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.
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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.
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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.