Maxine Caulfield, Time Warrior, Human Time Machine, Blackwell Ninja.. oh, cut the crap. What kind of friend watches the only person they care about be put in harm's way countless times? Seeing a friend's death once is hard enough, but having seen it countless times.
Oh Chloe.. and now, she expects me to do it again.
As Max's thoughts slowly subsided into her subconsciousness, she once again became aware of reality. Peeking around the corner, she saw someone open the bathroom door.
"It's cool, Nathan... Don't stress, you're okay, bro... just count to three. Don't be scared. You own this school... If I wanted, I could blow it up. You're the boss."
Max cringed at the sound of his voice, shivers running along her spine as she thought of the ending her and Chloe decided was best.
"So what do you want?"
"I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say." Chloe began pushing the bathroom stalls open one-by-one, before circling back around. "Now, let's talk bidness."
"I got nothing for you." Nathan's voice, cold and emotionless as she'd come to know.
"Wrong. You got hella cash."
Wow.. Chloe knows how to play bad girl, but really, she's just putting on a mask. She needs this money to pay Frank back, and is only looking out for her own future.
All these thoughts raced through Max's mind as she experiences the events unfold again, each passing second becoming more and more unbearable considering what's to come.
"You don't know who the fuck I am or who you're messing around with!" Nathan's voice became more menacing, his mental instability now becoming painfully obvious to Max.
"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!"
The fear in Chloe's voice, the imminent gunshot that'll send echoes throughout the corridors of Blackwell, and bring about with it the death of her best friend, the only person she can truly connect with in a way unlike any other...
Max's mind was now racing at seemingly light-speed, there's no way she can let her best friend die while she's present, what kind of curse plagues Chloe? It has to be from the devil himself, right? God.. life is so.. shit...
No, Chloe is alive and well, I can't be a witness to an unspeakable act of harm against the only person she's come to know on a truly personal level.
With all these thoughts, Max couldn't help but begin sweating, her impulsiveness growing.
"Don't EVER tell me what to do."
"I'm so sick of people trying to control me!"
Max clenched her fists tightly, her head tilted upwards with closed eyes, resisting the urge of having a breakdown and bawling her eyes out like a baby.
No.. you know what's going to happen Max. Enough of this crap, whether Chloe caused the storm, or time-traveling, maybe... maybe I had to stop this from the start, maybe I was just too afraid, too anxious, I won't let my past fears get to me...
A moment later, Max came out from the corner, staring in Nathan's direction. Chloe's expression turned from one of panic to shock, her mouth hung wide open, as she saw Max come out of the corner. She mouthed out "Max!?," hell, even Nathan seemed like he was caught off guard.
"No one is trying to control you Nathan." Max's voice was firm in spite of the situation in front of her, her past experiences, her love of Chloe, the possibility of a new life, far, far away from all the madness. This was what she was looking forward to, what gave her the bravery to keep standing back up despite all the shit that kept trying to keep her down.
Nathan turned around starkly, a vicious look in his eyes, almost seeming to belong to a wild animal bent on harming others.
"What the HELL are you doing here, Caulfield!?" His voice shook with utmost anger, almost as if her liberties as a human was somehow interfering with his life. He moved away from Chloe and took slow steps towards Max, the grip around his gun tightening with each step.
"I-I.." Max began stuttering, the power behind her words weakening. No, I have to be strong, for Chloe, for everyone. She quickly glanced to Chloe to see how she was doing, and she seemed to be more relaxed and at ease.
"I was using the girl's restroom, Nathan, why else would I be here?"
"Haha, very funny skank, now explain the camera and the hiding? HUH!?" Nathan got right in her face, waving his gun around, like a ticking time bomb whose fuse just keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Max's mind seemed to be in two different worlds altogether, as all her experiences were still fresh in her mind. She wasn't in the best mood to be negotiating, certainly not with that gun in his hand causing her anxiety grow. It'd seem almost as if something was lodged in her throat, not able to get a word out.
"Alright Max, rewind time." Max thought to herself, she put her hand up, focusing on her position relative to time and rewinding the actions that took place.
"HA, this b**ch might be more bad-shit crazy than I am!" Nathan exclaimed with that laugh of his, slapping and resting his hands on his knee like he was having a heck of a time.
Keep laughing, asshole.
With Nathan momentarily distracted, Max quickly kicked the gun out from beneath his hand, sliding right in between Chloe's feet. The two girls quickly made eye contact, Chloe's shocked expression now one of astonishment, as she branded the smirk she pulls off so well.
"YOU DIRTY WHORE!" Nathan shouted out at Max as he realized what'd happened. He ran towards her, pushing her up against the restroom wall, using his forearm to sent her forward before switching to his hands to envelop her throat in a tightening vice. Within what felt like seconds, Max's throat became as dry as the Sahara. The pain began to numb, the only thing she's able to see being Nathan's expression of absolute hatred. One which, while not created at her, became directed towards her. Close to death, Max felt too familiar with it not to notice.
