I had no clue what was going on. I had a bad scare when that hostile guy surprised us with a gun in his hand, but Rachel and Chloe seemed to be fairly quiet, as if that kind of things happened to them often. Chloe crossed her arms.

"Okay, so my step-douche has completely lost his mind at last. What are you doing here, and why the fuck are you pointing a gun at us, David? Put that thing down now."

Wowser. So, he was Chloe's stepfather... What a great introduction. For reals, if I have to meet someone else today, I'd love it to be with a classic 'hi, what's up?', and not with those bizarre manners that seem to be usual for me lately.

"Chloe, you've crossed the line this time." Said Chloe's stepfather in a very harsh voice, while he continued aiming his gun at her. Dude, what's wrong with you? That's your stepdaughter! "This is not just a fight between kids, or dealing with grass. What were you doing last night in the Prescott barn? Speak now!"

"David, you are completely losing the plot." Chloe, starting to freak out, lifted her palms slightly. "This is the last straw. Are you trying to accuse me of the Prescott's crimes? Are you fucking insane?"

"Au contraire. The Prescott family are my clients, and I can assure you they are the victims. I accuse you of being accessory of the disappearance of their firstborn Nathan Prescott. His footprints are along with yours in the last place where he was seen: the barn. I have also identified traces of Nathan's blood on the floor. You can't deny it, Chloe. You're in big trouble."

So, Chloe's stepfather is kind of a private investigator who works for the Prescotts. That explains why he had guns at home... and his behavior also explains his 'step-douche' nickname. I can understand that if his duty is investigating the barn, he may consider that Chloe had something to do with the plot. But you can't suddenly show up like a maniac, gun in hand against your own family... That's not the way, dude.

"This is bullshit!" Chloe, significantly outraged, was unable to contain the frustration, and demonstrated it with her gestures and her words. "I didn't even seen Nathan last night! And I... had no idea that he has disappeared..."

"Mr. Madsen, it has to be a mistake," Rachel intervened in a low voice, "it's impossible that Chloe did anything wrong last night..."

"Then why are there several witnesses claiming that you were searching for him yesterday? And how do you explain tire tracks of Nathan's car and yours running towards the barn? Speak now, Chloe."

Chloe dropped her arms and looked away. She didn't know what to say. Rachel stared at the whole scene with the look of a frightened little animal, and I was so freaked out that I didn't know how to react.

"Listen to me, David," Chloe finally said, "you have no clue of what's going on. It's true that I was in that barn last night, but I was helping a friend who has been kidnapped, along with lots of other girls, by your idolized clients. You're focusing at the wrong enemy. It's the Prescotts who are in trouble, not me!"

"You've got a long way until you could teach me lessons, Chloe! I've been on the battlefield, I've seen the horrors of war when you were just a crying baby! I know perfectly well when I'm right, and I'll prove it to you!"

The investigator (and apparently, also ex-soldier) approached Chloe still aiming at her, grabbed one side of her jacket and opened it, revealing that she kept the same gun I took last night from her glove box inside one of her inner pockets. I gulped. Too bad, Chloe. What are you doing with that thing now? You're going to mess it all up.

"We'll talk later about the fact of subtracting my work tools." Her stepfather continued vehemently as he retrieved the weapon from Chloe. "Aha, there's a missing bullet in the gun's chamber. You will agree with me that I have plenty of reasons to take you immediately to the police station. You'd better come with me and do not resist, Chloe."

"Fuck you, David! The only thing I shoot are the bottles in the junkyard!" The blue-haired girl gave the finger to her stepfather. "I'm off to Two Whales. You stay there with your Robocop complex. Let's go, Rach."

Chloe turned and started walking briskly.

"You're not going anywhere."

While Rachel and I watched in amazement, David went after his stepdaughter to finally immobilize her. Quickly, he put his gun in its holster, caught Chloe from behind and grabbed her by the wrists.

"Mr. Madsen, no!" Shouted a highly alarmed Rachel.

"Let me go, fucking step-ass! I'm reporting you for this! Max, do something!" Chloe looked at me in despair as she tried unsuccessfully to get away. In all likelihood, she wanted me to use my powers to free her.

It's not that easy, Chloe. Rewinding is not enough: I have to come up with something that causes events to change. But how? Think, Max. I feel my head dull and I can't make out anything clearly. It certainly wasn't the best moment to decide to try Rachel's weed... The only thing that's clear is that I'll have to rewind like it or not: I can't allow that creepy stepfather to take Chloe to the police station by force under any circumstances. Things being like they are in this town, she had everything to lose.

