A/N:
Hey Guys!
Happy to bring you another chapter, I had initially intended this to be longer but i figured it would be better to split the chapter in two, i was finding it hard to keep track of it all when i read through it. University is starting again so these fast updates will likely not continue.
Thank you all for your support and comments, it's nice to read your thoughts on my work. As always feel free to let me know what you think and what you feel could be done better :)
This story does contain dark themes and implications.
Darkness. The absence of light is the bane of young children all over the world, millions spent on small lights to comfort children before bedtime, millions of children begging their parents to stay with them until they sleep under the guise of wanting to hear a bedtime story, most children grew out of such fears within years, some even came to prefer the dark and the solace it provides them, those who do not outgrow the fear keep the fact hidden in an attempt to avoid the embarrassment and derision that comes from being plagued by such an irrational fear. Such fears are hardly irrational, our oldest ancestors understood the dangers in the dark, why else was fire and shelter the most precious commodity they possessed? One cannot flee in the dark, inky shadows obscures obstacles that will always impede the prey more than the predator, the only choice is to hide, hide from the monsters that lurk in the shadows, that prey on you in the night, the monsters you have no hope of fighting.
Fear of the dark is not irrational, she knew.
Max knew fear better than anyone.
She knew the terror of being sealed in the dark with only the cries and screams of her fellow victims to tell her she was not alone. She knew the fear that came with knowing you were about to be hurt, the knee wobbling horror at seeing your tormentor stride towards you with a sadistic look in their eye. She knew the indignant dread that came from being bought and sold like an animal, the grabbing hands of her 'masters' dragging her in and out of underground auctions. She knew the mind-numbing panic that accompanied being tied down, knowing you were to be subject to the very worst humanity had to offer. She knew the hopeless resignation that took away the very will to continue.
Max knew where the breaking point was. God, did she know.
The woman bound to the chair before her would learn this soon enough.
"Please." The woman sobbed through the bag on her head.
What she meant by her plea was uncertain, was it please let me go? Please stop hurting me? Please tell me what you want? Max didn't know or care.
It had been three days since she had brought Nadia here, three days in which she hadn't said a word, hadn't let the woman get more than an hour of sleep at any one time, hadn't done anything more than feed her, give her water and break the occasional appendage. She was out of fingers and toes. The key, she understood from experience, was to destroy any sense of routine, Max knew it had been three days since she had begun, but Nadia wouldn't know if days, weeks or months had passed at this point. The dark has taken her. The sleep deprivation has weakened her. The pain has tormented her.
Hopelessness would break her. Max knew this better than anyone else.
There would be no 'Deus ex butterfly' to save Nadia. There hadn't been for anyone else with whom Max had a 'chat' with.
The lack of crying combined with Nadia's deepening breathing informed Max that her guest had fallen asleep. She set her timer for a half hour, couldn't let the woman recover to any real degree, it could mean starting over from the beginning, an amateur mistake. Max was not an amateur.
Years of work were coming to a crescendo. She had torn across Europe destroying Damjanac's drug, weapons and slaving facilities, she had fought, she had bled and she had often brushed against death itself. She had mercilessly hunted down, eviscerated and then exposed every cop, lawyer and politician that she could connect to Andrej's various operations, it was working, there was no honour among these thieves and he was being abandoned and cut off from every avenue of support. Now Max had Nadia, the woman who bought every girl for Andrej's various businesses, one of his closest partners and, if rumours were true, his occasional lover.
It wouldn't be long before she had the head of the snake strung up by his thumbs for the world to see.
Eventually her timer sounded, indicating that naptime was over. Max moved deeper into the dark room to retrieve the bucket of water, it wasn't so dark that she couldn't see, but with the bag constantly over Nadia's head, it may as well have been a constant moonless night. Careful not to spill any on herself, max made her way before the sleeping woman before emptying the bucket over her head.
Nadia barely moved.
Max frowned and reached over to slap the woman a few times on the cheek. The bound woman barely groaned before moving hear head to present the other cheek. Max raised her brow, surely she wasn't done yet.
She leaned in close to the woman's covered ear. "Falling asleep on me already, Nadia? You haven't even made it through the first day yet." She lied with a whisper.
The woman began to sob quietly. Max had expected her to last longer.
"But you want to talk already, don't you?" Max asked with faux innocence. The bound woman nodded. "Very well, where can I find your friend Andrej Damjanac?"
"I don't know." Came a broken whisper. Max frowned, something was wrong.
"Now, now Nadia, think very carefully before you answer, where is Andrej Damjanac?"
