Chapter 2 Friday Evening
After the witnessing the panic attack, it had been a particularly hard sell, but Max managed to convince her dad into letting her spend the night in her dorm rather than the hotel he was staying at. Fortunately, the brunette had been able to avoid contact with anyone, as the last thing she wanted to do was get stopped by someone she knew. Upon entry, the walk down the main corridor of the dormitories proved to be a difficult proposition for Max, as she was constantly reminded of her numerous trips down this hall during her nightmare. Being that it was past curfew, the entire hallway was covered in darkness, with the only exception being the outside light coming through the window by the shower room.
"Okay, this is scary dark," Max whispered aloud. "Let there be…"
Rather than fumble her way down the hall, Max used the flashlight on her phone to guide her. At about the midway point to her room, the brunette realized that she was unaware of Kate's fate in this timeline. Deciding the research could wait, Max approached the other girl's door and knocked after feeling a knot in her stomach. The anticipation during the wait was becoming unbearable before Kate mercifully opened the door. As she laid eyes on her friend, Max let out a more audible sigh of relief than she had intended. Having answered the door in her bunny pajama's and a cheery disposition, Kate looked like she was doing well, which provided a moral boast Max needed more than she realized.
"Hey Kate," were the words that came out of her mouth, but her thoughts were more attuned with; oh thank god you're okay.
"Hey Max," Kate responded sheepishly, "how was the interview?"
"Oh that," Max paused not expecting Kate to ask about the interview. "I ended up canceling it; I'm just ready to talk about it like that," she answered before quickly trying to the subject. "But I…I just wanted to see how you were doing. The shooting may have taken most of the attention away, but that doesn't mean you're still not going through some shit right now."
Seeming genuinely touched, Kate smiled at Max before moving closer for a hug. After a pause Kate answered, "That's so sweet of you Max; you've always been a good friend. But I've been a lot better since the video got taken down."
The fact that Victoria had taken down the video of Kate at the Vortex party came as an enormous relief for Max. After determining that Kate's state of mind had improved greatly, the conversation drifted into more casual topics. Taking solace in having a moment to just talk about normal things for a teenage girl in high school, Max didn't realize how much she needed a break for everything she had been dealing with over the past week. Feeling reenergized after their talk, the two said their goodbyes after they had made plans to have tea together at some point soon. Her mood having significantly improved since talking to Kate, Max set off the rest of the way to her dorm room. As soon as she entered her dorm room Max turned on her laptop and unlocked her phone. The brunette had a long night ahead of her if she was going to figure out what had happened in this timeline.
"Hey, Other Max kept Lisa alive," the brunette said with a smile, remembering how she had accidently over watered the plant in the original timeline.
Finally being back in her cocoon for the first time in days offered Max a sense of comfort that she hadn't realized how much it was missed before entering her room. Before setting into her research, she took a quick look around her room. Her photos, guitar, and clutter, were all roughly where she expected them to be. The fact that her room appeared to be unchanged provided Max a small measure of relief, which she was grateful for, after the volatile nature of the last week.
"Son of a bitch," Max exclaimed a little louder than she had intended as she finished reading through another article on Chloe's murder.
The momentary boost of optimism Max had received after seeing Kate quickly dissipated shortly after beginning her research. First, the brunette decided to focus on the case against Nathan and what had happened in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. It didn't take long for Max to realize that not every problem had been solved by her decision to sacrifice Chloe. One after the other, the majority of the coverage revolved around the Prescott's and the supposed fall from grace for one of Blackwell's most promising students. If the victim was mentioned beyond in passing, Chloe typically wasn't depicted in the most flattering of lights. The focus would generally be centered on her expulsion from Blackwell and her subsequent rap sheet, rather than the spirit and character that defined her. The media's depiction of Chloe infuriated Max, but reluctantly admitted; that from an outside perspective, it painted a convincing picture of who the blunette had been.
As it turned out, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, David was the first one to arrive on scene and restrained Nathan until the police had arrived. Max had hoped, or rather assumed, that once Nathan was taken into custody he would confess and implicate Mr. Jefferson as well. Unfortunately, as Max soon realized, that was not the case. From what she could gather from articles and new clips, after the shooting Nathan was indeed taken into custody for shooting Chloe Price. But the brunette was unable to find any mention of discovering Rachel's body or the dark room.
