Chapter 1: A Twisted Chimera

The constant whip of the wind crashing against the windows of the Two Whales Diner lets me know that it's time to go back. Hell, the way the environment shifted from calm to violent in one day was enough of a sign within itself. I look at the photo, knowing it's time. I have to do this. Everything is screwed up and now I have to fix it.

I lean a little closer towards the photo, focusing as best as I can. Warren has such a great smile in this photo, even though he was pretty wasted at the time. 'Shit Max, focus! Look at the photo so we can fix this!'

All of a sudden as if I were staring at the sun I start wincing. My ears ring like two little bells are rattling inside my ear drum and a warm liquid slides across me face. "Wha-what?" I murmur, losing my balance and crashing to the ground.

"Max!" Warren yells, nearly slipping as the rubber soles on his Vans glide across the greasy diner floor. He rushes over to me, his mouth slightly ajar. "Are you okay?"

I try to raise myself up but he puts his arm around my back instead, helping me ease forward. "I-I don't know what happened." A stinging sensation seethes from my nose. Rubbing the back of my hand across my nostrils, I pull it away and look at my hand. There's blood covering my hand.

Joyce gasps, her face almost losing color as she approaches me. "Max! Honey, what's going on?!" She glances over at Warren. "Go get some of the napkins in the back!" She waves him off, and drops down to my level, staring deep into my eyes. "Here." She pushes me back up against one of the diner stools. The metal is bent and all contorted, I wonder what happened to it.

"You feelin' alright?" She asks, rubbing the sides of my cheeks with her soaking wet hands. Everything is wet inside the diner, and the fierce rush of the rain only makes me afraid that this place will be flooded soon. My face is hot, the only thing keeping it warm is the blood that's dripping from my nose.

When I look into her eyes I see Chloe. I see death and light. I see David and I see William. I'm far from alright. No matter how many times I try and fix things, it doesn't work. "Joyce. Chl- Chloe." I just can't bring myself to say it.

Warren rushes over to us with the napkins in his hands. "Hold your head back, okay." He places the napkins up to my nose as light as a butterfly flapping its wings. He's so gentle and precise, wiping all of the blood off my face.

I shiver all over. My black jacket is drenched; the water makes it feel like a heavy suit of armor.

Joyce's eyelashes flutter and a tear runs along her already wet face. "Where's Chloe?!" She grows more frantic, standing up and looking out of the busted window. "Oh! My baby!" She wails and cries; it rips me up inside.

"Max, didn't you and Chloe leave together at the party?" Warren asks, trying not to speak too loud. "Where is she?"

It's all my fault, and now Chloe is dead because of me. I can't face anyone, it's so humiliating. Here I am trying to be a hero to everyone yet all I do is fail. "Warren, I'm sorry but I have to go." My voice quavers, I'm about to cry.

"Max!" He calls out to me.

I burst through the door of the diner. There is nothing but chaos surrounding us, and it's about to get worse. People scream and run, some are hiding underneath sparse metal scraps, and cars.

Just then someone grabs my hand, I turn around and look. It's Warren. "Warren-Please let me go. I have to go." I plead. I had just told him my secret and kissed him (*choice*) a few minutes ago... Things are getting too complicated and deep. I can only imagine how things will turn out in the end.

"Max! No! I'm not letting you go out there alone!" He turns me around, making me face him.

His hand is trembling as he cradles my cheeks, boring into my eyes. It's almost hard to stare at him with the raindrops clumping into my eyelashes. "Warr-" I murmur.

My cheeks are coated by the wetness of his hands. "I'm not leaving you. Not like this, I won't." He pulls me into his chest that's also just as sopping wet as mine.

The wind whispers a haunting tune all through Arcadia Bay. A presence is felt all around us, and I know something is coming. Something other than the storm. The wind whispers, again and again.

I pull away from his embrace and whimper. "Warren, please don't make this hard for me okay! I can't stay here. I have to go, I have to-"

He broadens his stance and grabs hold of my arm again. "Max, I'm not leaving you!" He seems lost in his words. "You always push me away." Diminishing the space between the both of us, he places his hands on my shoulders. "I want to be there for you Max, you can trust me. Let me help you... Please."