"Please, I'll do anything you say." That voice…it was wrong, it was not the voice of a woman in her late 30's. Max reached forward and grasped the hood, with a single tug she tore the fabric from her captive's head.
Max stumbled back, her legs beginning to shake. There was no woman in the chair, only a young girl. Empty, ocean blue eyes peered at Max, red and smeared with tears, the girls face was dotted with freckles that so many would find adorable and her brown hair was pulled into a short pony tail.
Max knew the face. She had seen it in the mirror every day before school.
"Don't like your own work?" Asked a dry voice from the shadows.
Max started towards her gun only to find it missing, her knife too was gone and the darkness seemed to be creeping in towards her. "Show yourself." She commanded, secretly proud that her voice was still calm.
"I never could hide from you." The voice conceded as a man staggered from the darkness. Max's breath caught in her throat.
It was Andrej Damjanac. His handsome face was a mess of bruises and blood, his left ear had been torn from his head and his right eye was nothing more than a raw, gaping wound. The man continued forward towards Max and she felt the bile rise within her. His right leg was twisted at so many wrong angles. The walking nightmare reached out a mangled hand, every joint on every finger bent and twisted.
"Am I not everything you wanted?" The man gurgled as he stopped before her, blood trailing from his mouth.
"Perhaps I am sufficient." Another voice called from the opposite side of the room. Nadia herself limped out of the dark, her hands and feet swollen and blue, the empty sockets of her gouged eyes seemed to peer right into Max.
"I know I wasn't enough." Another man stepped in behind, unrecognizable under the blood and gore that covered him.
"O sufficiente nunca basta." Stated another from behind her.
The air was filled with the calls of dozens of men and women in various languages as they moved from the shadows to surround her, their broken and twisted forms struggling to hold them upright.
Max couldn't breathe, they were all dead, she knew it, she had been the one to break each of them, the one to tear her answers from their hollow husks before hanging them out as a message to the underworld. The tactic had worked, every successive person she caught broke halfway before she had even gotten to work on them, her reputation alone doing half the job.
And now they were here. On a deeper level she recognized she was dreaming, but that level was buried deep under a layer of nausea, terror and shame. She had done this.
"Leave me alone!" she cried, lashing out with a fist towards Andrej's wreck of a face. Her fist was stopped dead as Andrej caught it with his broken hand.
"We can't." He stated calmly, leaning into her face. "We're all part of you now, our legacy."
-0-0-
"NO!" Max screamed as she shot from her bed, her chest heaving and tears running from her eyes. She gripped her bedframe tightly as she drew to a sitting position, trying desperately to will her pounding heart and breathing back under control. It took a full five minutes.
The nightmare was the worst in years, she rarely woke screaming anymore, she had gotten past that by her mid-teens. Or so she had thought.
Climbing to her feet, she made her way to her room's window grabbing a metal case from under her orchid, her precious plant guarded her 'precious plant'. She was relieved when she opened the case to find a joint already rolled, she didn't think she would be capable of rolling one right now with how bad her hands were shaking, she would have a hard-enough time lighting the damned thing.
True enough, once she had opened the window it took her minutes of fumbling and cursing before the strong scent filled her nose. It was over a month now that classes had started, and Max was not doing nearly as well as she wanted, oh, her grades were perfect, true to her assumption, it was easy to please her teachers and even when she found concepts difficult…well, she had more time on her hands then most. No, the problem was that she didn't feel any better about herself, she was as irritable as ever, leading most people to avoid her when alone, even photography failed to bring out any great sense of joy, she enjoyed it more than any other subject, but it was nothing like the all-consuming obsession she had as a child to capture every moment.
This wasn't working, and Max was scared.
Scared because after everything she had been through, all the pain, all the anger and all the fear, she still hoped to go home, to leave the last five years behind her and move on. It wasn't happening, she felt like she was going backwards now, the nightmares were getting worse and she didn't know how long it would be before she completely lost hope.
Max knew where the breaking point was. God, did she know.
She took another drag. She knew she couldn't keep going like this, she was running on a varying cocktail of drugs and sheer stubbornness, but she could feel herself slipping, she knew everyone else saw it as well, her eyes were constantly sunken, and the bags were getting beyond her ability to cover up with makeup, she rarely cared enough to do so now. As if sensing weakness, Victoria and those like her moved in like dogs, it took one bloody nose and her harshest death glare to dissuade them. Kate and Dana stood by her though, either too stupid or too caring to see it was fruitless. Max didn't deserve them.
