"Chloe," Max cautiously placed her hand atop the soaked girl's shoulder. Her tone was soft, understanding – yet nothing was enough to make the blue haired girl awake from her trance. Her eyes were so lifeless, so cold, so drained of life. This wasn't the Chloe that Max knew.
Caulfield reluctantly lifted her head up, to see something she did not want to see. The tornado wasn't planning on getting any smaller; there was no time to waste. She wished Chloe would see that too.
With a shivering hand, Max turned the girl around in one, swift motion. "Chloe, we have to hurry," she said desperately, terrified expression on her face. She was crying, but her tears were long blended with the savage rain that poured down from the dark sky.
The wind was so severe that Max had to fight for the ability to stand in one place. If something happened to her right now, who would save the town other than her? Nobody. It was either her, or Arcadia Bay would turn into Arcadia Bye.
She didn't notice at first, but quickly enough glanced down at the girl opposite her who had taken something out of her pocket. A photograph. It was getting drenched before her eyes, yet she had no courage to reach for it.
"Why . . . why have you taken it?" Max asked weakly, her eyes glued to the terrible scene before her. Rachel's angry eyes staring right at her, wrists tied just as well as her ankles. The picture from The Dark Room.
Chloe's fingernails still had dirt underneath from digging up Rachel's body from hours before.
Max's eyes finally met Chloe's. "Max," her miserable voice finally sounded between the loud thunders. "You know when you jumped into our childhood picture and totally changed how things played out in the future?"
Oh no, Max thought. She shook her head so hard her neck hurt.
"Max, please," Chloe took the girl's hands in hers. "Only you can save her, Max. You're the only one who can do this and stop all of this shit from happening."
"No way, Chloe," Max tried to pull away, but Chloe wouldn't let go. "I don't want to fuck things up more than they already are."
"Really, Max?" Chloe's voice took on a more aggressive tone. "More fucked up than this?!" She gestured at the tornado, her eyes raging with hatred aimed at everyone and everything. "You know damn well what you gotta do, Max. Either allow thousands of people to die to keep my ungrateful ass alive, or allow that fucking psychopath to shoot me in that bathroom," she took a break to look at her meaningfully. After a short moment, she finally closed the space between them once again. "But what if there is a third option, Max?" She asked, closing Max's hands around the photograph.
Brown haired girl kept looking at the girl's hands. Her mouth was shaking, as was her chin.
"Max?" Chloe tilted her head to the side. "You can hella do this."
A thunder hit the spot nearby, causing Max's entire body to shake with fear and vivid realisation what she was about to do. She swallowed a massive lump in the throat and nodded her head at the blue haired girl.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," Chloe brung her into a tight embrace, her tears falling onto Max's back. When she finally pulled away, her lips shaped into a weak smile. "Please tell her . . . tell her that I miss her punk ass."
Max nodded once again, and turned around to walk a couple of steps away. She didn't believe herself. Was she out of her mind? What she was going to do . . . it would change everything.
Would it even work?
There was only one way to find out. One, very crazy and insane way.
She looked behind her once again. Chloe was staring at her with hope, sending a pitiful smile her way. This is it, Max thought.
"This is it," she said as she focused on the picture.
But nothing was happening.
Max tried to recall The Dark Room. She looked at the picture once again, and concluded in which spot the photo was taken. She focused on Rachel's emotion. Anger.
"Gr . . . eat sh . . . ot Ra . . ."
She heard faint, blurred voices.
She focused harder. Who was there? She tried to think. Mr Jefferson and Nathan, that must've been it.
"Y . . . ou wan . . ted t . . . o b . . e . . in the cen . . . tre of everybody's attention."
The voices were getting louder and more recognisable. Max was sure. It was definitely Mark. She felt rage she never felt before. She felt betrayal, but not fear. Those were Rachel's emotions. Max was getting closer. She just needed to . . .
"Breathe." Mark's words sounded extremely real, right next to her ear. When she opened her eyes, she instantly knew that something was wrong.
