A/N:

This is where the Rated M rating comes in, everyone. Warning, because this chapter contains some dark themes of child abuse, as well as self-harming.

This chapter introduces Chloe - the pink Ranger.

Chapter 3: Chloe Cambridge

She sat there in the local juice bar and gym, focusing intently on her current project: a charcoal sketch she'd been working on over the course of the past few days.

Chloe Cambridge was doing everything that it took to not return home. If that meant just sitting around at the local gym in Crystal Cove, then, she was more than willing to do just that.

Keeping her earbuds plugged in her ears, Linkin Park's "Runaway" blared as she willed herself to fall into a bliss of Chester Bennington's vocals and her current drawing. She wasn't sure if she was drawing anything in particular. She was just looking for some form of a distraction.

Sipping her white chocolate, raspberry, banana smoothie, Chloe focused on the charcoal staining her hands as she drew across the paper. Anything that could distract her from her home life, she was more than willing.

Chloe wasn't sure when it had started. She'd never remembered her parents to truly love each other. All she could ever remember from her childhood was their vicious fights. Her father wasn't employed and did not want to pay for child support, and her mother was struggling trying to build a career by going to school at a local community college while waiting tables at a diner just to make ends meet. However, that meant more than a few uncivil arguments between her parents.

Sometimes, their fights got physical. They would punch each other and throw things. However, neither one of them seemed to take notice how this affected their daughter. Chloe did not have many friends at school, because nobody wanted to be friends with the girl whose parents were known for having arguments the whole neighborhood knew about.

Pausing to take a sip of her smoothie, Chloe pushed down a couple of her black, leather bracelets, gingerly touching the scars that were there.

Nobody knew that in secret, Chloe did things to help her cope with her parents fighting at home. She did things that she was not proud of, to say the least.

She suffered in silence while the rest of the world guessed and made assumptions about her.

Chloe gingerly lifted her shirt up to examine the bruise on her hip.

Nobody knew how much her father loved using his belt on her.

Tears filling her eyes, Chloe desperately tried to distract her mind by drawing. A few feet away, she saw her bandmates Sebastian, Charlie, and Candace weightlifting. More than anything, she was tempted to reach for the box-cutter she kept in her backpack, hide in the bathroom, and start cutting.

But she held back.

She would wait until she got home.

It wasn't like her parents would take notice to anything that she did. They barely praised her for being good at art, photography, or music.

Not too many people took notice to her interests.

Over where the gym equipment was located, Chloe noticed her next-door neighbor, Miles Robins, sparring with his father.

In many ways, Chloe envied Miles.

Sure, she did not speak to him; he was completely out of her league to begin with. He was a jock; he kickboxed and wrestled. He and his dad seemed so close. She wished she were that close to her parents.

Glancing back down towards her drawing, she continued to focus. Suddenly, she found she was craving a cigarette.

Gathering up her belongings and shoving them into her bookbag, she walked out of the gym, and sat on the benches outside. Pulling out a cigarette, she lit it up, placed it to her lips, and allowed a puff of smoke to escape.

The drag of the cigarette brought her an odd sense comfort as the smell alone filled her lungs. She often stole the cigarettes from her dad. Not that he would care. He had huge stashes of them all around the kitchen.

Taking another drag off her cigarette, Chloe stared up at the graying clouds above her. She'd read in the weather forecast that they were expecting rain. Suddenly, she felt a rain drop pelt down on her nose.

Pulling her strawberry blond hair back into a ponytail, she proceeded to start heading on home. Finishing off her smoothie, she threw the empty cup in the garbage and began to walk home.

However, she'd rather not return to her house.

As she walked home, she did not even take notice to the fact that she was bumping into someone.

It was head cheerleader, Beth Sampson.

"Hey, watch where you're going, freak!" spat Beth angrily, her dark eyes turning to a glare. Her textured black hair was pulled back into a high pony, and of course, she was wearing her blue and gold cheer outfit.

"Sorry," Chloe responded curtly.

