Chapter 8.2

July 24, 1987

Patsy moved back as Chloe entered through the door. She looked around the place in distaste, scowling at the bland white walls and the placement of the living room. She then made her way to the tan couch, sitting down carefully by tucking her skirt under her knees.

Patsy narrowed her eyes at her best friend, her hands curling into small fists at her side already. "What're you doing here, Chloe?"

Chloe looked up with a faint smile. "Mr. Hamstring wants me to talk to you about club stuff. Nothing serious."

Patsy shook her head and knotted her eyebrows. "Why did he want you to talk to me? Did he-"

"Now before you get around to asking questions, I want you to know he told me to just come here and try to persuade to not leave the club," Chloe interrupted, waving a hand.

"You can't persuade me. I've made my mind already about leaving, Chloe."

Chloe sighed, looking down at her lap. "I knew you'd say that." She then looked up again, but this time with a frown settled across her face. "Patsy, listen, if you leave the club, you'll most likely be killed."

Patsy arched her eyebrow. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Take this seriously, Patsy."

"I don't think I'm able to, Chloe. This whole club operation is beyond crazy. Firstly, you have to kill someone to join. Secondly, they give you this tacky sign about murdering someone, which frankly I'd like to throw away but I can't pull myself to do it. And thirdly, the head leader is a sociopath in a fat suit," Patsy ranted. "He doesn't even look good in a suit."

"I told you all those things when we were first talking about it, Patsy. But you clearly forgot that," Chloe added. She then stood up and walked to Patsy. "Remember I suggested the club because you needed more friends. You were living a life of boredom and complained to me daily about-"

"I would rather live a life of boredom than a life of killing people, Chloe. You don't understand that since you've already succumbed to that way of life," Patsy pointed out.

"I haven't succumbed to anything," Chloe retaliated. "I'm doing this for the betterment of the club and everything that's coming from it."

Patsy narrowed her eyes. "What is there better to come from this club if all you are going to do is kill? The only thing that may be better is if you cut the rope before it continues to strangle you."

"I don't want to fight with you over this, Patsy. I just want to have a meaningful conversation about why you shouldn't leave. You make things harder than they ought to be. Now," Chloe gestured to the couch. "Let's sit down and talk."

Patsy sighed, pinching her nose with her thumb and index finger. A headache was starting to form behind her eyes, one that flared up during stressful times. The pain was faint, but she could feel that if Chloe stayed around for an hour or so, the pain would escalate in a feverish echo that roared inside her empty skull. She took a deep breath through her nose and blinked open her eyes. "Fine, thirty minutes and then I want you gone."

"Thirty minutes is all the time I need, Patsy."

---

They spent the next thirty minutes discussing the club. It was mostly Chloe ranting on and on about how the club's importance and how leaving the club would be, at a great loss, for Patsy. It was all nonsense to Patsy as she sat down on the couch, staring off into space while her best friend rambled continuously about how killing is a fundamental part of how the club works.

"And then Mr. Hamstring became club leader when the previous leader disappeared mysteriously one night and-" Chloe explained, waving her hands about.

Patsy groaned, digging the palms of her hands into her eyes. "I don't want to hear any more about this stupid club, Chloe. It's been thirty minutes and I'm losing my mind." She then took a deep breath in and stood up. "I think it is time for you to leave." She then pointed to the door while Chloe sighed, getting up from the sofa. She then walked slowly to the door, pretending to mope like a child who was being told no for the first time.

"You know, Patsy," Chloe softly said when she reached the door. Patsy was behind her, arms crossed and frowning. "Since this is your final decision about leaving the club, bad things are going to come from it. You've heard of karma, right?"

Patsy said nothing in response. Chloe sighed, resting her hand on the doorknob and looked at her best friend. "What happened between us? We used to be so close and now, we're on opposite sides of a thin line. I wish you could just understand what I'm saying and take it to heart."

"Enough talking," Patsy said with finality. "I'm done, Chloe."

Chloe nodded sheepishly, opening the door and standing on the porch. Patsy stood in the doorway, resting a hand on the doorknob and swung it shut before Chloe could retort anything. The resounding slam of the door echoed throughout the house and it gave Patsy a surge of sadness to start welling in her heart. She fell against the door, staring up at the ceiling and wondered where this sadness came from. The rushing emotion wasn't enough to seize her tears but it was enough to make Patsy think about her actions when she talked to Chloe.

She reasoned with herself that it was out of protecting herself and not out of fear that a guy could come to her door, wielding a steak knife. Patsy replaced this thought with the hope that perhaps her life would go as she planned. She'd get a job, get married, have a kid, and then spend the rest of her life in complete bliss, knowing her past wouldn't affect her in any way.

Patsy stepped away from the door and decided to go back upstairs and settle down for a nap, after the whole ordeal and wake up in the morning to go back to Mr. Hamstring's office to officially drop out of the club.

---

Chloe threw a knife at the wall, grunting heavily. Mr. Hamstring stared wide-eyed from his desk, hands crossed together. He didn't want to interrupt the anger that swelled from the lady before him and sat quietly, staring at the scene unfolding before him.

"Patsy never listens!" Chloe shrieked, grabbing the knives from the wall. "She's stuck in her own little world where everything is just peachy and great and," she stopped halfway to throw a knife at the wall. It stuck in, sending small wood chips onto the floor. "Nothing really matters, not even your friend's opinion." She then threw another knife and it stuck similarly into the wall. "And to top it all of, she thinks I'm probably crazy for staying in this club." After Chloe was finished, she chucked another knife at the wall, but it didn't stick in and instead bounced off the wall, landing on the floor.

She then looked back at Mr. Hamstring, holding two knives in her hands and sweat forming across her forehead. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

Mr. Hamstring shook his head, keeping eye contact with Chloe.

Chloe turned back around and stared at the stab ridden wall, frowning deeply. "Nothing is going the way I want it to go, but I guess that's just how life works." She then threw both of the knives into the walls, each landing next to each other. Feeling accomplished, Chloe turned around to look at Hamstring.

"I'm going away for a bit. Off the grid type of thing. I'm going to get some help to bring Patsy back into the club," Chloe said as she headed to the door. "Try to keep her around for a bit while I'm gone, Edward."

Mr. Hamstring gulped and nodded. "Of course, Miss Robertson."

Chloe winked and left the room, closing the door behind her.