I AM…Rachel Amber!
By Fynnlay Simms

She awoke! She was no longer in the dark…

But, where was she?

The last thing she remembered was a cold and dark sensation that took over all her senses. All her feelings. Everything she ever was or ever could have been…was part of the darkness and would never again see the light.

Yet here it was. The light. Brighter than ever. Blinding, in fact.

Her name is…was…Rachel Amber. At least she still remembered that. Yet again that golden question pushed its way into her mind,

Where was she?

Rachel looked around her and was shocked to see…nothing. Absolute and never-ending nothing. Was this heaven, or maybe hell? No, it couldn't be hell, it was too bright for that. Too peaceful. In order to stop her mind from literally freaking out, she decided to call out and see if anyone, anywhere could hear her. She shouted out and was surprised to hear her own voice echo back to her. She still had a voice as well, not that it probably mattered anymore. A few more frantic shouts into the silence was enough to convince Rachel Amber that no one could hear her or no one cared enough to reply. Not even the afterlife wanted her. She could only think of three actual people who ever wanted to see her, who actually enjoyed her company;

Chloe Price! The one person she could count on fully in her life. Chloe had a fire in her that was for sure but it never burned Rachel, she made sure of it! Rachel had saved her, so many times both physically and mentally. She remembered all the times when the topic of William, Chloe's deceased father, would come up and Rachel would spend literal hours on end comforting her best friend and trying to convince her that life was more than brooding and mourning. She remembered employing the use of weed and booze to help her convince Chloe. The strange thing was that through the many arguments they had, Chloe and Rachel had something, something so strong. Rachel spent a long time trying to figure out what that 'something' was and she was convinced Chloe was doing the same. Whatever that 'something' was…it was no longer there. Not anymore now that she was…here.

Frank Bowers! Oh, how she missed Frank. He often called her his 'lioness'. Sure, allot of the time he was a dick! But unlike everyone in his life, including Chloe, she understood him and wanted to help him. She wanted to love him. Rachel was never sure if she truly, honestly loved Frank but she definitely admired him. He was a drug dealer and she knew he supplied it to many people, including those who might have been too young but she really wanted to be a good influence for him and right at that moment she hoped she was! She wished so hard that he was with her right at the moment when she…went. To hear that rough voice and harsh barking from that ever so cute dog, Pompidou would of made her transition so much easier.

Who was the third? Who was the last person she thought honestly loved her and cared for her. Well, that was the person who put her here. No matter how indirectly.

Mark Jefferson! The man who would change her life for the better. She always thought of him as her saviour but all the time, he was her executioner. She didn't want to be a party 'animal' anymore, not really. She wanted to be a model, a star in the metropolis that was San Francisco and the very man who said he would take her there was the same man who would stop that dream dead in its tracks. Rachel felt something inside of her whenever she thought of Jefferson now but it wasn't anger. She couldn't feel anger anymore and it felt strange, really strange.

"Who am I now?" she asked the silence. It didn't reply. It was a meaningful question as she didn't know who she was meant to be anymore, she didn't even know where she was. A reality between realities. She never believed in that bullshit but she didn't know what to believe anymore. The never-ending light around her was so strong it hurt that it should be hurting her eyes but yet she felt nothing. No pain. No anger. Just loss. She lost everything! Her best friend, her kind of boyfriend and the man who would have made her into the star she always wanted to be. She was the start of her own life but it got cut. Now she didn't know what to become.

"Maybe that's what this place is!" she exclaimed to herself. It was at that moment she knew exactly what this place was.

Rachel Amber had spent nearly all her life wondering who she was. Some days she wanted to be a star and other days, she just wanted to get high of some of Frank's drugs or get wasted. She even hated her own parents most of the time but she never truly believed she did hated them, not fully. The bright light seemed to fade slightly as this though process came into her mind, that coupled with the fact she could actually feel something convinced her that she needed to finally realise who she was and what she wanted.

