Notes:
Time to read about Max's reaction to Rachel's backstory! More will be revealed as they bond closer and enjoy each other's company in the hideout. Enjoy!
Chapter Eleven
"…Holy shit, Rachel…" Max whispered softly. She had been tearing up the entire time while Rachel was talking. Her face was damp with her tears, but she was too focused on listening to Rachel's story to wipe her eyes and cheeks. Max could not believe the story that Rachel told, and the nightmare Rachel suffered through…
"This picture is framed different. Rachel is awake and fucking furious," Max remembered what she thought in her mind when she saw Rachel's binder in Mr. Jefferson's office five years ago in the alternate timeline. The story Rachel had just told her and the photos of Rachel were starting to make sense. "This shot is so staged, I can't believe it's real... I can't..."
Rachel had not shed a single tear as she spoke. Max could sense that Rachel has grown stronger, that she has emotionally and mentally persisted these past five years.
Max had not been drinking her last beer. She glanced inside the half-full bottle. The beer was no longer cold; it warmed up in her hands. Rachel had finished her beer; the empty bottle now on the table.
Max finally wiped her face from her crying with the sleeve of her coat. She downed her beer in large gulps. She shook her head, letting Rachel's story sink in.
"I… I am so sorry, Rachel," Max said. She looked at Rachel and frowned. "I cannot believe you went through hell like that…"
"It's pretty fucked up," Rachel said solemnly, "I still have nightmares about it… but I've grown… I've moved on…"
Max held Rachel's hand tightly. She sniffled, closing her eyes shut.
"Max, it's okay," Rachel said with a small smile, hugging Max appreciatively. "I'm fine. I'm here. I'm alive."
"I just don't understand how someone could be so fucked up!" Max exclaimed, inhaling sharply. She pulled away from Rachel's embrace.
"I… I was captured by Jefferson too… but it was not as horrible as what he did to you… He hurt you so, so many times… you watched Kelly die… you were taken away…" Max continued. "He… he fucking almost…" Max shook her head, unable to finish her sentence.
"Don't feel bad for me, Max," Rachel said. "I'm sorry you went through Jefferson's psycho perversion too… Just because mine was a much worse experience, it doesn't make yours and the other girls' experiences any less horrible."
Max thought about Kate Marsh and what she must have gone through when she was kidnapped and drugged. She thought about what could have happened to Victoria. She thought about the other girls who were Mr. Jefferson's victims.
"Rachel Amber was your victim, not your 'subject,'" Max remembered growling at Mr. Jefferson when she was in his Dark Room.
"Oh... Rachel Amber... That's the real tragedy," Jefferson had replied. "Nathan thought he could be an artist like me... Instead, the dumbass gave her an overdose."
"No, Jefferson, you're wrong…" Max thought, glancing at Rachel. "Jefferson was the dumbass for overdosing Kelly! And he lied that Nathan killed Rachel!"
After a few more small sobs and trying to calm down, Max collected herself. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater and leaned back against the wall. Her face was hot from crying.
"…Rachel in the Dark Room…" Max said softly. She furrowed her eyebrows quizzically.
"That's what Nathan kept screaming," Rachel said. She stretched her legs in front of her, which were still under the blanket that she shared with Max. "'Rachel in the Dark Room.'"
Max gasped. She had an epiphany. She sat up straight, wide-eyed, and looked at Rachel.
"I remember the time Chloe and I snuck into Principal Wells' office at Blackwell Academy—in the alternate timeline," Max said frantically. "We were looking for clues about where you might have been or why one of my classmates tried to kill herself… We wanted information on Nathan…"
Rachel nodded, listening to Max.
"We found drawings that supposedly belonged to Nathan in Principal Wells' computer," Max continued, speaking quickly. "The drawings were of 'Rachel in the Dark Room' scribbled over and over. Just 'Rachel in the Dark Room, Rachel in the Dark Room' all over the page!"
"Yikes. That sounds a lot like how Nathan was behaving the night I was taken away," Rachel replied. "Nathan sounded and looked so sorry… like he was scared for me and didn't want me to be taken away as Jefferson planned."