It wasn't long before the joint burned out and she felt a little lighter, it should be enough for the rest of the night, she could put up with a little exhaustion. She hadn't slept a night through since she was thirteen, it was a way of life for her and it hardly mattered.
She didn't what did matter anymore.
October 7th, 2013
The Morning found a tired Max standing out front of Kates door. The little cinnamon bun, as Max affectionately thought of her, had been missing in action the entire weekend, neither Max nor Dana had been able to contact her, Although Kate's parents had an odd habit of whisking her away for various Christian functions, it was unlike Kate to go radio silent for so long. She knocked at the door.
A minute passed. Max knocked again. Another full minute passed and Max was preparing to kick her way in when the door opened a crack, there was no Kate peering through the gap as she normally did nor was there any light shining through. Worried, she shouldered her way through the door in the darkened room, it didn't feel right inside, the windows were covered and the room smelled as if neither sun nor fresh air had graced the area in days, the normally immaculate room was a mess of discarded clothes and papers, even the mirror was completely obscured under a sheet.
Kate herself looked terrible, her eyes were sunken as if she had barely slept and her entire posture made her look defeated. Max felt dread coil within her, she had seen people like this before hell, she had been a person like that.
"Hey Max, I managed to oversleep. Thanks for waking me." Even the girls normally bright voice was dull and lifeless.
"Kate…" Max started, unsure of what she should do. "What's wrong? You look…down." She finished lamely.
"No, I just…didn't get enough sleep last night. I know I look something awful." Max was rarely fooled by even good liars, Kate was not a good liar.
"Kate, please. Talk to me, what's going on?" Max pleaded as Kate turned away from her to fiddle with the scattered papers on her desk.
"I don't-Please max, not right now." The last part uttered quietly enough the Max had to strain to hear.
She knew better than to force the issue, she was not the type to talk about her own problems. Instead she stepped forward and hugged the girl from behind, Kate froze momentarily, Max didn't know if it were in annoyance or in surprise. Max rarely touched anyone.
"When you want to talk, I'm here okay?" She asked before stepping away and heading for the door.
She heard Kate's wavering voice thanking her before the door closed.
Max had to run to make Mrs Grant's science class in time and even then, she had only just entered the class before the bell rung. She quickly scanned the room for available seats and typically, the only free seat was next to Warren. Max sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like him, he was probably the most likeable guy in the whole school in her opinion, but his crush on her was nearing oppressive levels, no matter how many times she turned down a request for 'coffee' or to study together, he never seemed to get the hint. That was typical of him though, he still hadn't picked up Brooke's hints either, that girl was pretty much waving a runway torch in front of him and he couldn't see it.
"Yo Maximus!" The boy greeted as she plonked down next to him. "Almost missed it, must've been watched one too many movies last night huh?"
Max was momentarily confused, then it clicked. "Yeah, I started and just never stopped." She was lying, she had not watched a single movie on the boy's flash drive, she had copied over some of the recognizable ones but the mood to watch a movie had not yet struck her.
"You should watch Big trouble in little China if you haven't already, that one's an absolute classic!" He continued in a whisper as Mrs Grant began her class. Max was settling in for a rough class when her phone buzzed. It was Kate.
Kate: Hey Max, you around?
Max looked around, Warren's attention was momentarily captured by Mrs Grant and nobody else was paying enough attention to rat her out.
Max: Always. What do you need?
Kate: Do you want to get tea later today?
She and Kate had tea together quite regularly, Max suspected it was Kate's attempt to get her to open up about what was wrong with her. The irony was not lost on her.
Max: Absolutely. Should be free after 4
Kate: TTYL
Max sighed to herself in relief, at least something went right.
The rest of the day passed by uneventfully until photography. As soon as she walked through the door she knew something was amiss, Kate was in class but she was timidly sitting in a corner avoiding contact with anyone, normally she and Daniel would be discussing their mutual love of drawing, she had also selected the desk with the editing computers ensuring no one could sit with her.
Max made her way to her usual seat noting that Victoria and her crew of sycophants arrayed facing Kate, smirking and laughing among themselves which Kate seemed pointedly trying to ignore. The laughs died down as she passed them confirming her thoughts, they would only have done so if they were mocking Max or Kate as the latter was squarely under Max's 'protection'.
'What could possibly be going on?" Max thought to herself as she set herself down and prepared her books. 'Maybe someone died in her family? No, she would be gone for a funeral in that case, or maybe that's where she was over the weekend, it would explain her lack of communication.' Another giggle from Victoria and her friend Courtney interrupted her thoughts. 'No, not even the three stooges would be so heartless as to tease someone about a death. They better not be, for their sakes.'
