Chapter Nineteen
Sunday 22nd December – 1:30 AM
Chloe held her eyes closed as she felt Elly's lips kissing against her own before gently pulling back, Elly's lips still millimeters from her own.
"I'm so in love with you, Chloe," Elly whispered.
"I…uh…" Chloe struggled to make out her shock and disbelief at the confession by her ex-girlfriend.
Chloe slowly opened her eyes, finding herself staring into Elly's eyes, seeing the shy smile on her face.
"Um…I…uh…" Chloe stammered again, completely at a loss for words.
"Chlo…" Elly narrowed her eyes at Chloe's response.
Bea stared at the pair, watching the uncertainty on both their faces at Elly's confession and yet so much certainty in her sister's words. For the first time in months she felt like she knew what Elly had been going through but hadn't been able to open up to her about it.
As Chloe continued starring at Elly in surprise, Bea finally interrupted the former couple's awkward silence, "I think you two need to talk so I'm going to give you some privacy."
Bea stood up, turned away from pair and walked about five steps away from them towards the shipping containers' door.
Elly and Chloe both stared over at Bea as she still stood so close to them and both women raised their eyebrow at Bea's action.
Bea eventually spun around back to them, pursing her lips, "Well I can't…actually give you two privacy on account of…locked in a shipping container together. I mean if you two want to sit there whispering to one another over my crying nephew feel free or you can just…pretend I'm not here…cause you two really need to talk."
As Bea turned back away from her sister and friend, Chloe opened her mouth but still couldn't seem to find words in response to Elly.
Elly stared back at her baby boy in her arms, softly trying to rock him as he continued crying gently.
Ignoring any need to keep quiet with her sister standing a couple meters away, Elly glanced over at Chloe and confessed all without taking much of a breath, "Chloe, I'm so in love with you. I get it okay, everything you feel for me, I feel it too. I want to be with you. I know this is complicated and messy. You're with Pierce and I just literally became a mum. I need to give almost everything I have to my son and I won't be able to give you all the attention and focus you deserve. There's no way I could ever give you anywhere near the life that Pierce can give you but if you give me a chance, Chlo, if you give us a chance…I'll love you just as strongly as you love me. Cause I do, okay, I love you."
Chloe blinked wildly, her mouth trying to catch up to her brain but failing to, and all she managed to do was open her mouth then close it again before finally uttering, "I…ah…"
"Chlo, did you hear what I said?" Elly asked, frowning at Chloe's lack of response, "I'm in love with you."
Chloe exhaled deeply but still couldn't find the words to respond.
"Did…did I say something…wrong?" Elly questioned, before finding herself rambling, "Because I thought…like you needed me to come to terms with my feelings for you and I have, okay, I have. I know we have so much to work through and maybe you don't want the hassle of dating a new mum cause I can't give you want you want and I don't even know if you want to be part of a child's life. Maybe what you have with Pierce is more than what I think it is…or maybe…you aren't even in love with me…anymore."
"Well…I…" Chloe stuttered, still completely unable to comprehend Elly's confession.
Chloe silently removed her hand from Elly's shoulder and placed it behind her on the mattress as she leant back gently on it.
Elly stared down at her son still cradled in her arms, praying he wasn't the reason for Chloe's inexplicable inability to respond to her love declaration, before looking back at Chloe, "Chlo…I could really do with you to say…anything right about now."
Chloe chewed on her lip, before finally managing to talk, "See the thing is…this is really bad timing…but I think I have an idea of how to escape from here…"
"Huh?" Elly replied completely flummoxed that Chloe had blanked her love confession.
"Just hold your thoughts…I'll get back to them," Chloe promised as she put Elly off, "So…the idea that just came to me…"
By this stage, Bea had turned back to Chloe and Elly, but was annoyed at the blonde for refusing to acknowledge the feelings Elly had confessed for her.
When neither girl responded showing much of an interest in her thoughts, Chloe explained anyway, "It just kinda called out to me…the mattress coils."
"What?" Bea stared at Chloe in confusion.
"We need something strong enough to pull up the pin, long enough that we can squeeze it through the gap and loop it around the handle of the pin…mattress coils, made of metal, should be able to flex one into a loop to reach the pin and it might be strong enough to yank out the pin," Chloe answered.
