. Chloe, awakened by the curtly sounding noise, frowned as she realised that sleep had bested her resulting in a loss of reading time. Her eyes scanned the area before resting on Y/n¡¯s orbs which lied in front of her.

    Their eyes connected, Y/n flinching in surprise before hastily redirecting his gaze towards his bag. The young girl rubbed her eyes as she stood up, picking up her things before heading towards the door, tactfully waiting for someone else to exit before following them in order to not have to unfruitfully attempt to open the door.

    ¡®What a failure..¡¯ Y/n thought with a frown on his face. Never mind. He would try again tomorrow.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Like Chloe, Y/n had lost a family member, his mother, and thus lived alone with his father, Fredrick Olsen. Y/n often immersed himself in fiction books, such as the murder mystery book that he was reading in the library. His favourite fiction series was called ¡°A Series Of Unfortunate Events¡± in which three siblings lose their family in a fire and are chased by the arsonists in order to inherit the children¡¯s large fortune.

    Y/n didn¡¯t really have many other hobbies, thus his room was comprised of shelves full of books, a solitary single bed and a workspace for studying. Despite his hobbies, Y/n was quite the socialite and enjoyed hanging out with, and making new, friends.

    Chloe was a bit different from all the other kids that he wanted to become friends with; he could spend what seemed like an eternity gazing upon her for and would get somewhat nervous being around her, even though he was an extroverted kid.

    Days passed as usual for the young girl, apart for Y/n sparking one-sided conversations with her. Chloe was not much of a talker, especially after her little ¡®incident¡¯. Sometimes, whilst Y/n was talking, she would look down to her leg and feel shivers as she recalled the state it used to be in.

    As the days passed with Y/n making occasional small talk, Chloe¡¯s mother started to spent much less time at home, and for when she inevitably did come home it was because she was completely drunk and or had brought someone home.

    <hr>

    One of the worst experiences when going to sleep is, hands down, waking up soaked in your own sweat. This was especially the case for Chloe, now aged 16. She hadn¡¯t recovered from the nightmares that had plagued her from Mikhail¡¯s unsightly death. Once she had woken up from one, there was simply no way of going back to sleep for Chloe.

    After a year or two of one sided conversations, the young girl began to involve herself in the conversations with Y/n, much to his delight. The two of them had became close knit friends and would usually spend their free time with each other when possible.

    When Y/n and Chloe started to eat lunch together, Y/n would quickly come to the realisation that the young girl didn¡¯t have a lunch to eat, and thus would normally donate some food from his packed lunch for her to eat, a famished smile adorned on the blank canvas that was her face.

    This day in particular had symbolised the start of her new college life, which she had expected would go no differently from her previous school experience. Thanks to her and Y/n¡¯s studious past times, they both had no problem with exams throughout their secondary school years.

    After turning 16, Chloe applied for a job at a local caf¨¦ as a waitress in order to obtain the money needed to buy food to eat, majorly improving her physical health. The caf¨¦, named ¡°The Red Herring¡±, served primarily desserts and drinks such as coffee, paid pretty well and provided a calm work environment for Chloe to take her mind off things.

    The teenaged girl was small in stature, at a towering height of 160cm, her cascading orange locks no longer had been cut short. Over the past few years, with no money to even feed herself, her hair had grown long. Although the girl had money nowadays she had grown fond of her long hairstyle. Besides, Y/n had always said that it fit her quite well.

    Today, due to enduring another nightmare, the girl had woken up earlier than she usual arose. It took the most part of 5 whole years, post accident, for Chloe to be able to go to sleep on a daily basis.

    Although, just because she could go to sleep did not guarantee that she would stay asleep. As before mentioned, nightmares plagued her constantly limiting the amount of slumber she could obtain.

    Chloe had woken up today at 5am, three hours before her school would commence. Deciding that taking a shower would be the best course of action, she slipped out of bed feeling the cold rake against her skin. Ignoring the unpleasant sensation, she entered the bathroom and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above her sink.

    The short girl¡¯s orange hair was messy and tangled, eyebags a permanent resident on her features. Brown freckles decorated her white skin, a groggy expression splayed across her face.

    Her small build was littered with black bruises, some fresh, the others old. The abuse from the older woman never ceased and usually took place in areas of Chloe¡¯s body which could not be seen when she was clothed.

    Her injuries healed slowly due to the lack of food she had available and the older woman would usually use blunt objects in order to maximise the force she could exhibit on the former¡¯s body without causing blood to be spilt.

    The young teen had lost count of the many nights she had spent crying in pain after being tormented by the older woman. Thankfully, none of the beatings had resulted in any lasting severe physical trauma. Though her mental state was a sight to see indeed.

    ¡®I can¡¯t wait to take a hot shower¡¯ she thought as she rubbed her eyes, turning on the shower head. The steamy water hit her hair, her expression softening resulting in a small sigh of approval from the teen.

    Her thoughts darted from school work to her sole friend, Y/n. They had been companions for quite some time now, at this point Chloe couldn¡¯t think of life without him. On that note, they had been hanging out in the young girl¡¯s place of work pretty frequently due to the lack of noise and old oak bookshelves which were filled to the brim, serving as fantastic sources of entertainment for the two.

    Her wet hair obfuscated her vision as she used shampoo and some conditioner, ¡®I wonder what he thought about the plot twist... I bet he was shocked~!¡¯she giggled. Ignoring the bruises which adorned her figure, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off before returning to her room and equipping a sharp grey and blue outfit that was her new official school uniform.

    Stepping out the room in order to prepare some breakfast, she met the older woman would stood before her, a loosely fitting white blouse was the only piece of clothes which she wore. The woman stared bullets at her younger counterpart before lurching forwards and backhanding the small teen, who stood firm in response.

    The older woman then staggered a bit before regaining her balance and continuing her assault, this time targeting Chloe¡¯s stomach, sending her to the ground with a shove, the taller women finishing her tantrum with a heavy kick.

    ¡°You...You.. make me feel sick...¡± she rambled before holding a hand over her mouth and rushing to the bathroom, completely forgetting that Chloe was in her way resulting in her nearly tripping over the girl, shutting the door after she had reached her destination.

    Chloe laid motionless on the floor, recovering from the flurry of slaps and punches that she had endured, before slowly pushing herself up from the floor. Using the counter as a crutch of sorts, she slowly inched towards the fridge, grabbing a few eggs and sausages in order to make some breakfast.

    The young girl¡¯s cooking skills were lacklustre due to her lack of experience, messing up the cracking of her eggs and having to fish the fallen shell out of the bowl of eggs which she whisked before putting onto a hot pan, which had sunflower oil unevenly spread throughout the pan.

    ¡®I should have enough time to make breakfast and leave before she recovers from her hangover... Gotta be quick...¡¯ She thought, hastily preparing her food, plating her omelette and sausages.

    With no time to spare she grabbed a fork and eat standing before grabbing her backpack and rushing out of the apartment.

    Without Y/n at her side she felt empty and defunct. A meaningless existence. If possible Chloe would have preferred to be around him 24/7, but alas that was unfeasible for now. Slowly walking towards his house, she looked at the scenery around her, a mass of unfathomably large grey skyscrapers blocking the sun from shining it¡¯s rays down upon her.

    ¡®How drab...¡¯She thought as she shuffled forward at a faster pace than before in order to move away from all the sun¡¯s obstructions. A patch of light stood before her causing her to move towards it, the rays of light exorbitantly bouncing of her lifeless eyes.

    Y/n lived in quite the expensive neighbour hood. All the houses were painted a pure white colour, which seemed to glisten under the sun¡¯s warmth, expensive cars lining the driveways. Each house had three floors as many windows that looked out towards the street. Thanks to her and Y/n¡¯s continuous hard work they had both managed to secure a place at a prestigious college, although if Y/n willed it he could have just asked his father to bribe them both in.

    The male teen declined the scholarship that was offered to him, unlike Chloe who accepted, due to his financial position not requiring aid. This was a huge boon for the orange haired teen who would not have been able to attend the college otherwise due to expensive attendance fees.

    Reaching the front of his house, she waited outside the gate for about an hour until Y/n finally walked out. Chloe hadn¡¯t minded waiting for so long since she didn¡¯t want to wake Y/n up early, the girl knew that her friend loved to sleep in for as long as possible, hence his current appearance.

    Chloe walked over to Y/n before tugging on his blazer, which was loosely buttoned up. Y/n looked over his shoulder before a smile came to his face, ¡°Hey Chloe! How long were you waiting for me?¡± he queried, a slightly apologetic expression bloomed upon his features.

    ¡°About ten minutes.¡± she lied, ¡°You have bed hair by the way¡± she added with a smug smile equipped.

    Y/n quickly forgot about his previous question, hastily ruffling his hair until he thought his appearance was to his satisfaction. A small smile crept on the girl¡¯s face as she watched him scramble to make himself presentable.

    It took them 10 minutes to arrive at their college, which had been built quite some time ago by a famous Nobel Prize winner. The private college was comprised up of around 450 students and offered a very wide range of Advanced courses to take.

    Chloe had chosen five main subjects; Maths, English language, Physics, Biology and Art. Y/n had chosen only two of the same subjects, Maths and physics, and thus they would be apart for most of the school day.

    Since the small orange teen was of a poor background, she didn¡¯t exactly get on well with the rest of the students. Only a couple of people, such as Chloe, had managed to get in without donating to the school board.

    Y/n was definitely not a bad looking guy. As the social butterfly that he was, the black haired teen had made many male and female friends during their few months in the school, unlike Chloe who had no such intentions. This had resulted in a few of Y/n¡¯s admirers coming to dislike the orange teen who had came from such a poor background and still had the gall to hang out around Y/N.

    <hr>

    The sound of the copper bell signified that it was indeed now lunch time, followed close by a flood of conversations erupting within the Art classroom. Their task had been to draw and shade a few basic objects such as apples, balls and bottles in order to better command the ability to draw realistic shadows.

    Chloe enjoyed drawing since a young age, a small notebook hidden in the back of her draws at her apartment would attest to this. She found it useful as a form of escapism from when she had been abused or was feeling lonely.

    There were quite a few sketches of her and Y/n or of the scenery that she had seen throughout her day, although most of her old sketches were in grey and white as she couldn¡¯t afford to buy coloured pencils.

    The girl had never really deeply thought about the details of the shadows of an object, so she found this drawing exercise to be quite intriguing, unlike some of the other students who had used the time to talk whilst half-heartedly drawing.

    As she was packing her things up, a trio of girls came over to her table and took her backpack, ¡°Follow us if you want it back, you filthy beggar¡± the lead girl sneered before leaving the room.

    The usual meeting spots, where Chloe and the trio met, were either the top of the roof, under the stairs or at the back of the field. One thing all these locations had in common was that they were all isolated areas.

    Today it was under the stairs of the ground floor. Clenching her fists, the small-statured orange teen crumbled to the ground under the resultant force of a kick aimed directly at her stomach, served by one of the underlings.

    ¡°You Mutt, how many times have we warned you to keep your little nasty paws away from Y/n? You contaminate even the air around us, I simply can not fathom how Y/n must feel having to be near you.¡± snarkily added the other sidekick.

    The leader simply coldly stared at Chloe as she laid on the ground, who was slowly pushing herself up, before throwing the orange teen¡¯s backpack on the floor and kicking it over to her. ¡°Heed our words you pest.¡± she added before rounding up her friends and pridefully striding away.

    The trio would usually have their little meetings with her once a week or so, the severity of the beatings increasing each time. At first is was just a bit of pushing, but now a few months had passed and they had already resorted to kicking and punching.

    It didn¡¯t matter. To Chloe, this type of harassment did not even make her flinch. She¡¯d dealt with worse. Dusting off her uniform, she slung on her backpack and made her way towards the cafeteria. Thanks to her intellectual prowess, the scholarship awarded to her provided free meals, enrolment and some free equipment such as a school uniform. Lunch was no longer sourced by Y/n, much to Chloe¡¯s dismay.

    Reaching her destination, the small statured teen attempted to search for Y/n who was quite taller than the latter and was equipped with dark black hair which hung over his left eye. Unfortunately, due to her viewpoint being obfuscated by the hordes of people flooding the cafeteria she had to wonder around and hope that she¡¯d bump into him.

    And bump into him she did, the taller teen patted Chloe on the head with a smug grin, ¡°Little Child, have you lost your mother?¡± Y/n quipped, earning a pout from the orange haired teen before they both made their way other to the food line.

    They conversed about what had occurred earlier in their respective classes, Chloe going over how she enjoyed learning about how to properly shade objects stating that it would improve the quality of the sketches she drew at home.

    ¡°You should really let me see your sketch book Chloe, I¡¯ve wanted to for a few years since you first mentioned it.¡± huffed Y/n with a frown, faking sadness.

    ¡°Never.¡± the orange teen responded, her hair moving frantically as she moved her head back and forth.

    ¡äAs If I¡¯d ever show him the sketches I¡¯ve drawn of him... Not in a million years.¡ä she inwardly cowered.

    ¡°Stubborn¡± commented Y/n, a smile present on his face. A small blush unnoticed by the small orange teen.

    <hr>

    Sorry for the long chapter, some of C4 was moved into C5. This is due to my next book being a complete reimagining of this book. I had planned to keep C1-C4 the same in the new book, but ended up completely rewriting the chapters anyway, so I guess all that reshuffling was for naught :/ .

 Act 1 - Chapter 6 - Red Herring

    With school at a close the pair started to make their way to Chloe¡¯s place of work to spend the rest of their evening. Her shift lasted from 4 till 8, Y/n usually making the most of his time by doing his homework or reading murder mystery books. Nowadays, Y/n could guess who the culprit most of the time, a vast improvement from when he had started reading the genre.

    The two traded words as they talked about what books they were reading as of current, or what teachers had taught them today. Both had large grins equipped on their countenance as they briskly walked towards their destination.

    After ten minutes or so, a small shop appeared in the distance. The front consisted of a large glass window with red walls surrounding it, black letters were imprinted on the glass reading, ¡°The Red Herring¡±.

    The shop was build in a ¡®r¡¯ shape, the kitchen occupying the top left area with tables dotted around the entrance and bookshelves, sofa chairs close by. As they walked into the shop, Y/n opening the door for Chloe, a bell sound resounded across the shop, causing the staff to look towards the entrance.

    A girl clothed in a brown turtleneck, patchy blue skinny jeans and a black apron, which had the words ¡°The red herring¡± in a red font, shuffled over to Chloe before embracing her into a tight hug.

    ¡°Chloe!!!! Just the person I¡¯ve been waiting for! Oh my god, there are way to many customers... we¡¯re totally swamped right now, hurry and give us a helping hand!¡± the girl explained before glancing over to Y/n, becoming flustered once she realised he was looking at her.

    ¡°Alright, Angelica I¡¯ll get dressed right away.¡± Chloe monotonously responded before walking over to the locker room.

    ¡°I see you¡¯ve come along with Chloe again, what¡¯cha going to be reading today Y/n?¡± she questioned, her hand raised to her chin forming a L shape as if she was thinking really hard about the question.

    Y/n hastily responded, clearly excited to tell another person about the book he was reading. A bit after the two had finished up talking and Y/n had relocated himself to his usual place of residence next to the bookshelves, Chloe walked out of the locker room and glanced at Y/n before starting to help with the overflowing orders.

    As Chloe¡¯s shift was four hours long, Y/n would usually order a few drinks or a bite to eat, which she would attempt to personally fulfil. Y/n, whilst reading his book or doing homework, would glance at Chloe as she hastily handed out drinks and food.

    In his eyes, Chloe was beautiful but, most importantly, extremely fragile. The small girl not only had a weak constitution from birth but had also been very malnourished for quite a large portion of her life.

    Y/n had no doubt in his mind that Chloe was exhausted by all the moving around, usually by the end of her shift he would offer to piggyback her home, to which she almost always accepted. Unbeknownst to Y/n, the female co-worker that had greeted the both when they entered the shop had been glancing at Y/n and had noticed his frequent gaze directed towards Chloe garnering a frown from the girl.

    The four hour long shift ended after what seemed like forever for the small teen. She sluggishly slipped into her previous school wear before heading towards the exit of the locker room, only to be confronted by Angelica.

    ¡°So... What¡¯s the deal with you and Y/n? You guys going out or something?¡± she interrogated.

    Visibly flustered Chloe spluttered, ¡°No No No, we are just friends... That¡¯s all...¡°.

    ¡°Just friends huh.... So Y/n¡¯s available?¡± she quivered, a smug look painted all over her countenance.

    Chloe frowned in response, ¡°Ask him not me.¡± she said, clearly not liking where this conversation was going.

    ¡®I should get going before she asks me anything more.¡¯  the orange haired teen thought before saying goodbye to Angelica, closing the door on her way out.

    Seeing Chloe leave the locker room adorned in her usual outfit, Y/n smiled before packing up his stuff and moving over to the orange haired teen in order to congratulate her on a day of hard work completed.

    ¡°You look exhausted, we best get you home so you can rest!¡± he suggested.

    A small dissatisfied look appeared on Chloe¡¯s face before she responded, ¡°Ahh, before that I need to stop at the grocery store to grab some food!¡°.

    The small teen looked over apologetically towards Y/n before putting her hands into a praying position and bowing her head.

    ¡°No sweat!¡± He replied before moved towards the exit. Summer was over, a new school year had began, bringing with it shortened days and cold nights. Today was one of such nights as the sun was disappearing, replaced by a navy blue sky and dense grey clouds.

    Y/n crouched down, prompting Chloe to jump onto his back, before he walked to the grocery shop located on the way to the young girl¡¯s place of residence.

    In reality, Chloe didn¡¯t really need any more food from the grocery store, she just didn¡¯t want to depart from Y/n so soon. Talking whilst walking alongside him, or in this case riding on top of him, really was one of main highlights of her day.

    The male was from an upper class family, one of the only disadvantages he had growing up with was the loss of his mother at an early age. This loss allowed Y/n to sympathise with Chloe about the death of her father, however he realised that what he had felt due to the death of his mother was probably not as bad as watching a family member get hit by a vehicle and be lying in their blood as they painfully bleed out on the cold hard concrete.

    Unfortunately, he was not at all aware of the suffering which Chloe had to endure due to the older woman¡¯s constant physical and mental abuse. Not long after their departure from the young teen¡¯s workplace, even with their short trip to the grocery store, Chloe soon found herself saying goodnight to Y/n as he waved goodbye, turning his back and walking away.

    The older woman had quite the large hubris, as one would require to be able to mentally and physically destroy a young child without any thoughts that they may in fact be a terrible person. Y/n¡¯s father had repeatedly offered to give some financial aid to them, but was turned away every time.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    In order to keep the apartment and fuel her alcoholic tendencies, she worked two jobs which took up around 12-16 hours of her day. Today was one of Chloe¡¯s lucky days as the older woman was not in the house by the time she had been delivered home by the older boy.

    Placing her bag upon the table, she washed her hands before looking at the fridge to see what she would be cooking today. Whipping up some food, she quickly ate before studying a few hours and then going to sleep.

    <hr>

    Y/n and Chloe had already walked to school together, separating due to differences in schedules. Derrick, a classmate with baby blue eyes and silver hair, greeted Y/n as he walked into his first period.

    ¡°Good morning Bro! I¡¯m hosting a party at mine this sat, you in?¡± he pleaded.

    ¡°Sure, sounds fun! Who else is going?¡± agreed Y/n.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s gonna be a mosh pit! I¡¯ve invited a ton of people!¡± replied Derrick with a broad grin.

    ¡°Have you done the homework due in for today?¡± queried Y/n with a smile.

    Derrick¡¯s grin quickly disappeared from his face as he clutched his head, ¡°That was due in for today! Damn, I¡¯m definitely going to get grounded... Maybe even the party will be cancelled..¡± he mumbled in despair.

    ¡°Just copy mine.¡± Y/n laughed, handing over a sheet with many answers written on it. Derrick¡¯s eyes glistened as he gratefully thanked Y/n.

    <hr>

    Biology was one of the subjects that the orange haired teen adored. Being at the top of the class was a given for Chloe. The boy who sat next to her, Derrick, held her in quite high regard, partially due to her looks and grades.

    Usually, the only time he heard her speak was to reply to the teacher when they asked a question. However, today he had thought up of a marvellous plan that was fool proof in order to make her reply to him.

    The copper bell rang out, signifying the end of the class, resulting in hordes of students flooding the corridors in order to reach the lunch hall. Today, Chloe and Y/n were going to meet up on top of the school roof before going down to grab some grub.

    Making her way up towards the roof, she was abruptly disabled from going further by Derrick who had placed a hand upon her shoulder. She turned around to see the young man who had a quaint smile equipped upon his face.

    Engaging in small talk with Chloe, the young girl quickly lost interest in his poor attempt at communication resulting Derrick quickly enacting his masterful plan.

    ¡°So Chloe, there¡¯s a party that I¡¯m holding this Saturday and I¡¯ve invited Y/n to come, you in?¡± slyly queried Derrick, who had figured out by this point that the only way to get Chloe to respond to his speech was to include the word ¡°Y/n¡± in it.

    Orange locks moved about as the girl faced Derrick and nodded, resulting in the latter giving out his house location and the time at which the party would be taking place.

    <hr>

    A cool sensation spread throughout Chloe¡¯s hand as she opened the door leading to the roof. The sun¡¯s rays beat down smartly on her face as she lifted her hand to provide cover for herself. Squinting, she searched for Y/n who was presumably somewhere on the rooftop.

    There he was. His hair subject to the whims of the wind, cords leading from his ears to his pocket flooded his ears with music as he softly nodded his head to the beat. His eyes, black as coal, peered into the sky as he held his head up with his arm that laid on the railing, a soft expression painted on his countenance.

    The small teen stared at the boy for a minute or two before breaking out of the trance that he forced her into. Chloe¡¯s approach was quickly noticed by the former resulting in him taking his earbuds of out of his ears and stuffing them into his pocket before waving at the girl, a wide grin welcoming her.

    ¡°Hey Chloe! How was Biology?¡± he asked.

    ¡°It was pretty good. The material was stuff I¡¯ve been through though. I can¡¯t wait till next year when we can take advanced courses. By the way, are you going to Derrick¡¯s party on Saturday?¡± She responded.

    ¡°Yeah, he invited me to it in the morning. Why? Did he invite you too?¡± he queried.

    ¡°I agreed because he said you¡¯d be going as well.¡± she delineated.

    ¡°Great! This¡¯ll be the first party that we attend together! Let¡¯s have a blast for sure!¡± Y/n exclaimed.

    They talked for a bit more before heading down towards the cafeteria, which at this point in time had already became deserted as students migrated elsewhere after eating.

    <hr>

    After school, the duo briskly walked over to the orange teen¡¯s place of work. Chloe¡¯s shift was four hours long like usual, the only thing thing differing from the norm was one interaction between Chloe¡¯s co-worker and Y/n.

    Y/n had been reading a book for over two hours at this point, slowly sipping on his hot drink and occasionally taking a glance at the small teen who was delivering orders at a leisurely pace. Thankfully the shop was not too busy today meaning that Chloe was able to take proper breaks.

    Angelica¡¯s blond hair shuffled about as she made her way towards Y/n¡¯s temporary place of residence. Her hands were tightly knit behind her back as she nervously glanced towards the boy a few times.

    ¡°Hey Y/n! How was school today?¡± she queried with a smile.

    ¡°It was pretty good! What about you, how has your day been?¡± he shot back.

    Angelica was somewhat older than Y/n and was a university student, thus she had somewhat more of a free schedule than the two students.

    ¡°Ah, my lectures ended early in the morning so I¡¯ve been resting at home for quite a bit before coming on my shift!¡± she replied, her hands fiddling behind her back.

    ¡°By the way, I see that you like coming to desert shops like this one quite often, I know of another one that specialises in Italian deserts ... Would you like to come with me sometime?¡± she anxiously questioned with a small smile.

    Y/n was not new to being hit on. He¡¯d rejected a few girls from his school, but had never been hit on outside of school. Although this was a foreign experience for the youthful black haired teen, he still would answer the same way.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not interested.¡± he straightforwardly replied. Y/n was not the type to dilly dally when it came to matters of the heart. Being honest towards those that were diligent in expressing their feelings was something that he hoped would be reciprocated towards him in due time.

    Although when that time came, he hoped he would not be rejected.

