Swimming Pool, Blackwell Academy, Arcadia Bay Oregon, October 10th, 2013, 8:35 PM
"I hope Nathan enjoys his last party" Price said in a cold icy tone
"The prick is gonna get what's coming to him, trust me" James nodded in agreement and speaking in an equally cold tone of voice as the trio sat inside the cabin of Chloe's truck
"Guys, we can go right to the cops. We have proof" Max suggested, thinking it would be best to let the authoritative handle the situation, James wanted to agree with her but his own experiences had to make him think otherwise
"Fuck the Police" Price snapped back quickly "Rachel wanted us to find her. So we could get real justice..."
"And revenge. The Prescotts had this coming to them for years" James added "You don't kidnap girls in my town and get the fuck away with it..."
"Thats, why nobody is going to get in my way" Price, stated boldly,
James was concerned what Price would do as soon as she found Nathan "We need to find the rat bastard and get him to confess, once we do and I record the whole thing. I'll throw him in the pen with the rest of the fucking animals" James spoke aloud how he wanted this to end
"Fuck that James, something like that is too good for a piece of shit like Nathan" Price responded with a hint of contempt for the idea
"Chloe, whatever the hell you're thinking you want to do. It is an awful Idea. We need to gather a spoken confession against him so he can stand trial" James defended his position as fiercely as Chloe wanted to shoot it down. James wasn't an idiot, he knew better than to allow Price to just outright kill Nathan the second she got her hands on him, He wasn't above wanting to kick his ass and make him suffer for what he's done, but he knew cold-blooded murder like Chloe wanted would net them nothing.
While James wasn't looking Price pulled out Nathan's handgun to inspect it and ensure it was in working order, then concealed it before Makintosh could turn his back her way.
Then the three of them stepped out of the truck and onto the blacktop of the parking lot. Everyone spoke in murmured, hushed tones while pointing at the sky. Then Max looked up and gasped "Jesus! Chloe. James. Look up at the sky!" she said in a horrified voice, James crooked his head upwards at the heavens and he too went wide with horror
"What in the fuck is that?!" he gasped at the sight. Up in the night sky were in fact, two moons. One right next to the other in such close proximity it looked like the gravitational pull of both would cause them to collide into one another
"Beautiful, I don't give a shit. The world's ending, cool." Price in a dismissive voice
"I'd take this a little more seriously if I were you Price" James said in a concerned voice, concern for both the fact that there were two literal moons standing in the same night sky, and for Chloe's complete disregard for it
"Yeah, Chloe. Something major is going down." Max said in an equally concerned voice as James
"You're right, Nathan Prescott is going down" Price said before walking off, her two cohorts following quickly behind
as the Trio walked up to the entrance of the Swimming Pool's building James could see Warren Graham standing in front of the entrance holding a red plastic cup in his hand "Welcome to the end of the world ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad you decided to escort me" Warren said in a slurred manner of speaking, James face shifted to a grimace as he could smell the liquor as soon as he walked up towards the entrance of the building
"You look really good, Warren." Max complemented "Are you alright after today?" Warren just listed from left to right as he rested a hand on Caulfield's shoulder
"I really flipped out on Nathan" Warren slurred reflecting back to what had happened earlier that day "I just hate bullies... And he's dangerous."
"You don't have to tell us twice. Where the hell is he Warren?" James interrogated "I haven't seen him since the incident at the dorm, but I've been in my room all day so.." Warren reported,
"Have you been drinking Graham?" James asked which caught Warren a little off guard but he just chuckled at the question
"Well, if you consider half a beer 'drinking' then yeah.." he said still laughing
"And half a beer is all your going to get tonight, from now until the end of time. You will drink water, got it?" James scolded the younger boy, Warren smiled and gave a salute, or at least tried to, seeing as he could barely raise his arm up past his shoulder before it feels back limply to his side.
"Let's go guys.." Price sighed clearly done with the conversation,
"Hey, hey..." Warren called out "I know this is a bad time, but can I get one picture" he said pulling out a Polaroid camera from inside his pocket "I've been feeling like this could actually be the end of the world, so" He slurred before wrapping his arm around Max and lifting the camera into the sky "I want to have something for prosperity." then he clicked the button, there was a quick flash then a photo printed itself out on the bottom of the device
"We've got no time for this shit. Come on Max" Chloe said in a rushed voice trying to get her friend back in focus whilst walking off towards the entrance of the pool.
Caulfield turned around to face her and the minute she laid eyes on the blue-haired girl her eyes filled with this bizarre happiness "Chloe!" she said ecstatically running towards her and giving her a large hug.
James arched an eyebrow in confusion "what the fuck is going on right now?" he asked himself
"Jesus, dude... what is up with you?" Price asked in equal confusion.
At some point Warren, who had been forgotten and abandoned, simply walked off back into the party "I guess you need to talk. No worries... It's all good." he said to himself as he walked off
"I'm just glad we're here together." Max said in a sigh of relief
"I'm glad you're with me, too. What's going on, Max? We have to find Nathan right now." Price asked walking forwards "He's going to fucking pay for what he did to Rachel... Let's go, now." but Max stopped her in her tracks
"Chloe, wait! Listen!" she pleaded
"I can walk and listen, okay?" Price said attempting to continue her advance
"Stop and listen for once!" Caulfield said putting her arms around her
"Fine, Max. I'm listening." Chloe sighed angrily
"yeah Caulfield. This better be important" James said crossing his arms
"Chloe, you can't go in that party. You're gonna… you're gonna die if you do." Max explained.