"You have got to be freaking kidding me," she mumbled to herself after finishing another article.
Max couldn't believe it, after everything that she and Chloe had went through during those five days; Mark Jefferson was still a free man. Still free to traverse the halls of Blackwell with that irritatingly smug hipster persona of his, a mental image which made Max gag in the back of her throat. During her initial search online, Max had focused on news regarding Nathan or Mr. Jefferson. After reading several articles, Max finally allowed herself to read one about Chloe;
At approximately 4:05 pm, Chloe Price had entered the women's bathroom at Blackwell Academy and appears to have gotten into an altercation with Mr. Prescott. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Prescott fired one round into Ms. Price's stomach at close range. The cause of the altercation is currently unknown. Paramedics were called to the scene and she was immediately rushed to Arcadia General but doctors were unable to stop the bleeding. Miss Price was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Oct 7thshooting marks the end of a life marred by tragedy….
"Wait, what did that say?" the brunette shouted aloud. "Was later pronounced dead? LATER!? How long was she alive after the shooting?"
Max had always assumed that Chloe had died almost instantly. This new piece of information left her questioning the nature of her previous assumption. Especially when considering the fact that a wound of that nature wasn't necessarily fatal. Before the advent of modern medicine, depending on the entry point, a wound of that nature could take days to be lethal. Her well of medical knowledge had run dry as that train of thought ended abruptly in favor of a sudden realization. A thought that almost made her throw up as it crossed her mind.
"Did we have a chance to talk after she was shot?"
The lack of any mention of last words in the remainder of article left Max in a panic as she searched for a way to uncover the truth. The brunette had to learn about Chloe's final moments, even if it broke her heart. Having become frustrated over the lack of detail in some of the articles, Max was initially unsure of how to continue the search before remembering one place she hadn't yet looked.
"My journal!" Max said aloud as she began frantically searching through the stacks of clutter.
Having finally found it buried under some clothes, the brunette turned through the entries starting last week as quickly as she could. Eventually finding it, her heart sank after noticing that the page was covered in tears, before beginning to read the entry.
October 7th,
I don't know how I could explain what happened today and frankly I have no desire to write in here. But writing has always been a great release for me so here goes nothing…
Chloe died today… It happened right in front me. I'm in the bathroom trying to come down after I freaked out in class when it all happened. I get distracted by a butterfly because well ADD is a bitch, next thing I know, some guy bursts in the bathroom and starts talking to himself like a maniac. Of course, I hide in the corner, hoping everything just goes away when Chloe comes in. They start arguing about drugs and money and next thing I know I hear a gunshot.
I stick my head out just in time to see Chloe fall to the ground. I can't get that image out of my head. I can still see it when I close my eyes. First the shot, then the site of her body falling limp and crashing into the floor, seemingly in slow motion.
Nathan is freaking out, screaming that he didn't mean to do it as Chloe is alternating between screaming in agony and coughing up blood. Mr. Madsen bursts through the door and takes down Nathan and there is a moment where it was just the two of us in the bathroom.
Chloe is staring at me with wide eyes before barely managing to squawk out, "Max?"
I'm crying hysterically and the only thing I manage to get out is, "I'm so sorry Chloe!"
As I notice she was holding my hand, Chloe just smiles and says, "I guess this is farewell."
Before I had a chance to respond the paramedics burst in and pull me away from her. After that, I just fall to the floor and cry my eyes out. Everything after that is pretty much a blur.
I abandoned her for 5 years and then I let her die. I could've stopped it, I could've saved her. But I didn't…how am I supposed to live with something like that?
After finishing the entry, Max was completely shell shocked, able to nothing but add fresh tears to the page. Slowly the brunette leans away from the page, still frozen still, as her mind tries to process the words Other Max had written. After a moment the numbness in her body begins to fade and a realization comes into focus.
"Chloe died not knowing how I felt about her," Max thought, "without knowing how we felt about each other."
It wasn't until this moment that Max realized exactly what she gave up to save Arcadia Bay. The devastation wrought by this notion completely overwhelmed her. The brunette soon found herself gasping for air as the familiar sensation from her earlier panic attack returned, before eventually collapsing to the floor. The rush of despair continued to build until she finally broke down and wept hysterically for what felt like hours before finally drifting off to sleep.
Notes: this is the second part of what was originally posted as Ch1. I decided to break it up into two chapters.