Episode 2: Layers of Fear

After talking to Dana, Kate went outside of the dorms. There weren't a lot of people to be seen. Most stayed in their homes, and Kate couldn't blame them. One thing was how a former student got shot and died, in our own bathroom.

Another thing, was the gunshot. The gunshot everyone heard, that filled everyone's faces with either confusion, or fear. Or both.

Kate could remember, because she was afraid, too.

Kate just left Jefferson's classroom, as she was on her way onto opening her locker, to pack up her stuff.

Bang.

Everyone heard that, inside the building. Jefferson stormed out of the classroom, while Principal Wells did the same thing, from his office. David Madsen, himself, was startled, too. He never really anticipated an incident to happen in Blackwell, really. Maybe, even he felt fear.

As he ran to the Girls' Bathroom, Nat-

"Kate? You okay?", A worried Brooke asked.

"Y-yeah Brooke, I'm okay, why'd you ask?"

"You blacked out for a sec. And by a sec, I mean you spent around 10 minutes looking at that tree." Brooke responded, with a sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry Brooke, I just—I remembered what happened on Monday." Kate confessed, while Brooke let out a tired sigh.

"I was outside, on the campus that day." Brooke responded, while also looking at the tree. She took a minute to get her thoughts straight, to revive that moment, "I couldn't go inside, I was scared. Was a shootout happening within? I thought that to myself."

Kate barely remembered that. There were so many people outside the campus.

They must have been even more confused than us.

"The campus was so quiet, so peaceful, and then it just...that feeling just disappeared from one second to another.

Overshadowed with fear. It was terrifying.

Finally, after 4 or 5 minutes, we decided to enter the building.

We could see people screaming, crying, running away from the building.

I remember seeing Warren, terrified. I walked over to him and gave him a hug. No questions, just a hug to calm him down.

And from that angle I could see a motionless, blue-haired girl, with Max crying beside her, as David punched Nathan, over and over again, and put handcuffs on him, after his own rampage."

Kate put her arm in Brooke's shoulder, calming both of them down.

"It was terrifying, for all of us. Both of us looked at everyone's faces, filled with nothing but fear.

However...we didn't see what happened, we didn't witness it. Max did. She saw everything. For us, we saw the result of the incident, but Max? She was powerless. She couldn't have done-"

She saved Chloe, which led to her going through the worst experience anyone could face. Something so traumatizing, she will never fully recover from her wounds. Something unfixable, something that will make her have nightmares for the rest of her life.

"...anything." Kate responded, with a sad tone, as Brooke tried to cheer her up, but failed miserably.

"Hey listen Kate, I have to go, my class is about to start." Brooke said, as Kate nodded, trying to fake a smile. But she couldn't.

"Oh and Kate?" Kate turned around, as Brooke stood up from the bench "Make sure to take care of Max for me, will you? I shouldn't be, but in a strange way, I'm grateful for what she did to Warren yesterday."

Kate's heart skipped a beat.

What the heck did she just say?

"What did Max do yesterday?" Kate said, in a hasty and accelerated voice.

"Well, there's a twist." Brooke said, surprised for both Kate's question and attitude. "I thought you two would talk about anything."

Kate looked confused, while Brooke was genuinely surprised.

"She really didn't tell you?" Brooke asked, while getting no response from Kate. "Okay, okay, here's what she did."

"You're...you're-" Max tried to ask.

"You? Yeah." She responded.

"You're my...double. My clone from my nightmare." Max responded.

"Clone? Double? What, am I a doppelganger now? Please. I am you." She respon- "Please, call me Maxine. You wouldn't my name to be "her" or "It", would ya'?"

"You don't exist!" Max responded with a violent tone. "You're...You're not HERE!"

"Hey Shhh. Calm down, Max. Someone might hear us." Maxine responded, as she sat and laid back in the bed. "Or, more likely, someone might hear you."

Max was petrified. A hallucination? Another nightmare?

I'm going insane.

"Nailed it, Caulfield." Maxine responded. Yeah. She can read Max's thoughts.

She can read my thoughts.

"Yes, I can read your thoughts. I thought that was fairly obvious-"

"What do you want?" Max said, while interrupting Maxine.

Maxine gave a long, tired sigh, while laid back in Max's own bed.

"You know, at first, my objective was to torment you, in your little Diner nightmare." Maxine said, as Max shivered at the thought of remembering that nightmare. "To make your decision later on be a lot more challenging to choose-"
"And you certainly made it harder for me." Max said, with an irritated, and angry tone. "Because of you, it was much more...painful and horrifying to let my best friend-"
"Woah woah woah! You better check what you just said Max. Chloe wasn't your BFF. We both know that shit, so don't try to fool me. It's impossible to fool me, Mad Max." As Maxine said those two last words, something almost snapped in Max. Almost.

"I hit a nerve, didn't I? My bad, Max." Maxine said, while taunting her. "Anyways, not only that. You do know you killed her, right?"

What is she talking about, I didn't-

"Kill her? Uh yes you did. You might have not noticed so far, but letting her die is the same as killing someone—this is kindergarten stuff, Bat-Max!" Maxine responded, but Max finally snapped.

"I want you to get the FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!" Max screamed, as Maxine started to laugh.

"Ohhhh look at THAT! I don't think anyone's ever seen you this angry..." Maxine said, as she pointed at a semi-open door. Max's door.

"Until now." Maxine said. As Max saw the door open, then her sight went back to the bed. Maxine was gone. Disappeared...for now.

