"There is so much space between us, maybe we're already defeated," Love In The Dark -Adele
For a prestigious University, it wasn't hard for Lucifer to find a way to break in. The locked front gate was not actually locked, nor were the bars even close, so squeezing through was easy. Then the security key was still left in the door at the main buildings entrance, everything was just too easy. However, the part that was not easy was finding a way into the basement. Lucifer had been walking around tirelessly for what felt like forever, he could have even sworn he heard a scream at some point, but it was so small and weak, he debated if his mind was playing tricks on him. He couldn't even tell where the sound was coming from, and this whole search was feeling hopeless.
Until he spotted the only classroom with a light still on at this late hour. Even with the clock reading way past midnight, a certain professors sits once again behind his mahogany desk. Loaded to the hilt with papers, pens skewed everywhere, and his head not visible and only his feet give away any impression he is still there. The sign on the door says 'Class In Session', yet no students are to be seen.
"Hello?" Lucifer says into the empty space, much like he had only hours ago.
"I'm busy," the same voice rings out.
"LAPD is back, and I need your help," Lucifer admits.
The man stands from behind the desk. "You again? What do you need?" Brent asks, his voice caring yet strong. He genuinely seems interested in helping out.
"A lesson in law and punishment. What do you think? We found out who the killer is. However, he kidnapped my partner. I think I know where he took her, but I need your help," Lucifer explains with sass and urgency.
Brent's face morphs into horror. "I am sorry sorry Lucifer. Anything I can do to help I will-"
"Yes, well as I already stated there is a lack of time in our predicament," Lucifer says cutting him off, his own urgency taking over everything in his mind. "I have been informed that this school has an unused basement. I need to be able to get down there. I believe that is where our killer is hiding out."
"As faculty we aren't allowed to go down there, nor any student. Is the killer a fellow student? Oh my gosh, whoever it is could have been hiding right here in this very school, placing every student in danger. He also could have known how to get into the basement-" Brent begins to click all the puzzle pieces in his head that Lucifer already connected. "-and there is only one way down. I'd have to look at some blueprints and find the key-"
"Then do it man!" Lucifer shouts impatiently. He knows this is no way to act, but his mind is clouded. Brent runs to behind his desk and begins to fuddle with his papers. Lucifer looks to the roof of this classroom in frustration. His eyes tell him that this is just a plain white ceiling, but in his mind her has already made a connection with his father despite the blockage. Almost completely silent, he whispers "Don't you dare take her yet Father. I told you, I begged you. Not yet. Tell her to hold on."
The complaining first began with the fact that he had already stretched to wound to it's limits. Then, that the angle was all wrong and it was also a few inches off from his original plan of incision. Lastly, Thomas complained about wasting time, and the fact that he would now have to restart. Not to mention, when he had snipped the nerve in Chloe's interior, the pain had almost made her pass out. Even worse, right after he had snipped it, he complained that his medical scissors were dull, and the nerve had only been partially cut. Chloe could picture the nerve only holding together by a string of sorts. He had to wait for her to slightly recover for his plan to see how a living body could function without it's vital organs. In the end, he had to take off the clamp holding Chloe's skin apart, and sloppily place a couple of staples in her skin. Once again, everything in this process was done without anesthesia.
Not that it mattered. Chloe had screamed so loud it left her throat dry, and her ears ringing. She could still hear it echoing throughout her ears, and it put her in a trance like state, A large portion of her torso felt numb now, and it was like she no longer could feel anything, including emotions. Maybe I have gone into shock, Chloe told herself. Maybe the nerve he cut like a string was the last thing holding me together when I was trying so hard not to fall apart. It felt like she was catatonic, or stuck in sleep paralysis as her mind was able to think but her body remained paralyzed.
The room was empty, and silent except for the sound of Chloe's nose sniffing back leftover tears and mucus. tears were still falling involuntarily, as if her mind couldn't feel anything but her body was trying to remind her of the pain it had just felt. Chloe's mind allowed itself to wonder upon what it would do if she could just grab a scalpel within reach. Would she wait to possibly win or fail at using it against Thomas? Would she use it to cut herself out? Or would she drive it into her thigh or across her neck to just end things right now without any more misery? All she wanted was to be out of this chair, and away from everything. Knowing she had not yet lived a full life no longer seemed to matter. Sure, she wanted more time to spend with her daughter, and more time to spend with Lucifer. But somehow all this pain was keeping her from seeing what she really wanted long term, and what she wanted right now. Chloe raises her arm to wipe away her tears, and feels her cold fingers swipe across her damp face. her hand is bloodied from being glued to her side during his first experiment. so it doesn't help her appearance now that the crimson is smudged all over her face. At this point she is just clearing with water just barely before it continues to sag back into the puddle underneath her cheek-
Wait. Her hand can reach her face.
