Chapter 2: A Good Heart

3rd September 2017, Arcadia Bay, Oregon

Prescott dormitories, Blackwell Academy

An impish smile appeared on her face as Chloe read Max's last messages.

"You're welcome, Maximus!" she spoke to herself quietly, "Hope you have fun, you little horndog!"

The blue-haired girl threw the phone on her bed and took a look around her room. The white walls were mainly covered with band posters, graffiti and sketches. While the graffiti showed mostly skulls, ravens and some sayings, the sketches were more sci-fi: various types of spaceships, stars and far-away planets with weird vegetation.

'I don't know where I get this stuff from. It just pops up in my head, mostly when I'm asleep. Maybe my head tries to tell me that I should bail this fucking planet and move to another world. A world where I actually fit in. It'd be great, though, if Maxi bails with me.'

'But enough with this melancholically bullshit. What should I do next? Hmm? Max is hunting the big-O right now, maybe I should too?'

'Nah, I'm so not in the mood. But a shower would be great, 'cause I'm all sweaty and stink like a dead animal on the Interstate in summer.'

With this decision, Chloe grabbed her shower supplies and made her way to the shower room, finding it completely empty.

'Good. I don't need anyone to get on my crack tonight.'

She stripped off her panties and tank top, and stepped into the booth. As the hot water ran over her body she leaned herself against the wall and let out a big sigh.

'Gosh, this feels hella good! So chillaxing. Maybe I should…'

Her hand wandered down her body, very slowly and cautiously. Chloe closed her eyes and focused on the slight tickling feeling as her fingers softly brushed over her skin, until they met a small bump on the side of her belly.

Instantly, the bluenette opened her eyes again, her mood suddenly gone and replaced by another wave of negative thoughts. Her fist hits the wall as her face grimaced in anger. She closed her eyes once more and inhaled deeply. With every breath she calmed down more and more.

Eventually, she took her soap and shampoo, and began to do what she'd originally planned.

After the shower, Chloe stepped in front of a sink and looked at her naked body in the mirror. Tiny scars were scattered all over it. Scars that reminded her of a dark past. A past she'd like to forget, but wasn't able to do so.

The door to the shower room was opened and Victoria entered. She positioned herself in front of the door and leaned against it with crossed arms, like she wanted to make sure that nobody got in or out. The blonde stared at Chloe, her eyes piercing daggers. But the punk-girl didn't even bother giving her one tiny glimpse. She just took her toothbrush and began to clean her teeth.

"You should at least wear a towel, y'know?" Victoria said, breaking the silence. And again, all she received was ignorance. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"Then just talk, it's not like I can overhear your squeaking voice." Chloe answered nonchalantly with a shrug after she'd spit out the foam.

Victoria frowned in anger, but tried to stay calm for the moment. "I want you to stay away from Maxine!"

"Geez, lemme think 'bout it…uhm, no. Any other wishes, oh mighty Queen-Bee?" the punk replied cynically.

Not satisfied and completely offended by the answer, Victoria walked over to Chloe with angry steps until she was face to face with her opponent.

"Listen, bitch," she hissed, "Maxine doesn't need such a fuck-up like you in her life. She deserves better!"

"Yes, she deserves better. Someone better than you!" Chloe shot back, making Victoria to take a few steps back. "Have you ever thought about what you've done to her?"

"I-I…" the blonde tried to answer, but was cut off immediately.

"You broke her heart! She loved, and probably still loves you, but you stupid asshole threw her away like a used sex toy! Do you even know that she's still shedding tears because of you?"

Victoria stayed silent. Max told Chloe that she had always been good at hiding her emotions, but not right now. Tears rolled down the blonde's cheeks, dripping on her silk pajama.

"I don't know why you chose this stupid Vortex Club over her," Chloe continued in a calm tone and grabbed her stuff, "But I know you blew it with her. And, though I don't give a shit about you or your opinion, I'm gonna promise you that I'd never do something like this to her." She walked past the crying blonde and opened the door, glimpsing one last time over her shoulder. "One last advice, Icky Vicky, don't ever judge a book by its cover! It's a bad habit and made me think that you're a heartless bitch. But now I see that you're just plain stupid…but at least you have a heart."

Before Chloe had closed the door again, she heard how Victoria's crying intensified. She knew that she'd just dropped a giant hammer on her. But in her eyes, it had been necessary. Maybe this was everything Victoria ever needed to become a better person. Maybe.