Elly rocked her son gently as she continued holding him whilst he cried, his first moments of life unterrifying for him as he was unaware of the danger he was in, "Shush, baby boy…we're gonna get you out of here," then glanced at Chloe, "I mean right now I'd kinda prefer us to keep talking about-"
"Elly, why don't you let Chloe…stumble along with her plan to…" Bea interrupted, fearing more than anything how Elly could react if Chloe was set to break her sisters' heart, "How exactly do you plan on even getting one of the metal coils out of this mattress without a knife or scissors to cut through the fabric?"
Chloe pulled away from Elly, ignoring when the brunette stared away from her at the loss of contact, reaching for the bag Finn had dropped off for Elly. Rummaging around in the bag, Chloe finally produced the lighter, "With this."
"Are you crazy? You're going to light the mattress on fire!" Bea squealed.
"C'mon, Bea, I'm not insane. I just need to light a small corner of the mattress on fire to rip into the fabric enough to be able to pull out a metal coil. I can put out the fire in time," Chloe assured, then removing her joggers from her feet, "See, I can whack the sparks of fire out with my shoes."
"You're going to get us all killed," Bea shook her head.
"No, I'm going to get us out of here. Make Finn regret bringing us this mattress for comfort so Elly could give birth on when I'm gonna find a way to use it to unlock the container's door," Chloe claimed.
Bea glanced down at Elly who was distracting herself from Chloe ignoring her by reaching her hand out to get her son to wrap his hand around her fingers, "Okay, fine, but go try and burn the hell out of one of the corners of the mattress as far away from Elly and my nephew as you can get. I'll be here with them…where you should be."
Bea immediately sat down next to Elly, where Chloe previously sat. Wrapping her arm around her older sister, she rocked Elly gently as Elly ignored Chloe brushing her off in order to focus on her baby she cradled. Bea and Elly faced away from Chloe who sat behind them on the mattress.
Chloe stared at the pair for a moment, regretting her decision to give up providing Elly and her son with the comfort she was before Elly blurted out feelings for her.
I'm just trying to find a solution to rescue Elly and her son…I promised I would make sure I got them home safely…I need to do that first. And also, can't I have five minutes to myself to react to the bomb Elly just dropped on me?
Chloe soon shifted over to one of the corners of the mattress and knelt down on the shipping containers metal floor next to it. Flicking the lighter at the corner of the mattress fabric, it took multiple attempts until she could set the fabric alight. Immediately grabbing her shoe, she put the flames out within seconds. Chloe tore at the fabric but it still wasn't enough to rip apart.
It took two more attempts with the lighter, setting the fabric alight for a few seconds before putting the fire out, that Chloe could then rip into the fabric of the mattress. Chloe blew her breath on the fabric after she burnt her fingers on it the first time she tried to pull it apart.
Should've seen that coming…definitely an amateur escape artist…why couldn't I just leave the rescuing to when Finn turns back up and be there for Elly instead…? Cause I can't risk Finn coming back and stealing Elly's baby from her…she'd never forgive Bea or I if that happens…whether it's Finn's fault or not…deep down she'll always blame us.
Cause I have no bloody clue how to react to Elly's declaration and I'm putting off dealing with it until I can't anymore…
Chloe glanced back over at Elly and Bea, as she ripped into the mattress fabric and eventually after tugging hard enough pulled one of the metal coils loose, "Got it! See if I can bend this into a loop it might be strong enough…or I might need to pull two together…but either way, our escape plan is coming together."
Bea looked back at Chloe, not quite as impressed with Chloe as the blonde expected, "Okay. You work on that. I'm staying here with Elly."
Chloe sighed gently as she walked past Elly and Bea, watching as Elly avoided her gaze but tried to remind herself Elly had to focus on her son than worrying about her.
Chloe sat down in front of the shipping container doors with her metal coil. Chloe tried to ignore her worries over Elly's reaction and focusing on getting them freed to safety instead of all her feelings for Elly swirling around in her mind confusing her over what to do. Chloe fiddled around with the metal coil, gently unbending it from its coil shape and shifting it until she created a loop out of it.
Looking back at Elly and Bea, seeing them focusing their attention on the baby cradled in Elly's arms, Chloe exhaled as she ignored them to focus on her plan of setting them all free. Pushing the left door open the few centimeters it could, Chloe squeezed her hand through the gap between the two doors as much as she could. Chloe grimaced as her hand was pinched between the metal doors but she worked to try and loop the metal coil around the handle of the pin, finding herself concentrating on the sound of Elly's son's cries as she worked.
Back on the mattress, Bea squeezed Elly's shoulder, finding Elly burying her face in the crook of her neck in response.