    ¡°Oh, ok. Never mind then.¡± she said, clearly disappointed in his response.

    ¡°Enjoy your drink!¡± she added before walking away to fulfil other orders.

    ¡®I¡¯m not the type to give up on the first rejection anyways.¡¯ she thought as she walked away.

    Chloe had been overlooking their interaction and was pleasantly satisfied with the outcome, smiling a bit before going back into work mode, a welcoming fake smile adorning her features.

    <hr>

    Two figures walked towards each other, night looming closer by the minute. They both wore black hoodies and had nervous countenances as their eyes darted all around their surroundings to see if anyone was nearby.

    Once they had deemed that they were in the clear, they walked up to each other and began their conversation.

    ¡°Derrick. Have you invited them both to your party this Saturday? You can¡¯t get what you want if they don¡¯t both come.¡± a feminine voice sounded out.

    ¡°Yup, They both accepted. Now, give me the drugs, quickly, quickly... I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible. This Saturday is going to be awesome! The only reason I¡¯m letting you do this at my place is because you said you had them!¡± he rattled on, a malicious grin now apparent on his face.

    ¡°Calm down, you make it seem as if it¡¯s your first time doing this. What¡¯s so special about Chloe anyways? Those poor bitches are all the same!¡± she exclaimed, handing over a vile which contained something.

    ¡°This one is special. I got a Private Investigator to check out her background and guess what! Her dad was hit by a truck right in front of her when she was young and then she tried to commit suicide! I can¡¯t wait to see what kind of dilapidated expression she¡¯ll make!¡± He explained, drooling at the thought.

    Natasha peered at the boy in front of her, who was seemingly lost in his own ecstatic fantasy, before shoving the matter into the corner of her mind.

    ¡°Just make sure not to let anyone hear about this. If it reaches the public¡¯s ears before we can quell the rumours, we¡¯ll be in a troublesome position. Thankfully, the law will side with me even if Y/n ever went to the police.¡± she sneered, turning away and walking into the dark avenue behind her.

    ¡°Lucky you.¡± he chuckled

 Act 1 - Chapter 7 - Deception

    The weather forecasted that Friday would be a bright, sunny day with low chances of rain. This had prompted Chloe to invite Y/n out to the mall so that she could purchase clothes that she could wear to a party. This was a rare chance to see what kind of clothes Y/n was in to without fully disclosing her intentions.

    Thankfully, the orange haired teen had no interactions with Derrick nor the trio of girls that despised her so, which led her to be in a brilliant mood. Walking outside of the college building, the two friends moved towards the large mall that was located in the centre of the city.

    Derrick gave her a bad feeling, his way of talking and his persistent efforts to converse with her. It wasn¡¯t like when Y/n was trying to befriend her... he was more... handsy.

    Chloe was used to only wearing her school clothes and work clothes. She didn¡¯t really see the need for casual clothes over buying food. The bright blue sky shone down upon the two teens, seemingly in a great mood to see them once again.

    An arch of metal stood firm in front of them, beholding a large, two storied, mall which held over 70 different shops. The ground floor was filled with shops that the proletariat could buy from, whilst the first floor contained many highly expensive designer brands, such as Gucci and Selfridges.

    It was about four in the afternoon by the time they arrived at their location, the mall being chalk full of students who had arrived after school had ended, presumably to shop or to go the the arcade located on the ground floor of the mall. Y/n grasped Chloe¡¯s left hand as he led the way towards the shopping section, both teens blushing at the contact whilst looking away from each other.

    Music flooded the mall as a middle aged man sat down on the side of a shop and started to play a guitar. Y/n, intrigued by the sounds, walked over to them and donated some money, evoking gratitude from the ragged looking busker. The young man had felt that it was his responsibility to donate money when due to his wealthy background, being philanthropic was perhaps one of his best traits.

    Entering the shop, Chloe started to walk around the aisles, conversing with Y/n on what would look good with her. The small teen didn¡¯t really have much of a preference towards the clothes and picked out random clothes, feigning interest to see if Y/n liked them or not.

    Settling on two sets of clothes, one comprising of denim trousers, a white T-shirt and a orange and black checkered jacket. The other consisted of a baggy navy-blue jumper with a grey T-shirt and a comfortable pair of black jogging bottoms.

    The smaller counterpart of the two made her way over to the changing rooms in order to confirm that the clothes were, in fact, suited to her and fitted her. After a small waiting period, Chloe walked out in her first outfit, Y/n agreeing that their sense of taste, which was really just his own taste, was definitely on point.

    The second outfit fit just as well as the first resulting in both being bought, the bag being held by Y/n¡¯s right hand as they walked out of the shop.

    ¡°Hey Y/n, I¡¯m hungry so let¡¯s get something to eat...¡± she commented whilst rubbing her stomach.

    The taller teen laughed at her actions before moving over to grab her hand and move over to the closest good restaurant that he could remember. Both teens ordered food, Chloe ordering pasta whilst Y/n order {favourite food}.

    ¡°Hey Chloe, I¡¯m going to grab something real quick, I¡¯ll be back before the food comes.¡± Y/n explained before leaving his seat and heading towards the first floor of the mall.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll get her an expensive dress to commemorate our first party together! I bet it¡¯ll be a blast!¡±  he chuckled inwardly.

    <hr>

    Derrick¡¯s party was enroute to commence at 7:30 pm, having no designed time for when it should end. He had invited a few of his closest friends, including Y/n, so that he could properly prepare his house for the event.

    Locking rooms that he didn¡¯t want to be used, placing beverages on tables around the house, setting dim lighting everywhere and playing a list of songs throughout the speakers located everywhere around his abode.

    Y/n had chosen to wear a pair of loosely fitting black cargo trousers, a green camouflage T-shirt and a dark navy blue jacket. Thankfully, since he had experience with parties due to his outgoing personality, Y/n was used to drinking and had quite the tolerance. He¡¯d be able to ensure nothing bad happened to Chloe as long as he was around.

    ¡°Hey Y/n, come over here to help me life something real quick!¡± shouted Derrick, a quick confirmation erupting from the cheerful Y/n as he remembered the dress he¡¯d bought yesterday.

    ¡®I wonder when I should give it to her...¡¯ He pondered.

    <hr>

    On the small orange haired teen¡¯s side of things, she had chosen to wear the first outfit to the party.¡®I¡¯m pretty sure that Y/n preferred the first outfit over the second outfit.¡¯ she thought as she slipped into the clothes.

    Looking in the mirror, she thought to herself that the outfit Y/n had picked out complimented her looks. The orange and black checkered jacket made her orange hair and eyes pop out even more.

    As she walked outside of her apartment, the teen entered the postcode and address of Derrick¡¯s house into her phone, discovering that he lived quite close to Y/n¡¯s abode. Night had began to embrace the sky, the light clouds turning dark as if they had revealed their true nature, acquitting an ominous forecast.

    Chloe rubbed her hands together, breathing onto them in order to warm them up. Steam closely followed erupting from her mouth, a testament to the low temperatures she was experiencing. As summer was at a close, the temperature had dropped significantly leaving the young teen scrambling for warmth as she hastily scurried over to the party¡¯s location in search of warmth.

    Entering the posh neighbourhood she power walked, passing several large homes, before finally reaching her destination. Music blaring, Chloe walked onwards, passing a large pure white gate which was left open.

    The garden lawn in front of the house was neatly cut and a bright green colour, obviously a lot of effort was put into maintaining it. The entrance to the mansion had led the small girl to believe that she was about to pass through the gates of heaven before she looked onwards.

    Unfortunately, this maintenance was all for nothing in the face of drunken teens who lied everywhere upon the grass, red plastic cups sitting beside them. Their countenances were warped, a clear indication that they were all heavily intoxicated.

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    The orange haired teen avoided the teens littered on the path towards the house and she looked at the grandiose mansion in all of its glory; Lights were flashing out of the windows, constantly changing colour in sync with the music as if they were engaged in a dance of some sorts.

    The entrance to the mansion, two large oak doors, were flung open allowing for incite into the situation of the house. Behind the door contained many table, all armed to the teeth with various different drinks ranging from vodka to flavoured alcohol.

    It was painfully clear to Y/n that the teens that were stumbling along to the music were not just drunk. Through her plentiful experiences with how the older woman would act when drunk or hungover, she¡¯d guessed that drugs were also at play, resulting in all of the teens becoming totally blissed out.

    It would seem that the efficacy of the drugs was quite potent, Chloe thought to herself,¡®I¡¯m definitely going to stay far away from whatever they took.¡¯ .

    Weaving and dodging throughout the crowd of dazed human flesh, the small teen climbed the twin stairway that led to a long hall.

    A royal red carpet, paintings of what seemed to be Derrick¡¯s family and more teens decorated the hallway. Many opened doors littered around the hallway displayed the havoc which was taking place in the large mansion.

    By the time Chloe had reached the mansion, It was already 8:30pm, a whole hour before Y/n had started to party.

    <hr>

    7:30

    After two hours of prepping the house, Derrick and his friends, including Y/n, sat down and sighed, clearly tired from all their hard work. Derrick had finally ordered his butler to open the main gates in order to allow for the teens which stood outside to flood into his mansion, a look of accomplishment found his way onto his face as the teens started to drink and laugh, dancing along to the music played by a hired DJ.

    ¡°Thanks for your hard work boys! Now, It¡¯s time to enjoy the party for ourselves!¡± Derrick said with a grin chalk full of anticipation for the night to come.

    Cheers erupted from the teens that had gathered to help him as they dispersed around the house, drinking and partying as hard as they could.

    Derrick placed his hand on Y/n¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Y/n, come with me for a bit would ya?¡°.

    Y/n agreed, following his friend to the main hall, which at this point was bursting from it¡¯s seams due to the sheer quantity of people that inhabited it. Derrick made his way over to a trio of teens which were dancing and drinking, indistinguishable from the other chaotic teens.

    The teen standing in the middle of the trio wore a very revealing grey dress with purple flowing hair, shimmering like an amethyst as a result of the lights which shone down from the roof. Once Derrick had called out to the obviously inebriated lass, she quickly spun around and stared at Y/n like a hawk eyeing her prey, looking up and down in order to take in his appearance.

    Small talk erupted between Derrick and the girl before she walked over to the stand where drinks were poured. The rich teen turned around and covered Y/n¡¯s vision by standing closely in front of him whilst the girl took a flask from under the table, emptying it¡¯s contents into a red cup, smiling once she was finished with her task.

    Returning back to where Y/n was, she greeted him and handed the black haired teen the suspicious substance which appeared to be normal beer.

    ¡°Hey Y/n! My name¡¯s Natasha, I¡¯m sure you remember me from the few classes we have together! Here¡¯s some beer, I noticed that you look like you¡¯ve had none so far.¡± the girl boasted with a smirk.

    ¡®Who the hell is this???¡¯ Y/n wondered as his social persona took over, resulting in a quaint response that he thought would satisfy the stranger. Getting on their good side could never be a bad thing, right?

    ¡°Thanks for the drink,¡± He paused, lifting up his red beer cup in order to make a toast with the girl, ¡°How could I not remember someone as dazzling as you? Natasha, was it? It¡¯s a pleasure to see you again!¡± he resumed with a smirk.

    The girl blushed in response, downing her drink in one go in a futile attempt to wash away the furious heat that had enveloped her rosy cheeks. Following her actions, Y/n downed the drink, starting to get into the mood to dance and party. He¡¯d not attended a social event for quite some time due to all the time he spent with the feeble porcelain-like teen, ¡äan hour or two wouldn¡¯t hurt would it!¡ä he thought with a smile.

    Ten minutes had passed as several more containers full of beer had been chugged down, Y/n¡¯s vision started to go blurry, his motions becoming more unstable. The world blended together as the lights of various colours which shone down from the roof of the mansion started to cause Y/n to wince.

    ¡°My Alcohol tolerance is much higher than a few bottles of beer... ugh... I¡¯ve got to sit down for a bit... sober up... So I can protect Chlo when she arrives... 8:30 was it?¡± he muttered, unaware that he was speaking aloud.

    Y/n looked at his wrist watch, unable to collect the information that he sought for. The purple haired girl, who had provided him with the suspicious substance, smiled after thinking of a fool proof plan.

    Borrowing a jumper from a friend of hers, she donned it, pulling over the hoodie in order to cover her brightly covered hair. Next on her agenda was to fool the pitiful boy into believing that she was the girl he spoke of.

    ¡®He should be so inebriated that most of his cognitive functions are severely impaired, I¡¯ve heard about his intelligence so I bought this concoction tailored just for him...¡¯she cheerfully pondered.

    Walking towards the intoxicated teen she greeted him with a smile, ¡°Hey Y/n, I finally arrived! It¡¯s me Chlo!¡±

    Y/n turned around with a smile, attempting to get a good look at the girl to confirm her identity.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t remember Chloe ever referring to herself as ¡®Chlo¡¯, nor was she ever this tall... Ah whatever, she might be wearing high heels or something...¡ä he thought.

    ¡°You¡¯re really Chloe right? It¡¯s really you?¡± he innocently asked, as if the person in front of him would actually be truthful in their answer.

    ¡°Who else would it be, Y/n?¡± She paused, ¡°Hey, It¡¯s too loud here, Let¡¯s go somewhere more private, I¡¯ve got something important to tell you...¡±

    Natasha led Y/n up some stairs and into a private bedroom which was expensively furnished, the bed being king sized. At this point, the dark haired teen was too lost in his on mind in order to question why this fake ¡°Chloe¡± had known her way around Derrick¡¯s house when it was supposedly her first time being inside.

    Grey eyes sparked with great lust as she pushed the teen onto the large bed, turning off the lights so as not to blow her cover. She threw off her jumper and started to talk, her voice giddy.

    ¡°I¡¯ve wanted to tell you this for so long now... Y/n ... I love you... so much!¡± she truthfully explained as she started to undress the boy in the dark, crocodile tears leaving her deceitful orbs.

    Y/n was too far gone at this point. Black. Darkness. A colourful bombardment of emotions overcame him as he started to tear up, he really thought that it was Chloe who had cried out those words. They meant so much to him, she really was his everything.

    ¡°I... I feel the same way Chlo... your optimistic personality and witty jokes that you dispense, even though you have suffered so, those orange locks which sparkle in front of adversity. All of you... I love all of you Chloe...¡± he happily responded, speech slightly slurred, in a state of utter bliss.

    Throughout his speech, every time the small teen¡¯s name was mentioned, Natasha sped up in undressing them both. ¡®I¡¯ll make you forget all about that peasant... After what you¡¯re about to experience... I doubt you¡¯ll even want to let that dirty name leave your perfect lips... Ha...haha.... HaHaHAHA.... You¡¯re all mine now... mine Y/n.¡¯ She mused to herself.

    The purple haired girl¡¯s lips smashed against Y/n¡¯s as she forcefully kissed him. It was clear as day that she was pretty heated about the male teen¡¯s mentioning of the so called ¡°Peasant¡±. Y/n was happy to respond in kind, after all, the girl he¡¯d been wanting and protecting all this time was finally affectionately touching him, although he admitted that she was pretty rough about everything for a first timer.

    Unfortunately, by the time Y/n would come to, It¡¯d be too late to reverse the actions he¡¯d committed. Far, far too late indeed. His eyes filled up with tears as the first time they met flashed before his mind.

    A crestfallen countenance lay bare for all to see on the blank canvas that was the girl¡¯s pale white skin. Her enchanting orbs sucked Y/n in as he was introduced to the girl, his girl.

    ¡°What have I.... WHAT have I.... d....done... ¡°he wept as he burst into tears, hands covering his head. Defiled, used, broken, how could he ever face the small cute teen of his dreams again? He¡¯d betrayed her. He¡¯d been fooled.

 Act 1 - Chapter 8 - Deja Vu

    A/N Dunno how to put images in this site so I''ll just leave them out of the chapters.

    <hr>

    As Y/n was furiously weeping, the assailant of the whole situation slowly shuffled around in the king sized bed, clearly disturbed by the noise. Rubbing her grey orbs, she recalled what had happened the night before and sighed with utter satisfaction.

    ¡°That was amazing Y/n... I bet you¡¯ll never want to say that trashy peasant¡¯s name ever again after what we did yesterday... I¡¯d be up for a round two If you¡¯re up for it?¡± she slyly said whilst grasping his shoulders tightly and slowly slid her hands down his naked torso.

    The black haired teen¡¯s hand had never moved as fast before, hastily slapping away the purple haired assailant¡¯s hands. The moment he was touched by the teen, he recoiled in terror, as if he had been electrocuted by a lighting bolt that had came down from the heavens in order to condemn the boy for his betrayal towards the girl of his dreams.

    ¡°You... You drugged me... and used me... And you think that I¡¯m going to do that again whilst in my right mind? I thought... you were Chloe! Not some disgusting, manipulative, ugly whore such as yourself. You... You really think you¡¯ll get away with this?¡± he shouted with hatred.

    Natasha¡¯s brows scrunched up tightly, clearly unhappy to receive what she thought was a torrent of unwarranted verbal abuse.

    ¡°I was trying to be nice, at least I allowed you to think it was the ¡°girl of your dreams¡±.¡± she paused, a sly smile coming to her face, ¡°Y/n, oh sweet Y/n, I don¡¯t think you understand the position that you¡¯re in... That girl... Y/n was it? Right about now she should be sleeping in her own sweet and blood. Derrick is quite the psychopath. I guess that¡¯s what happens when you have everything you¡¯d ever need from birth. You... start wanting more.¡± she explained.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t abide to my every beck and call, I¡¯ll have Derrick kill the peasant. He¡¯ll get away with it even if you know about it, after all what I¡¯ve said could be all made up... Do you want to take that risk? You might lose your the bitch, you know? She seems pretty important to you... It¡¯d be a shame to see her fucked up, lying still.¡± she laughed manically.

    The silence was deafening, Y/n was at a loss for words, His Chloe... was currently... being tortured? By Derrick, one of his closest friends? That had to be a lie, It couldn¡¯t be true. Never would Derrick do such a thing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that Derrick would do such a thing.¡± he defiantly stated.

    The purple haired girl sighed, as if she was tired of Y/n¡¯s useless struggling. ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll call the crazy bastard and tell him to make the girl scream a few times as proof.¡± she bargained.

    Dialling Derrick on her top of the line phone, a male voice was soon heard and, after a conversation or two between the teens, a few horrendous wails of pain erupted from the phone alongside a few words from a feminine voice;

    ¡°Y/n! Y/n! Please Save Me! He¡¯s been at it... all night,¡± another howl of agony interrupted the girl, ¡°But don¡¯t let them force you to do anything... I care more... about you than myself... Only you...¡± she finished before seemingly fainting.

    Derrick started to scream at the girl to wake up before Natasha ended the call, once again, a thunderous silence grasped Y/n as tears once again erupted from his now dull orbs.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s much better! What a wonderful sight to see indeed, you¡¯ve been betrayed by one of your best friends, and now the one you love the most will soon meet an early grave if you don¡¯t do as I say.¡± Purple hair flooded Y/n¡¯s sight as he was pinned down on the bed, a screeching laugh crawled out of the woman¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Now, now, this is not the time for sobbing! Cheer up! I¡¯ll make you feel good shortly! Actually, I changed my mind. I¡¯d be even better if you took the lead this time,¡± pausing her grey orbs stared into Y/n¡¯s, ¡°otherwise you know what will happen to the sow.¡±

    Like a puppet being pulled along by it¡¯s strings, Y/n slowly started to move. He no longer cared. As long as Y/n was kept alive. Even though she was being tortured, it was better for her to be alive, at least for Y/n.

    <hr>

    8:30 - The previous day

    Walking towards the end of the long corridor, that seemed it would never end, Y/n entered the main hall which had a DJ on a stage located in the centre of everything. A makeshift dance floor was located all around the DJ¡¯s stage filled to the brim with teens of all sizes and ethnicities. The dazzling lights shone down onto the teens, seemingly gifting them boundless confidence which came from the clouds above.

    Various Hip Hop moves executed by the before mentioned DJ got the crowd even more siked, Chloe overheard a conversation from a random teen, ¡°How did Derrick manage to get this dude to appear? Isn¡¯t he like, super famous?¡± they screamt in order to allow their comment to be heard by their fellow teens.

    It was no wonder the teen had to scream. The music blared through very large speakers, situated beside the DJ who had earplugs equipped in order to not go deaf from the sounds; Chloe could swear that she could see the speakers vibrate with every beat drop. Derrick was located towards the centre of the crowd, surrounded by an army of males and females which seem to pander for his attention.

    He seemed to be basking in the adoration received from his fellow peers, his gaze surveying the crowd as if he was looking for someone. Suddenly, a famished smirk grew upon his countenance, Y/n could feel his predatorial gaze upon her small stature, and she definitely did not want to be looked at by him for long.

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    Unfortunately, she had little choice but to greet the man which had hosted the event. He would definitely know where Y/n was. The small orange haired teen wished to be reunited with her special friend as soon as possible. She simply didn¡¯t feel safe with all of these strangers around her.

    Derrick slowly moved through the crowd that parted as he willed it, as if he was Moses parting the red sea, holding a red cup of beer in his left hand. The teen was quite tall at 6ft 3, standing what seemed to be miles above the small teen.

    ¡°Hi Chloe! Glad to see you could make it! What do you think of the party? Grand right!¡± he turned fully around in order to muse at the crowd of human flesh that depended on him.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit disorientating since there are so many people. Where¡¯s Y/n.¡± she said matter-of-factly. Her response rubbed Derrick the wrong way, ¡®This bitch... After all my work all she cares about is that piece of shit Y/n... I hope Natasha does her worst.¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you if you down this liquor, you should get in the mood before you see Y/n, he¡¯s definitely smashed by now. Seeing you sober would be such a mood dampener, if you know what I mean.¡± He reasoned as a cup of a unidentified beverage was shoved into Chloe¡¯s hands.

    The small girl was clearly dissatisfied with having to drink, she didn¡¯t want to end up like the old woman who would beat her after becoming drunk... nothing would be worse than turning into someone who hurt others to relieve themselves of stress.

    Lifting the drink up to her mouth, a random teen bumped into her, spilling half the drink onto her clothes. Derrick seemed annoyed by the interruption, ¡®No matter, It¡¯s even better when she¡¯s aware of what is happening but is powerless to do anything against me... Although the paralysis effect lasting less time might be an issue...¡¯ he reasoned, a sickening grin being masked by his countenance.

    Despite the spillage, Chloe downed the whole beverage in order to not have to endure the terrible taste of it. She¡¯d once tried some beer that was left on the kitchen counter by the older woman once. It¡¯d made her nearly puke. She definitely couldn¡¯t hold her liquor, nor did she enjoy it¡¯s refined taste.

    The older woman had beat the girl very harshly that night when she found out that some of her golden serum had been wasted on that deadbeat girl. ¡°What a waste~¡± she had sorrowfully sighed whilst continuously kicking the ever living shit out of the small girl of 12 years. Chloe had seriously thought that she¡¯d seen the river Styx that night...

    Seeing that Chloe had drank the liquid, Derrick had to lift his hand to cover his face as a psychopathic grin rioted to escape onto his countenance. It didn¡¯t take Chloe long at all for her to become severely inebriated whilst following the teen who¡¯d promised to take her to where Y/n was.

    The music had long since became a muffled mix of screams and beat drops, not that the young orange haired girl had been able to notice the change. Her vision blurred as colours mixed and she became unable to make out shapes, resulting in her walking into a wall when Derrick had turned right.

    BANG, the young girl fell down and hit the floor, producing a heavy sound muffled by the carpet. Chloe was not completely blacked out, she could just barely hear and see Derrick as he scream-laughed over her body.

    Her body was slowly being dragged through the mansion, her head bumping against a few objects left on the floor and pieces of furniture here and there. Derrick really wasn¡¯t being that cautious, since he¡¯d reasoned that this was only a small taste of the pain he¡¯d force upon the girl.

    Descending down into a basement of sorts, the continuous hits to her head as she was dragged down a long flight of stairs gave the small girl a concussion, blurring her vision even more than it had already been.