Hours…maybe days went by. Time was a hard concept to comprehend in the brightness but eventually she understood. She finally knew what she wanted.

Rachel closed her eyes. She pleaded in her mind, hoped so strongly that she was right. Hoped she knew what she was doing.

She opened them.

She was no longer in the light anymore. She wasn't in the darkness either but she was…by the lighthouse in Arcadia Bay. The sight of the Bay by the seafront made her feel so happy for the first time since she lived there. She looked around and felt her memories again and felt something she didn't know she had. A longing to help all of those people living their normal boring lives in that normal boring town where nothing ever happened. She wanted to help all of those people who would fall under the curse of Mark Jefferson. She wanted to help...Max Caulfield?

Why was she thinking about her? She only ever heard about Max from Chloe and it wasn't always good things either.

A storm! A deadly storm! She knew it was going to happen now. How? Could she see into the future or something? That was impossible. She closed her eyes again and re-opened them to find herself in the exact same place again but…so different. The light and calming sway of the trees had been replaced by a frantic and desperate sway. The warm and soothing sun was now a bleak moon and aggressive rain. Then she saw…IT.

A tornado! Huge and aggressive and…devastating. It was destroying the town. What the hell was happening? How could she stop it? She couldn't stop it but…they could. Max and Chloe. Together. She didn't know how she knew this but she did know she had to somehow warn Max or at least…guide her to her destiny. That destiny was either…destroy the town or save Chloe. Poor Chloe, to be in the centre of all this destruction and not deserve to be. They also had to find her body together but it had to be together or she will never be found. How did she know all this? How did she know her own body led buried in the Junkyard her and Chloe loved to hang out. The only place they could.

It was decided, there and then by Rachel. She needed to guide Max somehow, guide her to Chloe and guide them both to make the right choices. But, how could she do this? There had to be a way. Rachel knew that if she appeared as is she was to either Max or Chloe, nothing would get done and everything would break apart. That's when it hit her! Samuel, the janitor at Blackwell used to talk about spirit animals and how they helped guide everyone to their destiny's. Was this even possible? Could she actual take the form of someone's spirit animal? How would she even know what their spirit animal is? She closed her eyes yet again and found the answer to her question. She could faintly hear voices in her head, like whispers. A conversation between…Max and…Samuel of all people. They were standing outside the female dorm at Blackwell. Max mentions seeing a…doe. Her spirit animal! That must be it! Max's spirit animal was a doe! How cute!

Was she about to do this! Take the form of an animal and help guide some girl she's never even met to her destiny. Until recently, she didn't even believe in an afterlife! How did she even know about Max and the storm in the first place? Was she being guided too?

The next time she re-opened her eyes, she was standing once again in the storm, by the lighthouse but this time…she was a doe! She felt light and almost…not herself. She glanced forward and…there she was. Max Caulfield, staring right at her.

It worked!

Now all she had to do was lead her to places. Places she needed to see and be at very specific times.

Time.

Why was time such an integral concept and why was Max Caulfield at the centre of it all. That was one answer she may never get hold of.

It was time! Time to do the last thing she could to help those she cared about and they may never know it's her. She couldn't help but feel happy as she remembered all the memories of her and her friends, of the time she had saved Chloe from being stabbed by a broken bottle in a barn rave long ago. Such good memories now she thought about them. Another question came into her mind, what would happen to her after all this? What would happen after she lead Max and Chloe to her body and the circle is complete? In all honesty, she didn't really care. She only cared that she could finally help Chloe and Frank and everyone! She cared that she finally knew who she was and where she was going in her life!

"I AM Rachel Amber!" she declared, giving a final smile as she began leading Max to her destiny!

Wow, thanks so much for reading that and I hope it wasn't awful! I always felt like Rachel was such an integral part to the story of LIS and I always thought she was somehow helping along the way somehow so…thanks so much for reading this little one shot and I hope you all have a great week!