A delicate piece of light slipped in through the curtains onto an old four-poster bed, causing the small lump hidden in a mountain of covers to moan and stretch dramatically before sitting up and sniffing the air. Chloe clumsily walked towards the kitchen and the intoxicating scent that had awoken her. Stumbling into the bright room she soon discovered the source of the smell. Her older brother, Liam, was already awake pacing around the room, and just next to him sat a steaming pot of coffee. He smiled groggily upon seeing her before stopping his patrol of the room and sitting down, gesturing with a smirk to the spare mug. She grinned sheepishly, slightly ashamed of her caffeine addiction, but not enough to refuse the offer.
After pouring herself some of the hot beverage and adding a heap of sugar she sat down and surveyed her brother carefully over her mug, noting the stiff posture of his shoulders and the way he was avoiding eye contact with her.
"What's wrong?" she asked him impatiently, sick of dancing around the issue like it was non-existent, never seeing the point to such an activity anyway.
Tired eyes looked up quickly at her comment and held her in their glare; he was silent for several moments before letting out a long sigh and looking away.
"There was another break in at the docks, nothing was taken, but only because those Vigilantes were there to stop them, I'm starting to get really worried, I mean, who do these guys think they are? Just turning up and doing our job for us, it gives the police force a bad name, not to mention Shaun is getting more and more obsessed with finding them, which means I have to work later hours and spend even less time with you than I already do."
He said all of this in one great big sentence, the pitch getting higher and higher as it did when he was really worried about something.
Chloe personally thought that the Vigilantes were just awesome dudes trying to help out the community, but now was not the time for her to be openly expressing that opinion.
"Don't worry" she tried to soothe him "I'm sure they will be caught soon, I mean, the whole of New York is looking for them, so how long can they stay undetected really?"
He looked up into her face with his brows knitted closely together, whatever he saw there must have reassured him because a moment later he relaxed into his chair and gave a genuine smile.
Grinning back at him without hesitation she jumped up, grabbing both empty mugs as she headed towards the sink. At that moment a huge four-legged shadow passed over the doorway, dropping the mugs and turning around Chloe beamed at her best friend. Trotting towards her was a massive malamute she and her brother had rescued when he was just three weeks old.
"Morning Achilles," she greeted him, wrapping her arms automatically around the thick fur of his neck and giving him a light kiss on the white of his forehead. Her brother chuckled behind her.
"What's so funny?" she enquired.
"I still can't believe you called him Achilles." he replied still laughing.
"Well, he wouldn't stop pulling on the lead so I had to keep telling him to heel, it was your idea." Both of the children laughed at the memory, it seemed like a lifetime ago- so much had changed for the both of them.
Chloe's eyes drifted absentmindedly around the room before landing on the clock hanging on one of their houses faded white walls.
"Aw shit," she exclaimed before running to get dressed and ready for school. Running into her first class 20 minutes late the class clapped sarcastically by way of morning greeting and Chloe bowed ironically back before turning back to their PE teacher to hear about their new sports unit, soccer.
The whole day passed in a blur of homework, dull lectures and to top it all off Chloe had to stay after school because she forgot to do her French homework. Grumbling a goodbye to her friends Chloe moped off towards the library to meet her teacher. Nearly an hour and a half later she emerged from the library tired, hungry and never wanting to see another French word again.
The closest bus stop was a good 2kms uphill from Chloe's school, usually this wasn't a problem but it was getting late and she didn't like walking through the dark alone, she knew first hand how quickly things could change. Her hand went quickly to the pocket containing her phone and she dialled Liam's number. Straight to message bank.
"Damn it Liam" she muttered angrily before heading in the direction of the bus, nervously scanning the street every few steps and walking as fast as she could without actually running.
About halfway there she began to calm down, after all what were the chances of something actually happening? Slowing down Chloe got out her iPod and began listening to Vampire Weekend; by the end of the second song she was all but singing the lyrics out loud and dancing down the street.
Maybe that's why she didn't notice the open sewer top five meters in front of her.