    The next 10 minutes or so for Chloe had been indecipherable. By the time it seemed that she¡¯d come to obtain a semblance of what seemed to be consciousness, she came to find a multitude of weakened leather belts confining her to a cold metal chair. They looked like they wood give a bit of leeway if she forced them to move, which was surprising to the small teen since she knew that she lacked in being able to exert force, ¡®They must be quite old¡¯ she observed, scratches and stretched material scarred the material, as if someone had thrashed about in the chair quite a bit. The cold sept into her bones, causing the girl to attempt to shiver in her new seat, the sensation getting worse as she thought about where she might have been translocated to, and more importantly, what was going to happen to her next. She found out that her body was completely paralysed, aside from her sensations which seemed to be more sensitive than before.

    Observing the room, black metal walls that seemed to be sound proofed surrounded the area. She¡¯d remembered the multiple impacts that the metal stairs had made on the girl¡¯s head, thus she concluded that a basement was a likely location that she was currently confined in.

    Not even a few seconds after she had come to, a rattling noise came from behind her, the noise of a door swinging open followed soon after. Soon the source of the discomforting noise came into view, a metal trolley with multiple levels which all contained sharp objects that had blood stains all over them.

    Derrick had donned a full set of white clothes with a white apron. He looked like a priest clothed in only the most pure clothes in order to become closer to the gods he worshiped. A unnatural looking grin was splayed across his countenance as he leered at Chloe as is she was a new toy and he was an infantile child.

    ¡°How ya holding up? I hope you enjoyed the taste of what is to come when I dragged you down to the basement,¡± pointing towards a door, Derrick laughed before continuing his delusional speech, ¡°The blood stains you left on the stairs were simply sublime... I¡¯ll leave them there in your honour, an absolute piece of art aren¡¯t you!¡± he chuckled, orbs never leaving Chloe¡¯s figure.

    The male teen turned his attention to the sharp weapon-like objects that decorated the metal trolley, resulting in Derrick equipping a certain device. ¡°I think I¡¯ll start with this first... the drug¡¯s effects should dissipate shortly... then I¡¯ll be able to see the despair pounce onto your face...¡± he lustfully sighed.

    A stained metal device was equipped onto the armchair, Derrick placing one of Chloe¡¯s fingers onto it before looking up to see her reaction, activating the device. ¡°ARGHGRHHH¡± screamt the teen who had started to weep, unable to writhe in pain.

    Chloe certainly wasn¡¯t new to the gruesome sensation, in fact, pain was like an acquaintance of the girl which frequently visited. The young teen¡¯s left pinkie¡¯s fingernail had been completely ripped off, blood seeping out of the wound. Unfortunately for the young girl, this was only the start of her time with the crazed teen.

    Currently, Derrick was cutting Chloe¡¯s forehead, making blood seep down her countenance, her vision dyed red as her tears and blood mixed. This had bring up a memory a thousand times more painful than the torture inflicted upon the girl.

    Rain poured down upon cement, causing all noises around the girl to be muffled. The wailing of a car, yellow light blinding the young girl as she looked onwards towards the heavily injured Mikhail, who convulsed in pain as he choked to death on his on blood, a sweet release compared to his other fate, slowly bleeding out in pain.

    The older man¡¯s blood mixed with the rain and flowed towards the young girl like the rapids of a waterfall, unstoppable the blood and water dyed the girl¡¯s hair red as she screamt for help, ¡°Anyone, Anyone, Please! Please help my father!¡± the young girl¡¯s horse voice obstructed by the heavy rain.

    This time, instead of calling out to anyone, the only word which left Chloe¡¯s mouth, apart from the occasional screams of pain, was the name of the only one she could rely on. The handsome, black haired boy who she¡¯d spent most of her life with; Y/n.

 Act 1 - Chapter 9 - Differing Convictions

    ¡®Y/n¡¯s not the type to physically harm someone... He¡¯s not coming for me. Derrick told me how that bitch is blackmailing him... It¡¯s all on me... and me alone to do something...¡¯ The small blooded teen thought, pretending to be knocked out due to exhaustion.

    It had been two days since Derrick had taken her down into the basement and locked her up. Thankfully, today was Monday and thus the psycho went to attend school, leaving her alone. Derrick had assumed that Chloe¡¯s severe blood loss combined with her weak constitution from birth, a fact he had learnt from the PI he had hired, would result in the teen being unable to escape form the situation. Thus he concluded It would be fine to leave her alone.

    Only water was allocated to the girl. Starvation was another method of torture that Derrick had wanted to try out. Chloe sat on the metal chair stained with blood, her newly vermillion coloured hair obscuring her vision as she lent forwards, slowly making attempts to shift about and push the leather belts which had confined her, resulting in the belt holding her right hand down to loosen slightly.

    Sunday had been the worst day for the young teen so far, the worst thing Derrick had done to the girl was dig her left eye out with no anaesthetic. Screams filled the chamber throughout the whole procedure and she could still feel pain where her left eye used to be. Derrick had crudely padded her eye up in order to stop excessive blood loss that might kill the girl, as he ¡°wouldn¡¯t want his new toy to become broken so soon now would we!¡± he had said in a singsong fashion

    That night, whilst scarcely being able to sleep due to the absurd amount of pain that radiated throughout her body, she had nightmares of her father condemning her for his death. The older woman had truly had a lasting impact on the younger teen¡¯s mental state that could not easily be fixed. She slowly wept whilst apologising towards her father, a sight which Mikhail would be incredibly sorrowful to see.

    Slowly rebelling against the old leather belt located on her right wrist, It unloosened completely allowing her to put much more force in removing the rest of the belts located on her right arm. Taking over one stale hour to regain control over her feeble right arm, the rest of the constraints were swiftly dealt with.

    The devilish metal trolley was located right next to the stained chair, most of the sharp objects and devices had been covered in blood by now, not a pretty sight to see indeed. Grabbing a large red serrated combat knife that she was well versed in due to being cut with it several times, she slowly attempted to move around the room, limping due to injuries on her legs.

    By now, Derrick had stripped the girl of most of her clothes in order to inflict as much pain as possible everywhere on the poor teen¡¯s body. There were only two doors leading out of the room; Y/n had seen Derrick leave for school through the door behind her, whilst all of the tools and weaponry had came from the door located to her left.

    Even though she had decided that the serrated blade was all the small girl had required, she sluggishly advanced towards her door beholding the extra weaponry, swinging the door open in order to buy some extra time later on if she was found to be gone, before moving towards the other door.

    The deranged man was definitely not very smart. Not only had he kept the old leather belts due to it reminding him of all the people he¡¯d tortured before her, resulting in her escape, he also left a tray of dangerous weapons that Chloe could use and left none of the doors locked.

    The small girl scoffed at his care-free behaviour, she¡¯d sworn to herself that he would receive payback in kind to what he served to the girl. Pain consuming his face was a sight she had yearned to see after going through hell and back for the bastard¡¯s enjoyment. Some of these wounds would never heal and would give torment her with pain for the rest of her life.

    Stumbling around, the teen was slowly getting used to seeing with only one of her eyes. Pushing all the pain flaring in her body to one side, she slammed against the door, successfully opening it, to reveal another room, decorated with bright green and blue wall paper. There were a multitude of musical instruments located all across the room, sound proofing present in this chamber as well.

    A flight of metal stairs caught the teen¡¯s attention, blotches of a red substance stained the stairs as she peered up them, seeing a door at the top of them. Her exit. A way out. Before a sight of relief could leave her mouth, the door started to swing open, accompanied by a few deep voices conversing.

    The young girl¡¯s remaining orb scanned the area as quick as she could, noticing an empty locker, a old, bruised, container that looked like she could fit inside it with some room to spare and a cupboard under the stairs.¡®The locker is probably used to store people¡¯s things, I can¡¯t use it. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in the cupboard or how often It it¡¯s opened. The old box is probably my best bet.¡¯she concluded, rushing over to the old box and diving into it.

    ¡°What¡¯s up with the red pattern on your stairs Derrick? It looks awesome!¡± an unknown voice praised.

    ¡°Yeah, I saw the design online and got someone to install it for me. Doesn¡¯t the blood effect look so realistic!¡± he said with great pride, barely holding back a sadistic grin.

    Another voice agreed with Derrick before heavy metal thuds sounded out, three pairs of footsteps descending down into the basement. After reaching the basement, they opened the empty locker and dumped what Chloe assumed to be their school equipment in there.

    Derrick had went to play the drum set, another searched the cupboard under the stairs for a guitar whilst the final person was content with singing, noises erupting from the speakers located in the corners of the room. Halfway through the session, one of the boys looked around for something to sit on, walking over to the old box and sitting atop it.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°What¡¯s in this box Derrick? It looks pretty beat up.¡± The clueless teen asked, a pondering look present upon his countenance.

    ¡°Nothing much. Come on, let¡¯s get started again.¡± he hurriedly replied, as if he was worried that the teen would look inside the box.

    Chloe, who at this point had been hiding in the box for about an hour and a half now nearly vomited the first time she saw what was in the box. Body parts. All dyed in old blood. Arms, legs, torsos, all dismembered from a body. The only two silver linings were that the track left behind by her blood that leaked from her wounds would be covered up and that there were thankfully no heads within the box. The young teen also could feel some sort of fabric, although she could not make out what it was.

    Regardless, Chloe certainly did wish to spend as little time with the severed body parts as possible. Then again, this was one thousand times better than being at the mercy of that two faced psychopathic bastard in the small teen¡¯s opinion.

    It would seem that, just like what had happened to her left eye, Derrick had planned to slowly deprive her of body parts until there was nothing left of her... The girl shivered at the thought of what may have become of her had she not broken free. Well, she wasn¡¯t free yet.

    The dark sept into Chloe¡¯s orb as she waited for the trio to leave, another hour passing before Derrick said goodbye to his friends, watching them leave the basement, he walked towards the door which led to where the girl was supposed to be.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting all day for this... Chloe! How have you faring?¡± he dreamily spoke, delight painted upon his countenance. He walked over to the metal chair, quickly realising that the girl was nowhere to be seen, all his senses went onto high alert. How had his prey escaped?

    Running over to the open door where he stored most of his devices, he thrashed the room as he searched for the girl, maniacally laughing as if he were the seeker in a game of hide and seek. As soon as the girl had heard Derrick move into the other room, she sprang out of the box and slowly limped over to the staircase, sluggishly climbing it, unable to move with great haste.

    Not long after Chloe had reached the halfway mark of ascending the staircase, Derrick slammed the door open and stared straight at the girl, causing her to climb the stairs even faster than before, pushing her body into double-overtime.

    Unfortunately, there was simply no way she would reach the top of the stairs before Derrick. Even if she did, she didn¡¯t have the key required to lock the door nor the strength required to keep him in the basement. She had to take him down right this moment.

    Turning around to see the teen sprinting full speed up the stairs towards her, Chloe threw the knife towards his him, hitting his left leg yielding a howl of pain from the crazed teen, ¡°You little Bitch! I¡¯m going to make you regret that¡± he screamt, now limping up the stairs, only a few steps away from his prized objective.

    Chloe, now slightly dismayed that she had not hit a more vital area, such as one of his eyes to pay him back, leapt towards the teen, who held his hands up to guards against her small mass. The futile act of self defence did not dull the impact, sending them both falling down the staircase, Chloe on top of the teen.

    BAM. Derrick and Chloe made contact with the metal floor of the basement, Derrick¡¯s body spasming as blood poured from his cracked skull which had hit the ground first. It had taken Chloe a few minutes to move again, her body further weakened by the collision with the basement floor. Thankfully, she had used Derrick¡¯s now bloody body as a cushion.

    As the vermillion haired teen surveyed his current state, she saw that the male was attempting to speak, ¡°You..... You....¡± He paused, coughing out blood, ¡°you BITCH, I¡¯ll... make... You...¡± his body then furiously spasmed in pain as he simultaneously roared out in pain. The serrated blade that had once been lodged in his left calve had now been relocated into his left eye, the blade being twisted around, tears of blood leaving the tall teen¡¯s orbs.

    ¡°That¡¯s payback for my left eye you fucking psycho!¡± she joyfully laughed, basking in ecstasy as she made the male shriek in pain, just like he¡¯d done to her. Unfortunately for the girl, Derrick¡¯s injuries were too severe, blood pouring out from his school dyeing the whole floor red, Chloe¡¯s feet being dyed red as well.

    The male quickly passed away, writhing in pain, whilst the vermillion haired teen continuously laughed on top of his body. A few minutes passed before Chloe got a hold of herself. She needed medical aid fast, otherwise she would perish from blood loss, although she couldn¡¯t leave the house without some clothes to wear; she was currently scarcely clothed.

    ¡®I think I felt some fabric in that old box... might as well check If it¡¯s something I could wear.¡¯  she pondered, limping over to the box, leaving red foot marks in her wake. Opening the old box, all of the dismembered body parts were now in clear view for all to see, causing the girl to wince in disgust, before getting back on track.

    This was no time to waste. Scrummaging through the contents, she pulled out a set of red stained clothes, her clothes, that she had been deprived of, before attempting to equip them.

    After what seemed like five or so minutes, the girl had advanced to the top of the stairs, popping her head out to scan her surroundings, starting her long trek towards aid.

    ¡°Just wait for me Y/n... I¡¯ll come to save you...¡± she determinedly stated, as if there was no doubt in her mind that she was fully able.

    <hr>

    Y/n¡¯s room had been filled with various band posters, a large double bed, a desk for studying and a multitude of shelves chock full of books of all genres. Now, the blinds were closed, the posters torn down, shelves capsized and the chair, which had been apart of the desk set, was now thrown into the middle of the room.

    A dark outline of a tall figure could be seen weeping in the corner of the room atop of the bed, their room completely trashed. It was the charismatic black haired teen who, for the last few days, had been abiding by leader of the trio¡¯s commands. The only time he got to himself was during school hours, as he no longer could bring himself to attend.

    A few faint murmurs could be heard, ¡°Chloe... I¡¯m so sorry... someone help me...¡± cried the figure in need of aid. There was no doubt that he would no longer be the socialite he once had been, his mental state had been severally damaged as a result of being used by the blackmailer.

    ¡°If only I didn¡¯t go to that party... no... It would have been no use... this would have happened one way or another... I¡¯m sure that... Chloe would agree.. that... I shouldn¡¯t have to endure this anymore...¡± he pathetically concluded.

    Y/n wasn¡¯t stupid. He¡¯d gained video recordings of her abuse and blackmailing, confessing to various crimes such as rape and drugging. However, unfortunately for the boy, Natasha had an ace up her sleeve; her father was the chief of the local police station. There was simply no way the girl would get convicted.

    The purple haired girl had resulted to force to get what she wanted when even the threat of killing Chloe wore off. After all, the purple haired bitch had leaked that all of Derrick¡¯s previous victims had perished long ago. What more could he do? Chloe was probably already dead! He did his best! He tried as hard as he could! It wasn¡¯t his fault! Why should he have to endure this torture?

    A few loud thuds on his bedroom door sounded out, followed by a few sentences from his father; ¡°Y/n son, Chloe, that friend of yours, has come to cheer you up! I¡¯ll leave her at your door.¡±

 Act 1 - Chapter 10 - Lure

    The door leading to Y/n¡¯s room silently opened, revealing a small teen, who only was about half the height of the door, equipped with an oversized navy-blue hoodie and black jogging bottoms. The hoodie and vermillion hair obscured her face as she slowly crept towards the latter.

    As the younger of the two navigated her way through the dark and decrepit room, Y/n¡¯s gaze stuck firmly on the once orange haired teen. ¡°I thought..... I thought you were dead....¡± he paused, unsure how to continue after mentally betraying the figure in front of him.

    ¡°Did Derrick let you leave? No... It¡¯s not like him to leave loose ends... You must have dealt with him somehow... Did you incapacitate him?¡± he blurted out, his ramblings becoming faster and faster.

    The small teen grew near, her features now visible to the the boy, who started to weep after seeing her countenance. A lucid smile was aimed towards Y/n. The girl was smiling. Smiling after all she¡¯d gone through.

    Most of her face, except for her right eye and mouth were bandaged up, blood breaking free from it¡¯s captor staining them red. The same was true for the rest of her body that he could see, hands, ankles, all covered in a plethora of red gauze. A circular patch of white material remained, in the place her left eye used to be.

    The small teen grew close to the boy, who further shrivelled up into the corner of his bed in response, he felt immense guilt for forsaking her. He really gave up on her. It was painfully clear that the so called ¡°torture¡± that he¡¯d been going through was not even comparable to what had been forced upon her.

    A squeaky noise erupted from the bed as the small figure climbed onto his bed on advancing towards the tall teen. Red blotches were left in her wake as she reached towards him, enveloping him in a heart wrenching embrace.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright now Y/n... I¡¯m here... I can protect you from that whore...¡± she paused, looking up towards the male to gauge his reaction, ¡°I¡¯ve dealt with Derrick. He won¡¯t be bothering us anymore. Next up is that... bitch....¡± she calmly stated, her teeth grinding with anger at the last word.

    Y/n attempted to speak to the girl, respond, say anything, but was unable. How could he? The girl he¡¯d forsaken had chosen to seek him out over immediate life saving care and had even promised to keep him safe! After all she¡¯d been through, the only thought on her mind was to protect him? Not a word of blame about the pain she had suffered due to his corrupt friend.

    ¡°Dealt with him?¡± he mumbled, having already known the answer to his question. ¡°He¡¯s dead. I killed him. I even stabbed his eye as he died, as he did to me!¡± she giggled whilst speaking, just recalling the moment had made her giddy with joy, a buzzing feeling enveloping her mind. The feeling... It was so addicting to the girl.

    ¡®I want to feel it again and again¡¯ determinedly concluded the weak and horribly damaged girl. As Y/n surveyed her current appearance, he saw not a shred of the na?ve girl she¡¯d once been. A wide maniacal grin present on her countenance, the black pupil of her singular orb constantly shaking to and fro.

    ¡°I hear that... that bitch... forced you to do some unpleasant things...¡± she paused, avoiding direct eye contact with the boy, a blush hidden by the bloody rags on her face appearing, ¡°I could make you... forget... about the experience... Only if you¡¯d want of course! I wouldn¡¯t dare think about forcing you like that whore did!¡± she bashfully offered.¡ä

    ¡®She¡¯s not the same Chloe I used to know... The look on her face when she mentioned Derrick¡¯s death and the pain she inflicted upon him before his demise... that look... It frightens me.¡¯ he quickly analysed.

    Seeing the hesitation present on Y/n¡¯s face, the small teen recoiled in shock, as if she¡¯d never imagined that the boy would possibly reject her offer. Quickly recovering from her state of temporary paralysis, she hurriedly spoke, ¡°That was stupid of me for suggesting that! Sorry, of course you¡¯d want to recover from these past two days...¡±

    ¡°For now, let¡¯s focus on how we are going to deal with that slut ... Do you normally meet her somewhere?¡± she queried.

    Y/n¡¯s expression darkened remembering his experience with the girl for the past two days before speaking, his voice quivering slightly, ¡°She normally orders me to meet her at a park close to her house at around 6ish...¡± he replied.

    ¡°6ish? Would It be possible to postpone that until 8 or later? Just say you have an important family gathering that you can¡¯t miss!¡± The bandaged girl excitedly suggested.

    The boy replied, slightly manipulating the truth, ¡°I¡¯ve already tried to do that... Last time she threatened me with your life If I didn¡¯t find a way out of the gathering...¡°. Hearing this Chloe¡¯s expression turned sour, ¡®Threatening him with my life huh. I¡¯ll make you regret ever laying your grimy mutts on his perfect skin.¡¯ she thought, raring to do some damage.

    ¡°Alright, new plan. Meet her at 6pm at the usual place. When you enter a busy street, make a break for it down an isolated alleyway. Hopefully she will follow you, and when she does I¡¯ll trap her in from behind and deal with her. That way she won¡¯t be able to escape nor scream for help over the loud noises coming from the streets! I¡¯ve outdone myself with this one Y/n!¡± Chloe schemed, making stabbing gestures at the air, as if practicing for the real thing.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Y/n had resolved himself to turn away when Chloe was ¡°dealing with her¡±. He was sure by the gestures she was making that It would definitely not be a pleasant sight to see.

    <hr>

    The sun was no where to be seen, obscured by the multitude of high rise buildings that surrounded their current location. The sky was turning dark and 6 o¡¯clock was about to come about. Y/n anxiously waited on a swing in the park, trying to calm his nerves.

    ¡®I¡¯m about to become a murderer¡¯s accomplice! How can I possibly be calm!¡¯ he freaked out from within.

    A figure had appeared within his peripheral vision. A figure which just a glance of them could make him feel sick in the stomach. Purple hair swung left and right as an averaged sized teen gingerly skipped towards her Y/n.

    The last two days had made Natasha feel as though she was on cloud nine; The person she¡¯d wanted for so long was finally at her beck and call! Although she had to resort to physical abuse and blackmail to obtain what she desired, that was but a small bump along the road of love! Of course it wasn¡¯t going to be as easy as just confessing to him and receiving a positive reply back!

    As the sight of the anxious tall teen filled the purple haired girl¡¯s vision, she hastily charged towards him, enveloping him in a sickening embrace.

    ¡°Ah, this feeling~! I¡¯ve been waiting for this all day~!¡± she sighed in a sign song fashion. ¡°I bet you¡¯ve been waiting for this moment all day, haven¡¯t you my dearest!¡± she added in a repulsively sweet tone.

    Silence enveloped the two as no response was garnered from Y/n. He avoided looking at the girl, causing her to pull his chin towards her and force a rough and unpleasant kiss, the boy¡¯s face scrunching up in disgust. ¡°Answer me when I talk to you Y/n.¡± she demanded, winding back her arm, backhanding the boy, a smirk of pure satisfaction widespread upon her countenance.

    The now cowering boy responded with a nod before Natasha prompted for them move on towards her abode. Entering the busy street as planned, Y/n looked for an isolated alleyway before dashing towards it, causing the purple haired teen to run, albeit at a slower pace than her male counterpart, after the boy.

    Running through the maze like alleyways, Y/n reached a dead-end, deeming it to be sufficiently far away enough from the main street for help to come for the purple haired girl that caught up to him a few seconds later, heavily breathing, a scowl equipped upon her features.

    ¡°Now what did you go and do that for?¡± she furiously questioned, moving towards the teen, once again winding up her hand to go in for another slap.

    A whistling sound erupted from behind the girl as a small combat knife soared through the air, lodging itself in the girl¡¯s waist, eliciting a loud howl of pain that was sure to alert anyone nearby, stopping her attempts to hit Y/n.

    Unfortunately for the purple haired teen, nobody with good intentions would come to save her. Although, the shrill shriek did cause a singular person, who had been strolling through the alleyways as if they owned them, to head towards their direction.

    The purple haired girl pulled out the knife and clutched her wound, looking behind her to see who had thrown the sharp object. A small unidentifiable person covered in bandages and a large navy hoodie madly sprinted towards the girl, quickly entering close quarters.

    Natasha attempted to slash the assailant, but unfortunately her sloppy attempt was ducked under by the stranger causing her arm to be grasped under the attacker¡¯s armpit and a right hook wrapped in red gauze to fly towards her face, making direct contact.

    Blood was spat out by the girl as her head was launched backwards, her body staying in the same position due to her arm being held. A sharp cry of pain was cut short as the person pushed her to the ground and straddled her, launching many more fists.

    Chloe, who at this point had became obsessed with beating the ever living shit out of the girl, could no longer hear the voice of Y/n who warned the girl about another stranger slowly walking towards the two.

    As a last resort, the purple haired girl, blood soaked combat knife in hand, attempted to lodge the sharp weapon in her assailant¡¯s stomach. Enveloped in a bloody frenzy, the vermillion haired girl had completely forgotten about the knife that she had left in Natasha¡¯s hand.

    Clang! A loud metallic sound caused Chloe to snap out of her intense blood-lust-filled state, looking towards the source of the distraction to see that the combat knife once held her victims hand was now lying ten metres in front of the two, a few meters away from another shining blade.

    Looking down towards the destroyed face of the girl, who had two bruised eyes, a very broken nose, broken teeth and a multitude of black bruises on her face, Chloe smiled with satisfaction before breaking out in a fit of laughter at the sight of the girl who she¡¯d beaten half to death.

    ¡°Ha.. hahaha... hahaHAhaha... serves you right, you fucking whore! This should teach you to never touch my Y/n again!¡± she shrieked with joy, the stranger looking on in awe. Y/n had a scared look upon his face, wondering to himself how the fragile girl he used to know had became a psychopathic murderer seemingly obsessed with himself.