"That explains his panic attack," Max said, shaking her head in disbelief. "He felt overwhelmed… conflicted between helping you… or helping Jefferson."
"I could see him and hear him talk to himself, pacing" Rachel said. "It was like his thoughts were running through his head a mile a minute."
"Rachel, I think Nathan drew those drawings and scribbled 'Rachel in the Dark Room' because he was so guilty of being a part of your kidnapping and being Jefferson's accomplice…" Max said.
Max remembered the heart-breaking voice message she received from Nathan five years ago in the alternate timeline while she drove in the middle of the storm…
"Max, it's... it's Nathan. I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt Kate or Rachel, or... didn't want to hurt anybody. Everybody... used me," Max remembered hearing Nathan's voice breaking as he apologized on the phone. "Mr. Jefferson... is coming for me now. All this shit will be over soon. Watch out, Max... He wants to hurt you next. Sorry."
Max held Rachel's forearm and looked into her eyes.
"Rachel, don't you realize? Nathan scribbled that over and over again not just because he was driven mad… but he wanted to give Principal Wells or David clues!" Max continued, shocked by her realization. "He didn't want to rat on Mr. Jefferson because he feared for his life, but he wanted the authorities to know about the Dark Room! Rachel… Nathan was trying to help you… or avenge you… He was trying to prevent Jefferson from kidnapping other girls!"
Rachel looked into Max's eyes. Max could see Rachel's eyes water. Rachel exhaled and looked at the ceiling, as if she had received the best news in years.
"Fucking Nathan," Rachel chuckled sadly. "I knew that brat was on my side… I just… I wasn't so sure…"
"Even though he helped Mr. Jefferson… in the end, he didn't want you to be sent away," Max exclaimed. "You said it yourself! You said he just wanted to kidnap you and scare you to get back at you for stealing his money!"
"Thank you for telling me this, Max," Rachel said. She held Max's hand. Max nodded and gave Rachel a small, reassuring smile.
"All this time, I've wondered why Nathan drew those scribbles," Max said. "I wondered if it was because of his condition… I wondered how he would have known that you were in the Dark Room… But really, Nathan just got himself involved with a fucked-up psycho… in a fucked-up situation that he couldn't get out of."
"That poor kid," Rachel said softly, closing her eyes. "I hope he is okay…"
They remained silent for a moment. Max glanced at her phone to look at the time. It was almost two in the afternoon. She sighed and rested her elbows on her knees and her cheeks in her palms. She looked around the hideout, still letting Rachel's story and her epiphany sink in. She turned and looked at Rachel.
"So… where did those men take you?" Max finally asked.
"Well, I had no idea for the longest time…" Rachel replied. "I was practically knocked out the whole car ride to wherever the hell they drove me… Every time I woke up, I was confused and disoriented, hearing the sound of the car engine and feeling the bumps on the road as they drove. Before I had the chance to look around, I felt them inject me with the medication again… and again…"
"Jesus fucking Christ," Max sighed, shaking her head. She leaned backward against the wall, her shoulder and upper arm grazing Rachel's.
"Who knows how many hours or days that whole ordeal lasted?" Rachel continued. "All I know was that my body was weak and I remained paralyzed for the most part... And as I was knocked out, I dreamt a lot about Chloe… about school… about Long Beach… I honestly thought I was dead and stuck in limbo or some shit."
Max noticed Rachel twirling the blue feather earring on her left ear with her fingers. Max stared at Rachel, feeling oddly warm and content.
"Soon, I woke up to the sound of the back doors of the van opening," Rachel continued. "The two men in black were now dressed in parkas, cargo pants, and boots. I peered out the doors of the van and saw pure white ground, white sky—just a white landscape all around. I thought I was in heaven…"
Even with Rachel sitting by her while talking about a dark past, Max could not help but be mesmerized by Rachel's beauty. She was engaged in the story, watching Rachel's soft lips as she spoke. Max continued to listen to Rachel speaking.