"This is the…thing you didn't want to tell anyone about…what's gotten you all…bad moody the last month or so?" Bea queried quietly, "You're in love with Chloe…why didn't you tell me?"
Bea glanced down at her sister as she suddenly felt tears against her neck, realizing Elly was crying, much as her nephew in Elly's arms was.
Elly mumbled out in whispered tone, "I didn't want anyone to know…now I've screwed it all up. I shouldn't have told Chloe."
Bea tried to convince Elly to lift her head but she refused to, "You haven't screwed up anything."
Elly sniffled against Bea, "Yeah, I have. I've fallen in love with Chloe and she didn't even want to know about it. I messed her around for an entire year, I'm now a mum, Chloe probably doesn't want to deal with that, Chloe's with Pierce…she doesn't love me anymore."
"You don't know that," Bea whispered.
Elly shrugged, "Chloe blew me off as quickly as she could do so…she doesn't love me anymore."
Bea held Elly closer to her, wondering if Chloe could make out any of their conversation but figured she couldn't over the baby crying, "Give her a chance, Elly. You dropped a bombshell on Chloe not fifteen minutes ago. She needs time to react, she's panicking over making sure that we escape this hell hole…and she never thought in a million years that you would fall in love with her…like she is with you."
"She's not," Elly sobbed, "That's why she reacted as she did. She got over me and fell in love with Pierce cause I was too stupid enough to not realize how I feel about her a year ago. I'm a fool."
"Don't say that," Bea whispered, "Let Chloe concentrate on getting us out of here and then once we get you and your son to the hospital, Chloe might then have a moment to talk to you about it properly. Maybe she'd rather do so without me around."
Elly finally removed her head from the crook of Bea's neck, staring down at her son, "Maybe Chloe would rather not have anything to do with me and my feelings for her. At least I still have my son to focus on…so I don't fall into a complete mess over the fact that I'm an idiot for ever thinking I had a chance with Chloe."
Bea stroked her hand against Elly's back, realizing she wasn't going to be able to talk Elly out of her belief, "I wish you would've told me you'd been feeling this way. Not keeping things bottled up…that's something you need to work on."
Elly exhaled, glancing at Chloe briefly, "Think I'd rather go back to keeping things bottled up…reckon I learnt my lesson after this I need to control my emotions."
Bea pursed her lips at her sister for wanting to revert back to form, then at Chloe as she stood up and walked past them, uttering, "Need another metal coil, one isn't strong enough. This pin is locked tight into the concrete."
With Elly ignoring Chloe in order to focus on the baby she was cradling, Bea nodded silently as she watched Chloe rip another metal coil from the mattress then return back to the metal doors. Chloe sat back down, working to bend this coil into the same shape as the previous one, before holding them together and reattempting to slip them in between the two doors to loop onto the pin keeping them trapped.
Hours later, Bea was suddenly jolted awake to the sound of Chloe's joy, "I nearly got it, I'm so close."
"Huh? What's…what happened?" Bea asked in confusion.
Elly smiled down at her sister, "You fell asleep a couple hours ago. Sun started rising a few minutes ago. Been watching the small amount of light coming through the doors."
"You doing okay…? You should've woken me when I fell asleep. Hey, the baby's stopped crying!" Bea suddenly realized.
Elly grinned as she held her son's hand, "Yeah I'm doing fine. Thought you could do with the rest. I think I'm getting the hang of this…holding him 'til he stops crying…could really do with getting out of here before he needs to be fed…or be changed…or anything more than just being held."
As if on cue, Chloe squealed out to the pair, "I've got the pin pulling out of the concrete finally!"
Bea narrowed her eyes, "Jeez, you still working on that? What, have you been doing that the last four or five hours?"
Elly nodded as she gave a shy smile to Chloe, knowing Chloe wasn't looking at her, "Determined as anything to get us out of here."
Wish I could say Chloe's been doing all this to protect her family…but Chloe doesn't see me…us…that way...guess I just have to accept it's me and him only from now on…
Chloe knelt down on her knees as she yanked as hard as she could on the metal coils wire around the handle of the pin until it finally pulled loose and out of the hole in the concrete, "I got it, I got it! We're gonna be free!"
Having dragged the pin out and flipping it to the ground, Chloe finally dropped the metal coils she'd been gripping for hours on end. Grimacing as she wiped her sore hands against her hips, having ignored the pain she'd been feeling in them hours ago.
Standing up, Chloe smiled back at Elly and Bea as she pushed open the shipping container door, letting the early morning sun light shine through the darkened metal box, "Freedom!"