The rain is pouring in sheets now, slivers of silver that sting against Max's skin and cloud everything in gray. Lightning cracks overhead, bright enough to make her flinch but she doesn't. She doesn't because there is no whirlwind trying desperately to suck up the ground beneath her feet. No screaming wind. No adrenaline burning through her veins. In this timeline, there is no tornado, and the silence that hangs in between the pouring of the rain and the squeals of her classmates running into the dorms is almost too deafening. She thinks she would give almost anything to feel Chloe tugging at her hands, running against the wind with the rain pelting their backs. She would tumble into a tornado just to hear her laugh against her ear.
She closes her eyes and lifts her head into the rain. The water against her face feels more real than anything she's felt this past week. It's still hard to imagine that a week has passed since Chloe's funeral. Time has felt even stranger than all the times she's rewound. She can't remember walking from class to class, can't remember the shuffle of her feet, the pencil in her hand as she takes notes, the covers enveloping her in her bed. She blinks and suddenly she is grasping the shampoo while leaning against the shower wall or her face pressed against her laptop screen. She is everywhere and nowhere all at once. The seconds that pass stretch like taffy, their linear ticks too much for her to bear. Her fingers twitch, but her hand is like lead. There are no more rewinds left.
"Max?" For a second, she hears Chloe, feels the slight pressure of her hand against her shoulder and leans into it. The scratch of fabric against her face causes her to jerk back. She opens her eyes to a pair of hands pulling a hoodie over her thin frame and gently drawing the strings together under the hood. Warren's eyes meet hers, his brows knotted as he takes in the rain streaming down her face, her blank expression. "Let's get you inside." She lets him take her hand, lead her away from the downpour. If she closes her eyes, she can almost imagine it's her hand and again she hears her laughter echo like the rain against the pavement. The door muffles the rain behind them, a simple autumn storm and nothing more. The silence that follows is almost too much to bear.