"But then I realized that the white ground was just snow… One of the men lifted me up and slung me on his shoulder… I was still paralyzed and weak, only strong enough to lift my head to look around me. It was snowing heavily…" Rachel said. "I saw trees and snow around us stretching as far as my eyes could see. They walked for a few more yards… The weird thing is… I did not feel the cold of the snow or the winds that blew at us… I wondered if it was from all the medication numbing my senses…"
"How strange…" Max replied, tilting her head, listening to Rachel.
"Soon, the two men stopped walking. They spoke for a little bit… and before I knew it, the men tossed me in the air," Rachel continued. She shook her head, recalling the memory. "I had a chance to look around me while I was in the air… I realized that I had been thrown off a cliff!"
"What?!" Max gasped.
"As I was falling, I looked up, trying to focus on the two men who transported me and threw me," Rachel continued. "But the snow fall was too thick and blowing so strongly."
"Oh, my fucking God!" Max exclaimed. She gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. "They just dumped you off the cliff?!"
"Yeah… as I was hurling downward by the edge of the snowy, rocky cliff side, I felt the wind rushing on my face and my entire body…" Rachel continued, looking at her feet. "I looked below and I was falling toward the snow-capped trees below, hundreds of feet to the ground… The weird thing is…"
Rachel paused, looking up from the ground at Max.
"I was falling slowly, drifting and flying, almost… like I was falling in slow motion," Rachel said in a low voice, almost a whisper. "It was a fucking trip, Max… I felt like a feather being gently lowered to the ground, slowly… The wind guided me, making me float downward. I marveled at the beautiful, snow-capped landscape surrounding me…"
"Were you scared?" Max asked.
"Not at all… I no longer felt pain, and I did not feel the cold… I felt my body slowly descend to the ground… I must have fallen at least a thousand feet," Rachel replied. "I eventually landed softly in the middle of a dense forest. I felt the soft snow on the ground that I landed on… but my body was not shivering… A California girl like me would have been trembling at the cold… it must have been below 20 degrees Fahrenheit!"
"How the heck did you survive that?" Max asked. "Was it… did it have something to do with your powers?"
"Looking back, it probably did," Rachel replied. "I could not figure out how to explain it and how I survived such a hella tall cliff dive… I couldn't move my body because of the medication, but I knew that I wasn't injured."
"Jesus…" Max muttered.
"I lied there for a few minutes… until I fell back asleep, thinking I was going to freeze my ass to death," Rachel said. "But I woke up just fine, hours—maybe days—later! I was able to move my limbs and I was no longer in pain… I felt weak, but I stood up just fine."
Max thought about the time she spoke with Daniel DaCosta, a classmate of hers who loved to draw, five years ago. Max had asked Daniel about Rachel's whereabouts while she was missing.
"She just stopped coming to class. Some people say she ran away, some say she jumped off a cliff…" Max remembered Daniel saying. "I just hope she's okay…"
"Maybe you are immortal!" Max half-joked.
Rachel chuckled and smiled at Max.
"I don't think that's it," Rachel responded. "I think… I think my ability to control the weather—or nature—allowed me to be unaffected by the cold… I must've manipulated the wind to gently lower me down the cliff."
Max gasped, impressed.
"That is so fucking cool," Max said in awe.
They sat in silence for a moment.
Max recalled her intense conversation with Mr. Jefferson in the Dark Room when she was tied up and drugged in the alternate timeline.
"Where is Nathan now?" Max remembered asking Mr. Jefferson.
"Dead and buried," Mr. Jefferson had responded. "After what he did to Rachel, I knew I couldn't keep him as a protégé for much longer. Now the police will never find his body…"
"I wonder if Jefferson in that timeline ordered the same men to take Nathan away like they did with Rachel…" Max thought to herself. She shivered at the thought of Nathan being thrown off the cliff.
"If I wasn't so scared, I would have thought it was hella awesome," Rachel added. "But I still didn't know where I was, or if I was even still in Oregon… I walked for hours… days… weeks… I was barefoot, hardly had any clothes, and the wound on my waist needed better healing…"
"Did it get infected?" Max asked.
"It didn't, thankfully," Rachel said. "It healed pretty well on its own, actually… I kept it clean, melting the snow into water to drink and to use it to clean my wound. Wanna see?"
