Maxine loved days like today.
School was out, the homework was done, and goddamn did it feel good to just relax. Her HI-FI quietly sung to itself as Max breathed free a plume of smoke, and fell back onto her bed with a gleeful pur as that delightful haze settled about her head. Ah, this was the life. Seattle had nothing on this.
"Aw, Maxine, I thought you could puff a little bit more than that" Victoria playfully chided, Maxine merely rolled her eyes and flipped her off.
"You got me" she announced with a tiny wry curl of her lip, taking just a few extra moments to hover in that feeling before she sat up on the bed "I'm secretly a huge lightweight; call Juliet, alert the Totem, the people must know!"
"Lets not. But you know, I kind of always suspected" Victoria winked as she reached out, gently taking the bong Maxine offered her as she smiled dumbly at the girl. By the power of Grayskull that was some strong stuff... but then again, Nate could always get the good shit; it was straight-to -head tingles every time. Heck yes. "But maybe don't phase out on me just yet, loser. Don't let a girl get blazed on her own"
"Oh, wouldn't dream of it" Maxine watched as Victoria took a deep lungful, sat there on the floor surrounded by their project photos. It was always good to be here like this with Vic, they did it almost every day; the perks of living opposed to one another.
The days could be such a drag at Blackwell... well... when she wasn't in Mr. Jefferson's class that was. Talk about a heart throb with talent.
Maxine grinned a little, her eyes travelling Vicky softly; there were only two ways that Maxine knew so far that were guaranteed to silence the Queen Bee, and that was when she was toking up or sat giving somewhat overly enthusiastic heart eyes at Mark. Mark. How familiar. Maxine's cheeks warmed slightly... not like he was ever going to notice her, Victoria though? Maybe.
Victoria's head tilted back as her lips formed a small O, letting smoke rise up that long neck and slowly pool in the air above her before letting out a satisfied and dreamy hum. Maxine couldn't help but laugh, but her eyes never left Vicky... just staring at the pixie haired blond. Was her neck always so long...? It's practically Swan-like, I mean look at tha- Oh. Eye contact. Wait, eye contact? SHIT.
Maxine's gaze sharply flew to Lisa with a nonchalant pop of her lips. Yes, Lisa. A plant so dead by this point it was little more than an effigy to bad parenting. So casual, much cool, Maxine. She could practically feel Vicky's smugness rising... she hated how much she liked that. It was almost challenging her.
"So, we're closing in on October... you know what that means?" Vicky handed back the pipe, the buzz plain in her giddiness.
"You're allowed to hide how sloppy drunk you get behind a mask?" Max smirked as Vicky squinted at her "Might be necessary after what you did to Taylor's dress last week... poor girl"
"It wasn't that bad, Maxine"
"She looked like a long lost Jackson Pollock... it was really quite beautiful, actually"
Maxine earned herself a shove in the shoulder that did little but force the laugh in her chest to roll free. Vicky wanted to be mad, she could see that, but the smile she was desperately trying to hide said it all. "Well, as much as I'd like something in a gallery, lets just forgo that little addition to the world of art and leave it in the dumpster where it belongs. Now take your medicine and I'll go on"
"I'm surprised its not in Wells' office, have you seen the state of that place?" Victoria barked a short laugh, and with a victorious smile Maxine lit up the bowl. Ah yes, Vicky had a point she was getting to!
Conceding to the Queen Bee's will, Chase's eye glimmered in approval as she recomposed herself. It didn't take long for her air of regal authority to return... even if it was undercut by a cloud of smoke blown into her eyes by Maxine's stupid grinning face. The fact they were smoking in the dorms still blew Maxine's mind, but, she was part of the Vortex now.
She was untouchable. Un-fucking-touchable.
"Anyway, it means two things. One, we hand in this project of ours and crush the losers in Jefferson's class to dust" A slim finger extended to tally, and Maxine nodded decidedly. Victoria was undoubtedly right "And two, it means... drumroll please..."