"It'll take a lot more than sorry, emo bitch!" Beth snapped, shoving Chloe to the ground. Chloe felt her knee scraping as she fell. She watched as Beth stalked away, her hair bouncing as she walked towards the gym.

Forcing herself up despite the pain she was in, Chloe allowed her eyes to fill themselves with tears as she headed home. Making her way to her and Miles' street, she felt relief that her parents were not home.

Finally, she could get at least a couple hours of quiet before the storm started.

Unlocking the door, she stepped inside the house, and proceeded to head to the kitchen to make herself dinner. Pulling out what would be needed for a tuna salad sandwich, she proceeded to make her dinner.

Placing some Italian bread in the toaster, she waited until the bread got crispy before placing on the tuna, lettuce, tomato, and onion and cutting the sandwich in half. She reached for a bag of sea salt and vinegar potato chips and a bottle of water, and proceeded to take her dinner upstairs to her bedroom.

Sitting at her desk, Chloe began eating, but her stomach was filled with knots. She hadn't even bothered to tend to her scraped knee. The stinging of the wound felt surprisingly good. It felt sickly satisfying to her.

Once she was finished eating, she headed towards her shower. Turning on the water, steaming hot, she allowed it to burn as it flowed over her head. It was then she allowed her sobs to escape her chest as she reached for a razor, and began to cut into her wrists.

She watched as the blood flowed from the cuts. She sat there in shower, leaning her head back and sobbing hard.

She would take anything else but this hell of a life she was stuck living in. Reaching for her shampoo, she began washing her hair as she continued to cry.

'Why? Why me?' she thought. 'What have I done to deserve this? I'm a good person . . . or at least I think I am. Why?'

Downstairs, she heard the door slam open and her father's violent screams.

"CHLOE DARLEEN CAMBRIDGE! GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE, NOW!"

Chloe continued to sit there in the shower, sobbing. She knew her father was just going to scream in her face for not cleaning the kitchen. When she didn't come out of the shower after five minutes, she heard her father stomping up the stairs to her room. He yanked the bathroom door open so hard, she thought it was going to fly off its hinges. He yanked the shower curtain open and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her wet, naked body across the bathroom floor and down the stairs. He took his belt off and began beating her.

Chloe screamed loudly each time she felt the belt striking her. She did not know how long the whipping continued, but her father soon ended it with a kick to her stomach.

"CLEAN THIS MESS UP, BRAT!" he screamed down at her.

Chloe nodded, forcing her sore body up and off the floor. She walked to the kitchen and cleaned out the sink, before staggering back up to her bedroom. She walked into her bathroom again, but this time, just sat there on the tile floor, burrowing her face into her knees and sobbing. She grabbed her razor and began slashing her wrists again, until finally, she started to dry off her body and hair with a towel. She got dressed into sweats and a hot pink sweatshirt. She pulled on a pair of slippers, brushed her hair, and washed her face.

Walking back into her bedroom, she decided to try and go up to her rooftop – her favorite place of solitude – to try and play her guitar.

Strumming at the guitar, Chloe allowed the sound of the music to block everything away as she cried softly. However, as she played, she noticed Miles watching her from his bedroom window. His eyes held a shocking look of sympathy.

"Hey . . . Chloe," he said.

"Y-You know my name," she said in surprise, climbing down from the roof to step back on her balcony.

"Well . . ." Miles began saying.

"Just surprised." Chloe brushed the tears off her face. "I mean, we know who each other are, but we don't know each other. Besides, why do you care?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. That's all," Miles said to her. "You know the whole block probably heard –"

"Stop," Chloe said, holding a palm up. "I don't want anyone to throw me a pity party."

"Well, look, we are neighbors. I just wanted to make sure," said Miles.

Chloe nodded. "Thanks," she said as Miles shut his window.

Little did Miles realize; his words of concern were exactly what Chloe had needed to hear that day.

Finally, someone noticed.

Someone cared enough to notice.