Rachel lifted her shirt, revealing her bare stomach and waist for Max to marvel at. Max felt a pang of electricity throughout her body. She could see a raised, skin-colored linear scar on Rachel's waist.
"I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier today," Max said, to herself mostly.
"Oh, so you were checking me out?" Rachel said smugly. She smirked at Max.
"I… well…" Max said, smiling.
"For all I know, maybe you used you powers to your advantage too," Rachel joked with a sly look.
"What? You're silly!" Max laughed.
"Don't lie, Caulfield!" Rachel laughed, lowering her shirt back down. "Maybe you made a move on me and I would never know!"
"That's also what Chloe said to me when I showed her my powers at the Two Whales Diner," Max thought.
"Yes, that's what I did," Max joked back. She pushed Rachel's shoulder playfully.
"Knew it!" Rachel said. She pushed Max back with her shoulder playfully too.
They laughed.
"Did you run into anyone?" Max asked. "How did you even survive in the forest?"
"For months, I didn't see anyone. I couldn't find roads or houses. I was in the wilderness. I thought I was going to die," Rachel answered. "But I discovered that I could create fire if I concentrated hard enough…"
"Fire?!" Max exclaimed. "You can control nature and create fire too?!"
"I gathered bundles of wood one day, trying to rub and twist them together to build a fire to signal hikers or people in planes or helicopters… but it was no use," Rachel said. "I tried striking rocks, and didn't get anywhere… I got angry, kicked a pile of wood over, and soon enough, a flame burned on the pile… It freaked me out."
"That's awesome!" Max exclaimed. "Your powers sound incredible."
"It definitely was hard to get used to… I had to practice a lot… I spent entire days honing my powers," Rachel continued. "I was able to control the wind to shake trees for birds' nests to fall… I would gather the eggs, cook them, and ate them like every day… If I came across a river stream, I stuck my hand in the water, increased the water's temperature into a boil, and all the fish nearby died and floated. Caught them with a net I made… My body was accustomed to the harsh weather… I ventured for days, still wondering where I was."
"Who knew you were the outdoorsy type?" Max said. "It always seemed like you were too… 'high class' for the outdoors."
"High class?" Rachel laughed.
"Yeah! Like, you were too posh and proper for going camping or whatever," Max chuckled. "Blackwell kids made it seem like you were their queen. I couldn't help but think you were the 'Victoria-type.'"
"Uh, definitely not like Victoria," Rachel chuckled. "But I definitely struggled the first few weeks on my own. I had horrible nightmares of my evening at Jefferson's office… but my body healed and I stayed persistent… After being alone for what seemed like months, after not finding civilization, I contemplated killing myself…"
"Jesus…" Max sighed. "I'm… I'm glad you didn't."
"Have you ever heard of prairie fever?" Rachel asked.
Max nodded.
"I was driven to madness, Max… I was going crazy just being outside, isolated, away from anyone and everyone… I did not even run into that many animals… maybe they were terrified of me… maybe they sensed my power of nature," Rachel continued. "I wanted a bear or a goddamn wolf pack to find me and eat me… I really believed that I was stuck in my own personal hell… but instead of the fiery depths of hell, it was the frozen harshness of the snow."
Rachel paused. She looked at her hands, she was rubbing the knuckles of one of her hands with her other hand, thinking deeply.
"I wondered if this was my punishment… for cheating on Chloe with Frank," Rachel continued. She frowned and closed her eyes, having difficulty speaking. "I wondered if Chloe and Frank were better off without me anyway… I wondered if it was worth trying to survive in the forest, if it was worth trying to go back home… I decided that I didn't deserve them and that they deserved a less fucked-up life without me…"
"Rachel…" Max said comfortingly.
"I finally reached a small town… I couldn't believe my eyes!" Rachel continued. "By then, I had perfected my powers… when I could control them, that is. I was able to create fire, to create wind, to make snowfall avoid falling on me… When I entered the inn of the small town, I spoke with the owner. He looked at me worriedly. He could not believe that I was traveling alone, without enough clothes, and barefoot. He gave me some boots and clothes from the inn's shop. He never questioned where I came from…"
"Did you try to call home?" Max asked.