Maxine blinked, her brain not firing on all cylinders for a moment before she received an expectant look from Vic. Oh! Oh she wants me to- Drum, High Maxine, Drum! Immediately her hands began to drum against her knees and Victoria smiled with probably a little more warmth than intended. But Maxine noticed. She always did.
And as always it gave her those strange, long lost butterflies "It means that you, Maxine, are helping me and Nate set up the biggest Halloween party, like, ever"
Wait, what?
"Wait, what?" it was all she could actually muster and hope she didn't seem like too much of a uncool dork; Victoria's warm smile only grew "You can't be serious"
Maxine's heart was pounding. The music faded out, another song began to fade in.
Is this the real life?
The world jerked, for an instant, out of sight... the flared edges of reality passing into peripheral like wild filmreel. What is this?
"I'm being totally serious, Max. I... me and Nate both want you with us to plan this out. You'll help right? Right...?" Maxine can hear the trepidation, but a headache like a hammer through glass silences her reply; she wants to reach out, but it hurts too much to move. Vicky's words begin to blur together and distort. The film begins to warp and bubble.
Is this just fantasy?
"This is seriously the best view of the sunset... what do photographers call that?"
The words are colder than the wind she can feel abruptly through her hair, more intrusive than the faltering light in her eyes. Where was Victoria? She tries to call out, but her mouth won't respond.
She has been here before, the dead whales bring it all back. She doesn't want to be here again.
"The Golden Hour" The words come in her voice, but she isn't speaking them. This was all wrong, she shouldn't be here... But she can see her, haloed in that precious light; looking at her hurts and comforts all at once. The air was in flux and yet inert around her, and Maxine could almost see her with blue hair; the fact she sees strawberry blond and not ceruelean is more disturbing than it should be.
What is this? No this isn't right, this isn't me. This isn't me!
"See, without you here I'd have no clue. I bet you could take some amazing shots..." Within she's screaming, screaming words a mouth will not form and fighting a body no longer listening, clawing at the flesh of her prison; trying to get to the girl. Not again, please not again.
"Those beached whales are so sad... I kinda know how they feel" Maxine pounded, cried as she beat and rattled the cage of her body. Seperated from the world but planted firmly it. Aware- but that was all. This couldn't be happening.
"Please just go, don't look back! Get away from me, I'm not who you think I am! Please!" These words silently cycle over an over, spinning in her mind like a tornado. Her wheelchair bound friend doesn't hear them, of course. All she hears are her words. Maxine wants to vomit. Wants to tear herself apart.
Caught in a Landslide...
"At least, I'm alive here with you"
The heart monitor breaks the silence, a low flat beep piercing the quiet... suddenly she can move. Suddenly she's sat beside her best friend, only she isn't there anymore. She's sleeping forever and not even the scream of a despairing mother, nor the howl of a horrified father can rouse her. Their arms seize Maxine, swallow and choke her, the blackness that envelops her shrinks as it burns away to scorching ivory.
"Don't forget about me..."
No escape from reality.
But this isn't my reality.
"Chloe!" Maxine yelled as she startled back to reality, greeted to the smell of cat piss and rust that she had apparently become accustom to. She dared only peek at the world, lest her sensitive eyes simply explode from the weak light filtering into the hideout- Hideout? Yeah... yeah that felt right.
Fortunately, the hideout looked better than it smelt.
Wearily Maxine turned in her ragged blanket, trying to ignore the incredible ache in her lower back from sleeping on the hard stone floor. She was so tired and all she wanted was to just dream, to really dream. To go back to memories where things were good, where they made sense... but she couldn't.
Not here. Not in this shithole.
There wasn't much to this little den of hers... but it felt like home for some rhyme or reason. Safe. Sparse walls with no character, a few bits of trash strewn about, but it was warm despite the lack of a damn door. You would have to be homeless to want to call this pit a residence... so what did that make her? She didn't want to think about it... Victoria and Nate would be flipping out if they knew where she was.