Let's do it. I rewound as much as I could until my head hit me with a sudden whiplash, indicating me that I couldn't go back any further, leaving me in the moment when Chloe showed up in the distance and her stepfather hadn't made his appearance yet. What could we do? If we run away from here, we will only make things worse. Somehow, we have to face David, but how? For now, I turned to Chloe, who, as I already knew, was still mad at me.

"Chloe, you have to give me your gun now! It's very important!"

It occurred to me that leaving the gun out of the equation, our dear detective might have a more flexible attitude to his stepdaughter.

"I heard an annoying noise. Oh, wait! It's just the voice of a traitor who says my best friend is a bitch. Let's go, Rach. I'm hungry."

"No, Chloe, you don't get it. This is very serious! If you don't give me the gun right now, something really bad is going to happen!"

Chloe looked at me sideways with a gesture that harbored bitterness and mistrust in equal parts. Rachel looked at both of us with a funny face, not understanding anything at all.

"That was a threat? And how the fuck did you know that I'm carrying a gun? You've been playing with your freaky time powers, or what? Never mind. Ignore me, Max. I'm not giving you my gun, not even drunk."

"Chloe, for heaven's sake, stop being an asshole and listen to me!" I got desperate and raised my voice. There was no time left. "Your stepfather is coming and because of that gun you're going to end up in jail! You have to give it to me now!"

"My step-douche? But… why?"

Chloe seemed to be paying me some attention at last, but it was too late. David showed up again from the undergrowth, and all that conversation was useless. Shit, I'll have to try something different.

Rewinding was increasingly difficult for me. Besides, I was unable to go back any further than the moment where Chloe made her appearance. I barely had the time or brainpower to come up with any ideas, but I decided to change the strategy. With headaches and a certain mental fatigue, I went to Rachel this time.

"Rachel, this is going to sound fucking weird, but you have to trust me for a moment. Can you do it?"

The blonde girl, surprised by my sudden change of voice tone and my penetrating stare, made a cute face of strangeness. I don't blame her: from her point of view, we were talking and laughing about any banal gossip of Arcadia Bay just a few seconds ago.

"Uh… sure, Max. Tell me."

"You have to get Chloe to give you the gun she's carrying right now. Even if you do not understand why, it's very important. You'll do it?"

"If you say it's very important, I'm sure it is." Rachel nodded fervently. "I will, Max. Besides, I hate it when Chloe carries weapons."

As we ended talking, Chloe reached our position. It's a good thing I had enough time to tell my plan to Rachel, otherwise we'll be so fucked up.

"Let's go, Rach."

"Chloe, I've missed you!" Suddenly, Rachel embraced her friend, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Hey...! Rach? What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Chloe froze at her friend's impulsive reaction, but she let Rachel do. I watched the scene as Rachel rummaged in Chloe's pockets during her hug.

I understood her intentions perfectly, but still I couldn't help feeling a bitter sensation when the girls cuddled so effusively. Maybe I'm… jealous? But, Chloe's or Rachel's jealousy? What exactly do you want, Max? Girl, you're a mess ...

"Did you just... take my gun away while you were hugging me, you scoundrel?" Chloe's expression wavered between laughter and strangeness.

"Yay!" Rachel chuckled. "Now it's mine, and you'll never take it away from me!"

Rachel, after putting the gun down the side of her jeans, looked at me slyly like asking me if she was doing well. I answered giving her a thumbs-up. All right, Rachel! At least you acted in a lot more sensible way than your resentful punk friend. That would give us enough time until Chloe's stepfather show up, who I figured will be about to make his appearance. I wasn't wrong.

As Chloe chased Rachel trying to retrieve her gun, David emerged from the undergrowth again. It was the third time I saw the same scene and that made make want to make fun of Chloe's stepfather opening sentence.

All the conversation we had with the best stepfather of the year was repeated all at once: David's accusation, Chloe's monumental outrage, and so on, until the part where the detective opened his stepdaughter's jacket to show that she was carrying a gun, but this time he found her pockets empty.

David frowned in frustration.

"Huh, I get it! You gave it to your little friend!" He threw a predatory gaze at Rachel who made her step back in fear. "Confess, Rachel. This hellraiser girl has mixed you up in her criminal affairs. Come on, save us time and give me the gun."

I have to admit that Chloe's stepfather has somewhat of a detective sense of smell. At least he was right this time, although he had things so fucked up in the general context of the plot. But there's no forgiveness in the way he is threatening Chloe and Rachel, without any previous vote of confidence, as if they were two dangerous hardened criminals. For now, how could it be different, my opinion about that David Madsen leaves much to be desired.

He was approaching dangerously to Rachel, who was starting to get extremely nervous as she continued to go back a few steps. She trembled and looked frightened, and I saw how her hands started to move to the side of her jeans. No, Rachel. Don't even think about that.