"I don't know if you-" I start to speak but I'm cut off by Warren's interruption.

"Please Max." He squeeze my shoulders. "Please, let me." His eyes are so wet and hazy, he looks hurt about something. Not the storm, but something else.

I really don't want to burden him with my troubles but he insists. "Well we have to get out of here." I hesitate but admit how I really feel. "I'm afraid."

"Max!" Warren points to himself. "I'm scared too! But I wanna do this." He looks behind me at the people and his mouth widens.

"What?" I ask, and Warren points towards the billboard sign behind me, it completely collapses. "Oh my God, Warren! Let's get out of here now."

I grab his hand, and run for it. The wind pushes us back, as if it doesn't want us to move forward; but I fight through it. It nearly renders me breathless as it flushes through my nostrils with its opposing force.

We make it to 's car and I unlock the doors. "Get in!" I wait for Warren to get in and then I start the engine, speeding off into the entropy of madness.

Driving is difficult with the wind constantly pushing against the car. "Where are we going?" Warren asks, looking at all the fallen trees and desolate land surrounding us.

"I have to check on David, if it's the last thing I do. I want to bring him back to Joyce, I want to be there when I tell her what happened to-"

Shrieeeeek! Classssh! Crunch! Thud! In a frenzy I turn to the left and smash the breaks. "Oh my God! Warren!" I shrill, taking it all in as I look at the broken window and look back at him.

There's blood splatted all over him, it's oozing out of the cuts on his arms and the cuts on his face and neck. "I'm alright." He winces, shifting around in the seat, looking out of the busted window.

A huge rock had busted through the window, the wind had pushed it in. I sit there in astonishment, looking all around me like an automated security camera. "Warren-" I reach over to him and graze my hand over his face, blood running onto the tips of my fingers. "I can clean your cuts when we get to David, okay?"

He whispers something but I can't catch what he says, he lifts his arm with a weakness and points ahead of us, urging me to keep driving.

Everything feels like some kind of movie, a twisted game, a dream. The tires trudge through the wet sand, it's rocky and bumpy, but we finally approach the Prescott's little abandoned farm. "Okay we're here." I turn the car off and slip the keys inside my jacket pocket.

The gas needle weens to the half full marking and I realize that everything revolves around time. Our time is limited, and we have to make the best of it, even if you can manipulate time.

I get out of the car and help Warren out. His skin is all red and pink, partly from the blood staining his face, and partly from the irritation the glass had caused his skin.

The wind seems to work with us this time, although it's overly forceful. It pushes me and Warren into the Prescott's barn and once we make it inside I don't even have a chance to close the opening, the wind slams it shut.

Warren's eyes beam with nervousness. "Woah. What is this place?"

"Do you trust me?" I ask him, pulling him closer to me as I lead him to the secret opening.

"Of course." He quickly replies.

"Then that's all that matters right now." I lead him to the opening and feel a stinge of regret for what I'm about to ask him. "I'm gonna need some help opening this."

Through his stinging cuts and burns he faces me with blood dripping all down his face. "Of course."

We both heave as we pull the door to the bunker open. He winces so hard it almost looks like his face starts bleeding more. Drops of blood splatter onto the metal bunker door and it finally cracks open.

I rub his shoulder, and ease him forward, looking down at the bunker. "Come on."

There's a stillness that permeates the air. I slowly walk down the steps, wondering if everything was all a mistake. Maybe I shouldn't have came back here.

"David?" I call out, reaching the final step and once I look to the left I lose all sense of stability, dropping to my knees as gravity takes me under. "DAVID!"

"Max!" Warren rushes down the steps, and stops dead in his tracks once he realizes why I'm on the ground. "What the fuck is going on?!"

Even though we're deep underground I heard the wind whisper. Even though we're in this bunker made for protection I hear the wind cry out to me. The whisper is clear as day, the wind is weeping, leaving trails behind as if it's a broom that is sweeping. The wind is weeping.