They were probably flipping already.
"Dog... I need a shower" Maxine wiped sweat from her brow. These nightmares had been knocking her for six... the rare times they woke her up. But waking was getting easier now, so was being able to see too.
"Bad dreams again?" An older voice called out, derailing that train of thought. Maxine looked across as a figure appeared in the doorway, squinting through the dull sunshine to make out details in the blown out silhouette... damn her eyes. But she knew who it was. She'd heard the voice many times, in reality or dreams, she couldn't tell.
Maxine nodded; was it that obvious? She supposed it was the fact she was awake and not the cold sweat she was drenched with that gave her away "Well, don't you worry... one day, you'll find new things to dream about. Here, my friend in the Two Whales gave us some grub"
"Thanks, Ray" Maxine sat up with a groan, her back feeling as rusted as the cars outside the hideout, and the older woman cautiously sat herself down beside her before sliding over a hastily wrapped burger. Maxine's belly roared in an instant, as did a slither of guilt "Umm..."
"Don't you worry about me, child. I had a little something too..." with an encouraging wiggle of her fingers, Maxine needed no further prompting and began to tear into the meal. Oh my dog... Maxine had forgotten just how good a greasy burger could taste "They let me eat in the diner this time, seeing as the boss wasn't there. Figured you'd still be resting. You been up long?"
"No" Maxine said curtly between bites, and the older woman nodded, message received. Quietly they sat then as Maxine ate her food in peace, just trying to wake up. No more sleep, she had had enough of that, more than enough to last a lifetime.
Her thoughts wandered where they could, but the taste of the food drew her inexplicably to the Two Whales. Joyce could always cook up a storm; no one made food like that woman... Maxine smiled. She remembered the waffles, the coffee, and impressing Chloe. Dog, she really was blown away by the cockroach on the jukebox huh?
Wait, what? That didn't...
"Max?" The voice doesn't sound like the woman's, it sounds younger, more hopeful- almost. Yet it fills her with flash of annoyance "You alright?"
"Maxine" she was quick to correct, a tad too much venom in it "Sorry... but yes, I'm alright. Thanks for the food, well... for everything, I guess"
"It's no bother. Truthfully it's been nice to have the company" The air around those words tugged at Maxine's chest, her worn features softening "Even if you were sleeping for most of it"
Maxine actually chuckled, a weak thing. Ray simply smiled, those greying eyes briefly settled on Maxine before they floated beyond into the rows of broken cars and scrap. Was that the only reason she helped me? It felt terrible to wonder but, Maxine couldn't help it... people always wanted something, Nathan taught her that.
"How long have I actually...?"
"About three days, give or take... you were in an out a lot, not very lucid- actually, this is the most lucid you've been. Do you remember much?" Maxine merely shook her head, Ray sighed softly in resignation.
"What do you actually remember?" Pain. Unbelievable pain.
"I remember waking up in the rain... my eyes felt like they were burning out my face. My head felt worse, wowser... like there was a storm in there" just thinking about it made her groan with phantom aches. She wished she was high right about now.
"Yeah well, it wasn't just in your head, believe me. You picked a fine time to start wandering around blind. That freak storm that opened up had everyone running for shelter; it was a miracle I found you"
Yeah, lucky me. Maxine scrunched up the wrapping of her now demolished burger and tossed out the window; an annoyed meow signals the emergence of a black cat, it's head crowned in sesame seeds. Huh. So she hadn't been dreaming the cat after all. As it bounds away, Maxine blinks in realisation.
"Um... where did you actually find me?" She sees those faltering eyes, the only pair she could ever believe were worse than her own right now, settle on her "I uh... I don't really remember"
It was true, like almost all of these three days apparently, her grasp on events was poor to say the very least. All she could remember was the pain, and running against the wind.
Then she was here.
