Taking a breath, she stared back at her own reflection in the mirror. She had been at this for almost an hour, but something still wasn't right. Leaning in closer, she proceeded to put on another careful application of concealer, realizing that the dark circles under her eyes were still more noticeable than she was comfortable with.

As soon as that was over with, she parted and reparted her hair until it was nice and neat and just perfectly Chloe King. Nothing more, nothing less…

…And nothing broken, she finished darkly in her head.

Her mom was against it at first, but somehow, Chloe managed to convince her that staying at home all day wasn't making things any better. In the eerie silence, present regardless of whether or not her mom was home, it was difficult to escape her thoughts-and that was the last thing she needed right now. So, for the first time in almost a month, she was going back to school.

She slipped on her boots and slung her bag over her shoulders, shutting the door to her room before making her way downstairs.

She thought back to the last three weeks, and she realized that this would be the first time she'd actually be going back to her her life before everything that happened. Or what was left of it, at least.

When she finally reached the end of the staircase, she was greeted by a sight that she was utterly surprised to see.

"What are you guys doing here?"

At the sound of her voice, Amy and Paul suddenly whirled around to face her.

It wasn't until then that she realized she hadn't spoken to them at all in over three weeks.

Paul tried his best to give her a comforting smile, but Amy's fear and anxiety were plainly written all over her face.

It was her mom who broke the unwavering silence, however. "Oh, uh, I called them over, actually. You were so insistent on going back early, so I thought maybe you three should all go together for today…"

"Oh." She breathed lightly, hoping that her face betrayed no sign of how she truly felt. "Alright, let's go then."

They had been walking slowly down the streets of San Francisco in silence. She was five, maybe ten or so steps ahead, leading them in her usual route to school. The silence was strange and foreign, but she just didn't know what to say; or if there was anything to be said at all, really.

"So..um, I heard Alek's back?" Paul offered out of the blue, another one of his attempts at conversation.

It had started with Marvel superheroes and his latest theories on Spiderman; none of which worked out too well.

Thinking back to the events of the night before, Chloe nodded once. "Yeah, I guess he is."

Paul looked uncertain as to whether he should dwell into this particular territory, but he did anyways. It was the only way he was getting her to talk, after all. "Oh…so did he, uh, find anything?"

"Didn't talk to him," she stated, simply and shortly.

To her surprise, it wasn't Paul's voice that she heard next.

"Don't do this, Chloe."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Amy, wondering what on earth she was talking about now; and it was only then that she noticed the fact that her friend was ghostly pale. Her eyes were bloodshot, practically brimming with tears, and her normally wavy dark hair was a frizzy mess. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who has having sleepless nights.

"Don't shut us out," whispered Amy.

Chloe drew in a sharp intake of breath, feeling her throat start to tighten. She didn't like where this conversation was going. "I'm not."

Unfortunately, even to her own ears, her words sounded weak and very much untrue.

Amy closed her eyes briefly, a pained expression on her face. "But you are, Chloe. You are. And you don't have to."

"I don't understand what you're talking about."

Amy shook her head. "Ever since you were discharged from the hospital, you haven't been returning any of my messages. Or Paul's. You've quit your job at the shop, and whenever we come over to visit, you get your mom to make up some excuse about why you can't see us." Distressed, Amy ran a hand through her hair, "Look, I know it's hard, sweetie. Probably harder than I can ever imagine. But we're here for you, don't push us away."

Amy took a brief pause, letting her words sink in, before continuing. "It's scaring me, Chloe. It's scaring us."

Chloe took that opportunity to glance at Paul. As usual, he had his hands in his pockets, his solemn gaze averted to the concrete pathway beneath them. He never was good with these serious talks and confrontations—even back then—but Chloe didn't think she had ever seen him look as uncomfortable as he did now. Afterwards, she looked at Amy, who was staring back at her with pleading eyes; desperate to have her best friend back.

Though these were the people she had known since the beginning of time, the ones who had her back for as long she could remember, the ones who knew her every bit as well as she knew herself—she hadn't expected them to see through her so easily. Especially not this time around.

And she wouldn't let them.

So even though it broke her heart, even though she wanted to kick and scream and cry, even though it hurt so much, she did what she had to do.

No one else was going to suffer the consequences of being too close to Chloe King.

"You know what, Amy?" She began, hoping that neither of them would notice the slight quiver she could hear in her own voice. "I don't need this. Not now. Not from you. Do you know how sick and tired I am of always having to deal with things like this? Of having to put aside my own feelings and needs just because of everyone else's? Maybe this is scaring you or even hurting you, but people are dead because of me. And I can't be okay again just to make you feel better, alright?" She shook her head. "Not this time. Maybe it's not what you want to hear, but I am done, Amy. I have way too much on my plate right now without you trying to tell me what to do or how to feel. I can't do this anymore. I'm so sorry, but I'm done."

Paul's jaw dropped, and Amy looked so taken aback, so terrified, as tears streamed silently down her face.

Chloe sucked in a breath, closing her eyes. She had to leave now, before she faltered and took everything back. "Maybe my mom was right. Maybe this was a bad idea, after all."

She began walking away, but someone called out her name again: Paul. "Chloe—"

She looked back momentarily, speaking more softly this time. "Just stay away for now. Please."

Then, with her heart feeling heavier than ever before, she walked on, increasing the distance between them. All the while, she tried to convince herself that she had done the right thing, that she had no other choice. Delivering the hard blow early on was the best option she had. If she had let them see even for a second how truly broken and damaged she was—she knew that they would never even think of leaving her side. However, there were people were after her - people who wanted her dead, people who knew all too well that her strongest weaknesses were the people she loved.

Now a mile or two away, Chloe tried her best to pretend that she didn't hear the painfully familiar and heartbreaking sobs of someone she once thought she would never lose.

A/N: Meh. This was so hard to write. -_-" Especially since I'm not a very dark person. -le sigh- I tried. xD Heh, but I hope you guys like it..and I'd really appreciate some reviews. Thanks as always[: