Alright, here's the thing. I loved this game, and I really want to get back in to writing. So I've hashed out a decent story, and have a lot of it written out already. I'm really not entirely happy with the writing of it thus far but I sort of want to get it up.
This will of course will be very Pricefield influenced and the first chapter is mainly just setting the scene of the aftermath of Chloe's death, before we get in to the really good stuff. Let me know what you guys think and I'll get up the next chapter once I have some feedback. :3
It had been a year since that day she had to make the hardest decision of her 18 years of life. Well, more like forced to make the decision. How could anyone be expected to make a decision as life changing as that in that short amount of time?
She couldn't believe that 12 months had passed since that day. Not that it had felt like a short time, without her it had felt like an eternity. Strange, considering the one week they had spent back together was arguably the fastest week of her life, though at the time it can't have felt that way.
The brunette rolled on to her back, letting an exaggerated sigh escape her partially parted lips. Looking up at the ceiling, she allowed her eyes to defocus. She relived that week every day, even if technically it had never happened. No one but her knew, and that was a burden she would carry with her forever.
Even if she were still here, she would not have remembered their time together. Sure they were old friends, but before that week she had been absent from her life for nearly five years. She blinked once, trying to forget, once more, and then finally just closed her eyes.
"Chloe…" she whispered, barely audible.
Max rolled over on to her side, her gaze falling upon the ghostly figure that was lying beside her. She wanted to reach out and touch it, but she knew that the second she did it would disappear. It was too early for that. She blinked slowly, deliberately, not wanting to miss a second of this. She studied the girl, her blue hair neatly framing her face and falling to the bed, her azure blue eyes gazing at the ceiling, as if she was seeing something passed it that Max could not see. The brunette wanted nothing more than for her to turn and look at her face.
It never happened.
She didn't want to face the truth anymore, she just wanted to hear her voice. She wanted to hear her sounding fine. She wanted to hear her being sarcastic, making fun of her or just calling her one of the many nicknames she had had for her.
In her eyes, she didn't want a lot.
It hurt. The hurt she felt was unbearable. She never wanted to make the choice. And at the time, she never knew it would leave her so alone. She couldn't even talk to Joyce, Chloe's mother about it because as far as she was aware, she had not seen Chloe for five years. All of the friendships she had forged were gone, though at times there seemed to be some minor trace of it. Like they were waking up from a dream and beginning to remember.
With another sigh, Max rolled back on to her back. She reached her hand out in front of her, turning it in the morning light and one by one curling her petite fingers towards her palm. She could go back. She always had that option. Though, she hadn't used her powers since that day. She was uncertain if she even could anymore. The thought always crossed her mind. All she had to do was rewind back, and save her best friend all over again.
She couldn't though, the fear was still there in the back of her mind. What would she fuck up if she went back and saved her again? She had seen more death in that week than anyone should have in their whole life. Then any one single person should have to see. She couldn't not see those close to her being hurt. It may have never happened in this time line, but to her it was still very much real. Every time she looked at one of those people, she saw it. She saw how they died right in front of her, how they died because of her and she couldn't take it anymore. She could no longer look them in the eyes.
And so she kept everyone away. If she kept everyone at bay, then there would be no chance of it ever occurring again. That, and she wouldn't have to pretend to anyone that she was fine. That she was a perfectly fine, normal teenager. She was so tired of pretending. Every day it took more and more effort. Effort that she could no longer find in herself.
She was drowning, and there was no one to pull her out of the hole that she had dug herself in. She wished she could blame others, but she could only blame herself.
In the wake of the shooting, Nathan Prescott and Mr. Jefferson finally being brought to justice, and Principal Wells 'stepping down' the entire student population of Blackwell Academy was offered counselling to help deal with their grief. Of all people, Max should have been the one to attend. She never did.
What was she even meant to say to anyone?
'Oh, by the way, I only knew about Mr. Jefferson because I can time travel. I could have stopped Chloe Price dying, but instead I sat back and watched it happen.'
Max cringed at the thought.
She –could- have stopped it from happening.
She could have stopped it, but she didn't. How was she supposed to live with herself? Quite simply, she couldn't. She let out a small laugh. It really wasn't funny.
