Weightless

All of the teenagers stood completely frozen on the front steps. Snow started to drift from the grey sky. Carla’s sobs got louder and drifted out the front door, which was still open. The sound was enough to snap them back into reality.

“What are we just standing here for?!” Jack demanded. “We have to go after her!” Rian nodded in agreement.

“We have to do something, Zack.” Alex said firmly. “You heard her dad. Marcus is waiting back at the house for her.” Zack’s fists clenched.

“Jack, go get the car keys.” He said in a dangerously angry voice.

Without hesitation Jack ran back into the house. Carla watched him grab the keys to the car. She thawed and rushed after him as he sprinted back out of the door. She made it outside as the boys began hurrying towards the car.

“Zack!” She cried. He turned to glance at his tear stained mother. “You can’t go alone. This is too dangerous for a bunch of 18-year-olds!”

“Mom.” He said softly, walking to her.

Alex, Jack and Rian climbed into the car, deciding to give Zack and his mom time to talk alone. Alex was itching to leave already. Every moment they spent here was a moment Chloe spent alone with her parents, who didn’t seem concerned with the fact that she had been beaten unconscious the night before, and Marcus, the person who had beaten her. He stared out the window anxiously.

“Does he really hit her?” Rian asked quietly. Alex bit his lip. He really shouldn’t have said anything about that, but he couldn’t help it.

“Yes.” He whispered. “You remember that Marcus kid that came to school on Friday?”

“You mean the one that tried to drag her out of school?” Jack questioned. Alex nodded.

“He’s her ex. That’s why Zack freaked out like that. Remember seeing her at that party?” Jack nodded. “She was there with him. I guess he saw her talking to some guy and he…” Alex took a deep breath. “He took her back to her house and beat her. She came to my house afterwards.” His voice was nothing but a pained whisper now. “It was horrible. Her face was bruised and so were her ribs and her neck and her arms. There were bites on her neck too and fingernail marks on her hips. Her knee was so swollen she couldn’t even walk.”

Alex squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the tears away. His brain had conjured up the image of Chloe again, standing outside of his house in the rain looking like absolute hell. Rian and Jack were speechless in the back of the car. Finally, Jack cleared his throat.

“But…but she looked fine this morning…” He didn’t want to believe anything his best friend was saying.

“She spent a long time being abused by him, Jack. She knows how to cover it up. That’s why she freaks out when you try to hug her or grab her without warning.” Jack frowned. He hadn’t meant to scare her. He just thought she was so tiny and cute, he couldn’t contain his excitement. “And when you were hugging her this morning and she made that gasping noise? It was because he bruised her ribs. That’s why the video game this morning made her upset, too. I mean, she was watching us kill people.”

Silence filled the inside of the car. Jack’s frown deepened. Rian ran a hand over his face. Alex sighed and rested his head on the window. He saw Zack’s mom nod at something he had said and then watched him with a concerned expression as he walked towards the car. She sighed and pulled her phone out, walking back into the house. Zack climbed in and peeled out of the driveway.

“She’s calling the police.” He answered the silent question. “She wasn’t going to let us go otherwise.”

“The police needed to be called anyway.” Rian pointed out.

Zack just nodded and gripped the steering wheel tighter. The rest of the short ride was silent, each boy lost in his own thoughts. Zack was terrified of what they would find when they got there. Jack and Rian were still trying to wrap their heads around the idea that Chloe had actually been hit and her dad hadn’t seemed to care. And Alex was thinking of the worst. He was thinking of what Chloe had looked like, how broken she had been. The house finally appeared in front of them and Zack’s heart sank at the sight of Marcus’ car out front. His aunt and uncle’s car was gone. He ran to the door and started pounding on it. Chloe finally answered it, her bloodshot eyes growing wide.

“Zack.” She breathed. “You can’t be here.”

“You have to come back with us, Chloe.” Jack stated firmly. Chloe took a few steps backwards as she noticed the rest of the boys there.

“You all need to leave. Now.” She whispered harshly.

“Chloe! Who’s at the door!” An angry voice called out.

Zack’s face grew hard at the sound. He reached to grab Chloe but she danced out of his grasp. Alex stared at her hopelessly, watching as she continued to move away from them.

“You’re coming with us.” Zack stated firmly.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway and Chloe turned towards them. Alex took the opportunity to grasp her hand and tug her towards the door. She looked up at him and slapped his face, pulling her hand away. Her face was ice cold now, all of the vulnerability wiped away.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

“Chloe…” Zack said desperately.

“What are they doing here, Chloe?” Marcus had appeared behind Chloe and looked absolutely murderous.

“Nothing.” Chloe stated firmly, linking her fingers through his and pushing all of them back out the door.

Marcus victoriously as Chloe slammed the door on them. Zack heard the unmistakable sound of the look turning and began pounding on the wood again.

“Chloe!” He cried out. “Chloe, open the door! Don’t do this! Please! Chloe!”

There was no answer and Zack broke down. Rian and Jack lifted him up as Alex just stood there. He couldn’t believe this. He thought they were going to be able to save her. He thought she would want to be saved. But she had picked him. She had picked the boy who had hurt her in the past. The boy who had hurt her just two nights ago. The boy that would without a doubt hurt her again in the near future.

“The cops were called, right? So they should be here soon. It’ll be okay. Right?” Jack’s voice sounded worried as he thought about what might be happening just beyond that door.

“They don’t always respond.” Zack rasped. “It’s not being reported by Chloe or her parents, so they don’t always take it seriously. If she and her parents deny it, they have no choice but to drop it.”

“That’s bullshit!” Jack cried.

“I know.”

Zack let out a long breath and straightened up. He began walking back towards the car.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Alex called out, spinning him around.

“There is nothing we can do, Lex. We just have to wait. Either Chloe will report it or she won’t. Unless she ends up seriously injured and in the hospital we can’t force her to do anything.”

“The hell we can’t! If we wait that long it’ll be too late!”

“Alex, we’ve been dealing with this for almost four years now. We tried to take her away, we tried to talk to her parents, we tried to keep him away. We can’t do anything other than that. We’ve tried that too and he almost killed her. Even after that, she wouldn’t report him. They can’t prosecute without her testifying that he abused her and backing it up with proof. All we can do is hope and pray and keep trying to convince her to leave him.”

“No! We have to do something!”

Zack just removed Alex’s hand from his shoulder and opened the door to the driver’s side of the car, heaving himself in. He waited for the other boys to join him.

“We have to do something.” Alex repeated.

“We will.” Jack assured his best friend. Alex stared at him with desperate eyes. “You forget we go to school with her.” He smiled softly.

“We’ll think of something.” Rian said with an affirmative nod. Alex nodded as well and together, they made their way to the car. There was no talking amongst them as Zack started the car and drove away from the house. Alex saw a small movement in the front curtains and then a flash of blonde hair. Chloe watched them drive away, Alex staring back at her with a hopeless expression.