Chapter 2.
(Last chapter was kinda lame and started slow. I promise that this one will have more action.)

The sun had been replaced by the moon as Max was sitting on her bed, staring at the old picture William took of her and Chloe when they were younger... When they were happy, and had everything in their life planned and sorted out. Little did she know at that time of how her and Chloe's lives would be turned upside down in the days, months and years to come. "If I could just rewind that far back in time I would totally save William from that car accident..." Max thought as her eyes became teary again.

William was like a second father to her. She had been devastated almost as much as Chloe when the news of his death reached her as she sat in the kitchen with Chloe that day. Shortly after his death, the Caulfields moved to Seattle and Chloe was left alone in Arcadia Bay. Max wanted to contact her and be there for her best friend, but she didn't know how to handle William's death. She was after all only thirteen years old at the time. As a result Max kept pushing and delaying the call she was preparing to make, and the more she delayed, the harder it became. When days turned to weeks and weeks into months Max eventually just gave up and moved on with her life, hoping that her friend Chloe would do the same. Unfortunately that didn't happen, and today proved just how much Max had screwed up back then.

She put the picture away in her drawer and stood up, checking herself out in the mirror. She had taken off Rachel's clothes and was now wearing a blue jeans, a plain red t-shirt and a dark grey hoodie, which she left unzipped in the front. Her eyes were still slightly swollen from all the tears she'd shed after school. Almost everyone, even the ones who harassed Kate, had been smiling, congratulating or complementing her for saving Kate's life. Warren even gifted her a copy of "Remember me", a game that had been on Max's wishlist since it came out in June. And yet Max felt nothing but sadness and despair.

She had visited the Price-household after school, but no-one was home at the time. To make matters worse, Chloe wasn't responding to any of her calls or text messages. Max wanted to be there for Chloe this time. She wanted to hold the blue-haired girl in her arms and tell her that everything would be alright, that she would never leave her again and that all would go back to how it used to be when they were kids... and maybe, just maybe, Chloe would be interested in taking it a step further?

Ever since meeting up again with Chloe, Max had started to feel weird in her stomach. At first she thought it was because of her excitement to finally be back together with her childhood friend, but the more she spent time thinking about it, the more she became convinced that she was developing feelings for Chloe. Max had never felt attracted to females before, and had definitely not thought of kissing any. That changed when Chloe dared Max to kiss her when they were dressing up in the morning. Even though Max didn't accept the challenge, she still was intrigued by it. There was something about Chloe that made her feel... euphoric. That strange, tingly sensation in her belly everytime she was close to Chloe, and the sense of longing everytime she was away from her was driving her crazy.

Suddenly her cellphone started vibrating, breaking the silence in the room. *Bzzzzz* *Bzzzzz* *Bzzzzz*
"Chloe!" Max's heart almost jumped to her throat as she quickly ran to her nightstand, picking the fluttering phone up, only to sink down in her bed in disapointment when she saw that it wasn't Chloe, but an anonymous caller.
"Hello?"

"Shut up and listen." A masculine voice shot out. It was dark and broken, obviously tampered with to keep the identity of the caller hidden.

"Meet us at midnight, in the forest near the path leading up to the lighthouse, if you ever want to see your friend Chloe again." the voice continued.

"W-what?! Who are you?" Max shouted back as she jumped up from her bed.

"We are... friends of yours, and would like to meet you in person Maxine. If you do not grant us our wish, your friend Chloe here will suffer."

Max couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her legs were trembling, her eyes were dilated and her mouth was wide open as she stood in the room in silence. "What are you doing to Chloe?" was the only thing Max could utter with a shaky voice after a while.

"Nothing yet, but that might change depending on your actions. If you don't show up, the girl dies. If you contact the police, she dies. Come one minute too early or one minute too late, and she'll die." the man said, putting extra force in his tone everytime he uttered the word 'die'. "We look forward to meeting you Miss Caulfield." he continued before ending the call.

"No wait, let me talk to-! Damn it... Damn it!" Max shouted to herself as she threw the cellphone at the bed. A mixture of fear, anger and hopelessness swept through Max's mind. She couldn't believe what was happening. The whole thing seemed so unreal... almost like a scene from some low-budget mafia movie. The person she'd spoken to had used the word 'We', so it was clear that a group of people were behind this, and not one single individual. Who were the kidnappers? What did they want? And most importantly: How was Chloe doing? The punk-girl had gone through enough hell. The least she needed was to be kidnapped by some wannabe-mafiosos!

Max didn't know how to proceed. Should she call the police, or at the very least contact David and Joyce? The anonymous caller had demanded that she turn up alone, but maybe she could get someone to sneak up on them while she was keeping them busy? "No, it's too risky. I have to go alone, and somehow free Chloe. Whatever plan these sickos have didn't take my time-powers into consideration." Max thought to herself as her facial expression turned from frightened to determined. She was hell-bent on saving Chloe, even if it would kill her. No-one would harm Chloe again, not on her watch. Max took a look at the clock. It was 11:02 PM. She had less than an hour to get near the lighthouse. "I'll make it if I hurry. Hold on Chloe!"