Her internal dialogue was cut short as Mark Jefferson entered the room with his usual confident swagger, he was a good lecturer, his knowledge on photography principles seemed perfect and he was very good at engineering situations that forced class participations, and his passion for the subject also made him almost as animated as Mr Keaton was about theatre, it made for interesting classes at very least.
"Welcome back everyone!" he began, "I hope you all had a better weekend than this old hipster." He joked, whatever her feelings about the man, he was popular with his students and there were never complaints from his class.
Unfortunately for Max, sleep deprivation and concern for the closest thing to a friend she had stolen away her ability to concentrate and the class passed by in worried haze as Max sat, desperately trying to unravel the mystery that was Kates depression.
It was towards the end of her class when a thrown ball of paper caught her attention, it sailed past in front of her as Jefferson's back was turned to strike Kate in the forehead before landing in the girl's lap. After a few seconds Kate unravelled the ball before scrunching it up again and throwing it away, tears threatening to escape her eyes. The paper ball landed near Max's foot but Kate would know if she grabbed it, Max hardly wanted to give her more reason to be upset. The smug grin of satisfaction on the face of Victoria's friend Taylor let Max know who she needed to have a little chat with.
"- Max for example has an affinity for what is modernly referred to as the 'selfie'." Max caught her name and prepared herself, Jefferson had likely noticed her lack of focus and was about to 'include' her in the discussion.
"Of course, as you all know, the photo portrait has been popular since the early 1800's. Your generation was not the first to use images for…selfie-expression." He paused, as if only just realizing how lame the pun sounded. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. The point remains that the portraiture has always been a vital aspect of art, and photography, for as long as it's been around."
The man paused smirking humorously at her. "Now Max, since you've been raptly attentive all lesson and have most definitely NOT been staring into space for the last ten minutes, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?"
It was a good thing Max was a week ahead in course readings.
"The Daguerreian process." She replied, thinking back on her late-night study, there was precious else to do when the night terrors forbade her sleep. "The French painter Louis Daguerre developed what became known as daguerreotypes which became popular for the clear, defined features it gave its subjects."
Jefferson didn't even look surprised, although he always seemed so sure of Max's ability as a photographer. She felt almost felt bad for her mysterious distaste of the man.
"Well done, you've obviously not been neglecting your readings." He replied with a smile before addressing the class as a whole. "The process made portraiture immensely popular for the very reason Max described, the rest of you can learn more when you actually finish reading the assigned chapters. Max is so far, way ahead of everybody."
Max did not miss the glare Victoria gave her, that girl had some serious issues.
The bell rang, signalling the end of the class and every student began to scramble their belongings together. Jefferson looked up at the clock as if in surprise that his tangents have taken so much time.
"And guys don't forget the deadline to submit a photo in the "Everyday Heroes" Contest." He called out in another attempt to generate interest in the assignment. "I will fly out with the winner to San Francisco where you'll be feted by the art world. It's great exposure and it can kickstart a career in photography. So, Stella and Alyssa, get it together. Taylor don't hide, I'm still waiting for your entry too." He spun around again to point at Max in an almost comical fashion. "And yes Max, I see you pretending not to see me."
Max used the commotion to snatch the crumpled paper ball from the floor before spreading it out as if it were another one of her papers. 'Hey Kate, we love your porn video! Xoxo-Blackwell academy' it read. Max felt her blood begin to boil.
The note made no sense, Kate was a staunch advocate for abstinence and routinely attempted to bring others to her bible study sessions, there was no way she would so anything of the sort. 'The party' she realised. 'Maybe she got drunk at the party and went home with someone she shouldn't have, what the fuck was Dana doing? She was supposed to be with her the whole time.'
Walking over to Kate, she attempted to bury the rage under her regular mask. The girl hadn't begun to leave yet.
"Hey Kate, what's up?" Max started before giving herself a mental kick, she was half tempted to rewind such a stupid generic greeting.
"Just thinking too much." The girl replied in a monotonous voice.
Trying to liven her up Max put on her best attempt at a grin. "I hear that, we still on for tea today?"
"Sorry, Max. I have to cancel, there's a lot of work for me to catch up on." 'Damn'.
Proper smiles were a work in progress for Max.
"No worries then, we'll catch up later?" She replied, trying not to let sadness colour her voice.