    After the vermillion hair coloured girl ceased laughing, she stood and, with all the force her tiny body could muster, slammed her foot onto the opposing girl¡¯s face.

    Crack!

    The sound of someone clapping sounded out behind the girl, diverting her attention from the beaten girl to another stranger who wore formal attire.

    Short cut radiant blonde hair covered by a velvet black fedora, aqua blue eyes which contained a dull glimmer of cruelty, equipped in a pristinely white T-shirt with a black waist jacket and matt black trousers, two shining throwing knifes in his left hand.

    Unfazed by the bloody mess in front of him, he commended Chloe for her work, ¡°It¡¯s been quite a long time since I¡¯ve seen someone as... tenacious... as you! Looks like you caught quite the big fish! If I¡¯m not mistaken, isn¡¯t that the Chief of the police station¡¯s daughter you¡¯ve currently put one foot into their grave?¡± he paused, a grin erupting upon his countenance.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell ya what, If I take care of miss purple hair here and ensure the Chief never finds out that It was you guys that did it, come work for me if ya ever in need of protection! Not that ya would need it.¡± he roared with laughter as an orange orb stared suspiciously at the stranger.

    Silence erupted from within the alleyway, causing the man to walk closer to the body, hoisting the bloodied body over his shoulder, ruining his perfectly clean outfit. ¡°Little lass, I¡¯ll take ya silence that ya agree with my proposition! Fantastic¡± he dug into his trousers¡¯ back pocket before throwing a white cardboard business card towards the girl.

    As the man joyfully strolled out of the alleyway, Chloe walked over to the now red blood soaked business card.

    The contents read as such:

    Epsilon Maxwell

    Leader of the ¡°Prideful Lion¡± Gang

    Mobile: 09893742092

 Act 1 - Chapter 11 - Conflict

    A hollow cry erupted as a mass of metal swung open, releasing a putrid stench emitted from the rotting body located directly below.

    The once grey coloured floor had now been turned a dull crimson, most of the dried red substance culminating at one point of the corpse¡¯s skull, where a large crevice appeared upon it¡¯s lifeless cranium.

    ¡°Bawahahahah¡± erupted a jovial laugh. Standing atop the basement¡¯s staircase stood a large figure who had similar features Derrick, equipped with a large grin upon his countenance.

    ¡°Derrick, my son, you always engaged in quite the blood thirsty activities, just as I did when I was young! However, It would seem that you did not also inherit my cautious nature! I¡¯ve seen the CCTV footage and I must say, that little girl gave you a run for your money!¡± the man said, another series of deep laughter sounded out, echoing around the basement.

    A multitude of thunderous metal pangs sounded out as the large figure slowly descended down the metal staircase, which seemingly groaned under his weight.

    Now standing next to the corpse, the man lifted Derrick¡¯s lifeless body on top of his shoulder and exited the basement. ¡°My dear son, do not fret! I shall personally get revenge for you!¡± he claimed, as he read a sheet of information, containing the small girl¡¯s name, place of residence and almost everything about her.

    <hr>

    A plethora of men and women, all of which had guns and tasers holstered upon their waist, gathered around a rectangular table, an authoritarian figure seated at the farthest end of the long table sat firm.

    A deep voice sounded out, demanding the attention of all the important people seated around the table, ¡°As you may know, my precious and harmless little girl, Natasha, has recently been killed by that despicable ¡°Prideful Lion¡± gang! Their actions might as well have been a declaration of war, with me, the Chief of the capitol¡¯s police force!¡± informed the large man, a large frown present upon his countenance.

    The whole table burst out in surprise, collectively thinking the same thought. ¡®That gang is being this forward? They¡¯ve been lurking in the shadows for the better part of 50 years!¡¯

    The large man sighed before continuing to speak, ¡°After their loss against their mortal enemy the ¡°Crystal Palace¡±, famous for dominating the drug market, they¡¯ve been on the down low for the better part of this century. It seems that they¡¯ve finally gathered enough power to feel confident to draw war with us!¡± he confidently exclaimed, no doubt in his mind that his police force would obtain an overwhelming victory over the gang.

    Cheers erupted from within the room, before another policeman burst through the door attempting to say something, ¡°Sir! The head of the Prideful Lion gang, Epsilon Maxwell, has come to-¡± abruptly being cut short as a bullet entered his brain, consequently falling limp onto the blue carpet, now stained crimson.

    The sound of gun¡¯s being cocked back burst throughout the room as 30 or so men, some heavily wounded, walked into the room, a large man in formal attire standing in front. If one were to look at the corridor behind them, a scarlet graveyard could be used to describe the scene.

    ¡°Thomas! Long time no see, friend of mine!¡± said Maxwell, his arms stretching out as If he wished to hug the large man that was ten or so metres in front of him.

    ¡°Epsilon. Do you know the meaning of what you¡¯ve done to my little harmless Natasha?¡± seethed the police chief. ¡°You¡¯ll never leave here alive!¡± he added, a giant smile grew onto his countenance.

    At the mention of the purple haired girl, Maxwell gleamed back at the large man.

    ¡°Actually, friend of mine, you should be thanking me! I know who actually killed little miss princess that you adore so much! They should be thinking that they got away with it scot free by now!¡± he maliciously smiled, his fedora tipped forward covering his eyes which held a distinct look of bloodlust.

    At the addition of this new information, Thomas shot up, gun in hand, and demanded to know the culprit, ¡°If you know what¡¯s good for ya, you better put that toy down.¡± calmly quipped Maxwell, as he used clicked his fingers, ten of men behind the pristinely dressed man dropped their coats revealing a plethora of primed explosives strapped to themselves.

    All the police in the room slowly holstered their pistols, a look of disgust on their face as they stared at the criminals before them. ¡°Alright, Fine. I¡¯ll entertain ya. Who killed my precious daughter?¡± Thomas played along, his smile turning into a grimace.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it, old chap! Thank me later!¡± Maxwell smiled, throwing a folder of evidence onto the table before adding one final thing, ¡°I¡¯ll be taking my leave now!¡± strolling out of his enemies'' headquarters.

    Slowly reaching towards the files, Thomas ordered his subordinates to find out how they had managed to bring so many explosives through all the metal detectors in the building, one of his subordinates looked out into the corridor, immediately vomiting at the sight.

    Opening the folder, he saw pictures of two individuals, the first, a small girl with orange hair, the second, a tall teen with short black hair. Looking at the motives, he threw the paper against the wall in disgust.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way my daughter would do such a thing. Whatever, put a bounty on both of them, just in case. Send some cop¡¯s after them as well, no handcuffs of course.¡± he scoffed at Epsilon¡¯s audacity, the policewoman who received the order seemed to understand his intentions, ordering for a special police squad to be sent.

    Walking out of the police station and into the familiar alleyways, the gangsters had started to burst out into laughter; ¡°Boss, Boss, What an ingenious idea! Fake explosives! What guts to fool the police chief!¡± cried out a random gangster.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Maxwell joined in on the laughter before ordering three of his subordinates to go after the pair of teens, ¡°Tail the two teens. When the police go after the two, go save¡¯em. Then they¡¯ll grateful and join us since they¡¯ll have no where else to turn!¡± he cackled, impressed with his own intellectual prowess.

    Tilting his black fedora back up, he walked into the dark alleyway, his subordinates following him in tow, melding into to the shadows where they belonged.

    <hr>

    Everything had seemingly gone back to normal for the tall, black haired, teen. No body had been aware of the deaths of Derrick and the purple haired girl, allowing for Y/n to attend school as usual.

    Unfortunately for Chloe, she had to spend her week in intensive care. After all, her injuries were not something that wrapping a few bandages could heal. Ensuring that no infections would come to pass and allowing her body to rest up was most of the reason as to why she couldn¡¯t leave the uncomfortable bed.

    The only scenery she had the pleasure of observing was the spotless white ceiling that she was forced to stare at for hours on end. Be that as it may, at least she had Y/n who frequently came to visit her so that she wouldn¡¯t be to lonely.

    The small, now once again, orange haired girl had already guessed that the older woman with whom she lived with would not take time out of her busy day to come see the injured teen. The past few days had been incredibly uneventful, boring the teen.

    One the bright side, most of her injuries were recoverable, apart from the few quite severe ones such as her no-longer existent left eye, which was god knows where. Y/n had come to pick Chloe up as today, a Friday, was the day of her release.

    As they left the hospital, conversing about Y/n¡¯s day at school, Chloe smiled when learning about one tad bid of information; ¡°Whenever a girl, apart from you obviously, comes near me... I think I subconsciously freak out... like... It¡¯s just hard to speak you know? I become afraid...¡± he nervously recalled his past experiences he¡¯d gained throughout the week.

    He also lamented that, in general, he¡¯d become a lot more closed of towards people, after all, he didn¡¯t know which one of his friends would turn out to be the next Derrick.

    Closing in on the apartment block that Chloe had lived in for about half her life now, she invited him in for something to eat, to which he jovially accepted.

    Although he had been quite scared of the expressions and actions she¡¯d committed during that horrible time, he¡¯d passed it off as her having a mental crisis. After all, he¡¯d known the girl for countless years now, it wasn¡¯t like a few seemingly loose screws, which could always be re-tightened, would stop their friendship.

    ¡®It¡¯s as if those moments never happened, she¡¯s acting just like the girl she used to be... No. The girl she is.¡¯ he internally corrected, pushing the fear he felt to the farthest corners of his mind.

    The dull grey apartments had grown even more weary as time passed, graffiti living upon the walls for years, the owners never being bothered enough to evict it.

    Cooking some food for the tall teen, orange hair fumbled about as Chloe picked a few items from her fridge, orderly dicing them up and throwing them into a pan on medium heat. It hadn¡¯t taken long for the food to be prepared, a soft scent filling the apartment, making Y/n smile.

    Unfortunately for the small teen, a door creaked open as another, loosely dressed, figure stumbled into the kitchen, sitting down next to Y/n. The older woman usually refrained herself from acting violently with Chloe when guests were around; she didn¡¯t want to get reported for child abuse, after all that would give her a reputation in her workplace.

    ¡°Brat, gimmie some of that as well.¡± she demanded, her words slightly slurred as she scrolled through the phone, a vibration erupting from the device, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

    Plating the food into three portions, the girl timidly put the plates on the table, a stale silence enveloping the apartment. Y/n, blissfully unaware of the tension surrounding the two, dug into his food, devouring it quickly, as if he were worried that the older woman would demand that he give her some of his food.

    The food that she made was miles better than hospital rations, thus Chloe also finished her food with haste. The only person who had yet to touch her plate was the older woman, who seemed to be taken aback by what she¡¯d read.

    Exiting the living room, she dialled a number and started a conversation with someone, looking as if she¡¯d struck gold. It was about 15 minutes after the call that a metallic pounding sound erupted from door.

    Hastily moving over to open the door, the woman abruptly fell to the floor, a fresh hole located on her forehead, blood slowly dripping out of the wound.

    ¡°Ya Filthy Palace Scum¡± seethed a deep voice, two other men walking into the apartment, unfazed, locating the two teens.

    ¡°Oy you two, come with us. The boss sent us. We work for the Prideful Lion gang.¡± scoffed a small but bulky man with a scratchy voice, a scarred gun holstered on his waist.

    The two teen looked towards each other, slightly confused, ¡°I thought Mr. Maxwell was giving us a choice about the matter?¡± replied Y/n, followed by Chloe nodding in agreement.

    The third man looked squarely at the two, his eyebrows rising in surprise before typing a few words into his phone, turning it around, so they both could see the contents of the screen.

    There laid two photos of the teens, a large black font reading ¡±Wanted" seemingly mocking them. ¡°What are we wanted for?¡± tested the orange haired girl, receiving a shrug from the man in response.

    It didn¡¯t seem like the man had leaked their secret. Chloe would have to question the man later.

    The main male gangster, tall with brown hair and black spectacles, pointed outside before speaking, ¡°We took care of these pests just for ya, so ya should be thankful to use and accept the boss¡¯s invitation. Otherwise ya would probably be six foot unda by now... those coppa¡¯s had no handcuffs on¡¯em. Only shooters.¡±

    Both of the teens walked towards the door, only Y/n being disgruntled by having to walk over the fresh corpse, as they both looked at the massacre before them.

    Five police lay motionless outside of Chloe¡¯s apartment, clean headshots on some, the others had multiple bullet wounds scattered across their bodies. Blood covered their uniforms and the guns which sat next to their cold, lifeless, hands.

    Y/n was the only one affected by looking at such a gruesome sight, Chloe just looked mildly impressed by the accuracy of the trio¡¯s gunplay.

    ¡°You don¡¯t think there was another alternative to murder?¡± questioned Y/n, his voice trembling slightly.

    ¡°What for the coppas?¡± paused the leader of the trio, ¡°Nah, they¡¯re all corrupt bastards anyways.¡± he finished, scoffing at Y/n¡¯s absurd question, moving onwards.

    ¡°They¡¯d probably do the same thing to us.¡± explained the small gangster, a slight smile upon his countenance. It was pretty obvious that he was happy with how the engagement had gone.

    ¡°Lets get moving. No doubt people heard the coppas who didn¡¯t go down without a fight.¡± reasoned the tall bespectacled man.

    Two of the gangsters led the way, the other trailing behind the duo to make sure they would not run off.

    <hr>

    About thirty minutes after the fight had occurred, a group of men and women walked up the stairs of Chloe¡¯s apartment, smelling the stench of death even before they turned the corner.

    Stepping over the police¡¯s corpses they entered the apartment, finding another dead body.

    ¡°Ah, she was one of us. Shame.¡± commented a woman who had a purple badge equipped upon her left leg.

    ¡°Report this to the boss; they¡¯re gone.¡± commanded another.

 Act 2 - Chapter 12 - Welcome

    By the time that Chloe and Y/n had arrived at their destination, escorted by the trio, the sun had already began to set. The shadows of buildings covered their path as they slowly trudged through the dark and grimy alleyways which led to their new base of operations.

    Occasionally along the way, the duo would see a homeless person or two, barely surviving due to the harsh weather of the beginning of winter. Chloe admired their will to live, no matter how hard their circumstances became whilst Y/n seemed quite disgruntled about being near them.

    The reactions of the homeless, although, were quite eerie. The vast majority would quickly scramble to distance themselves from the group; as if they were attempting to escape rats which bore the black death.

    <hr>

    After what seemed to be a few hours of walking, they arrived in front of a worn stone staircase, various dark stains and cracks plagued the entrance that led downwards, revealing an old oak door and a small metal rectangular slit. The tall brunet, who had been leading the way, stepped forward, nocking the door in strange intervals.

    A grinding sound erupted from the door as the slit screeched open, a pair of eyes appeared, bouncing around the figures until they finally rested on their tall guide, who mouthed a certain word.

    The pair beady eyes widened for a second before quickly closing the slit a smallClink erupting from the opening.

    The heavy metal door slowly creaked open, revealing a large bar and a small man who had a pedestal in his hands walking away from the door. The walls, similar to the stairs that had led them there, were made of black stone, somehow making the dimly lit room even darker than it should have been.

    Walking into the gloomy room, the bespectacled man started to speak.

    ¡°Boss said dat we¡¯s ¡°ought to treat you with servility¡± and ta ¡°Give you a place to rest for the night¡±. One of you¡¯ll meet da boss tomorrow, so get sum rest for now.¡± He frankly spoke, his tone and pronunciation attempting to become exceedingly posh as he recited what Epsilon had ordered them to do.

    Y/n giggled slightly, seemingly entertained by the tall man¡¯s attempt to mimic Epsilon, as they walked past the bar area and towards a long hallway, to which several doors called home. The small man disappeared for a few seconds, re-joining the group with a few things in his hands.

    ¡°Since this is ya first time in this place, I¡¯ll let you have a drink on the house. My treat.¡± the small man offered, two iced bottles of water appeared in his hands.

    Both teens had been quite thirsty due to their extended stroll around the back alleyways of the city and thus both accepted the water bottles gratefully. Y/n immediately opened the bottle and drank the whole thing in one go, whilst Chloe suspiciously eyed the water, proposing to drink it later.

    The doors were made out of a thick, and seemingly strong, metal. As If they were used to imprison something, or rather someone, inside. There were ten or so black doors, each scarred with scratches and dents. Just the sight of them made both of the teens quite unsettled as they pondered over what may have caused the damage.

    At the end of the corridor lied a large polished wooden door, similar to the entrance door, which had no number on it. Only a few golden acrylic words written in a language unfamiliar to the duo. The door was unlike the others as it had was in pristine condition, something important clearly lying behind it.

    Stopping in front of one of the doors, a gold number ¡®9¡¯ imprinted upon the door, the smallest of the trio opened it, explaining what their accommodations would be for the night; ¡°Alright, here¡¯s the plan.¡± he said in a low tone, pausing momentarily in order to ensure that he did indeed have both of the teen¡¯s attentions.

    ¡°You two are going to be split up into two different rooms, as each of these rooms can only hold a single soul.¡± the small man used his palm to shove open the door, a loud clang erupting from the wall as they collided together, providing an example as to why each room could only fit one person.

    Chloe, in response to this new information, frowned and looked over to Y/n. ¡°No. We¡¯ll stay together in one room. I¡¯ll sleep on the floor.¡± she distrustfully refuted.

    There was simply no way that she¡¯d part from her... very good friend... after what had happened last time. Hell, she¡¯d promised herself not to go to sleep at all as to guard the boy from whatever dangers may pounce upon nightfall. Epsilon seemed like a strange and particular man who had no reason to help them this much, there was definitely a catch.

    Inside the chamber was a single bed, with a black duvet and pillows. No windows in sight, presumably since they were currently located below solid ground. A small table occupied most of the space to the right of the room, a few random books about martial arts and guns laid bare atop the wooden object.

    The only two other things that furnished the room were an obsidian wardrobe and chair. It had seemed as though whoever had decided to furnish the room really liked the colour black.

    ¡°How spacious.¡± Chloe sarcastically commented, before giving Y/n a soft glance and walking into the room. Walking into the middle of the chamber, located a few meters away from the door, a whining noise erupted from the heavy door that slowly was being closed shut.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Y/n stood close to the door, looking behind him to see that the door had completely closed. ¡°If we need to go the the toilet, should we bang on the door to let you know?¡± he worriedly asked.

    ¡°Nah, Ya little lasses can use those bottles that we gave ya!¡± The voice of the tall gangster sounded out, jovially laughing. Both teen¡¯s countenances flushed red as they looked towards the bottles in their hands... They could manage... Right?

    Walking over to the bed, Y/n sighed as he jumped on it, groaning at the hard mattress which greeted him. Feeling quite drowsy, Y/n lied atop of the bed and thought over about what had happened that day.

    On top of the intense walking session they were put through, the sight of bloody corpses, lifelessly lying on the ground, had once again entered his sight. He had wished that he¡¯d never have to see such a horrid scene again, but alas such was the uncontrollable nature of life itself.

    Mentally exhausted, he slowly spoke to the girl, ¡°Bloody hell Chloe. It¡¯s all now finally setting in... Wanted by the Police? How is that Just? After all you and I went through, sure both of their deaths were quite gruesome, but it¡¯s not like they both didn¡¯t deserve it! They were fucking psycho¡¯s.¡± he fumed.

    Nodding her head in agreement, the small orange haired teen once again surveyed the room. I mean, on the positive side of things, at least the room was in a better condition than her old abode had been, ¡®Although for Y/n, this must be quite the downgrade.¡¯ she sympathetically pondered.

    Moving her eyes towards the boy¡¯s body, she faced him and began to speak with a comforting tone, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be fine. Anyways, go to sleep. I¡¯ll stay up on guard to make sure nothing sketchy happens to us.¡°, a large prideful grin graced her bruised and battered countenance.

    After her speech, Chloe seemed to be exuding confidence as she proudly looked over to the door, as if she was challenging anyone to burst it down and start a fight.

    ¡°As If I¡¯d let you sleep on the ground. Come on, get on the bed. It¡¯ll be a tight squeeze, but we both need sleep in order to survive in these uncertain times.¡± Y/n resolutely spoke. Chloe, surprised by his absurd suggestion, slowly walked over to the small black bed that could barely contain the tall male.

    Looking at the black haired teen, who currently had his back turned towards her, attempting to make as much space as possible so that Chloe could also fit on the bed, she crawled into the sheets, hugging the male from behind causing him to stop freeze in place.

    Digging her face into his back to hide her blush, Y/n fell silent, after all he doubted that without doing this that she could properly get enough space on the bed to get a good night¡¯s rest.

    Even though he felt slightly embarrassed over Chloe¡¯s actions, he quickly drifted to sleep, slightly comforted by her warm presence. Unlike Y/n who had been hastily vanquished by a wave of tiredness, Chloe enjoyed their current situation a whilst longer, before finally giving in to her thirst and drinking the bottled water before carefully going back to bed in order to avoid waking the sleeping male.

    That night was unlike any other for the small orange haired teen. No nightmares had graced her dreams, enabling the poor girl to finally be able to get some quality sleep for the first time in a very long time, a small smile equipped upon her face as she squeezed Y/n¡¯s body.

    <hr>

    Waking up from her deep slumber, she groggily sat upwards on the bed and rubbed her eyes, regaining her vision. The lights in the room had never turned off, making it slightly uncomfortable to sleep and since there were no windows there was no way to tell the time without a mobile device, something that Chloe did not own.

    A small matter. After all, she could just ask Y/n to check his phone. Looking to her left, expecting to find the sleeping teen, she found nothing. The only trace that the boy had in fact slept on the bed were the small imprints of his figure that he made on the bed.

    Exploding into high alert, the once groggy teen had now regained most of her cognitive functions, her mind whirring away, coming up with reasons as to why the boy was no longer by her side.

    The gangsters who had led them here had most likely taken him whilst they were both unconscious. The worst part about it was that Chloe was clearly on guard... It was Y/n¡¯s offer that caused her to loosen up.

    Deciding that the full night¡¯s rest was not worth loosing the boy, she moved towards the door and started to hit her fists against the cold hard metal.

    Adrenaline pumping through her body as her knuckles started to bleed, the girl felt as if she could literally bust down the thick piece of solid metal with just her small fists.

    However, just because she could block out the pain, did not mean she could achieve superhuman feats of strength. Especially due to her small frame and poor constitution.

    A few minutes of punching the metal door passed before Chloe started to loose control of her hands, blood marks imprinted upon the door. Concluding that she wouldn¡¯t be busting out of her place of imprisonment anytime soon, she sat down next to the desk and started to look at the book close to her.

    One read¡®Basic hand to hand combat skills¡¯, another¡¯Firearms: Stop, Aim, Flick, Fire. It was clear that the person who had once lived in this cell was fond of martial arts and gunplay.

    ¡®If I¡¯m going to be trapped in here for god knows how long, I might as well put this time to good use. If I¡¯m lucky I might be able to use what I learn here to break the bastards that stole my Y/n.¡¯ she mused to herself.

    <hr>

    Three or so hours passed before the creaking sound of the door erupted, the door opening half way before meeting some resistance. Seven people stood outside of the door, welcoming expressions present on most of the people quickly turning into to confusion as no one was present inside the room.

    The tallest of them all, a large blonde male with sandy eyes, cautiously walked forward into the room, as if he¡¯d been in this situation before.

    ¡°Go get¡¯em Freddy!¡± cheered a high pitched feminine voice, the owner of which had grey twin tails and was equipped with a sheathed knife on her waist.

    As the male walked into the room, Chloe burst out from behind the door and forced the man into a choke hold, eliciting a rather violent reaction from the man, who grabbed onto the small girl¡¯s hands, pulling apart the choke hold with pure strength and then slamming the girl onto the ground.

    Making contact with the ground, the girl cried out in pain, winded and unable to move. Two people started to clap in response to the large man¡¯s show of power.

    The mountain of muscle stood in front of the small girl who was recovering from the man¡¯s counter, looking up at him and the people behind him, giving them each a nasty glare. The group of people were made up of 3 females and four men, all physically strong with muscles visible.

    Each person had a different response to what had just occurred, ranging from disgust to entertained, but they all seemed as if they expected what Chloe was planning, as if they had done the same themselves.

