Life Gets Crazy

Part 1: Winter

Chapter 8: Thank You (1)


Mom, Dad, Kate, Warren and I all stood in front of Joyce's door, ringing the door bell. We did everything we needed to do before coming here. All we needed to do now was convince Joyce and David to get away for the holidays.

We heard foot steps coming toward the door. Joyce ended up opening it. There was a look of happiness and surprise on her face when she saw us, but it still showed great exhaustion.

"Oh my gosh..." She gasped in awe. She hugged all of us and welcomed us in. "Ryan, Vanessa, it...it's been so long."

"Five whole years. I'm sorry we fell out of touch." Mom said, apologizing sincerely.

"Oh, please, don't even give it a second thought." Everyone made themselves comfortable in the living room for the time being.

"We were actually on our way to Seattle, but we couldn't exactly leave without coming back here now, could we?" Dad explained.

"And thank you for the visit. You both look so good. I guess Seattle has treated you two well?" She asked with curiosity.

"It's definitely different from the Bay, that's for sure." Dad said.

"Oh yes, it is. It's a city after all. Louder, busier, brighter, but the experience has been so fun for us. And it's so beautiful during the winter." Mom explained. "But how are you feeling, Joyce?"

"Well, I'm here. As you know, it hasn't exactly been easy." Joyce eased on with a strained voice. Mom and Dad didn't answer to her statement but they did nod with understanding.

"Where's your husband?" Dad asked her curiously.

"He actually left about ten minutes before you came here. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to meet him." Joyce said, a bit disappointed realizing that they had never met him.

"It's no problem, really." Mom lifted her hand, easing Joyce's mind. "We'll meet him eventually."

Joyce got up. "Anyway, are you guys hungry? Thirsty? If you all are willing to stay for a while, how about breakfast?" It's true that neither me, Kate nor Warren have eaten yet.

"Ryan and I are fine. We ate before we came here." Mom told her.

"How about you three?"

"As if we could resist your delicious offer." I told her with a big smile.

"Good, you'd better not resist." Joyce jokingly said to me.

"I'll help then." I volunteered.

"No, no it's ok honey. I remember when Joyce and I would always cook food for you and Chloe, so you just stay put." Mom said, reminiscing about the past.

"Oh, ok then." We obviously weren't in any actual rush and Mom hadn't had her time to talk to Joyce for a while. Her and Joyce are kinda like how me and Chloe were. Best friends that lost contact, so the soft spot in me wanted to give them that alone time.

I looked over at Kate and Warren and called out to them. "Could you guys follow me upstairs for a bit?" I asked them already at the base of the staircase.

"What's up, Max?" Warren asked.

"Nothing really. I just wanna talk to you guys for a bit, is all..."

"You two should go on. Vanessa and I can handle things, and it'll be a while before breakfast is ready anyway." Joyce aided me.

Kate and Warren didn't look like they opposed at all, but maybe I came off a bit confusing with my sudden need for "private conversation". Kate and Warren followed me upstairs. I looked around and came across Chloe's room.

Honestly, I hadn't been in there since we rescued Arcadia so it was hard to even put my hand on the knob, knowing Chloe wouldn't be in there half-naked, getting high.

I did manage to open her door and everything still looked the same. Nothing changed at all actually. Everything right where I remembered it.

"I'll just assume this is Chloe's room?" Kate asked. I turned part way, seeing them with my peripherals while looking over at the closet.

"Yeah, it is...changed a lot since I was a kid though. A lot cleaner back then...mostly because Joyce always tore her a new one if she didn't clean up...and not really punk rock either, though I suppose she always had a curiosity toward it."

I looked under the bed to see the same box I came across when I first came in here after our reunion. The box that had a picture her and Rachel on it. I took up the picture and looked at it.

Warren and Kate came up close, a bit surprised.

"Woahhh, she knew Rachel Amber?" Warren asked. Both Kate and Warren's heads were pretty much right on top of my shoulders. It was pretty weird and their breath tickled my ears, but that's besides the point.

"They were actually best friends."

"I thought you were her best friend." Warren obliviously pried. I turned my head to him, but our faces were wayyyy to close for me to feel comfortable. It caught me by surprise and I stumbled back, accidentally hitting Kate's head.

"Ah!" Kate squealed cutely.

"Oh, Kate, I'm sorry!" I overreacted to the situation. It wasn't like I headbutted her as if this were a Pokemon battle, but I just...reacted...

"Shit, you two ok?" Warren asked, slightly concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it wasn't anything serious." Kate said, rubbing her forehead. "Max is a bit hardheaded though." She followed up, teasing me.

"Eat me." I sighed, rubbing the back of my head, subconsciously taking a page out of Chloe's book.

"Colorful vocabulary." Kate teased further.

"It's the company I keep." I giggled.

I looked back at the picture for a second. "So, going back to what I asked earlier, what's the story between you three?" Warren said, changing the subject.

I had to choose my words carefully. Sometimes it's hard to remember that in this reality, I never reunited with Chloe, so if I said anything that contradicted the order of this timeline, I would cause some kinda suspicion, whether people think I'm crazy or dreaming, or whatever they'd think of me.