Kate's muttered response was obviously a dismissal even to someone as socially untuned as Max and she decided it would be best to cut her losses and try again later.
"Max, could I see you a second?" Came Jefferson's voice as she attempted to leave the room, it seemed this day was out to test her patience.
With a sigh she turned and strolled towards him, the man probably wanted to talk to her about her contest submission, he had a strange vested interest in seeing her enter. Once more she was subject to a dirty look from Victoria as she was removed from Jefferson's immediate attention.
"Yes?" She prompted.
"I just wanted to speak to you about your contest entry, I couldn't stand to let one of photography's rising stars miss out on such an opportunity." He replied, confirming Max's suspicions.
"Don't worry Mr Jefferson, I've just recently had an epiphany about my entry and I'm going to change it up a bit, it shouldn't be much longer." She assured. It was the truth, during the weekend she had gotten an unshakable idea in her head about a possible entry, she just needed to take a lot more photos to make it possible.
Jefferson seemed surprised. "That's good to hear, I had worried that you were putting off entry for another reason."
"Nope, I wasn't completely happy with my existing stuff anyway, but It'll need a lot of work if I'm going to pull it off."
Jefferson smiled. "Best get to work then, the days are running short."
Finally free, Max pushed her way through the door into the busy hallway, the general cacophony of voices making it difficult to hear anything specific. But she did see the one person she wanted to see, Taylor stood alone on the opposite side of the hall absorbed in her phone, she could see the third stooge, Courtney, standing a way off chatting to some jock type, Max hardly paid attention to them.
Max strolled quickly across the hall, swinging her head side to side, when she was satisfied no one was paying attention she made her move.
"Hey, Taylor" She announced, prompting the blond to raise her head in confusion.
The confusion became shocked agony as Max's fist flashed out to jab her in the solar plexus, the girl's breath rushing out as she attempted to curl into a ball but only managed to lower her head to Max's shoulder as she stepped into the girl's space. To anyone watching it would appear a slightly awkward hug as max's arm came up to grip the back of Taylors head.
"In class, that thing with Kate? That was mean." She began as the girl was attempting to draw air into her lungs. "I don't know what your problem with Kate is, I don't care what your problem is, but you three have made her very upset. So, you are going to drop this and leave her alone, okay?"
She pulled the girls head up off her shoulder and placed her hand on her cheek, the girls wide, frightened eyes met Max's narrowed glare and she nodded profusely.
"Good girl." Max said, her glare softening into a false, deadly smile and her voice turned sickly sweet. "And if you don't, then that bloody nose I gave you a couple of weeks ago will be nothing compared to what I'll put you through." Max cocked her head, her smile growing. "I'll make you beg your parents to move you away. Are we clear?"
Taylor nodded again, looking faint.
"Great." Max patted Taylor's cheek. "Ciao, bella"
Max hated being like that, every act of that kind was a reminder that no matter how hard she tried, she was still that same monster that swept across Europe.
Quickly, she made her way down the hall, she really need a few seconds to recompose, today had been an exceptionally shitty day. Once again, the day tempted the beast inside as she caught sight of Daniel being pressed up against his locker by Logan and some other jock-strap.
'I am not in the mood for this shit.' She thought darkly as she shouldered her way between the two and grabbed Daniel by the arm, his look of appreciation was undisturbed even as Max yanked him out and led him down the hall, an upraised middle finger the only response to the jock's shout.
"Run along now, I've got to use the little girls room." She said, sending him off with a slap on the rump. She didn't hear the boy thanking her, she really needed to be alone.
'Thank dog.' She thought as she entered the bathroom to find it empty. She marched over to the sink and proceeded to liberally douse her face with water. 'What a fucking day, I've got some super suspicious shit going down about Kate, my declining mental health and, to top it off, white knight duties because apparently I am the only person in the school not willing to put up with that shit. I swear to dog, I will just move back to Europe and tear down every last cartel, at least I'll do something good before I die.' Giving off an exasperated sigh, Max pushed herself away from the sink and made her way to the custodian area at the end of the bathroom and sank to the floor against the wall.
Not a second later the door opened again, Max was about to get up and leave before a muttering voice began to speak with itself.
"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..." Nathan's voice muttered as Max listened in disgust. The kid had issues that made hers seem desirable.
The sound of the door opening once more cut off his self-help session.
"So, what do you want?" Nathan Demanded.
"I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say." The newcomer responded in a feminine voice. Max could hear her pushing open the bathroom stalls four. "Now, let's talk bidness."
Weird did not even begin to describe this situation.