    A deep voice sounded out from the man, ¡°We¡¯re the Stinger Squad. From today onwards you¡¯re one of us. Follow us. The Boss wants to speak with you.¡±

    Unable to respond, the girl¡¯s vision started to spin to and fro as she quickly lost consciousness.

    ¡°Fred, You¡¯ve done it again. How many times have I reminded you to control your strength when greeting the newbies!¡± sighed another bespectacled man.

 Act 2 - Chapter 13 - Infighting

    The seemingly frost covered concrete caused the cold to seep into Y/n¡¯s skin as he slowly awoke from his long slumber. The last thing that he had remembered was sleeping in that tiny bed next to... Chloe.

    Checking his senses weren¡¯t trying to trick the boy, he felt around his surroundings. ¡®Hard mattress... Check... Covers... Not there.¡¯ concluding that he was in fact no longer in his previous resting place, he hastily checked his surroundings.

    The warmth that clung to his back had ceased to exist, amongst other things that had touched him. A deep red hue sprung upon his face as he covered his head with his hands in embarrassment, completely forgetting that he was in an unknown location.

    Opening his eyes, a dull and unfurnished room formed around him. ¡®At least I¡¯m not in another bed... Honestly I think that would scare me more than waking up in this prison like room.¡¯

    Y/n¡¯s previous experiences had certainly skewed the boy¡¯s perception as to what was good and bad, feeling quite fortune to be where he was as of current.

    The gunmetal grey walls greeted his eyes which spun around the room finding only a few pieces of furniture, namely a small bed hanging from the wall and a white table set opposite the massive metal door which kept the boy imprisoned within.

    The sound of keys hitting against one and another grew louder as heavy footsteps joined the fray. As the boy looked over to the door, several locks clicked open, a large bulky man appearing in front of him.

    Two large black orbs dug holes into the figure standing inside the cell, a thin and powerless male. The larger of the two scoffed at the thought that the doors had several locks and inches of steel preventing this twig looking guy from escaping.

    Hell, he doubted the young¡¯n had the guts to attempt it anyways.

    ¡°Morning Roll call. After that It¡¯s time to work you like a mule. Get used to it, that¡¯s your life for the foreseeable future.¡± the giant man laughed, sounding as if thunder had struck down from the heavens.

    Y/n grimaced at the new information that had been allocated to him, not looking forward to be ¡®worked like a mule¡¯ as the man put it. Furthermore, it looked as if it would be unpaid work as well.

    Shoved out of the room, the tall teen slowly advanced forwards, as if he were a death row inmate walking towards his execution chamber. It would appear that his cell was located at the end of the corridor, seven other doors located to the left of his.

    Multiple cameras lined the ceiling, a woman equipped with a pistol guarding a pair of dark brown oak doors. Exerting a small grunt to the woman, the large man thrusted open the wood, revealing a large rectangular white room.

    Surveying the land in front of him, Y/n soon became aware of the seven pairs of orbs which inquisitively looked him up and down.

    A head of fiery orange hair stepped forward, opening his mouth to speak to the boy, ¡°My name¡¯s Isaac. You one of us?¡± he queried, an apprehensive expression upon his countenance. Y/n shrugged in confusion, prompting a girl with matte black hair to step forward, offering an explanation.

    ¡°He wants to know if you were kidnapped like the rest of us. Ashley¡¯s the name. You?¡± she said.

    Before the teen could answer, the large man¡¯s voice boomed out, ¡°He¡¯ll be working with you lot. Make sure to rough him up, he¡¯s one of us.¡±

    The red head gave Y/n a fierce stare, looking ready to give him a fist or two, before being blocked by a slim outreached hand, belonging to a tall blonde hair.

    ¡°Imbecile. Isaac, look at the bastard.¡± she paused, letting the hot-headed boy to observe the large man who had a large grin upon his countenance, clearly being entertained by their in fighting. ¡°Besides, look at the kid. You think they¡¯d hire someone as scrawny as his ass?¡± she reasoned, causing Y/n to look down at his body, a frown growing on his face.

    Isaac paused, clearly in deep thought before nodding his head, agreeing with the green eyed girl. Y/n¡¯s eyes moved from the hot head to the two other girls, and then onto the other people who had yet to speak.

    The group was comprised up of mostly females, three males and the four of the opposite gender. A small black haired male stood behind the bulk of the people. His silky hair hung over his eyes, leaving his expression unknown. With the way he was clinging onto another male, he seemed quite timid.

    The man he was holding onto was of a normal height and was armed with muscles. It seemed that where ever they were did not stop him from upkeeping his physical state. He was equipped with gunmetal grey hair and brown eyes, a black vest clinging to his body emphasising his build.

    Looking towards his feet, reality slowly began to seep into Y/n¡¯s bones. He was, once again, in an unknown location with potentially dangerous people surrounding him. Worrying about what tragedy may have befallen the one eyed girl, the anxious teen unconsciously starting to tap his foot on the ground to release his stress.

    BANG! The large oak door that Y/n had been pushed through slammed shut, making the tall teen jump, the mountainous man nowhere to be seen. A couple of murmurs erupted from the group of people in front of him, before someone got pushed forward, a slightly tanned hand coming into Y/n¡¯s vision.

    ¡°Hey. Sorry about that my dude... I¡¯ve been told about my seemingly short temper...not that I agree with them though...¡±Isaac apologised, murmuring the last part.

    Y/n grasped his hand, loosely shaking it before he spoke, ¡°How did you guys find yourself here? I was... sharing a bed... with a friend of mine before I woke up here.¡± he explained.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    A soft voice came from the girl next to well built man, amber orbs and dark tanned skin adorned her body alongside short brown hair. As muscular as the man next to her, she had a few visible scars upon her countenance.

    ¡°That seems to be the case for everyone here as well. Nathan has been here the longest, three months.¡± she pointed over to the small black haired boy, prompting him to cling to Thomas even more than before under Y/n¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Apparently, there were more people before him... although they were taken away for some reason.¡± she added, a worried expression breaking out onto her countenance, seemingly scared that It may happen to her.

    Before any more conversations could break out, a light, feminine voice sounded out from above them from a speaker, ¡°Break Time¡¯s over. Get back to work.¡± they commanded. The tanned girl groaned at this new information, Ashley signalling Y/n to follow the group as they walked over to a large metal door.

    Inside the room was a large greenhouse, various plants and herbs were being grown. The black haired girl glanced over to Y/n, ¡°I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t have to explain to you what they want us to do. Come on; I¡¯ll show you the ropes.¡± she spoke, her cheerful tone unbefitting of the situation they were currently stuck in.

    At least her sprightful attitude towards the boy granted him some solace within this unfamiliar place.

    <hr>

    Abruptly being pulled out from her state of unconsciousness which made the girl start, she frantically looked at her surroundings and her clothes, clearly startled as to why she was now soaking wet in cold water.

    The culprit was a medium sized man who was slim and held an empty bucket. His ginger hair was messy wearing an oversized blue jumper and a pair of slim fit jeans. A large grin was splayed all over his countenance as he giggled to himself as a result of how Chloe was reacting.

    ¡°Evan, could we not have just gotten Freddie to slap her a few times? Now she has to change otherwise she¡¯s gonna catch a damn cold!¡± a high pitched voice erupted from behind the teen, a pair of grey pigtails swung to and fro as she exaggeratedly tilted her head to the side, a frown decorating her face.

    ¡°Shut up Eve. This method is way more fun.¡± The teen replied, resulting in the girl swiftly moving towards the boy and sucker punching him in his stomach, ¡°Don¡¯t call me that. It¡¯s Evelyn to you.¡± she spat, her seemingly harmless and playful attitude nowhere to be found.

    Evan keeled down onto his legs as he held his stomach, the punch clearly holding some power.

    ¡°Now now, let¡¯s try not to inflict too much damage onto our comrades. We¡¯re all in the same boat here... What¡¯s your name? If you don¡¯t provide us one, we¡¯ll take it upon ourselves to allocate you one.¡± said a monotone voice, the owner of which had a small body and blue glasses, her blonde hair cut to chest length.

    Evelyn seemed to agree with the other girl and thus returned to the group, but not before giving Evan another kick in the stomach for good measure once he¡¯d lowered his guard due to the small girl¡¯s statement.

    A tall bespectacled man commented out with an authoritative voice, ¡°Let¡¯s move. The boss is going to be pissed if we are too late.¡±

    The others nodded their heads in agreement, Evelyn beckoning Chloe to come with them as they exited her temporary room and moved past the large oak door which guarded the room placed at the end of the corridor.

    Behind the door laid a large room which consisted of a large kitchen, gym and library. A few doors littered the walls of the room as they traversed across the room. Evelyn hung back next to Chloe and started to introduce herself.

    ¡°Hi Hi! The name¡¯s Evelyn! I¡¯ve been here for nearly three whole months now! Ha! I¡¯ve probably broken a record for the longest living member of the Stinger Squad. Who¡¯s your special someone? I know ya have one since you¡¯re here!¡± she rapidly spoke, her words flowing like the water from a broken dam.

    Taking a moment to process the information fed to her as they walked towards another door, ¡°Don¡¯t have a ¡®special someone¡¯. Just a friend, that¡¯s all. We got separated. Again.¡± Chloe bit her lip anxiously, frustration laced within her words, clearly apparent as she aggravatedly sighed.

    ¡®Pathetic... I said I would protect him and now I don¡¯t even know where the fuck he is...¡¯she inwardly scolded herself.

    Evelyn¡¯s lips curved upwards as she silently stared at the girl, the group stopping before a door, Freddy opening the door for Chloe, the orange haired teen walked into the room, swinging it shut behind her.

    Various newspaper clippings were stuck onto the walls surrounding the office, most of them with similar headings such as, ¡°Lion Gang suffers heavy damages after recent gang war!¡°. A large oak desk equipped with various documents neatly organised on top of it entered Chloe¡¯s vision as a figure sat on a leather chair stared at the girl.

    His gelled black hair was not covered by the fedora he¡¯d worn previously, a white waistcoat and black T-shirt adorning his physique. Looking up towards the intruder, he took off his reading glasses and looked the girl up and down.

    ¡°Ah, you. It would seem that you¡¯ve managed to escape the Police, thanks to my men of course. Now, it¡¯s time to...¡± Chloe interrupted the man who reached towards a glass which contained some iced whiskey, ¡°Where¡¯s my Y/n?¡± she seethed.

    Epsilon slowly smirked, ¡°You lot are all the same, you know that right? Those people that you¡¯ve just met said those exact words to me as well!¡± he chuckled, amused by her authoritative tone.

    His countenance changing into a serious tone, quickly pulling out a shiny black pistol that he had holstered on his hip, ¡°Oi Bratt. I¡¯m the one in control here. If you want to see ¡®Your Y/n¡¯ then do as I say. Another outburst like that will only award you with a new hole in your head, free of charge of course.¡± Epsilon calmly explained, blowing the smoke that was emitted from the tip of the gun.

    He surveyed Chloe¡¯s reaction to his threat. Nothing. Not a flinch. A smile grew upon his countenance as he kicked his legs up on the desk. ¡°Fine. It¡¯ll be Y/n that get¡¯s the bullet instead of you.¡± he reasoned.

    ¡°If you so much as harm a single HAIR on his body, I swe...¡±

    BANG!

    A fresh bullet hole was now located an inch away from her right ear, ¡°Next time I won¡¯t miss. It¡¯ll be you first and then Y/n.¡± he laughed.

    Gritting her teeth, her non-existent finger nails digging into her palm, silently standing still whilst trying to think of a way to become in possession of that gun.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re very intrigued as to why I¡¯ve invited you here... You could say that I¡¯m a collector of sorts. As a leader of a large gang, there are certain... lets just say, "high risk" operations. I¡¯m not so heartless as to ask my own men to engage in such things, so I get you guys to do it.¡± he explained, a small smile equipped upon his countenance.

    Fiddling with the black gun, he resumed his speech. ¡°There¡¯s a certain type of person... that will go through unimaginable things to be reunited with their special someone. My Stinger Squad is comprised of seven, now eight, rowdy people who are exactly that type of person. It¡¯s very hard to kill someone when they have such a strong will to survive, to live, even more so when It¡¯s for the sake of another.¡± he pushed another bullet into the magazine, pushing it back into the pistol, cocking it.

    ¡°So It¡¯s a suicide squad.¡± she summarized, a disgusted expression evident on her face.

    ¡°How crude. But, I guess that¡¯s one way of putting it. I would rather akin it too some very helpful volunteers!¡± he heartily laughed.

    ¡°If you betray me, I¡¯ll make sure that both you and your little boyfriend die in the most painful way possible. I¡¯ll kill him in front of your withered body and then publicly execute you.¡± his orbs gleamed with malicious intent.

    ¡°Welcome. Welcome to the Stinger Squadron. I hope you achieve excellence for us, the prideful and supreme Lions.¡± his lips forming a tight line as he stared at the young scarred teen.

    <hr>

    Author Note: gun go brr

 Act 2 - Chapter 14 - Mission

    A familiar sight was laid bare before the girl, broken pieces of black furniture resting upon the floor as a body sat upon a hard bed.¡®That conniving bastard... I¡¯m gonna make sure he gets a bullet in between those eyes of his... right through that fancy ass hat of his~!¡¯she planned, gleefully giggling at the wonderful thought of being able to see his cold, lifeless, body surrounded by a pool of his own warm blood.

    A trio of thumps resounded from the thick metal door, followed by a girl appearing before Chloe. An inquisitive expression appeared on her countenance before a large grin exploded onto the scene as she looked around the room, clearly amused.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Newbie! You¡¯ll soon come to find out that we all feel the same way!¡± she paused to garner if the other girl had any reaction to this new piece of information, ¡°Now, Now. We¡¯ll put this large mess behind us and continue onwards into your new room! You didn¡¯t think that big bitch would force us to stay in these depressing wittle holes, now did ya?¡± she sang.

    Luscious grey locks flowed down her back as she fiddled with the knives sheathed upon her waist belt, as if unable to stay still for a long period of time. Seeing no reaction from her orange haired kin, she strolled over to her before picking the small girl up and putting her into a princess carry.

    ¡°You see how strong I am? Well, your gonna have to be at least this strong if you¡¯re gonna survive here. They don¡¯t call us the suicide squad for nothing ya know! I¡¯m the longest lasting of us, 3 whole months! Usually newbies don¡¯t last more than one or two ¡°missions¡±!¡± she expounded on the severity of their situation with an unusually happy attitude, unbefitting for their current situation.

    Walking out of the door and into the main room that Chole had visited only once before, Evelynn strolled towards a new set of doors revealing another room which held ten beds, five on each side of the long chamber.

    ¡°This is our main room for sleeping! There are only ten beds cuz there has never been more than 10 members at a time in the stinger squadron!¡± she pridefully explained, as if she wanted Chloe to burst out in applause at how long she¡¯d persevered in this hell hole.

    Throwing Chloe onto one of the beds, a pile of various books on the human body, hand-to-hand combat and guns appeared next to her on a wooden bedside table.

    ¡°Those injuries ya got there don¡¯t seem too deep, nor super duper recent. You should be fine to start doing some physical training. Whilst you are recovering from that, spend all your time reading. It¡¯s the only way you¡¯re gonna be able to see that special someone of yours!¡± she seriously instructed, breaking her past cheerful fa?ade, before starting to exit the room.

    A slim outreached hand tugged on her clothes as Chloe began to speak, ¡°I¡¯ve never done physical training before. Teach me.¡± she asked, her orange locks covering up her expression.

    A large smile crept her way up onto Evelyn¡¯s face, before she accepted on one condition, ¡°Sure! What¡¯s the name newbie? I¡¯m sure you know, but mine¡¯s Evelyn! Call me Eve!¡± she cheerfully enquired.

    ¡°Chloe. Chloe Barker.¡± she solemnly mumbled.

    ¡°Sounds familiar... an arsonist? No... that¡¯s not it.... a terrorist? Not that either.... Ah! The murderer, right?¡± Evelyn enquired.

    The small girl nodded her head in response, not at all ashamed by the lives she¡¯d ended.

    ¡°Welcome to hell! One or two are rookie numbers! Hey, I guess that fits you doesn¡¯t it!¡± she gleamed.

    Grasping onto Chloe¡¯s hand, the taller of the two spoke, ¡°Wear¡¯em and meet me outside. I¡¯ll teach ya the ropes!¡± she pointed towards a new set of clothes hidden under her bed. They seemed to be a bit large for the girl.

    <hr>

    Rustling resounded out, due to tattered pages, from time to time as the small girl hastily absorbed the information within the texts allocated to her. It¡¯d been a long time since she¡¯d been able to sit down and enjoy a series of nice and informative books.

    Training with the enthusiastic Evelyn had tired her to the core. She¡¯d told Chloe that training was something she had routinely delved in before joining the squad. Apparently she had a friend called Nathan and that they¡¯d been separated just like Y/n and herself had.

    Four days had passed since her arrival, no one speaking to the girl except from Evelyn, who hung around the girl for most of the day. The rest of the people went on with their day, never communicating with the two, looking at one of them with disgust.

    She¡¯d came to learn a bit about the seven comrades that she¡¯d fight with, and probably die with according to Evelyn. Their total population of seven, now eight, was made up with the majority being male.

    The grey haired girl seemed to like to resolve things with violence over intellect. She¡¯d frequently reminisced over how she¡¯d obtained... certain things... from her partner using violence, talking about it in a bragging manor, obviously proud of her deeds.

    Freddy, the large blonde man that had previously given her a very warm welcome, was quite the lonesome man. He spent most of his time training with weights, guns or martial arts, disdaining books at every chance.

    The only other person she¡¯d gotten to know a bit about was a bespectacled and similarly small girl named Natalie. Her eyes gleamed whenever she talked with Chloe, as if trying to find a way to make use of her newly found companion.

    Focus drifting back towards the book that was currently held in her hands, she sighed at the contents within. Chloe was definitely not a picky person. Her upbringing hadn¡¯t allowed for such a disruptive trait to be developed indeed. Reading was what she enjoyed, no matter the information withheld in the medium that she chose to read from.

    However, that being said, she definitely would have rather read some biology books that were sitting beside her than the martial art text that she was currently indulging herself with. Various methods on how to end someone¡¯s life in a proficient manor were of some interest to the girl, but were still very bloody and gloomy topics at the end of the day.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The time was around 7~8pm, having already eaten for the day, Chloe was getting read to go to sleep after reading for a couple hours or so. Unfortunately for her, that plan would never be taken into fruition as Evelyn burst through the door, chalk full with guns and Kevlar galore.

    ¡°Chloe! We¡¯ve been dealt a death sentence, let¡¯s hop to it! You need to get changed and suited up, otherwise ya gonna die the first time you get shot!¡± she exclaimed, her emerald eyes wide open and lips tightly formed up into a firm line. Her usual cheerful demeanour now no-where to be found, replaced with a cold and authoritative one, firmly gripping onto something in the pocket of her jacket.

    Shooting up from her relaxed position on her bed, she followed Evelyn as she walked out of the room, going through another series of doors before entering a room filled with silky black weapons of warm, bullet proof vests filling the wall in front of her.

    Looking at a few of the weapons in front of her, she chose a handgun that had high accuracy and wouldn¡¯t weigh as much as a heavier, faster firing gun to enable sharper movements.

    Even so, the weight of the weapon slightly pulled her body to the floor, as if the gates of hell would suddenly appear below her and drag her down to where she truly belonged, the screaming of agony from her future victims synthesising in her mind, causing her to quickly holster it on the protective vest she now wore.

    At this point in time she was quite familiar with this room and it¡¯s weapons, due to Evelyn giving her a lesson or two on how to handle the destructive devices. One thing that Chloe firmly believed was that recoil was a bitch.

    With her small stature and lack of muscles to hold the gun down, there was simply no way to get a second, accurate, shot in once she¡¯d pulled down on the trigger. All or nothing.

    Frantically running around the room in an attempt to gain everything that¡¯d she though she would require, Chloe ran back to the common room to be included in the mission briefing.

    In the middle of the room stood seven other people, Evelyn at the front of the group. Apparently It was the job of the longest surviving member to meet Epsilon to get the details and then they would tell the others about it.

    Everyone present had a different expression upon their faces, ranging from slightly scared to indifferent, usually due to the differences in experience levels. According to previous missions, it was expected that at least a third of them would perish, with a mission occurring about every twenty days or so, a new person coming in every ten.

    ¡°Alright guys, that shit head Epsilon gave me the briefing so I¡¯ll fill you guys in on the fucked up stuff he¡¯s given us this time. Purple Palace once again, large factory filled with approximately 90--100 guards, no inside men, all heavily armed with 24/7 surveillance.¡± she solemnly explained.

    ¡°He wants us to act as a distraction for another team to go in and steal their product, then blow the whole place up. Worst case scenario we need to take around 13 of them for each one of us. Obviously there is no way the newbie is gonna down 13 of em, so one of us is gonna have to help them out. That¡¯s why we¡¯ll split into 4 groups of two, the most experienced with the least experienced of the bunch.¡± she ordered.

    ¡°100 of em? That¡¯s fucking batshit crazy. I¡¯d rather take my chances holding Epsilon hostage than doing that!¡± shouted Evan in response. ¡°Not even the other two missions I¡¯ve done were this bad!¡± he added, a disgusted expression dominating his countenance as he recalled the mass death that had occurred in those missions.

    He wasn¡¯t quite sure how he¡¯d survived his first experience. Thankfully, he had a full ten days to prepare, but even so 60% of the squad died that day, most of whom were the more inexperienced members.

    ¡°Evan, shut your god damn filthy mouth. We¡¯ve all thought that at one point or another. But just don¡¯t. I¡¯ve seen them try before, all their loved one¡¯s were executed before them, tortured to death as an example. Just pull your weight as a senior.¡± Freddy barked, an infuriated expression upon his, usually indifferent, countenance.

    Evan looked down towards the ground and grinded his foot on the floor, still unwilling.

    ¡°The factory ain¡¯t too far off so we¡¯ll be walking there in an hour¡¯s time when night falls. Hopefully that¡¯ll make it a bit easier on us to make a large distraction. The main plan is for us to explode the entrance of the factory, resulting in the bulk of their forces to come fight us. We will have to either kill them all or disable them from going back to protect their products against the collection squadron.¡± Evelyn continued.

    The rest of the faces that had not been fearful of what was to come had been replaced with slight frowns or teeth biting lips as they nervously shuffled about.

    ¡°That¡¯s all. Let¡¯s try to minimise the casualties people!¡± she added

    <hr>

    A familiar, loud and obnoxious noise rang out from the ceiling disrupting Y/n from his slumber. A few days had passed from when he¡¯d first been thrown into his cell, all of his new comrades quite receptive towards his sudden arrival.

    His daily routine consisted of the same drab things, wake up, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, sleep and repeat. The only moments of respite were when Y/n was able to talk with his comrades whilst eating or working.

    Memories that Y/n and Chloe had made together frequently were replayed within his mind whilst he worked. Hopefully the girl wasn¡¯t engaging in anything dangerous, the last thing he¡¯d want was to find out that she was dead.

    One person he was introduced to on the second day was a very tall and timid girl with long white hair and ocean blue eyes. Putting it simply, she was a silent beauty that paralleled her cold and frightened behaviour.

    It seemed as though this experience was the first in a long time, being around other people, for the girl. From what the others had extracted from the white haired woman, she had been brought here directly after Nathan and had lived with another person for most of her life.

    Although, Y/n questioned the reality that she really ¡®lived¡¯ with that person, as from what he had heard, it sounded more like living in captivity.

    According to his new friend, Ashley, random people were taken from their group to go somewhere else. Y/n nor anyone in the group knew why it happened, but anything was probably better than living like they were as of current, right?

    After meeting the group and chatting for a few hours, whilst working under the supervision of various armed guards, Y/n grabbed his lunch and quickly sped over to the table where they all usually ate.

    Nathan was shyly sitting next to Thomas and the tanned, well built, brunette who Y/n learnt was called Alice. Sophie, the tall white haired girl, was sitting next to Ella, the bespectacled girl who¡¯d convinced Isaac not to hurt him, both of them silently eating their food.

    The table was round in shape, facilitating enough sitting space to hold ten or so people. Y/n sat down to Ashely, who had been chatting to Alice, in a hushed voice, about ways to escape.