'Well, hope dies at the very end…or something.' she thought and made her way back to her room, still completely naked. In the hallway she passed one of Victoria's cronies, a black-haired girl named Courtney, who was staring at the nude punk girl with her mouth agape.

"What?! Never seen a naked girl before?" Chloe said plainly, grinning internally. She never had a problem showing her body to other people. In the orphanage, privacy had been a rare luxury. Group showers, group bedrooms, group bathrooms. Private moments were only possible in the toilet stalls or if you found a quiet spot, like an old, dark, abandoned closet under the stairs.

Chloe hated the darkness. That's why she'd decorated her dorm room with a bunch of light strings, which she turned on as soon as was back in her room.

'Okay, Price, you know the drill. Let's prepare for the night.'

She closed the door, locked it and hooked in the door chain she'd installed on her own. Then she locked the windows and closed the curtains. After the bluenette girl made sure that everything was closed shut, she put on her pajama shorts and top.

The bed creaked as she lied down and wrapped her body into the sheets. For what felt like hours, Chloe stared at the ceiling, sleep completely avoiding her. With every passing second her breathing and heartrate increased. Panic began to emerge from deep within. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down again.

'Calm down, Chloe, don't panic! It's a new place and you're sleeping alone. But there's no one here who wants to hurt you. Nobody's gonna come in here. You're safe! It's normal to feel a bit edgy in such situations. Just remember Steph's words: Everything needs time to heal. Everything…needs…time…to…'

First tears rolled down her cheeks. Chloe turned her head, took the wallet from her nightstand and pulled out a photo of a brunette woman, wearing a beanie.

"I miss you so much! Steph…I need you!" she whimpered, rolled into a ball and cried hard, sobbing so loud it could be heard throughout the dormitories, until exhaustion finally sent her into a restless slumber.

5th August 2016, Portland, Oregon

Sunrise Orphanage

Darkness. It's natural to be afraid of the dark, because absence of light means uncertainty and loneliness.

Chloe was afraid of the darkness. But her reasons to fear the night were certainty and the fact that, even if she wouldn't sleep with 30 other girls in one room, she'd probably not stay alone.

She wasn't asleep. Nobody was. Because every girl knew that they would come. They came every night. That was one certainty. And every night they took one of them. Sometimes even more. If you stayed alone, you were considered lucky for that day. But one day, this luck would run out eventually. That was another certainty.

Like the others, the 17-year-old strawberry-blonde girl lied in her bed and listened into the darkness. Every time a board creaked or the wind howled through the old building she heard the gasping, whimpering and crying. It was a constant, cruel melody that was present each and every night.

Steps could be heard outside, closing in on the bedroom. Again, the melody of desperation chimed through the room. This time even prayers were included, because everyone knew who had the nightshift today.

Most of the tormentors were satisfied if they just saw their victims naked and jerked off to the sight. Some were worse and wanted to be touched. But there was one of them who always wanted more. He wasn't satisfied by just looking at or getting touched by his chosen one. He wanted to take them entirely; especially their virginity. His name was Jefferson; Pater Mark Jefferson. By day a caring Pater who seemed to be your best buddy, but by night he became a monster.

So far, Chloe resisted them all. Yes, they've taken her multiple times. Yes, they already saw her naked and satisfied themselves in front of her. But she never let them touch her. They tried it; wanted to force her; wanted to break her; but Chloe resisted nonetheless. This resistance came with a price. Cuts, bruises and black eyes were few of them. Her young body was already a journal of torture and abuse, but nobody would believe her that the staff of the orphanage did this to her. No. Chloe was given the reputation of a loner and troublemaker, who was constantly fighting with the other kids and had the tendency to hurt herself. A cheap lie, but still, Chloe would keep on resisting or die trying.

The door to the bedroom was opened, the sound chiming throughout the room like the trumpets of Armageddon. Like the footsteps, the whimpering grew louder.

Somehow, Chloe knew that it was her turn tonight; she knew that Jefferson would try it again. He made it some sort of sick hobby to hunt for Chloe's virginity. For him, the strawberry-blonde girl was a big trophy; a masterpiece, waiting to be finished. And lately, he'd grown impatient. The punishments for her resistance became worse.

The steps came closer and closer. Chloe shut her eyes tightly and clawed with her hands deeply into the sheets. She'd have loved to run away, but to what avail? There was no escape; no running away. She was trapped with the others. Laying low was the only chance to avoid the torment for another night.

Suddenly her shoulder was grabbed hurtfully. Tears were welling up in the corner of her eyes and flowed onto the pillow.

"Come with me, Chloe!" the hateful, whispering voice of Jefferson chimed in her ear.