Max was losing her mind. Every day she was losing a little more of her sanity and she wasn't sure how much longer she could last. Why did she keep going? She wasn't sure. The only reason she could really regard as being somewhat true is that it would have been a waste for Chloe to die if she were to just simply follow. And in some aspects, that was correct. She felt obliged to be here. But she just simply could not bring herself to live for another person. She couldn't believe in that bullshit.
However, more and more often she was seeing her. Everywhere she went she saw her. She was doing her best to hide it, but she feared it was becoming more and more obvious that she was losing her fucking mind. Why else would she be seeing something that wasn't there? Every aspect of her life was hindered by the sight of Chloe, like some sick reminder of what she did. Like Chloe herself didn't want her to forget what she did to her. In all honesty, the blue hair girl didn't need to show up for her to know. Max knew perfectly well what she had done, and she most certainly would never forget it.
It had all started a few months ago when she was sitting in class. She could never focus anymore, and her grades were definitely suffering because of it. She tried her hardest to pay attention, to grasp on any aspect of normality, but it was no use. Something would not allow her that. With her head rested in her hand, she was gazing out the window at a blue butterfly that had delicately landed on a branch outside when something caused her attention to shift. She whipped her head to the side and ever so briefly caught a glimpse of the dead girl sitting directly in front of her.
Startled, she quickly jumped to her feet, knocking her chair backwards and over with a loud thud. The entirely class turned in her direction and silence filled the room.
Max had blinked hard, no one was there. But she had seen something. She was certain.
Almost certain.
That was the first time, but definitely not the last. Now she was seeing her almost daily. She had tried to ignore it, but the more she did the more frequent Chloe seemed to make herself. The more she would not let Max forget.
She wouldn't always appear in front of her. No, she wouldn't always make it that easy. Sometimes she would see her in the distance. Watching her, judging her, sometimes just flat out ignoring her presence. Other times she would mock her, never letting her quite forget what she had taken away from her. And as draining as these experiences were, as much as they kept dragging her under water she would never change them for a thing. Just being able to see Chloe again, at the moment, that was enough to keep her going.
It was the only thing keeping her going.
Her alarm clock began to buzz. Begrudgingly she turned over and slammed her hand down on it to shut it off.
7.00am.
Time meant nothing to her anymore. She barely slept, and when she could finally sleep she was plagued with nightmares of everything she had done. They haunted her every waking minute. When she was drowsy, she fought it, not wanting to let her demons win. When she did sleep, it was only for brief periods of time. She always awoke in a cold sweat, remembering every single minute detail. She was quite literally in hell, and she saw no means of escaping. There were no signs it was ever going to let up.
This of course did nothing for her appearance. She had always looked tired, but this was a new low. When she looked in the mirror, she hated the person staring back at her. She was now just a shell of her former self. Her eyes were red and bloodshot due to lack of sleep. The bags under her eyes were dark and heavy. Her cheeks were sunken in. She had always been petite, but over the year she had lost a considerable amount of weight, giving her a frail appearance. She tried to hide it with her baggy clothes, but not everyone was so easily food.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to the fact that she would indeed have to get up.
Max stuffed her hands in her pockets and slowly shuffled the sidewalk towards her class. It was fall now and finally the weather was beginning to reflect her mood. The leaves had long since turned orange and red and began to fall, causing pools on the ground that crunched between her worn sneakers.
Soon it would be winter, and she would have the cold numbness that she longed for.
Her earbuds were stuffed in to her ears, blocking out all the noise that was surrounding her. Listening to some punk band her best friend was in to. Whilst she didn't entire enjoy it herself, it helped. It helped to make her feel slightly less alone.
She was only disturbed by her thoughts when a body appeared next to her and unhappily she pulled the buds from her ears.
"Earth to Max." a calm voice said, matching her pace.
"Oh. Hey, Warren." She said with a small forced smile, rather unenthusiastically.
"How are you, Super-Max?"
Max inwardly cringed. Was this some kind of sick joke? Only she used to call her that. And that was in a time line that no longer existed. She wanted to yell at Warren, curse him for calling her that, but Warren didn't know any better. He never even knew that girl other than seeing her at Blackwell, and hearing the stories of the infamous Chloe. She couldn't blame him for the pain it caused, even if she wished she could blame someone.
