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The Lost Episodes...</center>
There they were. The door had closed behind them with a thunderous bang. And this time it would not open again. This time, it would stay locked for him forever. He could have left the place three years ago, when he legally became an adult. But Josef managed to stay there filling the position of counsellor, which had not been filled for over six years, since he was part of the reason why the former adviser left the building and why no one else would volunteer to take the job. Everyone knew he tricked he director of the orphanage into the job, and all of them, even the few unwitting soon-to-be parents that had come to adopt one of the lot, stayed away from his dark and gloomy office. All, but one person...
He himself was not very sure why he kept sticking around in that old place, yet somehow, in all his denials, he could feel it had something to do with her. And he did not even like her!
Chloe had been crying again, and for the umpteenth time, came running down his office. She slammed the glass door shut with surprisingly much vigour in that small body of hers, which almost made the glass rattling like a tambourine. Josef was reading the daily paper by the light of his desk lamp. She sat down in the dimly shaded room and simply cried on. At first he had tried to ignore her by reading on but after about ten minutes the disregard did not pay off and did not change the situation at all.
'Shut up,' he said rather irritated as a sort of last resort.
That always seemed to do it; the girl hushed immediately. He went on reading and flipping one of the pages.
'You can go now.'
'But I don't w-'
'Norman!' Josef suddenly boomed out.
The girl looked up petrified. 'No...'
'Yes, I've had enough of you!'
A tall, muscular man came into the office, followed by a much smaller man carrying one of those dirty white psychiatric jackets.
'Josef...' the girl said silently and obviously taken aback. But he turned his head away and carried one reading the paper.
Norman grabbed Chloe by her shoulders and forcefully turned her around before starting to push her out of the office.
'Get your hands the hell off of me!' she cried out when they reached the door.
'<i>Hey</i>...' Josef looked up and heard the voice.
The little man came closer to the rebellious girl threatening her with the jacket.
'Oh no you won't,' Chloe spit out at him. 'And you... Get your filthy hands off of me!' She shot a nasty look at Norman.
'<i>Get his hands off of her!</i>'
Out of the blue, Josef jumped up, grabbed the deep reddish coloured heavy presse-papier on his desk and aimed it at the right temple of Norman before throwing it with all his power and hitting the very unfortunate male nurse. The moment Norman lost his grip on Chloe, only to fall and loose his consciousness, she swung forward and placed her tiny fist right between the eyes of the little man.
And so this incident caused them to loose their 'home'.
<center>***</center>
Josef looked around for a second, almost hesitantly brushing the long white hair out of his eyes, for he had not been outside the orphanage that many times. He decided to take his chances by turning left and going through the large street that housed the orphanage, before crossing it and turning into a narrow alley on his right side. He was carrying only one suitcase, which was locked and carried all his possessions.
Suddenly he heard a grumble behind him.
'It's always the same... I keep getting myself into trouble and then I'm wondering why I'm being punished like this... But look at us... Now what are we going to do?... We can't g-'
'We?' Josef turned around abruptly.
Chloe who was carrying two enormous suitcases and showing two tiny streams of tears on her face, dropped the heavy ballast and straightened up.
'Don't tell me you're going to leave me behind! You're the reason why I'm out here in the first place!' She said pointing at him, narrowing her eyes.
Josef slowly took a few large but elegant steps towards her and came to a halt when he was just inches away from her face. Chloe unvoluntary gulped.
'If it weren't for you annoying me all the time, we wouldn't be here at all!' He swiftly turned around and marched on causing his hair to be swept up in the otherwise faint wind.
Chloe grabbed her bags and dragged them with her while she tried to keep up with the indifferent man.
'Now, wait just a second... I could die here all by myself. You wouldn't want me to die, would you? You can't be that cold... I've known you long enough... How long was it? Must be over seven years now... Or is it eight? I can't really rem-'
'Shut up!' Josef shouted out. Chloe winced and looked down.
'...and stay close!' She ran up to him with much difficulty, but a smile was shining through the nonchalant messy red hair that covered her face.
<center>***</center>
Screeching tyres disturbed the piece of the pretty deserted and silent alley.
'What happened?' Josef bellowed out, angry because he got hold up again.
'I don't know,' Chloe panted. 'That guy just leant out of the window of the car and grabbed her shopping bags.' She was kneeling down next to the lady she ran to across the alley. The woman was lying down on the sidewalk in a fairly unnatural position.