"I got nothing for you." Nathan said in a forced even tone.
"Wrong." The newcomer cut in sharply. "You got hella cash."
"That's my family, not me."
The newcomer was having none of it. "Oh boo-hoo, poor little rich kid. I know you been pumping drugs and shit to kids around here on top of just dosing me... I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now."
"Leave them out of this, bitch!" Nathan's calm demeanour cracked.
Max climbed to her feet quietly, she didn't like where this was heading.
Once again, the newcomer pressed him. "I can tell everybody Nathan Prescott is a punk ass who tries to date rapes girls and talks to himself!"
There was a very short sound of scuffle and a dull thump.
"You don't know who the fuck I am or who you're messing around with!" Nathan's voice was a veritable snarl.
"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!"
Max was shocked, did Nathan bring a piece to school? Was he that reckless?
Nathan's voice continued to rise. "Don't ever tell me what to do. I'm so sick of people trying to control me!"
"You are going to get in hella more problems for this than drugs!"
Max risked a peep around the corner, true enough Nathan had a girl pushed up against the wall of the bathroom, a gun shoved into her stomach. The girl was tall but not tall enough for Max to make out much of her face from behind Nathan, the only details she could see was the girl's punk style and the wisps of blue hair.
"Nobody would ever miss your punk-ass, would they?" Came Nathan's voice.
Enough was Enough, Max stepped back into the custodian area and delivered a swift kick to the fire alarm, she'd give this one chance to work out peacefully before she rewound and beat Nathan into a pulp, if that happened she would likely have to skip town.
A cluttering metal sound followed by the girl's voice yelling for Nathan to never touch her again was enough of a sign that disaster was temporarily averted, she would have to figure out some way of exposing Nathan, he was obviously too unstable to be around school.
Eventually she stepped out of the bathroom to an empty hallway, or rather it would have been if the head of security himself wasn't marching towards her.
"Hey! Don't you hear that alarm?" He began, "That means you should be outside."
'No sir, I'm deaf and stupid you see…' "I was using the bathroom when the alarm went off," She began, rubbing her head in faux embarrassment. "I couldn't just…you know, run out."
The gambit worked, Madsen paused in surprise before his face scrunched up in an uncomfortable expression. "Yeah I- just get out. We need to do our sweeps."
Max almost laughed, who would have thought that the man would be so easy to fluster, perhaps she had misjudged him. She continued on towards the main doors, passing a confused looking Principal Wells. All she wanted to do was go back to her room, crash head-first into her bed and ignore the rest of this miserable day.
The universe never seemed to care what she wanted.
Bzzzz Bzzzzz
Max stopped in her tracks and threw her head back in frustration. Whoever was messaging her, it better be good.
Warren: Hi Max, can you get my flash drive? I need some info. And space.
'Really? Two weeks and he picks today to get it back?' Max thought to herself. If she were honest with herself, it was well within his rights to want it back for a new week.
Warren: You there?
Max: Sorry, it has been one hell of a day. I'll grab it now.
Warren: I'll meet you in the lot.
Warren: looking cool.
Warren: You'll see
'Boy, I am not in the mood for your attempts at flirting.' The boy was likely to make another attempt to ask her out, she could feel it in her bones. 'Okay, let's get this over with. One flash drive, coming right up.'
Another thought occurred to Max. 'Crazy rich kid running around with a gun and Dog knows what else, I'll be damned if i let him be the only one packing heat around here.' She had become too comfortable here, no longer carrying around her getaway bag or weapons. Recent events are making her regret that comfort, she'll have to be ready at any time now.
Old habits die hard.
The carton was empty. It was empty and still Chloe's hands refused to stop shaking, or the rest of her body for that matter. Her fingers drummed a rapid beat on the steering wheel of her truck as she sat there trying to force herself into some semblance of calm.
It wasn't working.
Even if she trusted herself to safely drive out of here it wasn't an option. Her truck was probably the most recognizable vehicle around town, if she tore out of the Academy's parking lot right after the fire alarm went off then there would be hell to pay when David found out. For now, she was stuck here on school grounds with her would be murderer, if anyone asked, she was still putting up Rachel's posters.
Everything was turning to shit, and things were never good to begin with. The last few months had seen Frank turn from grumpy to irritable to downright vicious, she didn't know what his problem was, but she was fast running out of time, soon Frank would lose his patience and start taking it out of her skin. That knowledge had driven Chloe to desperation, there were precious few ways to get cash fast in Arcadia and she had failed at every turn to raise more than a few hundred dollars.