You saved Chloe... You followed your heart, Max, what else could you have done? You had two choices, and you carved out a new one.. Oh, things could've probably went so much differently, if only you had persuaded Nathan bette-.. Oh, I can hear Chloe's voice now.
Maxine Caulfield, don't you fucking dare question yourself.
Those rewind powers helped you, but even without them, with the help of Chloe, you became more daring than ever. My fate is now entirely up to me, and perhaps the only thing that tornado needed was a sacrifice, if my blood has to be the one that soaks the restroom tiles on this eventful Monday, well.. I accept it.
Max's eyes began to close, the light that kept her alive dimming, the glow of the world seeming to escape from every orifice of her body. Yes, Max, you did what you had to. You did what you thought was right.
... that's when it happened. BANG! The pressure that'd seized her throat and was bringing her closer and closer to her own death, freed her from the binds of its clutches. Max collapsed suddenly, regaining her breath in a rapid-fashion, having been so close to the brink of death she thought it was over. Slowly, she began blinking her eyes, light reentering her vision like some sort of lost commodity. She really was alive.
"Max.. I.." Max looked up slowly to see Chloe, looking down at her, her smirk replaced with a grim, unforgettable expression. One that says I missed you, yet also spells out, I can't believe that just happened.
Max slowly got up, steadying herself. The sound her feet made sounded like she was stepping in a puddle of water on the aftermath of a rainy day.
"No... nonono.." Max murmured to herself, looking down and seeing the pool of blood around Nathan's body. He's dead. Goddammit, Max.. You knew how good of a person he could've turned to be, he just needed help. I guess.. I guess there was no way out of that. After all, he almost killed her. Max came to learn that in life, not everyone can be saved, and it's best to accept her decisions. Now, she had to move on.
"Chloe... you saved me." Max took a step over Nathan's body slowly, standing close to Chloe but not looking directly at her.
"No Max." Chloe took a long step to bridge the gap between them. She then grabbed Max on both sides of her upper arms firmly. Slowly, Max's eyes shifted from looking down to meeting her eyes.
"You just fucking saved my life." At the same moment, both girls put their arms out and embraced one another, Chloe's warmth enshrouding her in a mystifying way, god, if only it lasted for eternity. With Chloe by her side it felt like anything was possible.
"Okay Max.. you can let go now, or did you miss me that much?" Chloe grinned.
"Oh.. yeah, my bad." Max giggled lightly, giving her some room.
"I like self-defense and all but.. this belongs to Mr. Psychopath over here." Chloe then crouched down, sliding the gun next to Nathan's body.
Chloe.. it feels so good to be back with you, god, I have some serious explaining to do later...
Suddenly, a loud sound drew them apart. Someone had opened the door to the restroom.
"What the hell is going on here!?" It was David Mason. Judging from the sound of his voice, he didn't seem too happy.
"Me and Max were just minding our own business, and.. and..." Chloe turned around and faced David, but even with her punk-rocker, upfront attitude, the events that'd taken place were too much for her to put in words. Max understood, and realized that she had to take over for the love of her life.
"David, Nathan ran into the women's restroom like a mad man, and threatened me and Chloe, we acted in self-defense." As she spoke, she looked back towards Nathan's body to give David the clue.
"Is he.. de-.." David's expression was one of absolute horror.
"Yes, David." Max knew what he was going to say.
"Oh ladies.. Mr. Wells is gonna kill me." David took on a somber expression, pain visibly creeping up to his face.
"David, Nathan is a killer. So is Mr. Jefferson. I know you know about the dark room as well." Max spoke confidently, despite her thoughts running rampant. Chloe quickly turned around, the look on her face saying "Max? What have you done!?" Although, Max knew she had to get this off her chest for the past to be fixed for sure.
"Wow, Max. These are some serious claims you're making, but, it adds up. Nathan is... dead, with this amount of blood loss. With your help, we should be able to get the dirt we need to take down Jefferson. He always seemed like a sneaky bastard to me." David sounded calmer, and more in control then before with what Max said.
"And Chloe, just this once, I'm going to act like I didn't see you here. You girls best get on out of here, you shouldn't have to see this.." With that, Max and Chloe walked past David, Max slipping her hand in between Chloe on the way out.
"Max, five years and not a single letter, and n-"
Shit, was that too soon? Naw, I can't help it, not with my world back by my side.
"I'll explain later, Chlo." With that, the two tightened their grip on one another on their way out.
The scene began zooming out into the border of a picture, the edges simmering off, the future now to unfold before them. Now, Max could only hope she made the right choice.. time would be the answer of that.
A/N: Hello everyone!
This is just set-up for what's to come, and trust me, it'll be getting more interesting. Feel free to leave any criticism on what I should improve on since this is the first time I'm doing this type of things so I'd like to get more comfortable putting out chapters. I hope people somewhat enjoy this as I'm trying harder to be unique then previous works on here. Look forward to more chapters where we dive into the corruption behind the Prescott name and what happens to our fellow protagonists.