"You were passed out by the road, head to foot in mud... looked like you'd been running through the woods for awhile. I was coming here to avoid the rain, and there you were curled up outside the gates"
Maxine's mouth was dry. This was just fucking crazy. She needed to get back to her dorms or something... Blackwell never sounded so damn appealing in all her life.
"I-I think I should get going..." Maxine nervously uttered as she struggled to find footing, throwing the blanket back as Ray turned to face her.
"You still need to get your strength back first, Maxine... you've had barely five hours of consciousness these past few days"
No, Maxine didn't want to hear this, she wanted to get out before her heartbeat drowned out her thoughts. She just wanted to go home. Her shaking legs could be damned, they were going to carry her one way or another!
"L-look, it's not that I don't appreciate your help... but I have to go, I have people who will be worried about me- looking for me" Maxine's apprehensive tone was laced with something almost threatening towards the end. It wasn't intentional, she didn't mean to pass a judgement.
Ray let out a deflated sigh, and Maxine instantly felt like crap. Nice Maxine, real nice. Fix this, you idiot... she looked after you.
"Here" On her unstable feet Max pulled a wallet from her dirt caked hoodie after a brief and dusty pat down, flicking through the bills "For your help... t-thank you"
Ray got up and stepped closer, reaching out... only to push away the proffered cash. Maxine's face contorted in bemusement "There's no need... I did what any good person would do. I'm sure a nice girl like you would do the same"
Maxine used to know the answer to that question, but she nods meekly. A void of a moment passes.
"Well..." Ray begins "Seeing as you're going I ain't got no reason to stick around here. I'm going back to my spot at the Two Whales... You'll be passing that way, won't you?"
This woman just doesn't give up does she? Maxine's brows furrowed as she struggled to keep her foundation, her sleepy legs were slowly waking but not fast enough for her liking. She nodded again.
"I'll walk with you then, make sure you don't fall into traffic... I'm sure your legs will have woken up by then"
"I-" Maxine started, but she could tell the woman wasn't going to back down on this... plus she had a point, her legs were being douchebags at the moment. Reluctantly, she conceded "I-... fine. Thanks, Ray"
And away they went, leaving the Junkyard behind. It was strange... but Maxine had to look back as they left.
She felt tipsy, wobbling on legs that seemed to be slowly strengthening... and it reminds her of something. Of getting tipsy from one damn sip of Joyce's wine with Chloe... all that time ago. It's a thought that curls her lip faintly... to think, she was shotting vodka with the best of them now.
Yet there is something off. Moving away from the Junkyard like this? She didn't know... it felt... wrong?
No, Maxine put it from her mind. She had get back, she had to bang on Vicky's door and see if the girl was okay, but most importantly, she needed to toke up and sit in the shower for an hour. Or five.
Maxine and Ray split at the Two Whales.
The goodbye was short, offers of support given should Maxine need them. The woman was sweet, motherly despite it all, and yet Maxine hardly knew her.
It didn't stop her slipping ten bucks in Ray's pocket though. Good deeds for the sake of it weren't going to feed a woman like her, and who knows how much she gave up to help Maxine... such kindness had to be rewarded with something material.
The sight of the campus lights up Maxine's heart, its hammering beat suddenly decreasing as relief washed through her system. Blackwell. Never in her life did she ever think she would be this excited to see it.
But there it was again. That feeling. It held her for a moment as if time had frozen about her... it'd feel serene if it wasn't so dreadful.
It's nothing Maxine, just keep going.
Hesitantly she moved up those familiar steps and glanced around, basking in the glow of the midday sun as she admired this place she called home. That feeling sharpened then, as her eyes detected a certain lack of something.
Where was the Vortex Club?
"What the..." Maxine muttered to herself in bewilderment. There was always at least one of them by the tree or something, lounging about judging potentials... but this time? Zip. Nada. Surely in three days they couldn't have all decided that class was more important than skipping and getting their chemical on?
But hey, stranger things had happened. Best not to dwell on it.
Passing through a sea of unknown faces Maxine kept her own head down. She couldn't be seen like this. She was Maxine Caulfield, Vortex Club member; yet she looked like a god damn hobo.