It is no longer stuck in its original strap, locked at her side next to her bleeding torso. One of her hands is free, and it is not only like a gift from god himself, but almost like a sign that this isn't her time to die. This gives her the time and chance to fight back. She reaches across her body to grab a ten blade on the cart, she winces at the pain she gets from moving but follows through with her actions despite. Fixing it in her hand accordingly to hide it is the most important step. It can't be too obvious that she has it, nor that she is trying to hard to conceal it. She then slithers her hand back into its wrist strap, and begins to patiently wait for her chance to shove it into whatever she can in his body to render him in pain. It was time to see if this messed up medical student was ready for a taste of his own painful medicine.
Brent shoves all the papers off his desk in a hurry, and sprawls the paper around the table. The lanyard with the keys lay on top of one of the corners like a paperweight. "I've never actually looked at these that closely before. We were told there was no need to know unless there was a case of emergency."
The paper is blue and white lines are all over the place. Lucifer's brain starts to hurt at soon as he looks at it. He spins it a million different ways and tips his head. "What exactly am I looking at here?" He asks.
"You see," Brent explains. "This is the whole school in one map. There are pages dividing by level, and this is the bottom one. It looks like the only entrance to the basement that hasn't been sealed is the one by the third laboratory. I knew it was for something, I could just never figure out what-"
"Then let's go!" Lucifer says, practically dragging the man from behind his desk. Within seconds the both of them are sprinting down long hallways, skidding and sliding at the corners as they grow closer and closer to their destination. The devil has never recalled perspiring before, not even when surrounded by hell fire. But something about this urgency is causing his suit to feel tighter and his strides more desperate.
The door is solid grey steel with no window to peek within. Lucifer could imagine the horrors inside, and begged for Brent to find the proper key on his lanyard of what seemed like a thousand different ones.
"Chloe?!" His voice shouted at the door in hopes he might be able to reach her. Brent tries another key in the small opening and mutters a swear under his breath as it doesn't fit. Lucifer hangs his head against the door, and allows his fist to rest on the door in despair and frustration.
"Lucifer?" A small voice cries out, and Lucifer is just barely able to make it out. Hope begins to rise within him and a smile of partial relief spreads across his face. But reality quickly broke into the moment as he hears a sound of snapping from his side of the door. Looking down at the lock, there is a key withing it, but the other half of the key in Brent's hand.
The only way to get her out from this side was that key. The very key that is now split in two, one half of which is no longer able to be reached.
"God-fucking-dammit!" Lucifer shouts in anger, grabbing onto the door handle and pulling and pushing against it as if that could make it open or magically jiggle the key into place. When it doesn't work, he can feel his anger rising. There still might be a way to get her out, but it has to come from the other side of this steel barrier. Just possibly this could work. "Chloe! Open the door!"
Before any answer can be given back, Lucifer hears stomping, and then two cries of horror. It sounds like two bodies are smacking against steel, and then pavement. Fear begins to take hold of everything left in Lucifer that hadn't already been overwhelmed. A large male scream rings out and seems to last a lifetime, and then it was back to silence.
"CHLOE!" Lucifer screams louder than before. "I heard a scream! What happened?" His screams are met with no reply. "Open the door! C'mon Chloe! Answer me!"
When all he can barely make out is a small sob or cry, he reaches for his phone and bypasses his plan to call Dan. He dials 9-1-1, because maybe just maybe they could clean up the debris he was going to leave in his path. Lucifer was about to do everything he could to get in, and he didn't care how it was going to happen. All that mattered in his blind rage, and all he could think of, was the girl behind this door and how badly he needed her.
Chloe could feel her eyelids growing heavy, but she fought against every instinct to fall back asleep. She needed to be awake and alert. Her legs were starting to feel awake, no longer paralyzed. That also meant she could feel the beginning of the pain in her beyond twisted time to waste, no opportunity to be missed. Knuckles on her right hand were turned white from keeping the knife balled tight into her palm. All she can hear is the sound of running or dripping water that had been present since she got here, and nothing else but her still heavy breathing and twitching body. But now, she can hear a door open and close and footsteps squishing on the damp ground. The steps sound like they are uneven and heavy, like someone traveling down stairs. Making note of this for her escape, but it almost gets lost when she jumps at the sight of Thomas rounding the corner.
The time was now.
Thomas makes his way to the table with papers. He lays them out before sitting in his stool and facing Chloe. He holds up a paper with a medical drawing on it, and begins looking at it while explaining. "You see this Chloe, this is a picture of your kidney. It is one of few organs the body can live without. Everyone usually has two, however you can live with one unless it is infected. Tonight, we are going to remove one, see how it goes, and then remove the second. I will make a small incision on your lower abdomen, and we will proceed from there-" His face becomes distracted when he looks back at Chloe, and his eyes become confused as his eyebrows furrow. "Why is there blood on your face?"
He stands up tall and moves closer to Chloe and she knows it is now or never, but waits for the right angle. Thomas leans in close, and the back of his pointer finger rubs its way down her cheek. Chloe unsheathes her arm and forces her arm upwards as Thomas lets out a grunt mixed with a cry. He begins to say right before Chloe pulls the blade out, he drops to his knees and Chloe uses her free arm to loosen the cuff around her left arm. Taking only a moment of preparation to brace herself for the oncoming pain, she launches her torso forwards. The pain is unimaginable, and all Chloe wants to do is flop right back down and not move like that again. Every urge is telling her to stop, but her mind pushes on. She unstraps her good foot, and the ankle that looks like something out of a horror movie.