Then she had gone to that bar. She hadn't recognized Nathan at first, he was not the shy weird kid she knew before she had been expelled, this older Nathan had sat in that bar bragging to anyone who would listen (and most who wouldn't) about how much money he had, like there was anyone in town who didn't already know. She had seen her chance, a drunk kid looking for attention and praise. A rich drunk kid. She would be able to get some cash out of him, or she'd be able to steal it if push came to shove, a plan formed in her head and she took her chance.
She should've known she would fuck it up, what hadn't she fucked up in her short life? The plan ended up with her back at Nathan's dorm, a sudden bout of drowsiness, an undetermined period of time, and finally, with her stumbling out of the dorms determined to make the bastard pay.
'And look how well that turned out' She thought derisively. She had no more money than she did before, she was no closer to finding Rachel, she had a psychopath out for her blood and now, the only possible way out was by going to David and Joyce for help. She thinks she just may prefer death. The inevitable yelling, declarations of how she was drugging herself to an early grave to be three grand in debt. Never mind that the money had nothing to do with drugs, they may not believe her but not even Chloe was stupid enough to get in that much drug debt. No, the money had been to fix her truck so that she and Rachel could finally blow this joint. Yet another plan that went to shit.
Her hand still shook. God she was scared.
She knew Nathan was fucked in the head, she had known that for years but to pull a gun on her? She didn't know what to do, no one would believe her, and even if some people did, it would be buried by the Prescott police as they may as well be called.
'Unless…'
Whoever hit the fire alarm saw it all happen. Chloe hadn't seen much over Nathan's shoulder as she was preoccupied with the gun shoved into her gut at the time but, she had seen a flash of red streaked hair tied in a braid at the end of the bathroom. It was a good thing she fucked up her perimeter check.
'But where the hell am I going to find-'
For the first time in recent memory, the universe smiled on Chloe as she saw the very same girl pausing at the entrance to the parking lot. Her clothes were achingly familiar, so close to Rachel's favoured style, a red flannel shirt worn over top of a white singlet, her legs were encased in denim styled tights and her shoes seemed to be the type normally favoured by climbers and runners. Last but not least, that familiar red streaked braid hung off the side of her head obscuring her face.
Chloe watched as the girl walked crossed the lot to speak to a girl sitting hunched over near the exit, it took Chloe a few seconds to recognize the girl as Juliet. It was hard to tell at the distance she was, but she looked like she was crying.
'A regular white knight, I see.'
After a few minutes Juliet got to her feet and left while the unknown girl continued on towards and impatient looking boy waiting next to what Chloe assumed was his car judging by how eagerly he was presenting it to the girl.
Chloe was reminded of that day so long ago that she and Rachel had stood up on a lookout overseeing the national park, the two girls had used the view finder to spy on the people about the park and make up their own narratives for them. She was half tempted to do so now with the mystery girl and her admirer. The boy was obviously into her, his body language said it all, the girl's body language however was not nearly so clear but if Chloe had to guess, she would say that she was trying to find the most polite way possible to get out of the conversation. The boy was persistent though, and he managed to keep her there until another boy came barrelling across the parking lot towards them.
'Shit!' Chloe panicked as she realized the that the boy was Nathan, she had her key halfway ready to start her car before she saw that Nathan wasn't here for her. He was heading on a bee-line towards Max. How the boy knew she was the one to sound the alarm, Chloe didn't know but she had to do something, if Nathan still had his gun who knew what he would do.
Credit to her, the girl didn't even flinch as Nathan got into her space despite the fact Nathan was probably five inches taller. Chloe couldn't make out the words being said from her truck, but she could hear the tone of their conversation, it was not a polite one. The girl's friend attempted to stand in and push Nathan away but all he got for his trouble was a vicious head-butt that threw him from his feet. He then rounded on the girl once again, his hand out as if to grab her.
The girl moved.
Chloe couldn't describe it any other way, it was so fast it looked as if she had simply blinked out of reach like a video-game hero, she grabbed Nathan's outstretched hand and yanked him forward while ducking under his arm, ending up behind the taller boy and torqueing his arm at a painful angle. Then she grabbed the back of Nathan's head and brought it down sharply onto her friend's car bonnet. And again. The altercation ended swiftly with the girl lifting her dazed attacker and whispering something into his ear while her hand patted at the boy's waistline, probably searching for a gun, Chloe recognized. A final, insulting boot to the backside sent Nathan careening into the bush behind the cars.
'Holy shitballs, what the fuck did I just see?'