'M'am...' Chloe pushed the thick furry coat she was wearing. 'M'am, are you alright?' She took one of the lady's wrists and started feeling and nervously kneading it.
'I don't feel anything!' she suddenly panicked. 'There's no heartbeat!'
Josef sighed and dropped his suitcase after joining her before he bent over, only to touch the lady's head and move it slightly with his thin and long gloved hands. Under her head was revealed a pool of dark blood that was still growing larger as big drops continued to splash the pool.
'Sweet mother of Jezus!' Chloe gasped and clutched her mouth with both hands. Josef swiftly pulled his hands back.
'We need to get out of here,' he said after regaining his coldness and callousness very quickly, while Chloe's eyes were filled with tears, slowly running down her cheeks.
'Get a grip, girl!' Josef thought, but did not speak out loud. He suddenly grabbed the lady's coat and pushed it away. A leather purse got revealed, which the woman undoubtedly must have been clutching in her hand underneath the coat to hide it from view. And while Chloe was still sobbing over the corpse, he slipped his hand into the purse and pulled out a bulky wallet and a golden coloured dollar sign shaped key ring with four shiny keys. He opened the wallet for a second and then snapped it shut again.
'Get up!' he ordered Chloe with a deep sore voice, taking his suitcase after putting the stranger's wallet and keys in his own dark brown blazer and grabbing one of the girl's suitcases. And without waiting he resumed his fast-paced march down the alley.
Chloe caught up with him a few moments later, trying to hide her tears and wiping her nose a few times.
'I can't believe that just happened in front of my eyes! That lady just fell down, crushing her head and dying on me! That's just weird, Josef! And what about the guys that robbed her? Shouldn't we go to the police or something? Shouldn't we sh-'
'We're not going to the police. We're going to get ourselves out of this dump.' Josef talked without looking at her.
'Oh, okay...'
<center>***</center>
'Come on,' Josef beckoned Chloe to hurry up. 'It's not safe here, we need to get a move on.'
They were at the house of the dead lady. It was a townhouse with a quite small front side. But inside ruled a cosy and warm feeling, the dwelling being crammed with paintings of pastel flowers and pastoral landscapes, mirrors, lots of vases and carpets and little sculptures. But Josef did not pay a lot of attention as he marched up and down the house, trying to find cash, jewels or anything else valuable he would be able to trade for money, and preferably before the police would be arriving. Chloe just walked through the house, staring at all the art and clutter.
Upstairs she heard the heavy steps of Josef, who was beginning to rush even more. Suddenly the footsteps stopped and a few moments later, she could hear him laugh.
'What's up?' she yelled at the stairs, almost knocking over a sculpture depicting two angels that were holding each other firmly.
Josef came back down with great speed, holding up a linen bag. 'The lady's savings,' he said triumphantly and somewhat grinning evilly. Chloe smiled back with a smug expression on her face.
'Let's buy a car and flee!'
<center>***</center>
'There's no way back, Chloe!' Josef said severely, hitting the table with his empty pint after taking one last large gulp.
'I know, but-' Chloe unexpectedly shut up. 'You said my name...' she stared at him looking flabbergasted. Josef looked down and shook his head.
'You said my name!' she said a bit louder and animated. 'Does that mean you're starting to like me after all?' She smiled.
'I do not like you!' Josef grabbed the ear of his pint and started twiddling it between his fingers.
'I could swear y-'
'Look, just do as I said and don't back out!' Josef stood up and walked out the dingy bar without giving her another look. Chloe could not stop smiling and now started to twiddle the ear of her own pint.
'Hi there...' a deep but boring voice with a thick tongue startled her.
She looked up and saw a fat, ugly man slightly bending over her table. Trying to hide her revulsion, she put a seductive smile on her face.
'Hi...'
'Can I sit down and order you a beer?'
'Sure, go ahead!'
The overweight man put a greasy short finger in the air, calling the bartender and ordering the beer. He was wearing a grey shirt, a loosened tie and classy brown pants. No doubt he was a highly respected rich man, searching for some cheap entertainment in this filthy place.
'So, where are you from? I haven't seen you around here.' He reeked of alcohol and cigarettes.
'I'm from out of town,' Chloe simply avoided the specifics, moving a little to make her long legs more visible to him. He raised his eyebrows with a much interest and moved a little closer over the tabletop. His breath exposed a nasty smell of liquor.
'Listen, you seem like a very nice girl and I'm supposed to attend this formal party later this evening. Would you care to join me?'