"Max?" Kate said, a little bit scared. "Is everything all right-"
"No. No it's not." Max honestly responded.

Kate looked at Max with a weird stare. Was it a suspicious stare, or a worried stare?

"Max, why did you scream like that?" Kate said, as she sat down beside Max, in the bed. Again.

"I need to...I need to leave. Get some fresh air, maybe go outside of the dorms..." Max said, as Kate stood up, holding her hand onto Max's.

"Aww, look at that! You're holding hands, what do you kids call that...mhm...Ah yes, bonding!" Maxine said. Standing right next to Max.

As Max gave a startled look, Maxine tried to shut her off.

"Shhh Max, come on! Pretend I'm not here, or else Kate'll fuck us over, and tell everyone we're insane!" Maxine said, somewhat relieving Max, in a weird way.

Kate looked in the direction Max just looked at, but saw nothing. She started to get seriously worried, and Maxine noticed instantly.

"See? Told ya." Maxine said. "I'll just follow you kiddos around, alrighty? Just pretend I don't exist. Even if I actually do."

"Max..." Kate said, as she gently pulled Max's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"Just gimme a second to change my clothes to normal ones." Max was still wearing the funeral clothes. Kate gave her around 2 minutes to dress up in her usual outfit: The Jane Doe pink shirt, her gray hoodie, and some jeans. And they went straight to the front of the campus.

Maxine followed them slowly, as Max kept looking over her shoulder. Kate was getting more and more worried.

(Kate) She looks so scared...so worried...she's losing it.

Kate put her arm around Max's shoulder, comforting her. It seems to have an effect on Max, giving her a feeling of safety.

As they walked outside, to the front of the campus, they sat down in a bench. While Maxine followed them, with an extremely bored expression.

"Ok, you know what, Max? I am outta here, the boredom is killing me. See you in the morning." Maxine said, as she walked inside the dorms once more, disappearing from Max's sight.

"See you in the morning"? Are you shitting me? She'll be bothering me every day now?! If I'm not already insane, I might just go crazy just by listening to-

"Max!" Kate yelled, with a somewhat lowered voice. "For god's sake, just please tell me the truth."

Which one?

The one that I am seeing a hallucination of a psychotic version of myself?

The one where I lost memory of what happened in the last 24 hours?The one where I killed my best friend...for the safety of this town?!
The one where I saved you, because I was too afraid to lose you?!

Those last thoughts got Max. It touched a nerve. She started to tear up for a bit, while Kate held her head, in her chest.

"Max..." Kate slowly had to get her thoughts straight. She could fuck up everything, with just a few words.

(Kate) Should I tell her about the Journal? Interrogate her about her supposed powers? Or what she did to Warren yesterday?

Warren. She needs to know. Or to see if she's been lying. It...It hurts me to not know whether she's lying or not.

It's time to confirm it.

"I know what you did yesterday."

Max opened her eyes, and were as bright as a pair of lightbulbs.

"Tell me. What happened. Now" Max demanded..."Please Kate."
"This is what Brooke told me. She wasn't a witness, but Warren told her about it."

(Max) Oh shit. Let me guess: He'll say to everyone that I kissed him or some shit. To brag about how he finally got Max to be interested in him. Goddamn liar.

"Tell us everything, Kate." Max said, but got a confused look from Kate, in response.

"Us? I am only telling you this, not anyone else..."

(Max) I didn't seriously just say that...right?

Oh shit. I'll look into that little hiccup later, this is more important.

"Me. Yes. Tell 'me' everything. Better?" Max responded. "Good."

Kate started to narrate:

"You walked out of the Girls' Dorms, walking calmly but focused, right after lunch, as everyone entered their dorms, since there were no classes. A lot of people were dead silent."

"No one wanted to even get near you, which that part I can remember, to not disturb you."
"Yet Warren couldn't take a hint. He still wanted you to go to the movies with him."

(Kate) Insensitive prick.

(Max) Insensitive prick.

"You told him something not even he could repeat. Brooke said that you 'left a scar', according to Warren. Something much worse than anything you could have previously told him."

Max wasn't convinced. She thought Kate missed a detail on purpose, but based on her look, she didn't.

"That's it? That can't be it. There must have been something else, something we might have missed." Max started to raise even more questions, in her head. Until...

"Hmm, there is one detail, which might not matter that much, but...Brooke said that Warren mentioned to her, that you were carrying a bag, large enough for it to fit an outfit, or lots of food." Kate continued. "I specifically asked about your clothes: You weren't wearing the funeral clothes, atleast yesterday."

"Yet I woke up wearing them...I can't piece it together, I can't...remember anything!" Max started to panic. "Why is this happening, Kate? Why am I being punished for this?!"

"Punished?" Kate responded, with a suspicion as to what Max means. "What do you mean, Max?"

"I...I-I can't...I mean I want to, but-" Max stopped panicking as soon as Kate took her hand. It made her shiver every centimeter of her body, and calmed her down. They had direct eye contact for a few seconds, which was satisfying for the both of them.

"I want you to be honest with me, ok? Because I'm going to be honest with you now." Kate said, with a nervous tone. She unfortunately broke the spell that both of them were under from.

(Kate) It's now or never, Kate. I have her full trust.

"I read your journal. I read about what happened throughout this crappy week." Kate said. All the response she received was a quick reaction from Max, which was a scared reaction.

"Shit." Maxine said.

"Shit." Max thought to herself.

"Lets hope this works..." Kate thought to herself, as she looked at Max's reaction.