October 10, 2013
"Look, this is it! This is it!" Max Caulfield heard the blue-haired girl ahead of her shout frantically as she tried to catch up. She saw her kneeling in the middle of the small patch of open ground that was surrounded by derelict cars and piles of broken appliances. As Max made it to her, she had already begun digging the ground furiously with her bare hands.
"Are you going to help me, Max?" Chloe Elizabeth Price asked sternly as she sank her fingers into the ground again and again.
The freckled brunette fell onto her knees and began removing the soil from the same spot one handful after another. She glanced at the beanie wearing bluenette, her childhood friend with whom she had reconnected a few days ago after being separated for five years.
They had not parted on good terms and their reunion had been dramatic to say the least. Max had actually seen Chloe die before her eyes, when all of a sudden she had found herself miraculously taken back in time to a few minutes before the tragic event. Max had been even more amazed when she had realized that she could rewind time at her will and change the course of events to her liking.
With the help of this newfound ability she had been able to save the bluenette, who she had not recognized to be her childhood friend at the time. They'd met again and reconnected. After the death of Chloe's father and Max's departure, Chloe had had a rough life, being expelled from school and being constantly at odds with her mother and her mother's new husband. The only positive thing in her life during these years had been Rachel Amber, her former classmate. They had planned a future together, until Rachel had gone missing last spring. Max and Chloe had begun to investigate what had happened to her and their findings had lead them to this spot at the American Rust, a decommissioned junkyard.
Max's fingernails ached as she dug deeper, fearing what they might find, until suddenly her fingers hit something more solid.
"Chloe, stop! Look!" the brunette exclaimed as she began to carefully wipe the soil away from what appeared to be a piece of clothing.
"Please, no…" Max could hear Chloe pleading desperately, as she revealed more of the clothing, her heart sinking more with every wipe.
"That smell…" Max gasped as the repulsive smell of a decomposing body made her turn away and gag forcefully.
"Rachel…" the bluenette whispered, the tone of her voice begging, trying to desperately cling for a faint hope that the blonde girl might still be alive. "Oh, Rachel, no, no! Please, not her!" Her voice cracked into sobs as that hope withered away.
"Chloe…" The freckled girl stood up and ran to the punk who was on all fours, gagging and sobbing uncontrollably. Max put her arms around her and tried her best to console the crying girl. Tears began flowing down her own cheeks as she realized that their search for Rachel Amber was over. Of course the chances of finding her alive after such a long time had been slim to begin with but still, that faint hope had been the driving force in their quest. Now, what there was left was the fact that Rachel Amber was dead.
"Rachel… why?" Chloe whimpered quietly between sobs. She was completely overwhelmed with grief by her friend's demise.
"I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm so sorry…" Max whispered into Chloe's ear, equally devastated but mustering all her remaining strength to be able to offer support and consolation to her friend, who was muttering to herself with a cracked voice.
"I loved her so much…"
"How can she be dead?"
"What kind of world does this?"
"Who does this?"
Max sat quietly next to the bluenette, holding her tightly in her embrace as Chloe spluttered on incredulously between her sobs. In her mind, the brunette was asking the same questions. Why did Rachel have to die? Who did this to her? She raised her other hand in front of her and scowled at it angrily. What are these powers good for, if I can't even save my best friend's friend? Or could I...?
Max thought about the photo hop that she had done yesterday into her and Chloe's childhood. She had jumped into the moment just before Chloe's father, William, had died. Max had been able to save William but as a result, Chloe had ended up in a wheelchair, facing a slow and painful death. Max, on the other hand, had become a person she wasn't sure she liked. In the end, Max had returned into the photo and undone everything.
In that case, the consequences had been catastrophic, but five years was a long time. Things couldn't possibly change that much in half a year, could they? Max thought. Besides, we wouldn't be just saving Rachel's life. We would also prevent Kate and possibly a few other girls ending up on those binders we found in that dark room. The plan had its risks but the benefits seemed to outweigh them.
Max turned to look at the crying girl. If she was to go through with this plan, she'd have to come clean with Chloe about her intentions, as she just couldn't do it without her consent. That would mean she'd have to tell her about William.