"Well, Chloe and I were best friends in the past...well...still are, even at death. Five years ago, I left for Seattle, leaving Chloe here...she'd just lost her father at the time..."

"Damn, Max." Warren sympathized.

"That's awful." Kate followed.

"During my time away, she met Rachel...I heard Chloe was the one putting up those "missing" posters everywhere."

"That was her?...Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering..." Kate said.

"I never met her, but I've been told that we're not that different...I would've liked to meet her, though."

"We all would've..." Kate added, walking up to me.

I sat down on Chloe's bed, contemplating something. I wanted to ask them something, but I didn't want it to sound weird. I just wanted their take on it, though I could pretty much tell what answers I were about to receive.

"Can I ask you two something?"

"Sure, Max" Kate said, smiling down at me.

"Anything." Warren added.

"If you had the ability to rewind time, would you use it? Why or why not?"

"That's a weird question, Max." Kate said. I knew it. It was gonna sound weird regardless, but it's out. Just had to wait for my answers.

"I never really thought about it, to be honest." Warren gave his answer.

"Really, Science Guy? I thought you'd be all about time travel and stuff like that."

"Well, I am, but only in science fiction stories. And from the ones I've seen, nothing good ever comes from it."

"But what if something happened. Something that you really wanted to change?"

"Then I'd probably do it. I don't know. Time travel is a...difficult topic. One that even I don't have complete understanding about."

"I see where you're coming from Max..." Kate stepped in with her response. I looked at her and just waited for her to finish. "When I was going through my...situation, there were times when I wanted to rewind time...I would even take it a step further and say I was willing to take my own life..."

I looked at her with sympathy. The subject was getting a bit "touchy", but I just felt like I needed this for myself.

"If I could rewind time, then at that time, I definitely would have done it, regardless of the consequences. But...I don't think it's right."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, this is just me personally now, but we're given one life...not an infinite amount. We shouldn't waste the gift of just being alive to try to endlessly relieve ourselves of regrets...When we live our lives trying to not have regrets, we end up making some of the biggest mistakes of our lives...and before we know it, our lives are done and we had no time to enjoy ourselves...then we end up regretting that over everything else."

"I see what you mean..." I agreed with her 100%...but somehow, I don't think she'd have that mentality if she actually had the powers.

"Long story short, we're gonna...screw up. We're gonna screw up a million times before we have our own families and a million and one times afterwards. We'd fight a battle that we can't win if we're so focused on trying to prevent the inevitable."

Kate's words resonated with me. I fell in love with that intellect of hers. It wasn't idealistic. It wasn't optimistic. It wasn't even pessimistic. It was just real.

It was something that all of us knew. It was one of those morals that we were taught growing up but could never act on it when the time came.

Even so, it was always something that you needed to be reminded of.

I examined Chloe's room a bit more. Not like I was looking for anything...I just wanted to walk around.

I stumbled on a picture of me and her when we were younger. We were wearing our pirate outfits at the time. I had my eye patch and she had on the entire outfit.

Kate and Warren crowded my shoulders again. "Wow, she looks so different." Kate observed.

"Yeah, it's like you're looking at two different people." Warren followed. He chuckled a bit, looking at me when I was younger.

I brought the picture up to my chest, hiding it from Warren and looked his way, stepping off him a bit.

"Don't you dare laugh!" It was on instinct, but I sounded desperate, embarrassed and it almost sounded like I enjoyed the interaction.

"Haha, Sorry Max! It's just you look adorable in that picture. It makes me laugh a bit." Warren and his awkward compliments..."You...should get that hairstyle again too. It fit you then...It sure would fit you now..." He got a bit tentative with that compliment though.

In the picture, my hair wasn't totally different...it was a tiny bit shorter and on my left side there was a band coming down that was twisted up and I wore a hair clip...

Warren and I got quiet. I looked at Kate briefly. She was enjoying the show, but she looked at me as if I should be more assertive. "You really think this hairstyle would look better on me?"

I don't know how or when it came out. But the question just came out and it felt good to release it but at the same time, the weight of the embarrassment was about to break the house.

Warren rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, Max. I wouldn't lie to you." Now the weight of the embarrassment could break the Bay. I kept my hair short and simple for one reason. I didn't want to stand out.

I didn't want to stand out, yet Warren still noticed me. "I'll...give it some thought." If this was going to make this work, it had to be a two-sided thing. I mustered up the courage to say that, but I felt all my strength leave my body afterwards.

After that, all I wanted to do was go back to my dorm and hide under my sheets until I fell asleep. I was crazy embarrassed.

"Sorry to ruin the sweet sweet smell of romance, but all these pictures of Chloe have gotten me curious. What sort of person was her dad? What was he like?" Kate came in asking.

"William?" I asked. "William was...amazing," I told her. There are a million different terms that could describe him and "amazing" felt like the understatement of the year.

Where do I even begin to describe just how much of an impact William was in Chloe's life as well as my own...