Further mental commentary was cut off as the mystery girl stormed off, leaving her friend watching in astonishment from his seated position on the ground. The girl arrived at an old but well-maintained Nissan and threw the door open before revving the car up and tearing out of the lot.
Chloe followed not a second later, she had never seen the girl before and doubted she would just chance upon the girl again. She was well aware of how creepy this situation was, Chloe had gone full blown stalker on this one. Thankfully, Arcadia bay was a small town and there was nothing overly suspicious about two people taking a small trip through town too…
…The beach, it turns out. Chloe kept driving a little further down pulled up, she could just make out the girl's silhouette disappear over the small dunes. The girl moved fast.
Taking her time, Chloe made her way steadily to the top of the dunes. They were not far down the beach at all, it wouldn't tale a minute to walk to the docks from here, the girl herself stood down by the water, staring out at the low tide, Chloe could see the tension radiating off her even from where she stood. The girl picked up a stone, turning it over in her hands before hurling it out over the sea to skip a half dozen times.
Chloe knew the ritual, she herself had partaken many times when she was younger and the stress began to be too much, Max had often accompanied her and they would spend hours skipping stones across the water. The memory didn't hurt as much as she thought it would.
She decided it would be best to lead in with a thank-you, the girl had saved her life after all, Chloe owed her big-time, she could use a little rock-skipping session herself. Unfortunately, fate decided to spit in her face once more and she barely made it two steps before the girl made a sudden turn and marched towards the docks.
Confused, Chloe followed trying to catch up, but she lost sight of the girl as she disappeared in the maze of support posts and concrete slabs that were exposed by the low-tide. Chloe didn't hesitate to enter in after her, she needed to talk to her about Nathan…and she wanted to talk to her, if only to thank her.
Had she no had such a stressful day, perhaps she would have given it a second thought before following, perhaps she would have considered how strange it was for the girl to suddenly decide she wanted to explore under the dock…out of view of people.
It was too late to consider things now, not with cold steel pushed against the back of her head and the distinctive click of a pistol hammer being cocked.
"You're following me." The girl spoke from behind her, her voice like ice. "You have ten seconds to convince me you have a good reason." Impossibly, her voice grew colder. "I have had a very shitty day, do not test me."
"I…I" Chloe sputtered, trying to force coherent words with an uncooperative tongue. "I just wanted to say thank-you!"
"You stalked me across town and under the docks to say 'thank-you'?" The girl asked incredulously.
"….Well, when you put it like that…" Great, now she looked like a complete tool.
"Shit. I figured you came to give me the 'keep your mouth shut' talk." The girl began as Chloe heard the gun being lowered. "Look, I'm sorry about that, I am not in the best frame of mind. Do you think we can keep this between you and I?"
"Yeah, I mean you did save my-" Chloe began as she turned to look at her before the words caught in her throat.
The first thing to register was the scars, four scars stood proudly across her cheek, eyebrow and temple, as close as they were, Chloe could make out another half dozen smaller ones. The second thing she noticed was the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, Chloe had always had a thing for freckles. Ocean blue eyes regarded her from underneath thin brows, the same eyes were opened wide with shock, mirroring Chloe's expression.
The face was older, it was different, but no amount of time would change it beyond Chloe's ability to recognize, she still saw that face in her dreams. It was Max Caulfield; her friend was alive.
And her friend was crying.
There was a muffled thud as the gun dropped from her fingers, her shaking hands coming up to mouth as she stumbled back a few steps. The shock had faded from her eyes to be replaced with fear.
"Chloe…Oh my god I'm so sorry Chloe!" She cried, her voice heavy with shame.
"It's okay." Chloe soothed, trying to push aside her own shocked disbelief. She looked like she was on the verge of a complete break-down.
"I didn't know…I'm so sorry." Max repeated as her gaze switched between Chloe's face and her own hands.
"Max, it's okay!" Chloe said more forcefully. She watched in confusion as Max raised her right hand, palm outstretched. She kept it raised for the span of a few seconds, her face a mask of indecision before it dropped limply to her side.
Then she practically launched herself at Chloe, wrapping her in a startlingly tight hug and burying her face into Chloe's neck, her chest heaving as she sobbed. Chloe wrapped her arms around her friend, cradling her and rocking back and forth, she didn't trust herself to talk.
Then it hit her. 'Max is alive! She's here with me…Please god don't let this be a dream!'
Her knees buckled and the two dropped to their knees in the damp sand, she felt as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders and she wondered if she might float away. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, she didn't think she would if she could.