The punk had finally stopped crying. The sorrow and despair in her eyes began slowly to turn into hatred and fury as she clenched her fists. "That bastard Prickscott's gonna pay for what she did to Rachel," Chloe growled angrily. "Nathan's gonna regret the day he was born after I'm through with him." She brushed the brunette's hand away and stood up.
"Chloe, wait!" Max exclaimed frantically as she straightened herself. "I want to see Nathan face justice for what he's done as much as you do, but what if I told you there is a way to bring Rachel back?"
The bluenette turned to look at the hipster girl with a mixture of disbelief and hope. "Bring Rachel... back?"
"Yes, Chloe, a way to prevent her from dying, or at least try," Max answered, trying to sound more reassuring than she in reality felt.
"But, how?" Chloe asked bemusedly. "I mean, you told me you can't rewind back more than a minute."
"I know," the brunette admitted. "But yesterday, after you had dropped me at Blackwell, something happened." She paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right words to represent her case. "I was in my room, watching an old photo of that William had taken of us on the day... the day..."
"My life went down the drain?" the punk proposed, receiving a nod from the freckled girl. "Go on!"
"I was watching that picture, when all of a sudden, it began pulsating and I began to hear noises from within the picture, Max continued. "I freaked out at first, but then I tried to look at it again and I was sucked in the picture."
"Say what?" Chloe looked at her incredulously. "Have you been trippin' on acid?"
"For cereal, Chloe!" the brunette insisted. "I somehow jumped into that moment and into my younger body. I was there, with you and William!"
"So you got to relive the moment before dad stepped out of the door, into his death," Chloe said with an unimpressed tone. "Hoo-ray!"
"Don't you get it?" Max said, frustrated. "I had lived that moment before, so I knew what was going to happen!" The last remark made the punk's eyes blink open as she realized what the brunette was trying to say.
"You mean...?"
"Yes, I saved William, Chloe," Max stated. "I dropped his car keys into the kitchen sink, so that he had to take the bus."
"You saved dad!" Chloe's expression lit up, before changing to bemused. "But if you saved him, why do I still feel he's dead?"
"Because..." Max hung her head. "...this reality wasn't the one I returned to."
The punk girl didn't say anything. She just stared at Max with a questioning look.
"In that reality, I was a member of the Vortex Club, and apparently I was besties with Victoria Chase. I'm... not sure if I liked that Max."
"What about dad, was he alive?" Chloe asked impatiently.
"Both your parents were alive and well," the brunette answered. "You, on the other hand..."
"What? What happened to me?"
"You..." The words got stuck to Max's throat and her eyes watered. "You had gotten into an accident and you... you had been paralyzed from the neck down."
The punk gasped as the brunette's words sank in. "Paralyzed...?"
"Your parents were in hella debt because of your condition and your respiratory system was slowly failing," Max continued, sobbing between the words. "You were dying, Chloe."
Chloe covered her mouth with her hand to hide her shock. But Max wasn't finished yet.
"You told me that you were facing a slow and painful death," she continued. "You didn't want to be a burden to your parents anymore, so you asked me to end your life. You asked me to give you a morphine overdose..." Her voice cracked into sobbing. "And I did! I killed you!"
"Oh, Max..." Chloe said, wrapping her arms around the crying brunette. "How did you get back?"
"I... I went back into that picture and let... and let... Oh, Chloe, I'm so, so sorry!" Her words faded into sobs. She felt how the bluenette's arms tensed momentarily, before wrapping her in an even tighter embrace.
For a while, they just stood still, the brunette sobbing quietly and the punk holding her tightly. Finally, Chloe loosened her grip and turned to face the smaller girl.
"Max..." Chloe said quietly. "I had no right to ask you to take such a responsibility. I'm sorry."
"I didn't want to do it, but I didn't want you to be in pain either," Max said. "And at that point I had decided to undo everything anyway. I'm so sorry, Chloe. I really wanted to bring your father back."
"S'okay, Maxaroni." The punk finally managed to muster up a smile of sorts. "I appreciate it, really. But are you suggesting that you'd go again into the past again to warn Rachel?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Well, your pitch certainly needs some work," Chloe remarked. "After what you just told me, I'm not at all sure you should do it."