    This was a topic which frequented the group, after all, who wanted to wait until they get taken away to another unknown location. For all they knew, death could be the only thing waiting for them on the other side.

    ¡°So, any more ideas? We know that the exit is opposite the entrance to our cells, is constantly guarded by two lightly armed gangsters. If we could just distract one or both of them into letting their guard down, Alice or Thomas could wrestle the guns out of their grips.¡± she sighed.

    Ashley ruffled her hair in annoyance as she thought of various methods.

    ¡°Have you guys fully attempted to escape yet?¡± Y/n enquired, a confused expression upon his countenance. He didn¡¯t expect them to be this open about it.

    ¡°Not yet, we¡¯ve been waiting for our numbers to grow! I think eight is enough, right? Escaping is our main mission since being confined here.

    The usually quite Nathan opened his mouth to speak, ¡°Actually I don¡¯t....¡± he paused, thinking before continuing, ¡°No. Never mind.¡±

 Act 2 - Chapter 15 - Explosion

    The moon shone in the inky black sky, a cool breeze introducing itself to those who found themselves without any proper cover to seek asylum.

    A series of loud steps erupted from behind a worn and rusted door, which got busted open in a matter of a few seconds as two small figures thrusted themselves behind a few medium sized cargo crates. Both were equipped with heavy armour, bulletproof vests covering their torsos and a plethora of lethal equipment lining their pockets.

    A series of thunderous footfalls resounded from whence they had come from, a small blonde haired girl fiddled with a circular object from her vest, gripping the cool metal pin with her teeth before waiting a few long moments and lobbing it in a smooth arc towards the entrance.

    Both covered their ears as a loud explosion resounded out, followed by the screams of a few people as they writhed in agony, vermillion coating the door that had been blown off it¡¯s hinges. Two different countenances were spayed across the two figures, one of nonchalance and another with a wicked grin, pearly whites lining her teeth.

    A momentary pause resounded out, the sounds of moans echoing around the warehouse, quickly followed by the resumption of the footfalls that had once charged towards the two once again.

    ¡°What the hell is going on over there? I though we agreed that they¡¯d do it at 45?¡± a high pitched voice exclaimed, her grin still hung upon her face as two orbs frantically twitched back and forth as if they were writhing with excitement.

    A few orange strands of hair broke free from the imprisonment that was a rubber band and fell into one of the assailants field of view, prompting a hand to displace it. Moving towards the blond girl, Chloe stared at Evelyn¡¯s countenance for a few brief moments before speaking.

    ¡°What are we going to do? Continue onwards right?¡± she enquired, her voice somewhat weak at the though of the somewhat endless amount of combatants that had been chasing after them.

    ¡°I¡¯m officially out if explosives. We¡¯ll have to dodge and weave if we want to have any chance of survival before the lights get turned off.¡± Evelyn explained.

    Vrrrmmm

    The surrounding area dimmed and vanished into nothingness as the source of light that had been aiding them to see had now been cut off.

    Nodding in satisfaction, Evelyn tugged on Chloe¡¯s shoulder and turned on a small flashlight, somewhat illuminating her field of view. Pointing towards another exit, they both started to move over it.

    A loud noise abruptly burst out from behind them, an entrance they hadn¡¯t noticed until now had been broken open and the barrel end of a sub machine gun was staring both of them down.

    Quickly grasping the situation that they were in, Evelyn grabbed the orange haired girl¡¯s body and, with a tight grasp, held it in front of her. A series of ear piecing screeches roared out as Chloe¡¯s body forcefully jerked back multiple times, gasping out in pain, forcing both of them to topple over, Chloe being used as a soft landing by Evelyn resulting in her hitting her head on the concrete.

    <hr>

    Nausea thrashed about in the orange haired girl¡¯s throat as she hurriedly attempted to move her hand to cover her mouth. Sitting still for a few more moments, it soon came to her realisation that her right arm was no longer answering her beck and call, there it laid, limp, a velvety red sheath of blood covering the black armour which clung to her arm.

    Looking a bit closer, a few holes could be seen located across her arm, bullet casing lied on the ground around her. Clearly she was not in a good physical state.

    ¡®So much for Physical training.¡¯ Chloe thought, in a drunken stupor caused by the sheer amount of adrenaline flowing through her veins. The air moist, the girl looked around to survey her surrounding area, feeling some liquid creep down her head, she tapped her left hand against her forehead and looked at the substance. Crimson. More blood.

    ¡®Great. Just Great. What the fuck even happened to m...¡¯

    A series of loud noises erupted, interrupting her train of thought. Looking over to her right, she saw a large door swung wide open, darkness ensuing. Momentary bright flashes illuminated the surroundings ten or so odd metres away from her, a small figure holding a pistol next to another¡¯s forehead, quickly followed by the sound of a body falling to the floor.

    Slowly dragging herself over towards a box, leaving a bloody trail behind, she scrounged around in the heavy vest she was wearing, taking note of all the deep imprints left on what seemed to be a bullet proof vest.

    ¡®That¡¯s going to leave a pretty mark isn¡¯t it...¡¯ flinching at the painful thought of examining her body for injuries. Deciding to check on her body later, she looked towards the pouch located towards her left pocket, a heavy metal object pulling her towards the ground.

    Reaching into the sealed pouch, she grabbed onto the murder weapon and sighed a breath of relief. At least she had something useful that she could use if she got into a tight spot, along with the few other items she found strapped onto her armour.

    Whilst taking account of her supplies was always a good thing to do, looking over towards the growing pool of blood before her, it was clear that the clock was ticking, getting herself to safety was the main objective.

    The only problem was how she was supposed to locate the exit. She didn¡¯t even know where she was, or how she got there, never less how to get out. Cargo surrounded the bloodied teen who pushed herself up on her legs and slowly fumbled around the pitch black room.

    Being unable to understand the layout of the place she now found herself in, Chloe slowly stumbled over to the only exit she could see. The murderer inside would hopefully not find out about her existence. Passing the scratched frame of the heavy metal door, she continued to stumble forward into the unknown, her hard boots hitting a soft object along the way.

    There was no doubt about it that what she was currently standing in front of was another death body, the face of which was probably painted with an excruciatingly painful countenance.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Pulling her back from her thoughts, a few stray shots were fired in the orange haired girl¡¯s direction, hitting the metal wall behind her causing a sparks to illuminate her position. Someone had shot at her without and friendly intentions.

    A feminine voice erupted from the shadows somewhere in front of Chloe, ¡°Newbie that you?¡± they asked with a high pitched tone.

    Chloe didn¡¯t know that many people who spoke such terms, concluding that the figure that had nearly killed her by accident was indeed her friend, Evelyn.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s me. I woke up with a bit of a hangover over there. What the fuck happened?¡± Chloe exclaimed, seemingly a bit pissed that her supposed partner had ditched her in what state she was in.

    A few moments of nothingness passed before a loud series of sounds erupted from the barrel end of a gun. Evelyn had started to fire her gun into the darkness, seemingly in hopes of hitting the opposing girl. Even calling it at ¡®random¡¯ would be an insult to the girl¡¯s impressive cognitive ability. Nearly all the bullets that were fired hit.

    The final round was fired, lighting up the area near the weapon¡¯s wielder for the last time, revealing a body falling to the floor, quickly followed by a dull thump. A smirk appeared upon the blonde¡¯s expression as she outwardly exhaled.

    ¡°See? I told you that I was the most experienced of the bunch! Thanks for being my meat shield earlier, you see, it¡¯s kinda my special technique ya know! I¡¯ll never die if I have someone to take the bullet for me!¡± Evelyn chuckled as she energetically skipped over to Chloe.

    No reply followed her boastful statements, prompting the blonde to once again put her guard up. With her experience she knew that a silent foe could still be an alive foe. Then again. This was a green been that she were talking about.

    ¡°I mean, a newbie like you stood absolutely no chance against me, so I guess it¡¯s right that you died in only a few shots!¡± she reasoned to herself aloud, becoming less tense by the second.

    Standing atop of the cold body, of which the cause of death was none other than herself, she harshly kicked the corpse in the stomach before maniacally chuckling to herself.

    Bang!

    Another loud round flew throughout the air, causing muffled grunt to erupt from someone, followed by Chloe slowly walking over to the limp body of her supposed comrade. The girl had pulled the dead body of the person who¡¯d been murdered earlier and used it as a ¡°Meat shield¡± just like Evelyn had described she had done to her, not that she had remembered any of that though.

    After the blonde was finished firing she¡¯d pushed the body towards the floor and stood waiting, her left arm crying out for a rest break as she held the heavy pistol in one hand without wavering.

    In the state she was currently in, the lights not being on was a godsent. There was literally no way she had any chance against her now death opponent in hand to hand combat or a dual where Evelyn had 20/20 visibility.

    Stumbling over thin air, Chloe avoided nearly falling to the floor once again. Her time was running out slowly but surely, and the blood leaking from her wounds had once again reminded her of the time she spent down in that.... abhorred basement.

    Touching her eyepatch, she felt a uneasy shiver sprint down her spine. Recalling that experience wasn¡¯t for the best. Onwards. Focusing on the present was her most important priority. The eerie silence which ensued, accompanied by the odd gun shot or two, resulted in the orange haired girl¡¯s orbs frantically feeling the surrounding walls for any signs of an exit.

    Eventually finding what seemed to be a metal handle, Chloe took a deep breath and held her pistol tight, ramming against the metal slab with her right shoulder, eyes squinting as a bright light fed her deprived eyes causing momentary blindness.

    Once her eyes had adjusted to the lustre of the room she found two people in front of her, one of them with a bullet wound in the right side of his chest, blood seeping into their clothes and onto the floor. The other figure was dressed up in a fancy black suit with a pair of shiny brown leather shoes.

    For some reason this room had light, unlike the others. ¡®Probably a back up generator.¡¯ Chloe thought, her eyes squinting in pain. Peering at the two men, she took a deep breath,¡®Gotta be someone important.¡¯, her pointed finger wrapping around the trigger in anticipation of what was to come.

    Two pairs of eyes looked towards the gun in the girl¡¯s left hand, immediately causing a grim countenance to be equipped upon both of their faces, whilst simultaneously reaching for their own weapons. Chloe aimed towards the wounded man¡¯s right arm and pulled the trigger, another ear bleedingly loud sound erupting from the metal tool, followed by a disgruntling quiet emittance of pain.

    Seeing that the stranger hadn¡¯t gone for the kill and was, more importantly, proficient with a gun, the upper-class looking figure hurriedly began to talk.

    ¡°Hold your fire! Whatever you¡¯re employer is paying you I¡¯ll double... no quadruple it!¡± he nasally remarked, confident that the mention of money would solve the problem. However, upon observing the attacker, his expression worsened upon seeing a certain badge that was sown upon a battle scarred vest.

    ¡°The Fucking Loonies, she¡¯s one of them ... Fuck!¡± mumbled the wounded man who tugged on the other man¡¯s sleeve, the expletive being louder than the sound he had made from being shot.

    The fancy looking figure shook his hand off in an angry manor before focusing back onto Chloe.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of your squadron.... a deal, yes a deal! One that¡¯ll benefit the both of us! We both probably want to see Epsilon on the floor with a bullet between his brows, right? So... instead of finishing us off here, work with us as a double agent!¡± scrambled the man. It seemed as though he was sincere about the offer, although Chloe knew she wasn¡¯t the best at deciphering poker faces.

    Attempting to hide the fact that she had also sustained heavy wounds, Chloe scratched her temple with the icy base of the small hand gun and sighed as if she was contemplating the offer.

    The injured tough looking guy on the floor seemed to have a quite a few discrepancies with his boss¡¯s idea but stayed quiet, it seemed as though his opinion about the matter wouldn¡¯t have an effect on the outcome of the conversation.

    ¡°That deal. State the contents of it.¡± coldly stated the vermillion haired girl as she stared at the two guns held by her opposition.

    A sly smile snuck onto the uninjured man¡¯s face, before quickly disappearing again. If he got her in the palm of his hand, he would have information on that bastard Epsilon¡¯s future missions, which could help him get promoted if he provided enough aid to the boss.

    ¡®Seems being caught up in this raid shan¡¯t be too bad for me after all. Well, apart from Michael being severally wounded. I have heard a few rumours about them. Supposedly psychos the lot of them, with nothing on their mind except how to achieve their next kill. Apparently they have had a family member or two been abducted to keep them in line.¡¯  premised the suited man.

    ¡°Tell me advance info on Epsilon and the stinger squadron¡¯s actions and I can fulfil some requests of yours.¡± he surmised, a business smile equipped upon his face.

    ¡®Seems like he doesn¡¯t particularly know what I want. Alright. I¡¯ll need to procure somewhere for me and Y/n to stay anyways, might as well use this dude for all he¡¯s worth whilst also taking care of Epsilon for me as well!¡¯ Chloe planned, nodding towards the unknown man in agreement.

    ¡°A nice big house somewhere discrete and a bag of ten of those purple ID cards every time I ask for¡¯em.¡± she demanded, fiddling with the gun, her adrenaline starting to wear off as the pain sept into her bones.

    ¡®If I can¡¯t get this fucker to stop yapping I¡¯m gonna pass away from fucking blood loss.¡¯ she fumed, pain growing by the second.

    Before the man could talk more, a voice erupted from the black walkie talky located on the young girl¡¯s hip.

    ¡°Evacuate. Mission accomplished.¡± The voice demanded, repeating three times before going silent.

    Chloe stared at the two men before catching a small phone thrown her way. ¡°Contact me through that.¡± stated the orderly man, receiving a small nod from the girl before she walked back out the door from which she came, but not before turning back towards the men and asking how to actually get out of the warehouse.

    <hr>

    W/n the Bold  shit is kinda cringe, dunno really how else to emphasise sudden gun shots :O.

 Act 2 - Chapter 16 - Internal Shock

    Light shone through several glass windows, illuminating a long, dark oak, table which housed twenty or so people. Sitting upon a rather large chair, which had a small purple logo embedded within the wood, a well-built man slammed a piece of paper onto the table, causing the other visitors to shift their attention towards its contents.

    The paper contained what seemed to be a quite detailed report featuring a certain small orange haired girl, the picture in question appeared to have been taken from the CTV footage of when she¡¯d killed Derrick, bloody wounds dotted about her body.

    The large figure at the end of the table jovially laughed out, ¡°This is the girl who killed my son! Bring her to me as soon as possible, preferably alive. Some birds have murmured a few rumours that she may be colluding with those pesky lions, so keep an eye out.¡±

    The picture was passed around the table, a few passing remarks here and there upon reading how the girl had managed to kill the young boy. Finally, the poster reached the hands of a certain elegantly dressed gentleman, his eyes widening upon reading the information.

    ¡°Boss. The one on the poster... I think I¡¯ve met this lass before. She¡¯s apart of Epsilon¡¯s suicide squad. I bribed her into giving us information in advance about their operations so that we could mitigate damages and launch more effective attacks on some of their drug manufacturing factories. Thanks to her, we¡¯ve been able to weaken those lions quite a bit in the past half a year.¡± the man stated, another familiar face that stood behind the well-dressed man grinned, putting his hand on an old bullet wound located on his torso.

    ¡°Is that so.¡± replied the older man, his fingers strumming against the table as he thought up of a plan.

    ¡°Bring her to me, we¡¯ll have a little chat and I¡¯ll see what I want to do from there.¡± he added, fingers tightly bound in a knot as he thought of a plan of action. The bodyguard¡¯s grin had quickly disappeared. He¡¯d gotten pretty used to the nonchalant midget that his boss was cooperating with. Knowing the big boss¡¯s tendencies, he wouldn¡¯t even be surprised if the orange haired girl was killed upon entering the meeting room. Her absence would be... less than ideal.

    The man in the neat black suit hastily nodded his head in response, ¡°I¡¯ll arrange it for tomorrow. It seems as though Epsilon recently ordered another attack through the stinger squadron.¡±

    <hr>

    A series of vibrations followed by a few moments of silence occurred before a small figure slunk out of bed. Equipping some light clothes consisting of a black tank top and shorts, they prepared themselves before exiting the large room they had slept in, walking towards the area which they most frequented.

    Stretching a few times to warm up, they started their daily workout routine which had been strictly followed for the past six months. A plethora of scars laid bare upon their skin, some fresh, some old. Circular wounds covered their right arm, causing pain any time they¡¯d move it. Although, the difficulty of using their arm was more of an issue than any amount of pain they¡¯d had to endure.

    ¡°Using my connects to tuxedo dude has made my job a lot easier, especially due to those badges he supplies me with. Even though I have to kill a few every time we get sent out, I can bolster my numbers to make my disappearances seem more realistic.¡±she pondered, her lips forming into a tight line.

    Not even one of the people she¡¯d met when they were brought here stood alive to this moment. Thus she¡¯d became the most experienced person in the squadron, usually being sent on the most dangerous parts of them. It was almost as if Epsilon had actively wanted her dead. As if he was scared that she¡¯d do something... something irrational for some reason.

    Chloe had promised herself she¡¯d endure her poor treatment as long as Y/n was safe. ¡°Maybe Epsilon had done something to the him?¡± she frustratedly thought, before abandoning the notion. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t do something so stupid, right?¡°.

    The only power he had on her was the young boy. So getting rid of him wouldn¡¯t be beneficial to Epsilon.

    <hr>

    The heavy pit-patting of rain muffled the movement of a group of fifteen or so combatants. This time their target was an underground headquarters posing as a bar. Having swiftly moved towards the location for about twenty minutes or so, a voice sounded out to question the one leading them all.

    ¡°So, you are the one who has lasted the longest out of all of us, huh?¡± laid out a grainy voice. A short nod from the one in question answered the enquiry, before the group paused behind a large pillar for cover.

    Six months having passed had resulted in every single person Chloe had seen when she first was joined the squadron had passed away now, the only reason she survived up until know was by using the advance information she gained from the suited dude and stealing a bit from Evelyn¡¯s handbook by using the newbie that was occasionally paired up with her as a meat shield.

    Epsilon had wanted the Stinger Squadron to steal some sensitive information from within the bar, so the location was bound to be heavily guarded. Inching closer to the flight of stone stairs which led to the bar, guarded by a heavy wooden door, a bloodied, seemingly deceased, body popped into view, sitting at the bottom of the stairs leaving a crimson trail on the previous steps.

    The male body¡¯s left eye had been stabbed; cranium cracked open like an egg. Other stab wounds dotted his body; it laid still. Suddenly, the body¡¯s bloodshot right eye shot towards the small orange haired girl who stood a top of the wet stone staircase.

    A hand was placed upon Chloe¡¯s shoulder, pulling her back into reality. Looking down the staircase, no body was to be found, no traces of blood, only the dirty grime which had accumulated over years called itself home to the stairs.

    The small girl signalled towards two larger males who held a large battering ram like object before she descended the staircase. Approaching the large wooden door, she knocked on the door a few times, fiddling with a cold metal object in a strap placed upon her leg.

    Holding up the heavy pistol with ease, she placed it in front of the metal hatch. Grrrrr. The metal hatch inched open, Bang! A dull thud followed the loud noise, presumably caused by the dead body falling to the floor.

    Everything became quiet as the commotion from within the bar that was previously audible disappeared. The song playing from a jukebox and the dull thuds caused by the rain filled in the lack of sound as Chloe stood to the side of the door and looked over to the two men she¡¯d previously signalled.

    The two men rushed forward, looking towards each other to sync their movements,1,2,Bam! The metal ram slammed into the door as the group of fifteen flooded into the bar, one by one holding dangerous weapons of war and opening fire upon anyone who¡¯d found themselves unlucky enough to be present at the time.

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    Being the last to enter the bar, Chloe looked downwards towards her worn leather boots. A familiar crimson liquid surrounded the shoes, seemingly belonging to a short stubby man who had fell of a stool following a metal bullet being lodged into his frontal cortex.

    Looking towards the body, she saw a familiar man who had his chest smashed in, blood flowing from his head as he slowly reached out to a small girl who laid not too far away. The loud gunshots pulled her back once more, as if a bucket of freezing water had been thrown onto the small figure. The visions had became more frequent the longer she went without Y/n. Nevertheless, it was definitely not the best time for them to be popping up.

    Several pairs of bloody footprints decorated the floor as she walked onwards towards where several members were congregating in front of. Thirty or so minutes later, the whole building had been cleared, everyone found on site, killed. Six of the fifteen had been vanquished this time, not bad rates for such a seemingly important mission.

    Although Chloe knew that the only reason they had only lost six people was that Mr. Well-Dressed had arranged for a small number of bodyguards to be present at the time of the siege. The information they had found was also false in some parts to lure Epsilon¡¯s faction into traps whenever possible.

    Touching a small cut that was inflicted upon the girl, she dismissed the dull pain that radiated from the area. Due to being too side tracked thanks to the visions, a man springing out of a hiding place with a knife, under the impression that taking Chloe hostage would be a good idea, quickly passed away after being shot by the small girl in the stomach, not before he managed to slash her face with the knife.

    Thankfully, she¡¯d been able to pull her face away from the blade to avoid being dealt a lethal injury, but a small cut, about one or two inches wide, had appeared on her face, an inconsequential amount of blood slowly seeping down her countenance. If she¡¯d been paying attention he wouldn¡¯t have even had been able to get anywhere as close to the girl as he had gotten.

    A small vibration had erupted from her right pocket, prompting the girl to separate herself from the group to look at the small phone which had been previously allocated to her. A date and a time were to be found when she opened the flip phone.

    Epsilon didn¡¯t usually prevent people who were apart of the stinger squad from going outside of the facility when not on a mission, although it was very frowned upon, and Chloe had received a number of threats from the head honcho himself when she¡¯d found herself going ¡°missing¡± for a few hours once.

    Chloe usually justified herself by saying she saw a few members of the purple palace, handing over the badges to Epsilon, making him shut up.

    The meeting was for later today, so it wouldn¡¯t be so hard for her to slip away on their return to their sleeping quarters. Walking back into the main room, she looked over to the antique jukebox which had hid itself in the corner of the room, away from all the commotion, and picked a random classical song which she had listened to before.

    A few brief moments of listening to the song was all Chloe allowed herself to indulge in before rounding up all the remaining combatants and giving them their orders to go back to base.

    It was if she had gone back in time, to a more simpler time were she and Y/n could live peacefully without being pursued.

    Splitting from the squadron was quite the trivial matter for the small teen as she inputted the address into the phone and made her way over to the meeting location, entering a familiar posh neighbourhood which she hadn¡¯t been to in for what seemed like forever.

    Arriving in front of a large posh mansion-like house, she messaged the phone number, prompting the large metallic gates which warded off any guests with ill intent from entering the large abode, to open after a short delay.

    Standing at the door of the mansion laid a tall man, seemingly uncomfortable due to the overly sophisticated nature of his clothes. Shifting his eyes towards the noise of the gates opening, he quickly locked onto the orange haired nuisance and shot up from his previously nonchalant state.

    A wicked grin sprung upon his countenance as the teen grew closer, ¡°I see that ya looking terrible as usual!¡± he paused, glaring at the girl¡¯s cheek which had blood smeared about it.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a meeting with the big boss. So, clean yourself up before you go inside.¡± he sneered, throwing a black handkerchief over to Chloe.

    The girl gave a small nod in response, removing the bloody stains on her face, following the ruffian who she¡¯d dubbed ¡°Bulldog¡± due to the way he was always acting threatening around her, putting up a harsh front once the girl appeared, but had softened up a bit towards her over the past six months when they occasionally met each other with Mr. Suit dude for meetings.

    The mansion¡¯s d¨¦cor consisted of several expensive looking pieces of art with black oak furniture and cr¨¨me carpet. The room which she was being led to was located on the first floor of the house, two large men donned with fire arms guarding the sophisticatedly decorated entrance, small insignias carved all over the wooden door.

    ¡°He¡¯s in there.¡± Bulldog stated, looking towards the pair of guards with slight contempt in his eyes.

    ¡äFuckin Poshies¡¯ he thought, looking at the neat suits the bodyguards were wearing. He¡¯d much rather be wearing more comfortable clothes if it were acceptable in such circumstances, instead he was forced to wear this overly formal suit and thus looked like the ¡°Poshies¡± which he despised so much.

    Both of the men standing at the door looked towards the metal gun holstered on Chloe¡¯s left leg, gesturing for her to give it over to them. Unwilling, all she could do was comply; else the girl could tell things would become a bit complicated.

