Chapter 1: Faded
Max's vision was consumed by a bright white flash and she heard the familiar click of an instant camera capturing an image. Her blindness faded away and the sight of a yellow instant camera entered her view. Around her in the background was bathroom tile, and to her left, the metal wall of an empty bathroom stall.
The camera ejected a Polaroid and Max delicately pinched the edge of the picture and retrieved it. She returned the camera to its home in her messenger bag and stared into her new image.
The photograph displayed a bright blue butterfly perched on an aged mop bucket; the normally bland scene brought to life by a hint of morpho blue. Max's eyes were captivated by the insect, its colour almost glowing.
Max tore the photo in half; the butterfly's vibrant colour dying as the divided pieces gently descended to the bathroom floor.
The brunette peeked her head around the stall, her eyes drawn to the wooden door that separated the bathroom from the ever-so oblivious Blackwell Academy.
Max jumped at the sound of the door opening, and she darted her head back behind cover to avoid detection. She heard the echoing footsteps of Nathan Prescott as he crossed that very border.
"It's cool Nathan, don't stress. You're okay bro, just count to three…" Max almost mouthed the blonde boy's words; she had witnessed this scene too many times, not only during her first involvement a week ago, but also as a recurring nightmare that haunted her. Max's heart sunk as did her body when she heard the door open once again as the echoing footsteps of boots filled her ears. She knew exactly who had just entered; Chloe. Max buried her head into her retracted legs and struggled to fight back tears. She knew she had to stay strong; for herself, for Arcadia Bay, for Chloe.
"So what do you want?" Max heard Nathan demand.
"I hope you checked the perimeter as my step-ass would say. Now, let's talk bidness." The sound of Chloe's voice brought pleasure to Max's ears, but also an agonizing burn, as she knew the words Chloe spoke would be her last.
The rest of the scene played out exactly how Max knew it would; Chloe's threats, Nathan's struggle to retain sanity, the heated feud between the two that rapidly fueled itself from the fury they spat.
"You don't know who the fuck I am, or who you're messing around with!" Nathan carried a shuddering insanity to his already cold voice and Max knew the exact action that Nathan pulled.
"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!" Chloe pleaded for her life and Max heard the statuses swap. Such a small firearm was enough to give Nathan pure control over the already stumbling situation.
As if by instinct, Max jumped to her feet and darted around the stall that had hid her until now.
"Get away from her you freak!" The words shot out of Max beyond her own self control and Nathan bolted around to face the surprising voice.
"What the fuck?!" Nathan's words were the last that Max heard before she was deafened by the ear piercing sound of a gunshot. In that very moment, Max felt a sharp splintering pain in her upper abdomen, and her eyes met Chloe's azure gaze; the bluenette's face painted with a mix of shock, confusion, and agony. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Max's lower torso; the exact location where Max felt the growing pain, and now the warm feeling of her soaked clothing touching her skin.
"Max?..." The sound of her name brought joy to Max, but the pain was becoming unbearable. The brunette drew her attention to her stomach and Max noticed a large stain of crimson that drenched her pink shirt.
"Chl…Chloe…" Max struggled to push out her best friend's name as her body grew weak and her legs gave in. "You're…you're alive…" Those were the last words that spilled from Max's mouth before she collapsed to the cold bathroom floor.
"MAX!" Chloe shrieked her friend's name and dashed to her aid, shoving the traumatized Nathan into the sinks along the way; his gun dropping to the ground with a loud clatter.
Chloe dropped to the floor and took her bleeding friend in her arms; her right hand immediately clutching the bullet wound and becoming sodden in red. Max brought her shaking hand to the bluenette's cheek and her icicle-like fingers came in contact with Chloe's pale skin.
"Chloe…You're…you're alive…" Max whispered in relief. Her words poured out in a shaking mutter, but to Chloe, it was all she could hear.