The information caused both Price and Makintosh to do a double take
"What what?!" James asked
"You used your powers, right? And you fucked around with time, and I died." Chloe said trying to make sense of what she heard
"Not like that…" Max looked down. James didn't know what to say as he knew nothing of anything the two friends knew of this 'power' although he had seen some oddities concerning Max
"You're supposed to back me up. So there's no way that punk-ass bitch Nathan Prescott is taking me down." Price shook her head
"You're right, he won't. Mark Jefferson killed you... and others." Max said flatly, a tone so matter of point it could rival anything James could say
They both looked at her like she had lost her mind "Jefferson, the art teacher? I don't like the guy either but Nathan is the fucking serial killer! We saw the proof! And we need to find the fucking snake and make sure he never hurts anybody again. Now are you gonna come with us or not" James shook his head and gestured towards the door to the swimming pool
"Nathan is dead... and we're all in danger." Max kept dropping bombshell after bombshell with every word
"That fucker is already dead? How do you know that?" Price asked suspiciously at the statement
"Because... I was there." Caulfield said vaguely
"Could you fucking clarify please?!" James said exasperated,
"Chloe... Jefferson drugged and kidnapped me. I was tied up in his bunker. You have no idea what hell I went through to get back here… but I couldn't let you die. You brought me back here, and I can't lose you again. I won't!" Max explained. James took a second to process the information before picturing the events in his head
"Jesus... thats awful..." he said sympathetically
"Oh... Max. I'm... I'm so sorry... I was the one who dragged you into all this shit... Nobody, especially you, should have to go through that... Now we have to stop Jefferson... with one bullet." Price said sadly before patting the gun she had concealed
"No! Not this way! Chloe, I… I can't keep fixing everything, if all I'm gonna do is just break it, over and over again. I know how this is gonna turn out and... I'm afraid I'm fucking up all these alternate realities." Max shook her head, opposed to the idea proposed by her companion
"Wait... alternate realities? What are you talking about? The fuck did you do? Max? What did you do?" James asked concerned about this girl's mental state that to him, seemed to be rapidly deteriorating before his very eyes
"Chloe, I'm... I'm going to tell you the truth, no matter what. I changed your past and I had to make a terrible choice, and I... I..." Caulfield stumbled to try and say what she wanted to admit
"Max. Please tell me... I won't be mad at you..." Chloe said reassuring the girl
"I was able to go back in time... to the last day William was alive. I stopped him from leaving, but... But you ended up in a car crash instead." Max said sadly, reflecting on events that must have happened to only her and her alone.
The story caused Price to go silent for a minute "You saw my dad again?" she finally asked just as sadly, thinking back to the day when she had to bury William Price
"You... you were completely paralyzed. And you were in pain. You were slowly dying, and you… you asked me to… end your life." Caulfield continued with tear beginning to roll down from her eyes "But Chloe, there was no way I could do that... I had to return to this timeline... to see you again. I had to..."
James felt bad for both of them. He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or not, or if she was merely insane. But the story clearly caused her great pain, something he could relate to "Jesus... That must have been, awful for you... " he said with a sympathetic tone he didn't know he could use
"I'm so sorry I had to ask you that..." Price apologized for making her friend continue on this sad tale
"It was worse for you. But I had no idea what would happen, and... as usual, I messed everything up, and… I never want to hurt you, ever. You have to believe me." Max said shaking her head and wiping stray tears away
"Of course I do. Do you think I would even know how to handle that situation? Nobody would... The important thing is that we're together again." Price joined in shaking her head
"You're right. That's why you should both come with me so we can stay together... and stay alive." Caulfield agreed, smiling
"I hear you, Max... but do you think we should let Jefferson get away with torture and murder?" James asked concerned, while he was glad the two worked out whatever was clearly eating away at the photography enthusiasts conscious he was more focused on the potential madman sulking around who was apparently the man he had been looking for this whole time
"Of course not! If we tell David, he'll believe us and he can actually stop him... right?" Max looked over offering a solution to that problem immediately. James was skeptical of that idea, he didn't really want to put much faith into David Madsen
"I don't get it... Why do you trust him, after you totally reamed him the other day? He's not even at our house anymore." Chloe said equally as suspicious of the idea
"Chloe, no matter how much of a douche he's been, David truly cares about you." Max turned around to defend her position
"Oh, please... like he cared when he got in your face for smoking a joint?" Price scoffed alluding to an event from the start of the week
"You should have seen his reaction when I told him that Jefferson… killed you. He was crushed." Caulfield said referring to an event that hadn't ever happened yet
"Are you serious? I've seen him show as much emotion as Sherlock over there... except towards my mom." Price asked before pointing to James directly
"Hey! I heard that!" James said taking clear offense to the remark.
"So what's your plan?" Price asked walking away from the Pool building
"We tell him everything, including that Victoria is in danger." Caulfield said, explaining the details of her plan to stop the killer of Rachel Amber
"Sounds like a good idea, I'll send him some of the evidence we've gathered so he knows that at the least. I am not bullshitting him" James said adding to the plan
"Okay. You've been through so much... I believe you, Max. After all, I'm still your faithful companion." Price nodded
"Yes, you are. So, listen... In a few minutes, I won't know any of this happened... nothing. We absolutely have to stay in your room and do nothing. Then we explain everything to David, and we finally let him do his job. You'll have to tell me exactly what I did and said just now. Just explain that I traveled through time using the photo." Max smiled, then proceeding to instruct them on what to do afterwards
"Will you believe me?" Price asked arching an eyebrow
"I'll always believe you, Chloe." Max said resting a hand on the girl's shoulder as they all proceeded back towards the truck.