"I'm okay." She lied, her voice scratchy, she hadn't said much in a long time. She had been lying for years, why begin telling the truth now. "How are you, Warren?" she queried. She didn't really care, she just needed to move the subject away from herself.
Warren gave a small laugh. "You know me, Max." he gave two thumbs up, a huge grin now plastered on his face, partially for him, partially to try and cheer his best friend up. "Are you excited for photography today?"
The wind blew harshly passed the two and ruffled Warrens hair. He hadn't changed at all in the last year. Still the same nerdy teenage boy.
Max shook her head. "No… I mean, its class."
Max stopped, feeling a hand tug at her arm. She turned around to see Warren, looking at her with concern. Looking down at his delicate hands, she willed for him to relinquish his grip on her. She didn't want to be touched by anyone.
Noticing her apprehension, the small boy gave a small blush, allowing his fingers to uncurl and his arm to fall to his side. "Hey, why don't we do something fun after class? We could go catch a movie at the drive in or just get a bite to eat…" he tried.
Max again shook her head, a look of anguish on her face.
Warren looked down, worry clearly etched on his face. "Max, what's going on with you? It's like you can't even pretend anymore. Ever since… I know you were old friends but you hadn't seen her in years…." He stopped, and immediately regretted his words. He knew time meant nothing. Hell, he had only know Max for a short period of time, yet he would do anything for her.
Max furrowed her brows. "Warren, don't." she warned.
Talking about her with him, with anyone for that matter, was the last thing she wanted to do. They didn't know her like she did. However, the thing that was beginning to concern her the most was that maybe she didn't know Chloe like she thought she did. After all, it had been only a week after not seeing her for years and her she was tormenting her years later for it.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, shaking her head clear of those thoughts. She knew her. She promised she would never forget.
"Look, I didn't know her well. Going by how much you seem to care about her, I wish I could have had the pleasure. But she wouldn't want you to live like this." He stopped, seeing the painful look he was receiving. "Max, please…"
"Enough, you don't get to tell me when I get to feel fine again, Warren." She snapped. "You have no fucking idea. Don't you think that if I could I…" Max stopped, she wished she could say it was because she saw the pained look etched on to Warren's face, but it had nothing to do with him. She saw something. Something that shouldn't have been there.
Before Warren could speak, she had pushed passed him quickly walking towards the flash of blue. It had to be her, it could only have been her. Her quick steps turned to running, though the faster she ran, the further this mysterious blue haired figure got away from her until it completely disappeared around the corner of the school block. She weaved between the students, trying her hardest to get there as fast as her weak body would take her, but when she finally did make it, there was nothing to be seen.
She cursed herself. If she had have just been faster. Had just been better.
She whipped her head left and right searching for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. She let out a frustrated yell. She was just here. That hair was unmistakable. No one else could look like that. And she could have known her form anywhere, even if it were only from behind. She had studied that form for months now. She knew every curve of the girl.
Max fell to her knees, her body wracked with painful sobs. "I won't forget." She whispered. "I can't…"
"Hey, Maxipad." a low sultry voice whispered.
Her eyes snapped open, that voice couldn't belong to anyone else. However, she was scared that if she were to look up there would be nothing there. Or that what would be there would be something made from nightmares.
"One day your life will flash before your eyes."
Slowly she looked up, trying to make sense of the words that she had heard before too many times and before her eyes there she was, leaning against the wall of the building looking as cool as ever. The blue haired girl smirked at Max, that same unmistakable Chloe smirk with her arms loosely folded over her chest, one foot rested against the wall with her back.
"Chloe…"
"Don't look so sad, I'm never leaving you." She gave a small but sickening smile to the crestfallen girl on the ground before looking up to the sky, as if she could see something that no one else could.
"Chlo… I'm sorry." Max wiped at her eyes, willing the tears to go away so she could gaze at her friend, but when her eyes finally cleared, she was gone. There was no one there, and no indication that someone was ever there.
She was truly losing it.
Max felt a hand on her back, and Warren crouched down next to her.
"It's going to be okay, Max." he whispered soothingly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she sobbed in to her hands. "We'll get through this."
