Hey guys. There are some spoilers for episode four in this chapter.
Chapter Four: For Me (Past)
My hazel eyes flutter open slowly, revealing an overcast sky above me, "Where am I?"
If the graveyard of rusted cars, broken glass and unsorted refuse are anything to go by, I am at the junkyard. Mine and Chloe's safe haven. Our barricade against the world. How many times have we come here just to escape the harsh reality of life I wonder? I hear a noise that sounds like an engine in the distance. That's strange. No-one hardly comes here apart from Chloe and I. We were here most of the time and we never saw a soul.
The noise stops abruptly replaced with the slamming of a door and someone calling out, "Chloe, slow down, wait for me!"
"I know exactly where I'm going!"
There are two voices which echo around in the otherwise silent area. The first I don't recognize, but the second... it's Chloe. I can see her now.
"Chloe," I call out to her, reach out to touch and hold her... but she doesn't respond. She runs straight past me. What is going on?
She picks up her pace until she reaches just a few feet from me beside an old school bus. She stops abruptly and stares down at the patchy grass covering the soil, "Look, this is it! This is it!" she gets on her hands and knees and start to dig.
Why? What is she trying to do?
She glances over her shoulder at a girl I vaguely recognize from photos, "Are you going to help me, Max?" her voice sound broken.
Max dives to the floor and starts to shovel dirt with her hands. After a few moments, her pace slows to a stop, "Chloe, stop. Look!"
Chloe freezes up as Max continues to dig. What has she found?
"Please, no."
Why is Chloe so distressed? I try to move over to comfort her, but I can't. Why can't I? Max suddenly hurls her body away from the hole, her hand covering her nose, "That smell."
Chloe crawls over to the hole, "Rachel."
"I'm right here, Chloe... why can't you see me?" my attempts to catch her attention hang in the air unheard.
"Oh, Rachel, no, no! Please not here!" Chloe scrambles away from the hole and vomits. I want so desperately to go over to her, but despite my best efforts I am pinned to the spot by some invisible force.
Max crawls over to her, doing the thing I so desperately want to do, to hold her tight and never let go, "Chloe."
Mine and Max's voice intermingle as Chloe sobs and cries out. I am frantically trying to be by her side to alleviate the pain in some way, but I still can't, "Rachel... why?"
"I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm so sorry..." Max clutches onto her tighter and hold her while she cries.
Chloe shrinks in on herself, head in her hands, tears falling from her eyes and her voice crackling with pain, "I loved her so much. How can she be dead?"
"What? I'm not dead babe. I'm right here. I think this practical joke has gone on far too long now," just like before she doesn't hear me.
"What kind of world does this? Who does this?" she sobs inconsolably, her face hidden in her arms as Max does everything within her power to offer some kind of comfort.
Why can't I make the tears from her beautiful blue eyes fade? I look down at and my blood runs cold. I turn my hands over, able to see the ground through them. I stare at them, willing them to materialize, but they don't. All I can do is helplessly stare on while Chloe breaks in front of me. Is this my punishment? This was not how it was supposed to happen. This is not how my life was going to play out.
I find myself able to move again and my feet carry me over to the hole… big mistake. I really wish I hadn't now. Poor Chloe. She shouldn't have seen me like this, no-one should, but especially not her. After tearing myself away from the horror at my feet, I make my way over to where Chloe and Max are huddled. It breaks my heart to see Chloe this way… especially knowing that I am the cause.
I place a gentle kiss on Chloe's forehead and then a hand on Max's shoulder, "Hold her for me... comfort her for me... love her for me."
See you next time with some Chasemarsh. I can write happy stuff, I promise. What we have to remember is that the game itself is not happy. Sure there are some fun, cute parts but equally there are some horrible, traumatic parts we unfortunately can't ignore.