Chloe took off the lid of the box, revealing a shining razor blade. Still as sharp as she had left it.
With shaking fingers, she took the blade out of the box, which she placed on the sink.
She looked at it for a long time before directing it to her lower arm, near the elbow crease. She sat it down and slid it across her pale skin. The pain shot through her body but in contrast to the one Thomas was causing her, this was relieving in a way she couldn't explain. Over this pain, she was the master - she was able to control it.

Time ticked by as Chloe simply sat on the bathroom floor, leaning againt the bathtub and watching her blood pool in her elbow crease before trickling down her arm, drop by drop.
It was somewhat calming her, in a very twisted way.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she finally decided to get cleaned up and treat her wound. She stood up, apparently a little too fast as she felt a little dizzy but the feeling was gone as fast as it had come.

She went to turn on the sink but quickly realised that it would be complicated to get the water over her cut, so she settled for the shower. She got out of her clothes, kicking them into a corner of the room, not caring to put them in the clothing bin.
She turned on the shower and stepped under it. The water poured over her body, cleansing it from her own blood, washing away the signs of what she found to be her weakness.

For a long time, she just watched the red water slowly turning clearer and when she had made sure, the bleeding had calmed down, she turned the water off again and walked out.
First thing she did was grab a towl and dry her arm and take a bandage to cover the cut which was pretty deep. But at least it wasn't bleeding anymore.
It was only when she began drying up her face and a sharp pain shot through her, that she noticed the result of her attempted flight of Thomas - when he had slapped her hard in the face to demonstrate his power over her.

Panic seemed to strangle her and she didn't know why - maybe the sudden memory of what happened just a few hours ago and the fact that he had her left this time not only with mental aftercauses but also with physical reminders of his tormenting acts triggered a panic attack inside of her.
No matter what it actually was, she just knew that she felt unable to breathe. The air appeared to get thinner, the walls seemed to move closer, seemed to move in on her, ready to crush her.

Without second thoughts, she returned to her room, picking random clothes through a curtain of tears blurring her vision and throwing them on before then finally making a run for it. She didn't consciously know where her feet were bringing her. She just ran. Out of her room, down the stairs, past the guards, out of the hotel, just through the streets which were being lighted by street lights as it was slowly getting darker outside. Yet it was still warm outside. Chloe wanted to curse herself for wearing a jacket out because it was sweat driving to simply be out at this temperature, and she was also running. Not a good combination. Then she thought back to the thick bandage around her lower arm and the fact that she didn't cover the fading other scars on her wrist and arm with makeup as she usually would do - and realised it was for the better.

She wasn't aware of any of her surroundings. She was running without a clear focus, the tears making it hard to see where she even was right now. She just knew she needed to get away. Away from the hotel, away from Thomas. As far as possible.
However, she was stopped very abruptly and unexpected when she crashed into someone who she didn't see coming. She didn't fall, neither did the other person, yet they still both tumbled and had to take a few seconds to get their balance back up.

''Uff. Sorry, I thought you might slow down, I should have stopped but-'', the person in front of Chloe said, with a slight tone of confusion and apologetic guilt and only now did she start to realise who it was. ''Oh. Chloe.''
''Ladybug?''