"I knew it." David stretched his hand and continued moving forward towards his prey. "Give it to me, Rachel. You have no choice."

Chloe and I looked astounded while the detective was about to reach her. Then, Rachel held the gun and shot David like a lunatic, as she screamed in fear. She emptied the gun's clip, leaving him like a sieve and bleeding to death over the sandy soil. I wish I hadn't seen that. Dude, am I doomed to witness deaths in a daily basis from now on? I will never get used to that.

I didn't expect that reaction from Rachel at all, and I felt guilty. It was my fault that she had the gun, even though I knew she was under the influence of drugs. You're not getting anything better, Max... but what do you want me to do if Chloe's stubbornness doesn't allow me to have that gun...? I don't have many more options. Things are getting worse and worse, but it was clear that I'll have to rewind for the umpteenth time. No more dead people if possible, please.

I watched the grotesque scene of David resurrecting and going back to the point where he opened Chloe's jacket in fast motion. Then I felt that whiplash on my head again. Aw. No, man, I must go back a little further… I made my rewinding gesture again, but every time I tried, the pain inside my head blocked me. It's useless: it seems clear that I have no power left, and I noticed a trickle of blood under my nose again. Fucking great, Max.

At the moment when David was going to intimidate Rachel, I decided to intervene. With powers or without powers, I must do something, or we'll be in deep shit.

"Wait, Mr. Madsen!" I announced as I tried to conceal my nosebleed in extremis. I managed to catch his attention. "It was me! I was the one who kept the weapon you're looking for! Do not blame the girls!"

I was reluctant to confess in front of Chloe that the gun had my fingerprints, but I'm afraid that right now I have no choice. Not only David, the girls also looked at me in surprise, as if I was speaking in Swahili.

"And you, young lady, are…?"

"Max Caulfield, sir. I'm friends with Chloe, and last night I was in the barn with her."

C'mon, Max. In the last hours, you have proved that not only you have a gift for photography, but also for the performing arts. Don't let the inability to rewind be an excuse for showing your talent. This time your role isn't 'Max, the Arcadia Bay floozy', but you'll do fine.

"So, you're saying you're responsible for Nathan's disappearance, lady?"

"No sir. Let me tell you what happened: Last night Chloe and I were looking for my friend, Kate Marsh. We were told that she was with Nathan in that barn, and that's the only reason why we were there. We managed to find Kate, but there was no trace of Nathan."

"Do you expect me to believe that story, kid? So why the gun? And what about the bloodstains?"

"We didn't see anything like that," I said. "But I can assure you that I used the gun just to break the barn lock so we could enter the place. You can verify it since a bullet is missing in the gun's chamber, and it has my fingerprints. Rachel, please give Mr. Madsen the gun so he can check it out."

Hesitantly, Rachel pulled the gun from the side of her jeans and gave it to David as she stared at me with a face that seemed to say 'you'd better know what you're doing.' I answered giving her a reassuring look. Don't worry, Rachel. I don't know how this shitty story will end, but better than Chloe being captured or her stepfather being killed, for sure.

The detective, after taking the gun with a rag, took a dust from his pocket that would serve to reveal fingerprints, and applied it on the gun handle.

"Excuse me, kid…"

He came up to me and put my index finger on a spot of the gun where he hadn't applied the dust yet. Then he applied it over the same spot again, and studied the weapon.

"Yes, it looks that it has your fingerprints since last night. And it's true that a bullet is missing in the chamber. But that doesn't prove your innocence or Chloe's."

"With all due respect, Mr. Madsen, that doesn't prove we are guilty either." I took the risk to slightly assert my voice tone. "And let me tell you something: you should trust your stepdaughter a little more. I know her very well and I know that she won't hurt anyone."

"No. You don't know Chloe. You have no idea how distressing is dealing with her every day! To begin with, I could report her simply by theft of weapons and illegal possession."

"Thank you, David, I love you too," Chloe replied with her arms crossed, without looking at her stepfather.

"Listen to me, Mr. Madsen," I said, "you can report us for weapon possession or for breaking padlocks later if you want, but let me end what I've to say. In that barn, we discovered something terrible: there was a hidden basement, my friend Kate was there completely naked and... she was drugged. Something horrible is going on with the Prescotts... and not with us."

"You're making a very serious accusation, young lady. You'd better prove all that you're saying."

"I'm not lying! Check it out yourself: there is a hidden gate in the barn that leads to a basement. I suggest you to continue on that line of inquiry, and not trying to condemn your stepdaughter. I promise you that if you are not satisfied with what you discover there, I will let you question me all the time you want."