Swinging her legs around the table she knows Thomas is beginning to get up. "You bitch!" He yells and just before he can twist his torso around to face her, Chloe grabs for the blade again and this time swings it down in between his shoulder blades. It is now stuck in that place located where you always seem to have an itch but the angle is too harsh to reach with your hand s over your shoulders or across your back. If he can't pull it out, it can buy her valuable time. The leaps off the table, but as soon as weight is placed on her ankle, her body gives out and she lands hard on her elbows. With a frustrated cry, she continues moving. If she can't walk out this hell, she will drag herself out. One arm goes forwards, and pulls her body to it before switching arms.
Slender and chilled fingers wrap around her bad ankle, and pull backwards. The discomfort she feels causes her to become slightly winded as she is pulled back. Flipping her body from her stomach onto her back, she is now trapped as Thomas has made his way on top of her. His thighs have pinned her legs together tighter than if they were wrapped in duck tape. Thomas attempts to grab her wrists, but Chloe punches him square in his jaw. Both of their arms become twisted in a flailing battle of limbs, and Thomas's nails rake their way down Chloe's face with ferocity. Chloe lets out a shriek in surprise and anger, she is done being pinned to the ground. She reaches her arm out to grab the table of the rolling gurney, and pulls as hard as she can downwards and towards them. It falls over quickly and straight onto Thomas's back, pinning him momentarily.
Chloe tries once more to stand and begins hopping and limping towards where the stairs she heard before were. Sweat from the pain and effort is dripping down her forehead and spine, and her shirt feels glued to her back. Pausing right before the first step to catch her breath, she takes in the daunting task before her. But she can see the end. The door that will lead to her freedom. Pulling at her flimsy and bloodied gown, she pulls her bad leg up and places her full weight on it while grabbing the railing and leaning over it dangerously. By placing her weight both on the injury and trying to place some on the metal bar she might just be able to make it up all the way. As muscles begin to tear, she slowly ascends the stairs with grunts and small cries.
Then she hears everything she had been imagining since she woke up in this dreaded place. "Chloe?!" A voice yells from beyond the door, a voice with an accent that he had once described in a way that was so full of himself. She could still hear the comment, "I could read the phone book and any woman would be enthralled". Right now, that was exactly what she wanted.
"Lucifer?" She shouts.
The door seems to rattle and shake and she can hear Lucifer shout profanity before continuing. "Chloe! Open the door!" Lucifer shouts with panic.
A disgruntled Thomas makes his way around the corner, and takes the stairs two at a time. His footsteps pound behind Chloe and echo in her ears. Chloe only makes it up two more stairs in an effort to reach the top. She can feel the doorknob within her grasp as Thomas reaches her. He grabs at her torso, and Chloe knows it her next move will mean starting over and placing herself further from Lucifer, but she battles that it might just be worth it. While he pulls back on her waist, she shifts all her weight back into him, and they both fall back to the bottom of the rail. They are both letting out small screams as they tumble and flip once if not twice. She lands on top of Thomas and she can hear a crack in which she hopes is his ribs. At this point, all she hopes is that is isn't another injury of hers. When she rolls off of his body, the sight before her makes that old bile want to crawl back up.
The ten blade was still lodged between his shoulders when they had fallen.
And the landing only pushed it through any flesh it hadn't already crossed.
Now it was Thomas who was twitching on the ground, and screaming in pain. Chloe backs up against the wall by the staircase and covers her mouth in shock. She had forgotten about the blade, and although she wanted away from Thomas she had never imagined it like this. No intention to kill him was ever in her plan, she only meant to harm him to distract him so she could escape. But as he lay on the ground before her, struggling to breathe, she realizes her intentions weren't what counted here when it came to what reality did.
What if he stops breathing all together?
What if they are trapped down here?
"CHLOE!" A scream from behind the door sounds. "Chloe what happened! I heard a scream! What happened?"
What if this isn't seen as self defense?
What if I never see outside these moist walls again?
What is keeping Lucifer from getting in?
What if I can't make it up these stairs to help him in opening the door.
"Open the door! C'mon Chloe! Answer me!"
The cold damp floor causes Chloe to begin to shake again, and she can no longer stare at the sight of Thomas writhing in pain on the floor. Her mind still wandering in what if's, she begins to try and distract herself. Looking to her other shoulder, she is faced to look at these dreadful stairs again. Just above her is her true love, trying to rescue her just like she hoped he would. But it seems like it is too late. Chloe opens her mouth to answer, but only a sob comes out. Rendered tired and distressed and no longer needing an immediate escape from her captor, she accepts defeat for now. Fighting against her eyelids is pointless, and she allows her tears to continue as she shuts her eyes and feels her body involuntarily fall to the floor. Feeling nothing as she hits the ground, her last thought is of the man behind the door.