Her cheeks burned and her pace quickened, eyes buried into the floor... like the old Maxine. A thought that made her grimace, the shy geek, a wallflower... all the things she never wanted to be again. It's too late to notice a body blocking her path to the dormitories until she collides with it.
"Hey, what the hell?" Maxine blurted in frustration the moment she saw a uniform "Skip, not today, this is not the time to-"
The man she was looking at was decidedly not Skip.
"Who are you?"
"I could ask the same of you" he replied, his voice lacking any mirth, much like his face. How could he not know who she was?
"I'm Maxine Caulfield" she said expectantly, but he only quirked a brow. Either unimpressed or ignorant "I'm with the Vortex Club"
"Too much of an attitude to be with those lot" he commented, matter-of-factly "Got your student ID, Max?"
And in an instant, Maxine's blood was boiling. This arrogant piece of shit! She just wanted to go to her room, not get reamed by some wannabe cop on a power-trip. But he wasn't moving, she could tell that by his stance alone; so far she had avoided eye contact, she wasn't about to make that connection now.
"Maxine" she hissed under her breath, fetching her student card from her wallet and handing it over to the oaf... Leonard, according his nametag. She'd remember that "Happy?"
Quietly he stood there, scrutinizing the card for a moment. Then he tore it up, and Maxine's heart skipped a beat.
"What the fuck!?" she bellowed.
"You honestly trying to sneak into campus with a fake ID? A shit one at that? Get out of here Max before I throw you out"
He wasn't playing, Maxine could sense that. His sharp step towards her only cemented it.
"Wait, wait!" she fumbled "Get Skip, Skip knows me! He's security too!"
Leonard simply stared at her, brows knitted impatiently.
"There ain't no Skip working here, now let's go" his hands were on her then, sharply turning her before she was marched away... students began to gather. The humiliation was too much; her eyes began to sting with the beginnings of tears. Tears that sprung free when she was damn near shoved down the stairs with a yelp.
Her jelly legs could barely support her, like useless stilts, unable to stop her plummeting to the sidewalk as she frantically struggled to stay upright. Why was this happening to me? It's all she could think as she sat on the cold stone, utterly despondent.
I was supposed to be untouchable.
"Don't let me catch you on this campus again, y'hear me?" he threw the torn remnants of Maxine's student card at her, the two pieces fluttering down either side of her like butterflies "Or I'll knock you back to the future"
When he started to leave she felt a shadow disappear... not that it mattered. What was she going to do now? All she could think of was trying to speak to... hold on. Wait. What did he just say?
"Back to the future...?"
She could hear it again, quietly in the back of her mind rolling forward. Thunder.
"Wait!" Maxine called out and the guard stopped with a scowl, regarding her with narrowed eyes "What do you mean back to future?"
He stood there for a good moment as a series of emotions rolled across his awful mug, each more incredulous than the last. Finally he just laughed.
"Fire whoever made you that ID. It's not 2013, Timecop" The world seemed to pause then, the edges of Maxine's vision clouding with burning white. Leonard walked away, still laughing "It's 2008, you dumbass"
Maxine sits there for what feels like minutes, but the day has lived and died in that time. She wants to believe it's a lie, a cruel joke of a sadistic man. But she never sees a face she recognizes. No Hayden, no Taylor, no Nathan... no Victoria.
It feels real. Undeniably real.
All she can do is sob, even as she is forced away from the premises by a couple of guards. She doesn't see the figure by the monument watching her as she shuffles away like the walking dead... where she was going, she didn't know.
From a dying boombox, she hears that familiar tune... she moves quicker.
No escape from reality.
She feels a spark beginning within her, the sob in her throat turns to a growl.
"We'll see about that" she whispers, letting the feeling in her gut lead her to wherever it might.
We'll see.
A/N: Hi all, thanks for reading. If you liked it feel free to leave a review! More to come soon.