I myself was not entirely convinced of what I was saying. I'm playing my part as if I didn't know anything about Nathan, so if he interrogates me I could easily fall into contradictions. But anyways, I've done the best I could, more considering that my mental skills aren't at their best. I hope I could use my powers again soon: I shuddered thinking about what would happen if they were gone forever. Fuck, nor a single day has passed and I already can't live without them. You aren't on drugs, Max, but you may have even worse addictions...

David relaxed his gesture, somewhat still hesitant. Rachel seemed mesmerized by the arguments I gave to Chloe's stepfather, way similar to when I was hypnotized by her words before.

"Everything Max said is true." Chloe said. "Leave us alone. You'd better go for the actual bad guys, you've had them under your nose all the time and you haven't even noticed."

"Don't… you think you can run away from me!" David pointed at his stepdaughter, frowning. "I can find you at any moment! I know where every inhabitant of this town is! Especially you, Chloe."

"Blah, blah, blah. Whatever you say. Let's go to Two Whales, Rach. Having stupid conversations with douchebags makes me hella hungry."

David was about to raise his hand to Chloe after her words, but he finally decided to withdraw.

"This isn't over yet!" Announced as he walked away from us.

I felt an orgasmic relaxation when I saw that David was no longer with us. Dude, such a peace of mind now that he's gone. The girls and I looked with complicity, and we sighed in relief all three at once.

"Max, you're the fucking boss!" Rachel grabbed me by the shoulders, hopping in happiness. "How could we been all this time without you!"

Chloe, visibly annoyed by Rachel's attitude and her not-so-well-chosen words, folded her arms and gave us her typical sidelong glance.

"Yeah, uh... Max. You can come and have some meal with us if you want." she said with disdain, as if I were now a complete stranger to her. "There's stuff we should talk about and so…"

I guess that's Chloe's way to say thanks. Anyways, I won't hold it too much against her: I should apologize too.

We three walked together back to Chloe's truck, which was parked near the junkyard. Along the way, Chloe explained that her initial idea before things screwed up was playing with the gun to shoot at cars, bottles, or other possible targets that were in the area, and also to show Rachel my powers. She still kept a resentful attitude towards me, so Rachel decided to mediate between us: before we got in the truck, she blocked our way and told us with an emotional discourse appealing to friendship and our bond throughout the years, that no one will get on the vehicle until we forgive and hug each other. Her answer didn't have to wait too long, and it was clear that both Chloe and I wanted to make peace at once. Besides, after the long conversation we had Rachel and I before, the reasons for the conflict were totally obsolete. Rachel watched in excitement the moment when my childhood friend and I wrapped our arms around each other and we were back to normal.

Two Whales was the diner where Chloe's biological mother Joyce worked as a waitress, and also the place where the best damn burgers in Arcadia Bay are served. Its strategic location makes the diner very popular among Blackwell students, truckers, fishermen and other workers in the area. We were heading there in Chloe's truck, as three best friends willing to party hard. In our way from the junkyard to our destination we had about ten minutes in which Chloe's vehicle radio was playing some music of a genre that I couldn't identify, but it was like a mix between punk and folk. That style doesn't go with me entirely, but it was somehow funny. A joyful Chloe sang the songs in a loud voice. Rachel, who stood in the same passenger seat Kate occupied yesterday, seemed to have a similar musical taste to her friend, since she was playing along singing and moving her arms following the rhythm of the melody. From time to time she looked at me and nudged a little, like encouraging me to join them. I couldn't help it: I turn all red every time Rachel stares at me. Nervously, I played along with them by timidly moving my arms trying to imitate their dancing moves, but I think that really wasn't my deal.

The only thing that had changed from Two Whales in five years were the prices. Everything went on as I remembered: the huge whale sign at the top of the entrance, its classic American diner look, with fixed footstools and booths on the opposite side, even the old jukebox had survived. When Chloe's mother saw me, she almost dropped the plate she was serving. We were both very happy to see each other after so much time. I'm really fond of Joyce, although she looked more worn than before. It wasn't just the passing of the years... it was something different. Probably the loss of Chloe's dad and having to deal with a wild teenager on a daily basis were the main causes of her current appearance, with solemn face and a greyer blond hair. In a fever of excitement and nostalgia, Joyce invited us all to lunch. Well, after all we went through, we almost could say dinner.

Rachel and I took a seat in one of the garnet booths, as well as Chloe on the other side of the table, and we waited for Joyce to bring us our free food. Chloe were sitting sideways, resting her boots on her own seat and then she said,

"Okay, Max... It's about time you told me why my gun has your fingerprints since last night... the deal with the missing bullet... and Nathan's bloodstains on the barn's floor. You know something that we don't, right?"