"I know, but hear me out," Max requested. "We know, that Rachel went missing last April, six months ago. I just happen to have a picture taken of me at a hockey game in the beginning of April," she explained. "Seven months is a lot less time than five years."
"Yeah… well, I still don't know," Chloe said doubtfully. "How would you warn Rachel? You've never met her and I doubt she'd take a warning message from an unknown number very seriously."
"What if I sent a message to David?" the brunette suggested. "I mean, he already has a lot of data gathered through his investigation. He would just need the location of the barn and the access code to the dark room. The binders and other stuff in there should be enough to press charges against Nathan, before he does anything to Rachel, or Kate for that matter."
"Well, I think even Sgt. Pepper should be able to put all the pieces together..." the punk pondered. "Theoretically, the only thing that should change is that Nathan is rotting in jail, and Rachel is of course alive and happy with her mystery boyfriend." She couldn't quite hide the bitterness in her voice, when she said the last sentence.
"What have we got to lose?" Max asked. "If things are fucked up, I'll simply go back and undo everything."
"Yeah, I suppose..." Chloe was beginning to relent. "I'm still mad at Rachel for cheating on me with Frank, but she didn't deserve to get killed for it." She cast a gloomy glance at the pit where the remains of her friend and lover lied. "But what about the storm? Do you think it's still gonna hit the town tomorrow?"
"I don't know, but we'll deal with that once we've saved Rachel," the brunette said. "One problem at a time. So, what do you say?" She looked the bluenette straight in the eyes.
"Fuck it! Let's do it!" the punk finally agreed. "Where do you have that picture?"
"It's in my dorm room," Max answered. "But let's cover poor Rachel's grave first."
-ooo-
"So, how does this work?" Chloe asked Max. They were looking at the group of pictures on the brunette's dorm room wall, separate from Max's collage of Polaroid shots. The shot of interest was one of Max standing on the stairs leading to the grandstands, wearing a Seattle Mohawks jersey.
"If I focus on the picture long enough, it... I don't really know how to describe it," Max said as she took the picture in her hands. "It kinda comes alive and I will be sucked into it. I'm able to act within the confines of the picture for a certain period of time, before I return. My rewind powers also seem to work there."
"But what happens here, when you're in the picture?" Chloe asked, concern in her voice.
"I... I don't know," the brunette said hesitantly. "All I know is that if I change something in the picture, the timeline will be rewritten and I'll reclaim my body."
"And I'll end up in a wheelchair..." the punk remarked.
"Look, if you don't want to do it..." Max began but Chloe raised her hand to interrupt her.
"No, I'll take my chances," she said. "Just try not to fuck up the timeline too much. And look me up as soon as possible. I'll probably be somewhere licking my wounds after Rachel." The bluenette smiled and opened her arms for an embrace.
Max stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the taller girl. As she returned the embrace, she thought about the kiss she had given to Chloe when Chloe had double dared her to do it. Chloe didn't know it but Max had rewound a few times to kiss her again. After that, she hadn't been able to shake the silky smooth feeling of those lips out of her mind. How she craved to feel those lips on hers again, that slightly tobacco flavored taste of the bluenette's mouth. As much as she wanted to, Max didn't dare to take the initiative, as she wasn't sure how Chloe felt about her. She had no doubt of her own feelings, though. She was beginning to fall for her partner in crime, slowly but surely.
"I will," she promised, as she withdrew herself from the embrace.
"Ok, do it, before I freak," Chloe said as she stepped into the corner. "Good luck, Max."
"Thanks, Chloe." The brunette took the picture in her hands and sat down on the sofa. Ok, here goes.
Max stared at the picture intensely. A few seconds later she was rewarded with the loud murmur from the stands of the ice hockey arena. The image began to shift beyond the confinements of the paper it was printed on, and before she knew it, her surroundings faded in brightness.
-ooo-
"There!" Ryan Caulfield said as he lowered his pocket-sized digital camera. "You wanna take a look, Max?"
"What? Huh, yeah," the brunette said bemusedly as she tried to get her bearings and maintain her balance on the steep steps of the stairs.