'And what's the favour in return?' she asked, putting on a poker face and sipping the pint the bartender brought over. This is even going more smoothly than Josef predicted, she thought.
'I could offer you 700 dollars pure...'
She meaningful looked at herself being scantily dressed.
'And of course, I could provide you a proper dress...'
'Alright!' she grinned.
'Let's see, then I give you 300 now and 400 after the party...' he lazily pulled out his wallet, trying to concentrate, and gave her three green bank notes. Chloe saw a lot more notes where those three came from in the black wallet.
Wow, she thought. Look at this! Josef might've figured this guy to be rich, but I bet he wasn't thinking he would be that loaded...
'Are you coming?' the fat man asked impatiently after getting up gradually, making sure he was standing firmly as she was still staring at and feeling the notes. She jumped up and stuffed the money in her bosom.
Once outside the man led her to a giant Mercedes hidden at the back of the bar. Meanwhile she searched for Josef in the dim light of a grey day that was getting near twilight. He was standing behind a large dump container, holding an old battered crowbar. She met his eyes and tried to make him understand not to jump into action right away. Josef nodded shortly.
The chubby man suddenly almost lost his balance, but Chloe pulled his sleeve and made sure he did not trip.
'Thank you, girl...' the man said, throwing an arm over her shoulders to look for support. This was the perfect opportunity for her to reach for his wallet without him even noticing as he was getting more drunk every second now. She would just take it and run away while Josef would not have to get involved at all. The fat man would not get hurt, just robbed.
But as she was about to turn around and search Josef's eyes again, she only saw the crowbar and it was coming right at the man with immense force.
Whack!
'Josef!' Chloe« yelled. 'What the hell are you doing?' She expected him to be as cold as ever, but instead Josef looked extremely nervous.
'He was touching you! he freaked out.
'I was <i>supporting</i> him! I was getting his money!'
'He was <i>touching</i> you!!'
Chloe knelt down beside the obese body.
'Oh my God, Josef!' she panicked looking at the highly damaged skull of the man. She retched a few times. 'You killed him! You murdered him!' She looked at Josef, who seemed paralysed and could not bring out a word. A minute passed with the both of them just staring at the corpse. But then, against all expectations, it was not Josef who moved first, but Chloe. She grabbed the wallet and pulled out every single bank note she could find. She stuffed most of them in her large black boots and then threw the wallet on the body.
'Josef! We need to go!'
He was not focussing and had a rather strange expression on his face.
'Josef, I'm serious! Wake up!' She ran over to him and snapped her fingers in front of his face. Startled he shook his head and seemed to take in the surroundings. The cold look in his eyes returned and he controlled the situation again. Grabbing the crowbar firmly, he marched over to the body and looked at it.
'Nasty situation,' he cursed. 'Get the car and go to the motel. Wait for me there, I need to clean up this mess!' He turned around to face her and as if she was his puppet she obeyed his orders.
<center>***</center>
A few hours later, he entered the room and immediately marched to the bathroom. Chloe could hear the water running for several minutes. He must be washing away the blood, she thought. She almost fell asleep, but then he silently came back into the room looking around to find her. She was lying on the sloppy checked couch, covered with one of the worn-out blankets right up to her nose. In the shimmering dark of the night he could make out a faint reddish tint that was her hair. He approached the coach as silent and careful as a master thief and knelt beside her before he sat down on the shaky wooden coffee table, next to the crumpled money Chloe had put there. The moonlight that breached through a narrow gap in the curtain of the window opposite the couch caused a small sparkle in her eyes when she opened them.
'I think I'm sick,' she said slowly remembering the image of the smashed skull.
'Rest now,' he whispered. He took her left hand which was next to her chin and held it. Chloe was surprised to feel his bare hands instead of those leathery gloves he always wore. They stared at each other for a while in complete silence.
'Go to sleep...' Josef broke the silence, bending forward to give her a very soft kiss on the forehead. He put her hand next to her chin and was about to stand up, when she grabbed his hand again.
'Don't go...'
'I won't go anywhere, Chloe...'
He straightened his large body and walked over to the bed, but promptly came back with a pillow and the bedcover. Placing the pillow on the carpet, right next to the couch, he laid himself down and prepared for sleeping. Staring at the ceiling with his hand underneath his head, he suddenly saw the girl crawling from the couch and nestling herself next to his body, throwing her arm around his waist and holding tight. He moved his arm from underneath his head, put it around her back and shoulder and pulled her close. He did not only not like this girl, he loved her...
For kiriko
By Soronrille
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