"Max, stay with me! Just hold on!" Chloe pleaded her friend to stay alive. "HELP!" Chloe's head swung to the front door and she realized that Nathan had already fled; the gun nowhere to be found. "HELP PLEASE!" Chloe's cries continued to echo across the empty room.
:"Chloe…" Chloe returned her attention to Max as she hear her name. "I couldn't do it…You couldn't die…You're…you're okay now…Chloe…You're safe…" Chloe stared into Max's eyes with tears overflowing as confusion built up in the back of her mind as she wondered what her friend meant, but she couldn't care. All that mattered to her at that moment was Max. Chloe scrambled to take her coat off and she brought it to Max's wound. The bluenette was clueless in terms of first aid; but her initial instinct was to try and slow the bleeding.
"Max, stop talking. Don't…don't stress yourself. You're gonna…you'll be fine, just please stay with me!" Chloe tried to reassure her friend through tears, despite the panic manifesting in the girl's mind.
"Chloe…I…I love you…" The words finally escaped Max's shuddering lips; it was all she wanted to say. The brunette raised her left arm and wrapped her hand around the back of Chloe's neck and she delicately pulled the girl's face to her own.
The two met in a passionate kiss; the taste of Chloe's salty tears mixing with the taste of Max. Chloe was still utterly confused, but she couldn't care. The two embraced each other until Chloe felt Max's tongue grow still and her lips turn icy cold. A final breath escaped the injured girl's mouth as her hand slid off Chloe's neck, landing on the floor beside her with a thud.
Chloe drew her head away to be greeted by the lifeless face of Max; her eyes shut and mouth ajar. Chloe tried to hold back the oncoming waterfall of grief that began to well up in her sapphire eyes as her bloodied hand reached Max's pale face; the brunette's own blood being smeared on her cheek as Chloe stroked her thumb across the delicate skin.
"Max?..." Chloe whispered through her trembling lips. "Max, please…" The silence was broken by the sound of yet another gunshot, this time emitting from behind the bathroom door. Chloe hadn't cared about the outside world for the moment; background sounds were drowned out by her crowded mind.
Moments later, Chloe heard the door crash open as David Madsen rushed in and stop in his tracks once he laid eyes the gruesome scene.
"Oh my god…" David spoke his thoughts. "Somebody get an ambulance!"
Chloe continued to shut the world out and the booming voice of her step-father was filtered out into a faint squeak. She felt a massive weight bearing down on her head as the experiences that nearly shattered her long ago escaped the back of her mind to haunt her once more; Rachel's disappearance, her father's death, and being abandoned by the very friend that she held in her arms.
Chloe always dreamed of Max returning to her after those cruel years of loneliness, but never like this. She had everything planned ahead in her mind; she would guilt trip Max for leaving her, but ultimately forgive her, then the two would pick up where they left off five years ago.
The two dancing to Chloe's favourite music; their giggling almost as loud as the guitar and drums…
Faded.
Catching up on the events that they each experienced the past half decade over a delicious meal at the Two Whales Diner…
Faded.
Silently watching the sun set over Arcadia Bay, sitting at the bench by the lighthouse; nostalgia and serenity drowning their sorrows in sheer beauty…
Faded.
A road trip to Portland with Rachel joining them…
Faded.
Dreams burning away like paper.
Chloe felt a sharp tug from behind her, but she still ignored everything around her besides Max. She heard the faint sound of screaming voices around her; quiet like whispers.
"Chloe! The paramedics are here! Let go of Max! You can come with her on the ambulance, just let them take her!" David tried to persuade Chloe to release Max from her grasp, but the girl heard nothing. "Fuck it! I'm sorry Chloe." David forcefully pulled his step-daughter away from Max's body; the unexpected strength dragging her away from her best friend.
"NO! MAX!" Chloe's voice pierced the room and she desperately flailed her arms to Max; fighting to escape her step-dad's grip. David restrained Chloe with a deep pain in his chest. "LET GO OF ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!"He hated doing this to his already distressed step-daughter, but Max's life was his priority.