    One of the two bodyguards nocked their fist on the thick door, alerting the personnel inside that the person they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

    ¡°Come in!¡± a deep, earthy voice rumbled out. The doors subsequently swung open, revealing a square office, two sets of lounge chairs located to the left and right of the door with a oak desk located directly in front of the door.

    There sat a tall man who stared at the tiny orange haired girl. His hands were in a tight knot and seemed to clench even harder together in response to seeing the girl in front of him.

    Looking around the room, Chloe strolled forward and stopped a metre away from the desk.

    ¡®This guy... doesn¡¯t seem to be very friendly towards me. ¡¯She thought, feeling around her left leg for the gun that had given her so much confidence and peace of mind. Alas, it was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°You¡¯re the mole that¡¯s been giving us the information. You have my thanks.¡± Stated the man, a quaint smile appearing upon his countenance.

    Not giving Chloe any time to reply he continued, ¡°The stinger squadron eay? I heard some little birdies chirp¡¯s that the police had conducted a operation on where Epsilon keeps the relatives of you lot.¡±

    The orange girl demeanour stiffed in response to this new information, her fingernails digging into her hands as her palms started to sweat.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have a friend who was taken away by Epsilon? Here, take a look¡± the man smirked, pushing a few photos forward. Chloe slowly moved forward and took the photos, sifting through the various images.

    Burnt and desecrated bodies came into view, nails torn off and skin burnt to a crisp, multiple fatal wounds present on the photos. Hastily analysing each photo, the small orange haired girl would skip to the next photo once she verified that the person inside the photo was indeed not Y/n.

    Flipping to the next image, her eyes widened in shock, hands loosening. A particular image stood out to the girl, black bold words placed a top of the photo reading a familiar name.

    The body featuring in the photo had been burnt to a crisp, multiple knife wounds all over the body with a single bullet hole present on his frontal cortex.

    A summary was provided at the bottom of the image, ¡®This prisoner appeared to have been exposed to various torture methods, mainly the use of fire and cuts. Cause of death is suspected to be a bullet, if their other various injuries hadn¡¯t accumulated resulting in their death before the bullet was shot.¡¯

    It was if the small teen¡¯s world had stopped for just a short period of time, trying to process what she¡¯d just read. Maybe If she double checked, she¡¯d realise that it was a mistake? That it wasn¡¯t Y/n in that photo?

    He was gone. Y/n was gone.

    The last pillar of support the small girl had abandoned her. Just like her father had. Chloe¡¯s hands began to shake violently, a sight that visibly improved the expression that sat upon the large man¡¯s face.

    Y/n was gone.

    What was she to do now?

 Act 2 - Chapter 17 - Desperation

    Warning; Gore go wow

    <hr>

    The cold sept into the girl¡¯s body as she laid on the table of the library, her head buried inside an opened book, drooling slightly on the now-damp paper. This book was a different genre from that which she usually read; It was about a fantasy world, a medieval one at that.

    Alas, even though the girl had enjoyed reading the book, her sleep deprived body grappled for her consciousness, resulting in her current unguarded appearance. To be more accurate, she was not completely unguarded; Y/n sat opposite her quietly reading a book whilst taking short peaks at the sleeping ball of orange hair.

    About half an hour passed before Chloe started to wake up. Her current sleeping position was certainly not very comfortable, causing the small girl to rub her neck whilst surveying her surroundings, finding the usual sight of Y/n absorbing another murder mystery book. He¡¯d always liked to read the more, thought provoking genres, as if he were the one in the book fighting to clear up the mystery before he was done in.

    Looking back down towards the book she was reading, Chloe noticed the small, dried patch of saliva, hurriedly pressing her cardigan on the page in a futile attempt to rid the book of the ensuing semi-permanent stain.

    Suddenly, a bright orange flame erupted from in front of the girl, causing her to recoil in her chair. Chloe quickly look up towards the source of the flame, eyes widening in horror as she stared at the figure in front of her; blackened skin and devoid of hair, a plethora of cuts etched into the teen¡¯s body, seared shut by the roaring flame.

    Red orbs screamt out towards the now grown-up girl, patch upon her vacant left eye and large scars drawn onto her face. Crimson liquid leaked from his eyes as he lifted his now black finger towards the small teen.

    Lips moved, but no voice was emitted. Although words were unspoken, it was clear what he was trying to convey. Face scrunched up into a angry expression, lips dancing roughly to and fro as Y/n seemingly screamed at the girl, blaming Chloe for the state he now found himself in, this miserable, painful existence.

    Chloe stared at the boy, tears seeping from her remaining eye as she reached out to Y/n, desperately wanting to grasp him, attempt to help him, or anything to release him from the suffering he was enduring.

    Suddenly, Y/n disappeared. As if he¡¯d wasn¡¯t ever there. The bright brown coloured wooden table was now burnt black as the leather book cover of the murder mystery Y/n had been reading was scorched, pages turned to ash.

    ¡°Y/n?¡± Trembled the girl, hand still reached out towards the empty seat.

    Then all was black. Surroundings disappearing into to nothingness the girl frantically span around, attempting to locate Y/n. It felt as if she were in a free fall, her visual senses deprived. Bundling up into a ball, Chloe wept into her disfigured hands, accumulated wounds a testament to her determination to save Y/n.

    Vision came back to the girl, prompting her to open her eyes once again. She found herself falling rapidly through the sky as she dived towards the city below, clouds beside her as she quickly reached terminal velocity.

    The teen shrieked in fear as she became closer to the ground, never having gotten over her fear of heights which she had been shackled to by her experience as a child.

    What seemed to be a fraction of a second had passed before a familiar building came into view; an old, worn, school building. A distinct red blotch caught Chloe¡¯s eye, but before she could react her arms, which had been covering her head as she plummeted from the skies, contacted the cold concrete below.

    A sickening crunch erupted from the surrounding as crimson splattered onto the concrete and windows nearby.

    ¡°Eurg.. euuh.... ¡± Her attempt at screeching out for help was left unfounded, only agonising screeches left her oesophagus.

    ¡®Why am I still alive?¡¯ she wept, her whole body disfigured, bones shattered, her body an unrecognisable pile of bones and flesh.

    Then the pain was gone. In fact, the sensation of her limbs and senses had returned, her left eye¡¯s vision bestowed back upon the orange haired girl. Soon a long lost voice entered her eardrums, a golden silky voice that she had yearned to hear oh-so much.

    ¡°You did a great job today, Chlo! I was going to get you some ice cream, but I think it¡¯s going to rain soon so we should get back extra early just in case!¡± Mikhail cheerfully sang, turning towards his adorable, tiny, daughter who reciprocated the action.

    ¡®Why can¡¯t I move?¡¯ Chloe furiously questioned. Her father that she hadn¡¯t seen in more than a decade had finally appeared in front of her, and she couldn¡¯t move a muscle. It was as if she was locked inside of a small child¡¯s body, unable affect the current moment.

    The duo slowly walked towards their abode, where Chloe¡¯s loving mother was waiting the pair whilst in a light slumber. Approaching an eerily familiar crossing, ¡®Chloe¡¯ started to frantically panic.

    ¡®No...No, No, No, NO! Dad? DAD? PLEASE... PLEase... not again... please not again..¡¯ the battle scarred teen screamed, but no tears came out of the child¡¯s eyes, only a hollow smile which looked onwards, towards her endless future with her loving family.

    A small series of sounds erupted from the now green pedestrian light which flickered, beckoning them to cross with haste. Yet the two did not rush, leisurely walking towards the other side of the road as the trapped person inside the child shrieked hysterically, increasing in volume when a car entering their peripheral vision, barrelling towards the two.

    Mikhail caught sight of the vehicle not long after Chloe did, a grimace splayed across his countenance once he realised the severity of what was to come. Biting his lip, forcing himself to make a quick decision, he gripped his daughter¡¯s shoulders, Chloe looking at his sickly pale expression.

    Feeling the force on her back, the small girl turned her head to see her father, hands thrusted outwards, still in contact with the girl, in an attempt to save Chloe from the ensuing onslaught. Peering into Mikhael¡¯s orbs, Chloe saw herself in the reflection, tears seeping from his eyes as a bright smile appeared upon his face.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The screaming teen came to a stand still as she quietly stared at her father, who¡¯s lips seemed to mouth out something. But before she could decipher the words, the dreaded vehicle hit his body, the force also affecting Chloe, who was still in contact with her father.

    Time resumed from it¡¯s seemingly slowed down state as Mikhail¡¯s body was flung across the street, digging into the ground, blood bursting in every which way, the corpse bouncing a few times before resting motionless a few metres away from the girl, who had also been flung a metre or so from her original location, landing headfirst onto the cold concrete.

    Chloe¡¯s vision went blank for a minute or two. Then, a few pitter patters of rain could be felt, slowly mounting, transforming into a furious storm of rain that pelted into her body, awakening her from unconsciousness.

    Although she could feel the rain, no sound could be heard, her eyes slowly opened to reveal a scene stained with red blots of blood. Immediately the girl attempted to shut her eyes, but they would not close.

    "No! I don¡¯t want to look! Don¡¯t make me! Please!¡± she begged, tears melding with the rain and crimson blood that streamed down her face.

    Three people stood in front of the girl who laid on the floor, immobilised. Mikhail was slumped over, his chest shattered, bones poking out in odd places, face disfigured. Her mother had the least injuries out of all of them, suffering only a few bullet wounds to her body resulting in a quick demise, unbefitting of her sins.

    Y/n, burned and slashed, glared at the small girl in front of him, small grunts and groans erupting from his mouth as he slowly stumbled over to her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m so sorry!¡± the small girl repeated over and over as tried to close her eyes, hide away from reality, shrivel up and disappear.

    ¡°Murderer. You¡¯ve killed us all. If only you hadn¡¯t been born! Murderer!¡± a shrill voice erupted from the three corpses¡¯ mouths.

    Then they were gone. Once again Chloe was welcomed into the dark, curling into a ball whilst shedding tears, nails digging into her leg drawing blood. The girl seemed to exist in this void for what seemed to be a period longer than that of what she¡¯d lived, scrawled up, bawling all alone.

    She had nothing. No one. No friends, family, no one she could rely on, spend time with, live with. Live for. It was her fault that she found herself in such a situation, no?

    So, if she had no one to live with nor for, what was the point in living? To continue to be used as a pawn, to continue to suffer for other¡¯s selfish gain? Who could choose to go on?

    ¡°Excuse me. Mrs Barker?¡± the man sitting opposite her paused, strumming his fingers against his desk, continuing once he saw the girl tilt her head upwards in response to his request.

    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate it greatly if you¡¯d pay attention to my words.¡± he demanded, his stern tone displaying a shortening temper. He certainly was not accustomed to being ignored by someone of this girl¡¯s status, the feeling leaving him more angered by the moment.

    Orange hair cascaded around the girl¡¯s vision as she slowly nodded, an action seemingly devoid of any energy behind it. A dull orb replaced it¡¯s usual stern counterpart; the teen wasn¡¯t present anymore, as if a doll had replaced, nodding along to the intimidating man¡¯s speech.

    The meeting seemed to pass in a blur as Chloe stared at the red carpet below her feet. Apparently, they had found Epsilon¡¯s main base of operations and were going to execute a large-scale operation to attempt to vanquish him tomorrow, not that it mattered to the small teen.

    After being dismissed by the gangster, Chloe turned around and then exited the room. Hearing the thick doors slam shut behind her, she walked over to bulldog, ignoring the two bodyguards attempting to give the gun they¡¯d confiscated back to it¡¯s rightful owner.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the restroom?¡± she queried, looking towards the floor, her bright orange hair disabling the taller of the two from peering at her expression.

    ¡°Not too far from here, down the corridor and to the left. I¡¯ll guide you there, since you¡¯d probably get lost like the idiot you are.¡± He scoffed, beginning to execute his instructions, walking down the corridor.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t need your help.¡± She quietly replied, slowly trotting over to the restroom, bulldog not too far behind, ensuring she wasn¡¯t going to cause any trouble. After all, it¡¯d go on his neck If she messed things up.

    Arriving in front of a door, she walked inside and locked it, turning around to reveal a spacious dark themed bathroom, a well-looked after mirror hanging in front of a black sink.

    Stumbling over to the mirror, Chloe looked at her reflection, a worn grey eyepatch covering her forfeited left eye, several deep scars prevalent upon her cheeks. Chloe hadn¡¯t ever really thought about her appearance that much, a lonely hollow orb stared back into it¡¯s own reflection.

    A singular tear slipped out of her eyelid, followed by several others resulting in Chloe bursting into tears whilst glaring at herself in the mirror.

    ¡°If only I had died!¡± she whispered, reaching towards her left leg, only to find that the object she was looking for was gone, biting her bottom lip in frustration.

    Balling her right hand into a fist, she raised it up and smashed it against the mirror, her voice breaking as she let out a shrill shriek.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have been the one to survive.¡± Chloe screamed, raising her left hand and repeating the action of her right counterpart, causing several shattered webs of glass to appear.

    Blood broke out from her firsts as she continuously punched the mirror, injecting crimson liquid into the webbed mirror, slowly seeping into the recently made cracks.

    ¡°Oy! What¡¯cha doing in there? You better not be breaking anything, you tiny brat!¡± Bulldog shouted at the door as he rattled the doorknob, quickly realising that it was locked. His plan to ensure that Chloe wouldn¡¯t make a mess of things by following her had gone awry, his foot impatiently tapped repeatedly on the floor.

    Hearing Chloe¡¯s screams from behind the door, Bulldog¡¯s eyes shrunk, his lips forming a tight line.

    ¡®Seems like this door is gonna have to get replaced!¡¯ Bulldog concluded, a crude smile erupting onto his face. He was only going to enjoy this a little bit. Only a little bit.

    Backing up a metre or two, he ran forward and kicked the door, resulting in a anguished wail erupting from it as it flung open. The first thing that caught his attention as he entered the room was the bloody glass shard within Chloe¡¯s right hand, that was placed in front of her throat, presumably about to be put to use.

    The small orange haired girl was kneeling on the floor, her hands torn, small glass shards embedded within them. Her hair acted as veil, shielding her expression from the intruder that had impeded in her final act of desperation.

    Bulldog burst into action, leaping over to the girl and tackling her to the floor, eyes filled with bewilderment, disarming Chloe in turn by snatching the glass shard out of her hand.

    ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡± Bulldog shouted at the teen, his eyebrows furrowed, blood seeping from his hand as he unconsciously gripped the weapon with fury.

    He peered into Chloe¡¯s countenance, finding tears running down her cheek, her eyes fixated on the glass shard within the male¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Give that back!¡± she shot back, kneeing him in the stomach, causing his grip on the weapon to dissipate, the shard falling to the floor as bulldog clutched his stomach.

    ¡®Fuck that hurt way more than I thought it would.¡¯ He cursed, looking over to the girl who had once again clutched the glass shard.

    ¡®You¡¯re in for a world of hurt. Serves ya right bitch!¡¯ Bulldog grinned, now behind the girl, winding his arm back hitting Chloe in the back of the head, launching her forward as she slumped over onto the bathroom floor.

    The bodyguard then moved closer to the girl, peering at the girl¡¯s hand that had yet to let go of the shard before flipping her over and continuously punching her in the face.

    ¡®Fuck... I¡¯m gonna black out...¡¯Chloe thought as pain radiated through her face, the glass shard falling from her grasp as she became unresponsive.

 Act 2 - Chapter 18 - Bloody Murderer

    ¡°Y/n... Y/n... Y/n!¡± spoke a voice, followed by a pair of warm hands patting his shoulders in an attempt to wake the teen up.

    Lifting his head weakly, he looked up towards the girl in front of him, her white hair which stuck out like a sore thumb, identifying the person in front of him right away. Rubbing his eyes from his short slumber, he surveyed his surroundings to see that all eight of the prisoners had accumulated in front of him, standing in a circular formation, conversing with tense expressions upon their brow.

    ¡°Gosh, you really can nod off just about anywhere can¡¯t you?¡± sighed Sophie as she pulled him up from the ground where he had been sleeping on.

    ¡°Thanks. I didn¡¯t get much last night. Thinking about what¡¯s going to come next always hampers me from sleeping.¡± Y/n slothfully responded, inserting his hands inside his pockets, trying to warm them.

    In the short time that he¡¯d been forced to experience in this prison, he¡¯d usually spend the majority of the time with Sophie, hearing her talk about her life at home and about the three younger brothers she¡¯d become unable to take care of due to some extenuating circumstances.

    ¡°I had heard from the person who took me away from them that they¡¯d been split up into different foster houses... I couldn¡¯t do anything for them... If only I was strong enough to set myself free...¡±She had once lamented.

    She talked frequently about how the person who took her away from her brothers was terrible, killing wantonly and threatening her with violence, trapping her within a confined space, only allowing the necessities.

    ¡°All in the name of ¡®Love!¡¯ they¡¯d rambled over and over and over!¡± she would seethe any time she would talk about him. Evan was the name. A real plotting piece of shit from what Y/n had gathered from her infrequent descriptions of the dude.

    All of Sophie¡¯s words had made Y/n think about his own experience with his best friend. It wasn¡¯t anything similar to Sophie¡¯s story, except from Chloe¡¯s in-aversion to violence. In fact, the girl seemed to actively enjoy the frightening act, as if it were more of an enjoyable pastime!

    Chloe definitely wasn¡¯t alright in the head. He¡¯d never properly thought about it before.

    ¡®I mean how could she be alright, right? After what she went through thanks to Derrick, she only seemed to care about me at the time and getting revenge. Losing an eye and multiple severe injuries were the last thing on her mind.¡¯ reviewed Y/n, his left hand scratching his neck.

    ¡®I¡¯m definitely partial to her as well, not only for the acts that she¡¯s done to save me, but also for... other reasons at the time...¡¯he pondered, looking towards the others who, at this point, were discussing their escape plan and then back to Sophie.

    However, looking at all the facts, it pointed towards Chloe being somewhat of a psychotic, mentally ill, serial killer. Her current appearance scared Y/n, as if she was plotting everything. She became more cynical. More devoted.

    Even if she was his best friend of many years, Chloe was still, undoubtedly a murder. A terrible, unredeemable person who¡¯d taken the lives of many without remorse.

    Suddenly, two figures moved into position, successfully luring Y/n¡¯s focus away from the girl in front of him. Isaac and Alice had walked over to where one of the guards was standing, abruptly shouting at each other as if they were about to enter a fight.

    Catching the side of his vision, Y/n saw Nathan fumble with something within his pocket and quickly look over to his area, locking his eyes with Y/n before quickly looking away, hoping he¡¯d not been seen glancing at Y/n.

    ¡®Weird dude.¡¯ Y/n thought, his attention back towards the two walking towards the guards.

    The tall blonde lurched into Isaac, hitting him with a painful looking right hook into his stomach, garnering a shallow cough from the boy as he gritted his teeth, his eyes seemingly complaining to the girl about the power with which she¡¯d applied.

    Guard unfazed, the fighting continued, Isaac launching powerful blows in retaliation, pushing Alice closer and closer towards the guard who had been lax, watching the spectacle before them.

    Usually there were to be at least two guards at the door at any time, but for some reason three of the four guards had disappeared, the last caught grumbling at how some sort of emergency had occurred.

    Always quick to respond, Ashley, who at the time was conversing with Y/n about their lives outside the prison, had caught the murmur and spread it to the rest of the group, pushing up the deadline of their breakout attempt to that very day.

    Alice once again was shoved back by another blow, the guard directly behind her, their arms in a pushing gesture as if attempting to shove Alice back into then fray, was caught by surprise when she turned around and threw a punch towards their chin, a dull thud erupting before they fell to the ground unconscious.

    Hastily searching through the guards items, she threw a sub machine gun towards Isaac and found the pair of keys she was looking for before signalling the others to come forward as she tussled with the door to unlock it.

    The group ran towards the door, the small statured Nathan falling slightly behind, an unfriendly look equipped upon his face as he tugged onto Y/n¡¯s hand, pulling both of them out of the way of the door as it swung open.

    None of the group remaining before the open door had the chance to peer what was on the other side before a torrent of bullets were unleashed upon them, their bodies flailing about before falling to the ground as metal cases covered in blood littered the floor next to them.

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    Three quarters of them had died in a moment, Y/n¡¯s eyes wide open in horror, his mouth agape, finding himself unable to comprehend the events that had just occurred.

    ¡°They¡¯re dead? Just like that?¡± he murmured under his breath, Nathan once again peering upon his visage, a relieved face resting upon his countenance.

    A deep voice came from within the corridor as the sharp clicking of heels meeting the cold floor resounded within Y/n¡¯s mind.

    ¡°That was awfully effective was it not? Having a mole is always the best way to get thing done indeed!¡± Maxwell satisfactorily exclaimed, his polished black leather shoes embarking on a mountainous journey as they climbed atop of the thinly separated corpses to check they were not breathing.

    ¡°Arhrrgh!¡± wept a crying Sophie, Maxwell¡¯s shoe laying atop of her holed abdomen, her signature white hair halfway died crimson as she laid in a mix pool of blood. It seemed she was at the back of the pack, like Y/n had been before he got tugged away by the small boy beside him.

    Tears seeped down her silky cheeks as she stared at the tall man in front of her, his lips curved upwards at the sight, prompting him to grasp his pistol and pull the trigger. All dead. Within fifteen seconds, six inmates had died.

    ¡°Well you see, I had a plenty good reason to kill these six, so don¡¯t judge me too harshly for it! It just so happens that their counterparts out in the wide open world of freedom and opportunity had been killed, and I don¡¯t intend to run a day-care centre here, so I sent them on their merry way back home!¡± he grinned, his eyes squinting at the sight of Y/n.

    ¡¯That brat¡¯s boy huh.... Lets give him a bit of hell, ah yes, that¡¯ll make me feel better for all the attitude that she¡¯s been giving me recently!¡± he thought, attitude improving by the second as he came closer to the boy.

    Raising his pistol towards Y/n, he gracefully re-aimed his sights before pulling the trigger twice, a voice erupting from in front of him as they fell to the ground.

    Nathan¡¯s small body shivered on the floor as two bullets had found themselves lodged within his kneecaps. Unable to stand, he quivered in fright as he looked towards Maxwell, unable to speak.

    ¡°A deal is a deal, and I did intend to keep my promise, however your friend has expired as well so I no longer need your service.¡± Maxwell apologized, a frown upon his countenance expressing his sincerity.

    A group of men slowly filled out of the corridor behind Maxwell, standing behind him waiting for their next order.

    ¡°Say Y/n, your other half is still alive out there. I¡¯ll give you a special opportunity! Kill the boy in front of you and I¡¯ll let you go!¡± bellowed the man, his eyes grinning as he wondered what the teen in front of him would do, the background filled with small grunts of pain as Nathan was grasping his wounds in agony.

    Looking towards the shiny metallic gun in front of him, Y/n weighed his options.

    ¡®If I kill him I¡¯ll be let out? Does this guy really seem like the most trustable person, I mean in the first place we got tricked and imprisoned so it seems unlikely. However.... There might be a chance...¡¯he pondered, looking over to the boy to the floor, empathetically.

    This kid was the reason all the others had died. Y/n was more friendly with some of them than others but had thought them all to be quite reasonable and nice people.

    ¡äWe really might have stood a chance at escaping if Nathan hadn¡¯t leaked our plans, Even if it¡¯s just a small chance that I can get out, I should take it. Besides, he deserves it.¡ä Y/n attempted to reason with himself, his brows scrunched up as he reached forward for the gun, feeling the cold metallic substance weighing his body down, as if condemning him for the actions he¡¯d resolved himself to take.

    There was no going back after he took this shot. No ¡°Outside Life¡± that he¡¯d talked about. Only this life. This blood stained, grief filled and chock full of misery life that was sure to claim itself faster than his old would have.

    Nathan¡¯s pupils shrank as he watched Y/n¡¯s fingers grasp the gun and began hyperventilating as he saw the end draw near.

    ¡®What have I done to deserve this! This is unfair! Unjust!¡¯ he frantically thought.

    ¡°Y/n! Y/n think! Don¡¯t do it!¡± Nathan screamed, biting the corners of his lips in fear as he desperately grasped towards Y/n.

    The metal gun stared into his sole as he pointed it towards the teen below him, closing his eyes before attempting to press the trigger. Clack. Clack.