"I tried once… but no one picked up that time; didn't try again… I wanted to call Chloe, but I decided not to… Waves of guilt rushed over me for days…" Rachel responded. Max noted how sad and disappointed Rachel looked. "The owner was nice enough for letting me stay at the inn for those few days… I found out that I was in a forest in Alaska."
"Wowser!" Max exclaimed. "Those men drove you all the way there?!"
"Yeah, they sure did," Rachel said. "Jefferson probably thought I would never survive being thrown off the cliff… he probably figured that no one would find my body in the middle of nowhere… it was his way of getting rid of me without authorities finding traces of me… to make it seem like I ran away."
"I… I saw a postcard in Chloe's room in my alternate timeline when I saved her," Max said. "It said 'Miss you... Wish you were here!' Your name was on it. It was sent from Seaside, Oregon."
"That was definitely not from me… Maybe Jefferson forged it to make it seem like I was fine," Rachel replied. "I made no real effort to reach Chloe… I couldn't face her. Being in the woods made me think about the fucked-up choices I've made… I knew Chloe would try to look for me and go to Frank."
Rachel paused. Max could see that her face was red and her eyes were watering again.
"I worried that Chloe would find those photos of me and Frank," Rachel continued. "I figured she would have found out about me cheating on her with Frank by then. I was too coward and I couldn't live with myself."
Max looked at the ground, listening to Rachel's confession. She felt so sorry for Rachel… she remembered how much Chloe was desperate to find her, but she wondered if she herself would be able to face Chloe if she had cheated on Chloe too… Max would have not want to see Chloe hurt again… or to hurt Chloe in anyway.
"When I left the inn, the owner kindly provided me with a backpack on my back, some cash, food, a water bottle, a sleeping bag, and clothes to last me on my journey to nowhere and everywhere…" Rachel continued. "I grew to enjoy being on my own, in the wilderness, in the open road… Fuck, it was amazing… I traveled everywhere, Max… And here I am."
Rachel smiled, looking up, remembering her years on foot and on her own.
"Soon, years past and I figured there was no point in trying to reconnect with my family or with Chloe…" Rachel said. "Especially since my love for her was fading throughout these years… And…"
Rachel paused and took a deep breath.
"I figured she had moved on too," Rachel said solemnly. "I was on the road. My mind was focused on just myself. I had a clear head. I loved it out there... but something told me I had to come back to Arcadia Bay."
"How did you get by?" Max asked. "I'm sure you ran out of cash soon… Wouldn't your face and name raise red flags wherever you went since you're registered as a missing person?"
"Apparently not," Rachel replied. "No one cares about the news of a missing girl from the small town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. And apparently, like you said, my parents gave up looking for me… I guess I'm just another girl in another faraway city… but I got by… By stealing, hustling, gambling..."
Max's eyes shot wide open in surprise.
"Sometimes it was the only way to get quick cash," Rachel said. She smiled embarrassingly. "But I had to do what I needed to do to get by, you know? I was… am… a vagabond."
Max nodded and continued listening to Rachel.
"There were times when I would show up at a gas station and catch someone's car on fire…" Rachel said, chuckling a bit. "I would run into the store and scream that someone's car was on fire, and the store owner would rush out with a fire extinguisher. Everyone in the vicinity would run away, fearing the entire gas station would blow up into flames. While they were busy running around in the chaos, I stole food from the shelves and money from the register."
"That's… wow," Max said. "It sounds a little badass. I hope no one got hurt!"
"Of course not," Rachel responded, smirking slightly proudly. "I made it rain to put the fire out… and then I made it rain too!"
Rachel laughed at her pun. She motioned with her hands as if she was spilling money onto the floor. Max smiled and shook her head.
"Where's your backpack now?" Max asked.
"It's back in Chloe's closet," Rachel said. "I left it there for now… It feels good not having to carry that thing around for once… I stayed at hostels, showered at gyms, rec centers, stayed wherever I could… I probably traveled the entirety of this country… backpacking on an endless journey. I saw so many places, landmarks, met so many people… Always stealing from stores… creating fires or causing havoc with my powers to distract others while I stole from them or had to run away…"
"Must have been very useful," Max said with a small smile. "I definitely stole using my powers too."
