Strength: The Struggle of Tomorrow’s Heroine

Chloe lay silently alone in the dark corner of her dusty apartment. She had cried for so many days that all she could do now was silently think as her nine month metamorphosis lapsed into its fifth phase. A pale hand rubbed the plump stomach that carried the sin of the man who killed her innocence one tragic night so long ago. Silence filled the air, the heart, and mind as another day began to simply fade into the past just as Chloe’s purity had.

A knock at the wooden door vibrated across the room, piercing the silence. A rattle at the doorknob, the door cracked open, and light flooded onto the cobweb dressed walls. Dust was aroused as tattered boots walked across the ravenous floor. The voice of a human entered Chloe’s ear for the first time in a week, “My dear sister, how are you?”

“Im still living, aren’t I Christopher?” Her pearly yet raspy voice replied.

He looked into the emerald eyes which he shared with his older sister, but they were now as red as regret. Christopher went to his sisters bedside, cascaded her fair check, and kissed her atop her curly red locks.

“There is someone I know who can help,” he told his sister.

“Help me get back my life and the man I love?”

“She is an old fortune teller. The best this side of the Hudson River,” he eagerly replied in hope of saving his sister. There was no answer except the hum of silence. “Please Chloe, for me.”

Soon the smog of New York City filled Chloe’s lungs as she made her way across the partially destroyed Times Square, unfortunately man’s war had destroyed the symbol of time along with the rest of what was good. Madness filled the city of neon and chrome, drugs were passed about freely, sex was on display in every alleyway, all forms of law had died in 2009.

Christopher forcefully lead Chloe to the door of the mystical Oracle. Slowly the door opened to the psychics dwelling before Chloe had the chance to knock. Hundreds of beads hung from the smoke stained ceiling and the burning aroma of exotic plants flowed from the spiritual sanctuary. Chloe slowly walked into the room as her brother paid the old teller.

“I have waited for the wrongfully robbed virgin to arrive,” came form the confident chocolate lips of the Oracle. “Welcome, please call me the Oracle my dear child,” her gaze seemed to pierce through every part of Chloe’s pasty white skin; “what do you come in search of?”

Chloe bashfully looked down at her brown maternity dress. “I want my life back, I want  to be with Mark again.”

“Daughter, you fiancé shunned you after the incident did he not?

“Yes.”

“Well the spirits tell me that you two will only reunite once your stars align once more.”

“When is that?” Chloe asked with a faint sound of hope in her voice.

“Once you have revenged your attack, once you kill the man who fathers your unborn child. Only then will you have your lover back,” The Oracle relayed to the desperate Chloe.

“But how can I achieve such a feat?”

“It won’t be easy, no it won’t. Law has died from our time, so you must travel back to the scene of the crime. There you shall find the pimp upon his thrown.” The Oracle went to her backroom and returned with the gift that would signal the end of Chloe’s journey, a black handgun. “There is only one bullet, when that one bullet has revenged you then the spirits will be pleased. Go now for the spirits favor your fortune tonight. Good luck my innocent daughter.”

Hope danced in Chloe’s eyes as she left with Christopher from the Oracles. Her heart raced as she entered her brothers apartment. There Chloe held the gun that the Oracle had gifted her close to her heart. She had one night to kill his hopes just as he killed hers in one as well.

Dusk painted the New York skyline as Chloe and Christopher quickly raced through the chaos. They came to the rustic iron gates of the once emerald jewel named Central Park. Tangled webs of deceit and branches of madness had now engulfed the untamed park. Fog grabbed at the trunks of the haunting trees that looked as if waiting to take anyone hostage.

“I don’t see you as any less of a women since the incident,” Christopher tried to stop his sister for he didn’t think the Oracle would have told her of a violent path. “Look at the day and time, this is a common occurrence.”

“You don’t understand, my journey began the night it happened. I’ve learned what to do and I will not let him touch me again,” Chloe forcefully assured her young innocent brother.
The two passed through the gate to tackle the forest like density of the park. Large oaks, pines, and mimosas intertwined in a everlasting sleep of death. Chloe couldn’t seem to see anything before her as she tried to navigate to the parks center. Vivid flashbacks haunted her as she saw specific symbols that she remembered from that night. Chloe stopped several times for she could see her naked, beaten body running in tears passed her.

The leaf covered pathway crunched under their feet with every step that brought them closer the tragic site. Chloe however noticed something strange occurring in front of her. Adrenaline pushed Chloe for she was in hope to save a victim from her same fate. Christopher tried to keep up as Chloe raced ahead to the four way intersection.

Chloe stopped as she looked into the eyes of her living parallel, a victim of rape turned whore. The risque women rested upon a large tree trunk in satisfaction as an officer lay soaking in his scarlet sin. Chloe looked in terror at the women dressed in kinky lingerie who began to laugh.

“Do you think your going to kill the master? Because this officer thought he could,” the women told Chloe.

         Chloe knelt beside the dying officer to comfort him in his passing. Blood flew out of his mouth with every cough. He slowly whispered to her as Christopher engaged in words with the murderer. “That pimp lord must die. He has killed dreams of many young women as yourself,” blood began to choke the officer. “If he dies, then order could possibly be restored in New York.”
Suddenly the shot of a bullet echoed across Central Park and Christopher fell to the ground in pain. A counter fire was shot as the whore prostrate dead due to the officers bullet. Chloe looked into the officers hazel eyes as he passed into the next life. Christopher’s cry soon followed; “Chloe, go on. Its only my leg, go and kill that man.”

A moment of choice was upon her: kill the pimp and leave her brother in the veil of mist, or give up all hope. Chloe pushed forward with your quest to end the life of the man that ended hers. The pregnant Chloe made her way down small valleys and across rotting bridges until she  reached the stone slab that lay in the dead center of Cental Park. This was were it had happened, this is were he sat waiting her arrival.

   “Do you want more or child support? For I’ll give you the first but not the second,” the disgusting criminal laughed.

“I would never want your grimy hands upon me ever again,” Chloe snapped back.

The pimp stood up, his fancy dress cloth didn’t reflect his terrible lifestyle. He slowly walked towards Chloe. “Then what would bring you back to me? Have you come to express you thanks for the gift I gave you?”

Chloe’s brown dress blew in the slight breeze, her red hair rustled, and her emerald eyes gazed on him intently. “You killed my dream. You killed me.”

“You slut, I don’t care. You are nothing in this world,” he said as we walked closer to her.

“That’s not true. I am someone, this child will not set me back,” Chloe yelled as he came and pushed her across the rock formation. She landed face first upon the rock. “You know, my mother said the same thing to me when she gave me and my baby brother to some stranger for drugs. But I grew, I moved from home to home until I made myself into something.” Her hand reached for the gun, she had one night only. Chloe closed her eyes, time froze, then she opened them to look into the cold dead eyes of her attacker. She had killed him.

Chloe rolled over onto her back and gazed into the overcast above. The clouds parted above the victorious hero as the faint melody of a nearby brook began to grow louder. Two stars moved close together in the nights sky as hope danced in love struck eyes. Hope would flood all of New York in the following days as Chloe and Mark reunited along with the concept of law and rules. Chloe had brought order to her life along with many others, a peaceful assurance for a world in turmoil.