"Easy there, kiddo!" Ryan reached out to catch his daughter. "You don't wanna end up in a wheelchair, do you?"
"Huh? No, Dad," Max said.
"You okay, kiddo?"
"Uh, yeah," the brunette tried to assure. "Can I see the picture?"
"Oh, sure," Ryan Caulfield said and handed the camera over.
"This is great, Dad! I want to get it printed," she said trying to sound enthusiastic. "Um, I think I need to visit the restroom."
"Now? But the game's about to start," Ryan said.
"I know, but I think my... y'know," the brunette said and cast her glance downwards rapidly.
"Oh..." Ryan's expression went slightly awkward when he realized what his daughter meant. "Go on then, but try to hurry. I'm going to take my seat."
"Sure thing, Dad," Max said, as she began to descend the stairs rapidly. A few steps later she had reached the platform that led to the corridor. A bright haze blocked her entry to the corridor, so she crouched behind the staircase and dug out her phone.
Max cast a quick glance upwards to make sure that her father couldn't see her. Ok, the coast is clear! I hope I memorized David's number correctly, she thought, repeating the number that she had got from Chloe in her mind. She opened a messaging app and began tapping.
02/16/2013 6:59 p.m.: You don't know me but I know you're investigating the drug trafficking at Blackwell. There is more to it than just drugs. There's an old barn owned by the Prescott family just outside Arcadia Bay. Under that barn, there is a hidden bunker. The door lock's pin code is 542. You'll find all the answers there.
Max read the message through once more and tapped 'Send'. As soon as she saw that the message was marked delivered, she deleted it from her phone. Ok, hopefully David will find the necessary evidence so that Nathan will be arrested before he can do anything to Rachel. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and walked up to the vacant seat next to her father.
"You all good?" Ryan asked
"Yeah, I'm good to flow, thanks," Max answered, grinning, making her father blush slightly. "Everything should be just fine," she added as she took her seat and the bright haze surrounded her.
-ooo-
"...his portraits are distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely at the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background," a voice of a middle aged man said with a slightly monotonous tone.
The first thing Max saw was a large portrait of an elderly man projected on the screen. She immediately recognized the man in the picture as Richard Avedon. But the man lecturing about Richard Avedon wasn't Mark Jefferson, and the classroom wasn't the photography classroom at the Blackwell academy.
Where am I? the brunette asked herself. The classroom was a lot larger than the one at Blackwell. There was something familiar about it. She looked at the lecturer and then it hit her. That's Ben Juliett, my old photography teacher! But then... Max cast another glance at the front of the classroom and spotted Kristen, her friend from Seattle, sitting at the front row. Aw fuck! I'm back at my old school, Edmonds-Woodway! she thought in astonishment. I'm back in Seattle!
How did I end up back in Seattle? Max thought, staring at her personal items on the desk, as she felt the anxiety beginning to take grip. Why am I not in Arcadia Bay? Is Chloe all right? The thought of the bluenette's well-being crept into her mind.
"Max, are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost." A young woman's voice next to her snapped the brunette out of her thoughts. Max knew who the speaker was even before she turned to face her.
Victoria Chase was staring at her with a concerned look on her face.
To be continued
A/N: Hey and welcome to 'Saving Rachel Amber'! Y'know, after I finished writing 'Executive Rewind', I was supposed to take a break from writing. Concentrate on drawing and maybe plan the sequel to 'Obscura' and 'Hellaween'. As you can see, that didn't go exactly as planned. XD
I got this idea for a story a couple of weeks ago. I was actually offering it for a collab project and brainstormed about it. I began so invested into this idea that I decided to write it myself. For some weird reason I seem to have developed an affection to photo hopping as my stories seem to revolve around the concept. This story diverts from the game plot at the point where Max and Chloe discover Rachel's body. After consideration, Max decides to photo hop to a point where Rachel was alive and prevent her from getting killed. Of course, things don't go as planned and our freckled time-traveler has to try to set things right again. Lots of plot twists, close calls, romance and drama is to ensue. Hope you enjoy the story.
Huge thanks to StevoCPP for brainstorming this story idea with me and to Crowthorne for ironing out my grammatical quirks!