    The metal gun shivered left and right as Y/n opened his eyes to see why the gun wasn¡¯t firing, finding his index finger to be not contracting but quivering in place.

    ¡®Come on Y/n! It¡¯s just one press! He¡¯s the reason the rest are all dead!¡¯ Y/n hyped himself up, holding the gun this time with both hands before once again closing his eyes and erupted all the force he could muster upon the trigger.

    BANG

    Y/n stumbled backwards as the gun moved up into the air, his arms failing to absorb all the recoil from the heavy metallic killing machine.

    Nathan¡¯s head led the way to the floor, a resounding pang erupting from his body as his head contacted the concrete floor, blood seeping out from his forehead, seeping down to the floor, creating some sort of crimson crown atop his still warm body.

    Then a slow clapping sound was emitted from behind Y/n as Maxwell walked towards Y/n and reclaimed the gun from the frozen boy, who was silently staring at the body before him.

    ¡®I... killed him... Me? I did it? That bleeding body on the ground was caused by me? By my hand?¡¯ he frantically thought, his hand involuntarily shaking.

    ¡°Obviously I told you a little bit of a white lie, but who cares, I¡¯m the boss around here aren¡¯t I?¡± Laughed the suited man as he walked over to inspect Nathan¡¯s body.

    ¡°Oh! it seems you¡¯re quite the sharpshooter!¡± he bellowed, pausing to see Y/n¡¯s reaction to the new information.

    Y/n¡¯s expression was scrunched up with grief, stunned as to what had occurred. The boy stood there staring at his hands. His tainted hands. Slightly perturbed that Y/n was ignoring him, he moved over to one of his men, giving him an order before walking away.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to apologise to you in advance. You see, we currently are somewhat short of manpower so we can¡¯t afford to have more than one person guarding you at a time. So I¡¯ll have you relax in a nice solitary confinement cell for the foreseeable future!¡± Maxwell exclaimed, his mood brighter than when he had entered the room.

    It appears messing around with young blood was indeed a potent cure to waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

    ¡®I had to kill him, right? It was my only option? Even if the chance was small the other¡¯s would have wanted me to take it...his life.¡¯ Y/n attempted to once again reason with himself.

    Two large men pulled Y/n from where he had spend the vast majority of his time and walked towards a new destination. A long corridor, with only one destination; a mighty metal door equipped with a small covered hole where food could be inserted from.

    One of the men released Y/n, digging inside his pockets for a pair of keys before heaving the door open, the former of the two throwing the teen inside onto the concrete, shutting the door before Y/n could react.

    Alone again. Concrete walls encasing him in a small rectangular box. This time there was no coming out of the cell, well not to his knowledge. No friends to converse with, only himself and his hands.

    Y/n slowly looked down towards his shaking hands once more.

    ¡°I¡¯m a murder. Just like her, a bloody murderer.¡± He whispered.

 Act 2 - Chapter 19 - Trauma

    Musty smoke filled the boy¡¯s lungs as he sat on the ground of a destroyed building, dark grey covering his features, eyes staring towards the bleak obsidian sky. Beads of tears appeared at the corner of his eyes, flooding down his face and pooling upon the ground, staining into a murky colour.

    The last thing the boy had remembered was sitting at the dining table of his mother¡¯s small two-story house, running his fingers over the smooth wooden furniture whilst waiting for dinner to be served.

    Taking care of a child by oneself was a heavy burden for his only parent to carry, although it seemed as it hadn¡¯t effected her even in the slightest as the boy could recall the amount of times he¡¯d seen her cry upon one hand.

    Many a time his eyes would glaze recalling his fathers actions, discovered through cupping his hand against a sealed wooden door, attempting to make out certain words as his only kin burst out into tears whilst speaking over the phone to god-knows who.

    However after learning about what had occurred, he no longer felt a yearning for a father for the emotion had been replaced with pure disgust.

    If he was that kind of person, surely having him here would bring only harm to mum.

    His father was supposedly infertile, so when they had found out that the mother had become pregnant, he was elated.

    That was until the birth of the child, dark black hair and two bright green orbs equipped with a large smile drawn upon his small face. Both of his parents had blond hair, his father had grey eyes whilst his mother had hazelnut orbs.

    Outraged, the older man whipped his eyes over to his supposed spouse, who was lying on a hospital bed, unable to move much. A torrent of screaming ensued, the mother in a frenzy, tears pouring from her eyes, attempting to explain what happened.

    A group of large men who wore strange purple badges coercing a middle-aged woman into a alleyway, gun to her hip, what else could she do but comply? Firm, worn, fingers gripped their blond hair as grey orbs disdainfully glared at the woman. He didn¡¯t believe a word.

    Thus, Lucas had been taken care of by her mother for the seven years that he¡¯d been alive. The savoury smell of meat wafting from the kitchen making him grip the wooden table in hunger. Then the happiness in his life disappeared. A blinding light emitted from several walls close to the kitchen, fragments of concrete being shot out everywhere, a pain-filled scream erupting from a feminine voice.

    Walls weakening, the house started to crumble inwards, two more bright orange blasts followed, accelerating the process. And then there was nothing.

    Taking in a large smoke-filled breath, the small child began to erupt into a fit of coughs as he was reawakened from his short, enforced slumber. Where was he again? What where those bright flashes?

    Turning his head around to survey his surroundings the boy didn¡¯t understand where he was. Nevertheless, finding his mother was his top priority, the person who¡¯d raised him. A series of small grunts caught the small boy¡¯s attention, a head popping out of a tower of rubble.

    Long brown hair covered in a frightening substance, followed by a voice which beseeched to those near it, interrupted by a few rudimentary grunts of pain, were audible. Perhaps they¡¯d be screams if they could have afforded it. Crawling over to the sounds emitted, the small boy found someone. His mother. But she¡¯d yet to realise who¡¯d found her, or rather it was because she had lost her vision, a few fragments embedded in her orbs.

    A few quiet pleas filled Lucas¡¯s ears, ¡±Kill me, kill me.¡±was the most common of her requests. If it where possible for more tears to leave the boy¡¯s already swollen eyes, then they would have come out.

    The older woman¡¯s beautiful, flawless skin had now become cut and embedded with stones. Her nose was missing, and blood covered her mouth and chin. To be honest, it was a miracle, or perhaps a curse that she was still alive in her condition.

    No doubt the rest of her body was beyond repair, blood staining the rocks within her grasp. Lucas¡¯s small eyes absorbed the image in front of him, the woman who was begging for death in front of him, the woman who¡¯d raised him, who¡¯d sheltered him from the pain of the world. Begging for death in front of her own child.

    Images of her sweet smile disappearing from his memory, being replaced by this, this... this.

    A medium sized piece of rubble caught the small boy¡¯s eyes. Crawling across the rubble, cuts upon cuts arriving upon his legs, his feeble hands caressed the coarse material. Looking back at the destroyed woman writhing in agony, he peered down upon his now blood-stained hands, vision blurred due to the endless tears which stormed down the child¡¯s countenance.

    Picking the rock up, there was only one thing he could do with it. One hit. Still alive. Another. And another. Blood splatting upon the rock, her face even more deformed than it once was. Still breathing. Again, and again, and again. Still not dead?

    How many times had he struck her? At some point the woman had ceased to exist, her features splayed across the ground. Was it the correct thing to do? Perhaps not. It not, then what should he have done?

    How long had it been since he¡¯d stopped her from breathing? A torrent of questions filled his brain, keeping him unaware of the footsteps arriving before him.

    A shiny purple pin stuck upon his grey jacket, a cleanly shaved beard decorating his features. He seemed to be a well brought up man, an expressionless expression equipped upon his face.

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    ¡°Come with me, young boy.¡± He stated with a monotone voice. ¡°I¡¯ll show you how terrible this world can be. Perhaps then you can take proper action against them once you understand.¡±

    Lucas looked towards his bloodied hands and then up to the man who looked to be in about his mid-twenties. Who did he have now in his life? He¡¯d made no friends at school, his father had apparently left whilst he was a child, his mother¡¯s parents already deceased.

    The young boy took the gloved hand of the mysterious man. He had no other option. Or at least that was what he had believed at the time. Lucas had pondered over how his life may have changed if he never stretched out his hand towards that man. Mostly likely he would have been disposed of. Perhaps he was just trying to justify his choice.

    Joining an organised crime ring at the age of seven, Lucas had been trained to be an elite, loyal bodyguard for one of the upper echelons who¡¯d supposedly saved him. He made no friends there, only rivals to beat and eliminate.

    <hr>

    Light shone through a pair of blue blinds; a few birds embroidered upon the material. Lying upon a queen size bed, orange hair cascaded upon the pillows as she laid still upon the bed. A pillow and cover were located upon a sofa a few metres away from the bed, the sound of sizzling being emitted from a large marble kitchen located close to door of the apartment.

    There stood Bulldog, his short black hair, styled with presumably a hot hair dryer, came undone drooping over his forehead. Equipped with a plain red T-shirt and some black baggy cargo trousers, a frying pan upon the heated hob as the smell of some eggs and frankfurters escaped from the silver extractor fan.

    Chloe groggily sat up upon the bed, feeling slightly uncomfortable in the formal clothes she had been wearing all night. Pushing her fingers through her slightly knotted hair, she winced whilst looking around the clean apartment. Finally, her eyes glossed over to a broad back covered in red.

    Noticing the noise, Bulldog looked over to see Chloe¡¯s orbs starring straight at him. Holding contact for a few seconds as he took in her groggy state. Seemingly uninterested about the girl before him, his attention was recaptured back to the frying pan, moving a wooden stick in his hand to ensure that one side of the food wouldn¡¯t get overly cooked or burnt.

    Bulldog had thought of the small orange girl as a somewhat quaint comrade. Certainly, anyone who¡¯d been wrapped up in this war was somewhat screwed in the head, but her especially, the cold expression that she usually wore reminding him of his earlier years.

    Remembering back to her distraught face that she¡¯d surprisingly shown, he found himself unconsciously comparing it to the stone-cold expression of the girl he¡¯d seen just a few moments ago. Pouring the food onto two identical plates, he grabbed some cutlery and walked over to a cold metal table.

    ¡°Foods done, get over here.¡± He stated, sitting down on one of the chairs whilst observing the small girl trudge over to the table. Lips tightened into a line; Chloe pierced the food with her eyes.

    Silence overcame the room as they slowly ate their food, Bulldog glancing to and fro wondering what he should mention to break the ice, cheering someone up wasn¡¯t his forte.

    Looking towards Bulldog, Chloe bit her lip before starting to mumble, ¡°I was involved in an accident when I was younger. A drunk driver took my father, my mother never treated me well due to the overwhelming grief she had to deal with. She took it out on me instead.¡±

    ¡°But then I found him. Y/n was my first and only friend. The time I spent with him was the only thing keeping my going. Even though the guilt I felt overcame the joy my interactions with him brought me from time to time, it was all I had. He... was all I had.¡± Chloe stated, her expression curving into a frown as her eyes glossed over.

    ¡°And now he¡¯s gone. Everything is gone. There¡¯s no point anymore.¡± She solemnly whispered, looking into Bulldog¡¯s bright green eyes.

    Bulldog fiddled with his knife for a while, his eyebrows furrowed and orbs sullen, before responding, ¡°If you are wondering why I stopped you, it¡¯s because you reminded me of my Mother. She begged for death after being trapped under rubble. So, I gave it to her. With my own two hands.¡±

    Putting down his cutlery, he peered down at his large, scared hands, tightly forming a pair of fists, then releasing and combed his right hand through his hair to calm himself down.

    ¡°Sometimes I wonder If I made the correct choice. Could she have been saved? Perhaps... perhaps she could be alive today, living with me, if I hadn¡¯t taken her life.¡± Lamented Bulldog, who had put his left hand on his forehead in an attempt to cover his expression.

    ¡°If I had let you take your life there, perhaps I¡¯d have another mental burden upon me right now. You say that there is nothing left in your life, but I don¡¯t believe you.¡± He challenged, no longer covering his countenance, staring into the pair of sunken orbs before him.

    ¡°Where is your resolve? What about revenge? You¡¯re going to let the people who¡¯ve destroyed your life get away with it? I live for revenge, to kill that damned Epsilon who killed my mother. There is no damn way in hell that I¡¯ll die before I see him grovelling for forgiveness before me.¡± Seethed Bulldog, his right hand clenching the knife he¡¯d picked up moments ago.

    The small girl thought about it for a short few seconds, a frown appearing upon her face, before responding, ¡°Epsilon will die by my hand, not yours.¡±

    Bulldog peered towards the now spirited girl before him, his eyes now sharply stabbing into Chloe, ¡°Like hell he will.¡± he frostily replied.

    ¡°The boss is planning a large-scale invasion of all the Lion¡¯s hideouts. He¡¯s wants to make sure no one can pick up Epsilon¡¯s reign after we get rid of him. Come with me, we¡¯ll see who get¡¯s to him first. Lucas. That¡¯s the name of the man who¡¯ll kill him.¡± Lucas exclaimed, his green orbs confidently staring at Chloe.

    The orange haired girl spent little to no time thinking about the offer, before she nodded in confirmation.

    <hr>

    Six months. 180 days. 4380 Hours. A thin body laid upon a cold concrete wall. Y/n stared at the metal door in front of him, waiting for his captor to visit him. Every hour in this prison, he¡¯d spent looking over his life, every decision and action. Why was he here?

    He¡¯d came to one sole reason as to why he was where he was. Chloe.

    If he hadn¡¯t became her friend.

    If he had reported her to the police when he first noticed something wrong with the girl after the Derrick incident.

    She¡¯d lost her mind after that. Or perhaps, was her mind always broken?

    If not for her, he would be living a normal life. If it wasn¡¯t for her. If it wasn¡¯t for her!

    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t have had to do what I¡¯ve done. My hands, these hands would still be CLEAN! It¡¯s not my fault! Of course it isn¡¯t! I¡¯m not that TYPE of person. But... She is... Not me. It¡¯s her fault. So... I just need to get rid of her. Then, and only then, can I reclaim my old life, one where I was destined to succeed!¡¯ he reasoned to himself.

    Blaming Chloe was the easiest way for him to cope, no, the only way he could. Being the offspring of a rich family, the world was at his fingertips. He was born for GREATNESS! Therefore, it wasn¡¯t him but her. She had to be in the wrong. It couldn¡¯t have been his fault.

    The monumental iron door whaled out as it slowly swung open, Warden finally showing himself before the prisoner.

    ¡°How do you wish to proceed?¡± innocently queried Epsilon, who tightened his red tie.

    ¡°I¡¯ll reclaim my old life.¡± He ardently responded.

 Act 2 - Chapter 20 - Memories

    Y/n stood alone in a desolate white corridor. Gun in hand, he¡¯d said his goodbyes to Epsilon who had made a break for the rooftop above the floor he was on now to escape.

    All hell was currently breaking loose with both gangs fighting, one trying to advance and the other attempting to hold the line. Epsilon had given Y/n the choice to come with him, but he declined. Chloe was the only thing on his mind. For as long as she was breathing, he couldn¡¯t escape from this purgatory.

    ¡°Chloe¡¯s got to be here somewhere! Epsilon said she¡¯d be here!¡± mumbled Y/n, who cursed at Epsilon in the corner of his mind.

    Equipped with a single pistol and a Kevlar chest plate, he sluggishly surveyed the corridor in front of him before laying his eyes on a pair of people, one with distinct orange hair.

    They were currently located in a high-rise building, Epsilon making a fast escape towards the top floor in order to access his way out, a helicopter.

    Unable to stop himself, Y/n immediately started shooting at the pair, who had turned into the long corridor which they had to pass through to get to the next flight of stairs, with Y/n blocking their path in the open.

    Quickly hiding behind the two walls at the entrance to the corridor, Lucas observed Chloe and then looked at himself, a look of relief upon both of their faces. Thankfully whoever had shot at them had terrible aim, the distance between them and the gunman had only been 10 or metres.

    Chloe held up her hand and performed a countdown before the two of them swung out and shot the person in front of them twice in the chest, the receiver being thrown to the ground by the double impact.

    Rushing forward, Chloe took the lead, gun in hand as she looked towards the face of the combatant, who was groaning in pain, holding his hand against his chest.

    The small girl stood still for a few seconds, her mouth opening, and then closing shut again, unsure of what to say in the heat of the moment.

    Clank. Chloe¡¯s gun dropped from her hands as they started to tremble. Beads of tears running down her face, she fell to her knees and grasped at the person on the floor, locking them into a tight hug.

    ¡°Oi Chloe, what are you doing? If we don¡¯t go now, Epsilon¡¯s going to get away!¡± shouted Lucas as he worriedly shouted at the girl.

    ¡°Go without me.¡± She quietly mumbled, staying in her still position.

    ¡°What? What about what you said earlier? About how you¡¯d kill Epsilon before I could?¡± queried Lucas, a befuddled expression painting his countenance.

    No reply.

    Waiting a few more seconds, Lucas became enraged, ¡°Arrgh, Whatever! Do what you want! Means I have one less competitor anyways!¡± before storming down the corridor.

    As he reached the end, a loud thud erupted from behind him. Looking over his shoulder he found Chloe lying on the ground, a silver knife lodged inside her stomach whilst the man she had been grasping was slowly beginning to laugh.

    Lucas, torn between letting Chloe die in front of him and potentially letting Epsilon go, stood silently for a few seconds, his mouth agape.

    Making his mind up, he rushed over to the man who was four or so metres away and turned him around, punching him in the face.

    ¡°Just who the fuck do you think you are?¡± distressfully questioned Y/n, who had been rudely taken out of his state of joy. Fumbling around with the gun he¡¯d dropped on the ground, he quickly sat up and aimed it at the man in front of him.

    BANG! The young man fell flat on the ground, crimson blood splattered behind him as a hole was made in his forehead.

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    Quickly dealing with the issue that had appeared, he knelt down and flipped Chloe over, seeing the wound that had appeared in her abdomen. She had a confused expression, appearing unable to comprehend the events that had just occurred.

    Then, a series of load explosions erupted, the roof collapsing in on him and Chloe, who had been below him at the time.

    A familiar sensation erupted Lucas, his vision blurred, deep breaths of air burning his lungs. However, another unfamiliar pain showed itself to him. Looked down towards his own abdomen, three metal poles had impaled him, stopping a few inches away from Chloe¡¯s body.

    Blood seeped down the dusty metal poles and dripped onto Chloe, melding with her own blood as she uncomfortably groaned, her eyes fluttering open to see the sight before her.

    Lucas was on top of her, rumble all around them. It seemed to Chloe that she¡¯d managed to escape from any potentially life ending injuries, apart from the stab wound located upon her stomach. Time was already escaping from her; she knew she didn¡¯t have long.

    Aside from that issue, she looked up towards Lucas, her eyes dilating to see the comrade above her had shielded her from several rocks and poles. Three crimson rods stuck out of his stomach, blood leaking from his lips as well as he stared at the girl below him.

    Before Chloe could say anything, a new pair of feet had sounded out not too far from him.

    ¡°How wonderful. Epsilon, that slut¡¯s child and that annoying brat who murdered my son, all dead in one fell swoop. The explosives I planted on his helicopter really did the trick! Too bad that I¡¯d already bribed his sworn righthand man over to my side to gain access to this facility.¡± Laughed out a familiar voice.

    Lucas¡¯s unfocused eyes dilated from hearing the words that had came out from the man¡¯s mouth. He understood Epsilon, and there was no way he killed the Boss¡¯s son so that had to be... Chloe. So that meant he was ¡°that slut¡¯s child¡±?

    The wind howled as the man stood atop of the mountain of rubble, he continued speaking to himself. ¡°How perfect! Lucas, was his name? Even though he came from her, I still got some use out of the kid. Pinning all the blame on Epsilon was the easiest thing I¡¯d ever done! He took my words at face value! Serves the offspring of that lying bitch right! How dare she cheat on me! My men would never touch my woman!¡±

    The man who wore a dark purple suit and tie, gloated with joy, walking over to the edge of the building to take in the sun that was sinking into the horizon.

    Chloe looked up towards Lucas, who had his eyes trained upon the man who was about a metre or two away from him, body shaking with anger as he reached for the gun beside him.

    His arms trembling, Lucas attempted to aim his pistol at the man, Chloe saw his attempt and thus held the man¡¯s hands to steady the weapon.

    It was the least she could do for him at this point. BANG. The bullet strayed off path and only managed to hit the man in the shoulder, who let out a sharp groan.

    But that was all they needed. The man started to lose his balance, finally falling off the side of the skyscraper, his screams erupting from his mouth as he plummeted down the ground.

    Dropping the gun that was in his grasp, Lucas fell onto his back and rested for a second before looking down at Chloe.

    ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ve both accomplished our goals now.... revenge is ours.¡± He solemnly said. Hand on his chest, he curiously touched the poles embedded in his chest, recoiling in pain.

    ¡°This is it for you it seems.¡± Chloe sighed, it seemed she¡¯d lose another valuable comrade. No, friend.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about yourself, that stab wound is no joke!¡± Lucas laughed, then coughed out in pain, blood spurting onto the ground in front of him.

    His eyes wondered to a large rock beside him and then to the girl in front of him. Would it be too much to ask?

    ¡°Hey Chloe? You know when I told you about the incident when I was younger? Use that rock to kill me... ¡± he requested, his eyes moving over to Chloe to gauge her reaction.

    ¡°I... want to feel my mother¡¯s pain when I killed her...¡± he explained, his voice dripping with guilt as he pointed at the large rock.

    Chloe stared at the rock he was pointing at and then back to the man in front of her. She nodded slowly and walked over to it. Who was she to stop him from getting what he wanted? What would it matter to have one more death on her hands?

    Bending down to pick up the rock, she heard a loud thud. Lucas laid still on the rubble next to him, his eyes clouded as blood flowed from his body.

    ¡°Seems like you couldn¡¯t hold out long enough.¡± She sighed and looked out towards the horizon, the sun slowly disappearing.

    Then she franticly became alert and started to search for another body, before finding a head encased in rubble, digging a disfigured, bloody, body out from the stone tomb he had been sleeping in.

    There was Y/n in all his glory. A bullet wound upon his forehead, a few limbs missing from his body and his legs a crushed mess.

    But that wasn¡¯t what Chloe saw. No. A brilliant smiling teen who stood by her for most of her time on this planet.

    Pulling Y/n¡¯s body over to the ledge of the skyscraper, they both sat at the edge of it, legs dangling in the air as Y/n¡¯s warm blood spread onto Chloe¡¯s shoulder as his head laid upon it.

    What was left for her in this world?

    At least for now, she wanted to spend some more time with the person she cherished the most.

    Even if that time was the last she had left.

 Afterword

    God, you made through all that crap? I commend you!

    To be honest, I''m not proud of this story.

    It was my first attempt, written whilst I was the ripe age of 16.

    Past chapter 10, the story became unpolished and unstructured.

    The reason as to why such a thing occurred stems from my reaction to the success the book got on Wattpad.

    I''d written other stuff before, and the most I''d ever gotten was a read or two. And honestly, I was fine with that.

    NMT was my first attempt at a yandere book which I knew, at least in Wattpad, was a genre that was in short supply.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    So I wasn''t exactly shocked when I got some attention, but it influenced me nevertheless.

    My original plan for the story went as far as chapter 10, I had thought that it would take me 50 chapters to get that far, but I was sorely wrong.

    Wanting to continue on this high note, I kept on writing, this time without and proper plot/skeleton to guide me. And this is the result.

    My current focus is a "rewrite" of NMT. The story is 95% different, different characters, different plot, better writing, better romance (I feel like the romance I wrote in this book was SEVERELY lacking!!!).

    I''m currently 1/3 the way through the writing process as I am writing this. Since it''s summer holidays and I have nothing better do (apart from my 6 hour a day Japanese practice) I am trying to write as much as possible.

    I''ve yet to come up with a name for the new book, but I''m really happy with what I''ve produced so far. I wish this was the book I wrote when I was writing NMT, but alas, I was inexperienced, and still am.

    That''s besides the point of this afterward anyways. I hope you enjoyed reading this mess of a book, and I hope you will read my upcoming one as well.

    I promise you, It''ll be at least twice as good as this garbage. (It is at least 3x as good)

    :D - Tmazrief