She quickly grabbed her light-brown wrap coat and camera bag before making a run for the exit. It was past curfew so most students were inside their rooms, giving Max the chance to sneak out of the girl's dormitories without being detected. She was about to make a run for it out of the dorm area when she suddenly spotted a security guard moving in towards her direction holding a flashlight. Not wanting to waste a rewind Max decided to hit the dirt near the bushes, quitly observing the man as he walked around in the area before going in the room Samuel kept his tools at. Samuel must've forgotten to lock the door as the guard just went right in without using any keys. "I really don't want to waste a rewind, but if I want to save Chloe I'll need a weapon." Her thoughts immediately jumped to the red hatchet she had seen in there when snooping around two days ago. Max closed her eyes and felt time reverse as she held her right hand up. When the guard was nowhere to be seen, Max jumped out from the bushes and ran towards the room. Several of the tools were missing, but the hatchet was still there were she'd seen it the last time. After grabbing it, she quickly made her way back to the bushes as the light from guards flashlight once again became visible. After he went into the room like last time, Max rushed out from hiding and headed straight towards the campus.

"Wowser. They have tightened security after Chloe and I broke in yesterday." Max thought when she saw the two guards patrolling the area. This couldn't stop Max the ninja though, as she skillfully evaded the rays from the flashlights by sticking close to the trees, only moving when the guards had their backs turned. After a couple of seconds of sneaking, Max finally stood outside of Blackwell, only now realizing that she'd forgotten her cellphone on her bed. "Oh man, are you cereal? How am I now supposed to know what time it is?!" The anonymous man had made it clear that he wanted Max there at midnight. Not one minute before or one minute after midtnight. No, only precisely at midnight. Max decided to keep moving as she couldn't afford wasting more time without using rewinds. She wasn't planning on playing by the rules anyways. Max instead intended to sneak in on them with the help of her power, and then use the hatchet to take them out. The thought of having to kill frightened her, but she coudn't afford chickening out like she did when Frank Bowers was threatening her and Chloe at the junkyard the day before. Her best friend's life depended on it this time. Seconds quickly turned to minutes as she ran through the empty streets of Arcadia Bay. The weather had been cloudy, but nice most of the day, but now it was raining almost as bad as in her visions.
"Chloe, just hold on a little longer."

After a while she found herself near the forest. The dirt road to the lighthouse was hard to make out in the dark, but Max still managed to work her way to it. The anonymous man had not given her any specific location, so she was in constant alert, ready to reverse time if anyone attacked her. It was pitch-black, and she felt slightly scared as she moved through the woods. Besides, she could swear hearing the hooting of an owl which, according to the mythology of several cultures, are harbingers of death. Max wasn't particularly superstitious, but it still made her more worried considering the situation she and Chloe were in. After some more minutes of walking in the rain the lighthouse became visible, but neither the anonymous man nor Chloe were anywhere to be seen.

As she started looking around for clues to their whereabouts, the dark figure of a man suddenly stepped out from the back of a tree about 20 meters/64 feet away from her, and started moving in her direction.

"W-Who are you? And where is Chloe?!" Max shouted.
The man didn't answer and continued taking slow, but long steps towards her.

"Stay back! Or... Or else you'll regret it!" Max yelled with a shaky voice, finally showing the hatchet she'd kept hidden behind her back. It seemed to intimidate the man as he suddenly stopped and observed Max from a distance. He was tall and looked slightly like a fisherman because of the long, black trench-coat and black rain hat he was wearing. Max couldn't make out his face, but it looked like he was wearing a balaclava.

"Calm down Miss Caulfield." The mans voice was almost inaudible because of the rain. "There is no need to make this violent." He continued.

"No, I will not calm down! Where is Chloe?! Why are you doing this?!"

"Your friend is fine. Put the hatchet down and I'll lead you to her."

The man was definitely up to something. Even with her rewind powers Max still couldn't risk taking any chances.
"No deal! Show her to me first, and then we'll talk!" Max's voice was getting more and more filled with anger. Just the thought of this man having harmed Chloe made her want to cut him down to pieces.

"Too bad. I was hoping we could solve this without resorting to barbarism." With fast steps the man closed in on Max, while grabbing something from his pocket. Could it be a gun? Just when Max was about to raise her hand to rewind time, someone in a yellow raincoat bear-hugged her from behind and lifted her up. Both her hands were now pressed to her side, leaving her unable to rewind.

"No!" Max yelled as she tried to kick the attacker. Before she could land a proper hit, the man wrapped her hands behind her back and threw her to the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs, before sitting on top of her.
"Help! Help!" Max screamed desperately as she struggled to free herself.

"This could have ended peacefully, but you left us no other choice Maxine." The man in the black raincoat approached her holding something in his hands.

"Why?! Why are you doi-" before she could finish her sentence he put a red cloth on her mouth with his right hand, while his left hand kept her head still.

"Time for a small nap." He said whilst giving away a dark, morbid laughter. The piece of cloth must've been dipped with something since it had a faint, disgusting smell, and made Max feel sleepy and weak. Her vision was getting blurry, her body wasn't responding properly to her commands and she felt dead-tired. "No... It... It can't end like this. Chloe... needs... me." Even though her hands were wrapped behind her back, she still held on to the hatchet. Not being able to swing it, she made a last desperate attempt to free her hand by pressing the sharp side of the hatchet on the yellow-coated mans arm.
"Damn it! She cut me!" was the last thing she heard before slowly drifting away to the realm of dreams.

(Chapter 3 will be up tomorrow, unless I go to full sloth-mode.
Feel free to write a review about how much you hate this story. :p)