Two paramedics rushed in pushing a stretcher and crouched down beside Max.
"I don't have a pulse!" The words from the paramedic hit Chloe like a bullet. They raised Max onto the stretcher and scrambled out of the bathroom to the front door, hoping they could bring life back into Max somehow.
Chloe thrust her elbow into David's stomach and the man winced in pain, releasing his grasp which allowed Chloe to escape.
The girl carelessly shoved the petrified students surrounding the bathroom entrance, and she nearly tripped over the leg of Nathan's lifeless body. Blood poured out onto the floor next to him from his temple; his gun resting on his hand. The bluenette ignored the traumatizing sight and darted for the front door, chasing after Max.
Chloe's entire body shook uncontrollably as she stared at the pearl floor while sitting on one of the navy blue plastic seats backed on the wall that separated her and the surgery room. Her mind raced with thoughts and her head ached from the emotional pain. Tears had formed a small puddle on the floor beneath her; droplets falling from her bloodshot eyes like a tap.
She has to be okay. She has to. Please, if there is some sort of God out there, I am begging you; please don't take Max away. Please.
Chloe couldn't bear with the thought of losing Max. This was the first time she saw her in five years; the last time being a painful goodbye as the bluenette watched her friend enter her father's minivan to be taken miles away to Seattle, only a month after the death of Chloe's father.
During her initial time of isolation, Chloe was furious that Max had made little to no contact with her. She was confused, angry, but also willing to forgive. She hated Max for the silence, but deep down, she was still her best friend, and nothing would change that. Rachel came along soon after and Chloe almost forgot about Max as she was too distracted by her new friend that she found little time to care about the distant brunette. However, old ghosts returned to haunt her as her thoughts of her friend consumed her mind once more. She missed her more than anything in the world, and she feared that Max had forgotten about her and that she had made new friends, just as she had found Rachel.
She tried to accept the fact that the other girl had moved on and that she would never see her again, but she couldn't. Everything around her reminded her of Max. Arcadia Bay had been the two girls' playground for years, and every inch of the town held some sort of memory between the two. Chloe's obsession for Max bled into her friendship with Rachel, so much that she turned away from the rebellious girl for some time, which only irritated Rachel.
The two eventually made amends and returned to their normal routines of causing trouble, but Chloe still couldn't ignore the thoughts of Max in her mind. She felt herself developing awkward feelings for the brunette, and contemplated whether or not they were romantic or just something entirely different. She even tried to force herself to fall for Rachel in order to possibly forget about Max, but she still wanted the other girl desperately.
Years passed and Chloe eventually managed to bury her feelings away in her mind. She enjoyed her moments with Rachel up until the fateful day she disappeared.
Chloe had fallen into a state of loneliness, confusion, and desperation; her past issues with abandonment catching up to her to cause her more pain. For six months, Chloe was utterly lost and even considered joining her father in the afterlife. Chloe was at the worst she had ever been, and even her mother Joyce could not comfort her.
Her step-father David Madsen only made things worse; his constant bickering repeatedly riled Chloe almost past the edge of insanity. With Rachel, she was able to drown his voice out, but without her; without anyone, he was just another conflict.
Chloe's flashbacks were abruptly interrupted by the sound of the door next to her opening, with a doctor dressed in white emerging from the surgery room. He stared down at the trembling blue-haired girl with anguish in his eyes. Chloe stared at the man, fearing for the worst.
"Please…Tell me she's okay…" Chloe begged through sobs. The doctor only stared back; his face a solid display of heartache. After what seemed like hours to Chloe, he finally spoke.
"She's gone."
A/N: So this is my first fanfic and I wanted to write up something which revolved around Chloe suffering after the death of Max. If people enjoy this, I'd gladly continue it but for now, I'll leave it as it is.