"Fuck you!" she replied in a quiet, trembling tone.

The grip on her shoulder tightened, making the blonde gasp in pain. "If you don't get up right now, I'm gonna take that little cunt you care about so much!" Jefferson hissed angrily.

Her eyes opened rapidly as realization struck her; the realization that her times of resistance were about to end. Jefferson knew that, despite the psychological and physical punishments he had given her, Chloe would never have faltered. But now he found a weak spot: her good heart.

Normally, Chloe always kept to herself; pushed other people away in order to don't give the staff any leverage against her. None of the girls; not even the bitchiest of them; deserved to suffer for her rebellion.

A few weeks ago, however, a new little, red-haired girl came into the orphanage. Her name was Stacy and she'd just turned 12. The first time she was taken, she returned to her bed completely devastated. Everybody knew that the first time was the worst one. Her sobs were so loud that nobody was able to sleep. Some girls even threatened to beat her up. That night Chloe made a choice. The blonde girl stood up, walked over to the younger girl's bed, laid down beside her and embraced the small girl tightly, soothing and crying with her until Chloe's comforting presence had calmed her down enough to finally fall asleep.

From this night on, Chloe became the younger girl's protector. Whenever they wanted to take her she stepped in, took the heat. She knew that one day they would use it to their advantage. But Chloe didn't care. She made that decision. Even to protect one innocent life in this hellhole was worth giving up everything.

Slowly, Chloe lifted herself up. She hadn't even set one foot on the cold floor as Jefferson ripped her out of the bed and shoved her violently towards the door. She heard Stacy's brittle voice whispering her name. The door closed shut behind her and everything she could do was to keep on walking in the dark. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she mentally prepared herself for the horrible things that were about to happen in the room she was about to step in.

With another violent squeeze on her shoulder, Jefferson made Chloe stop in the middle of his office. There she stood, embracing her body, gaze dropped, waiting for the torment to begin.

The old, heavy wooden door closed shut and was locked with a loud click. Jefferson passed the young girl and took a seat at his desk.

"Take off your clothes!" he commanded, sitting amused in his cozy chair like a king, who just ordered his jester to tell a bad joke.

How Chloe hated him; hated his stupid face with its stupid hipster-style and those stupid glasses. Her hands were clawing into her arms, because she needed some hold, and her gaze was still fixed on the ground as she shook her head. She simply didn't want to give in so easily.

Furiously Pater Jefferson jumped up, walked over to Chloe and slapped the young girl right into her face with full force, making her stumble a few steps. Without wasting any time, Jefferson grabbed Chloe by her tank top and pulled her up again. The fabric ripped, revealing the blonde's breasts.

"Do you want me to get your little friend and let you watch how I fuck her instead, huh?" he hissed in her face.

This time, Chloe looked directly into his eyes. "If you touch her, I'm gonna kill you!"

Silence occurred for a moment as both stared at each other, until Jefferson huffed in amusement, loosened the grip on Chloe and took a few steps back, now glancing at the blonde's exposed chest with a wry smirk.

"We both know that you won't do shit." he said plainly, stretched out his arm and started to touch Chloe's body.

The blonde girl flinched upon this unwanted touch. Her hands clenched into fists and a new bunch of tears streamed down her face. She wanted to scream, she wanted to hit him. But she mustn't if she wanted to save Stacy from this bastard. She just closed her eyes shut and wished for this night to be over.

"Now I understand why you always played hard-to-get. Your skin is so soft…" His hand wandered over her belly and then upwards. He began to knead her breasts, then leaned in and kissed her nipples. "Oh Chloe…you're gifted with this body," he spoke between the kisses. "Too bad we had to punish you so much."

Then he broke the contact, grabbed the girl by her neck and tossed her against the desk. Various objects fell to the ground as Chloe's upper body hit the desktop, making her groan in pain. She came to a rest in a bend over position.

"Well, I think we should get started, because…" he came closer again and stripped off her pajama shorts. "I'm planning to play with you the whole night."

Chloe heard how Jefferson opened the zipper of his pants. She knew that this was it; that she'd lost the war; that her body was about to be spotted by this pig.

"Do me a favor, Chloe," Jefferson whispered in her ear, "Scream for me! Let everyone know that I finally broke you!"

First sobs escaped her mouth as she lost her composure. She wanted to stay strong; wanted to give him no satisfaction in her suffering, but it was a lost cause. Dark spots suddenly danced in her sight and Chloe realized that her mind was about to shut down; she welcomed it and let the comforting darkness surround her.