Rachel chuckled. "What? Really? When?"
"I used my powers to steal Frank's keys to his RV. Chloe and I broke in and went through his dingy home," Max replied. She chuckled. "Maybe you and I should team up for future heists!"
They laughed.
"As I continued to use and practice my powers, I often looked back and realized the first time I think I noticed my powers," Rachel said. "You mentioned that you discovered your time-rewinding powers when you saw Chloe in the bathroom—the first time you saw her since you moved to Seattle five years prior… I also got my powers around the time I met Chloe too."
Rachel sighed. Max looked at her, curious about the origin of Rachel's powers. Rachel continued.
"We… we burned a photo of me and my dad in a trashcan at one of the parks in the woods. I was angry at him… I kicked the trashcan, which caught a tree on fire…" Rachel continued. "When I screamed, the wind grew stronger and it had lit the tree faster… The whole forest was on fire days after that. The fire spread so quickly. It was impossible, but it happened… It happened because of me. I caused a forest fire. It was horrible."
Max remembered about the storm that occurred just last night. She remembered that whenever Rachel screamed, the storm grew fiercely.
"Another time was when my parents were arguing with Chloe in our dining room," Rachel added. "The candles that were lit on the table had grown larger and brighter as my anger grew."
"It can't just be a coincidence that you were with Chloe when you discovered your powers… and I was with Chloe when I discovered mine… Right?" Max responded. "It just doesn't make sense why we got our powers… but it feels like we were meant to have them, you know?"
"Right! I think everything happens for a reason, Max," Rachel said, nodding her head. "You got yours to save her from getting shot by Nathan... to experience your adventure that led to the discovery of Jefferson's secret—to put his ass in prison. And I got mine… well, I still don't know why I got mine… maybe to save my life… maybe to find you… But I know deep down that I was meant to have them too."
"If… if Chloe could be the catalyst of discovering our powers… do you think that she might have had powers too?" Max added, her eyes wide-eyed in wonder. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Rachel. "Do you think… do you think that other people have powers too? Powers like we do?"
Rachel looked at Max quizzically and contemplatively.
"Chloe? With powers?" Rachel exclaimed, chuckling. "Pffft! She would have hella abused her powers for shits and giggles!"
"Right?" Max giggled. "Who knows what crazy shenanigans she'd get herself into?"
"You mean more so than she already did without powers?" Rachel joked.
They laughed. Rachel rested her head on Max's shoulder. Max looked at Rachel and relaxed her body. She rested her head on Rachel's.
"Can you imagine what we would be capable of if the three of us all had powers? …And if we were all here together?" Rachel asked, looking at the sky, beyond the gaps between the wooden boards that was the ceiling. "We could save the world—the universe!"
"A trio of heroes," Max sighed. She thought about the superhero comic strips she and Chloe used to draw when they were kids called The Adventurous Adventures of Super Max and Dr. Chloenstein.
Max and Rachel sat in silence enjoying each other's company for a few moments.
"How long are you visiting Arcadia Bay for?" Rachel finally spoke.
Max paused. The thought of her heading back home to Los Angeles hadn't come across her mind the whole time she was in Arcadia Bay.
"I don't know if I want to leave anymore," Max thought. "Definitely not after meeting Rachel Amber… not after finding out that she's alive… Having bonded with her this whole time changes everything."
Max lifted her head and looked at Rachel. Rachel lifted her head from Max's shoulder. Max marveled at her beauty, her heart beating faster and harder. She had gotten so close to Rachel within the past day, and she couldn't believe how comfortable they have grown with each other.
Rachel looked into Max's eyes, reaching… anticipating an answer. Her face was centimeters away from Max's. Max looked at Rachel's lips, at Rachel's blue feathered earring, and into Rachel's hazel eyes.
Max felt a jolt in her heart.
"I can't leave… Not without Rachel," Max thought. "I'll stay if I have to."
To be continued…
End Notes:
I was worried that this was not much of a cliffhanger… Keep reading! I am trying to post once a week now! ;)