I looked up to see Max squaring off against Victoria. The fire of an archangel was billowing around her. She was a force to be reckoned with. My mind strayed to the memory- to the meaning behind it. Similar to when Max hit a hard reset to save Chloe, I hit a hard reset to save Lex that day in April. The details of how alluded me.
"Some people are meant to die."
I watched Max hand over her photo to Jefferson and returned my attention to my notebook. I needed to make sure that whatever message I left for myself would make an impact.
"God dammit," I cursed.
Scribbling out my original message, I scrawled out a new one in its place.
April 22nd. Don't trust Jefferson. Protect Max.
Glancing back up, I saw Max look back at me. An understanding passed between the two of us. Max had made her change to the timeline. Mark followed Max's gaze and his lips pulled up into a smile. Even from this far, I could feel a magnetic pull- a connection- with him.
"Rio! Please come on up. I'd love to talk with you for a moment about the Everyday Heroes Contest," Jefferson called to me. I clutched my book to my chest as I approached him and the world around me dissolved into multiple spots of white like a photo burning up in the sunlight.
Still life photographs appeared before me in succession.
Chloe standing over Nathan in the bathroom- ready to flee for her life. It was burnt up but then restored before my very eyes.
Lex and I goofing off as we trounced through the graveyard. The photograph burned away and was replaced with a shot of police raiding the Dark Room.
What's going on? I wondered, trying to comprehend the meaning behind the photograph.
Another photograph appeared as that one fluttered away. It was Kate Marsh standing on the ledge of the dormitory roof- one step away from eternal freedom. Flames licked at the edges until they consumed the photograph and in its place a picture of Jefferson being led through the halls by armed officers appeared.
Mark.
Another photograph appeared- Mark and me dancing outside at the End of the World bash with two twin moons glimmering in the sky behind us. It crumbled away to ashes and the photo that replaced it was of Max holding up a blown up version of her photograph that she'd apparently entered into the contest.
A fifth photograph appeared and it was of Jefferson kneeling next to me on the couch. I noticed a damp rag in his left hand pressed against my temple and then the picture burst into flames and was replaced with a photograph of me making my way up a somewhat familiar trail.
I held my breath as the world burst into color around me. I was standing at the top of the cliff next to the lighthouse from the vision Max and I had. Rain peppered my cheeks like tiny, freezing knives. I was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a loose dream catcher tank that whipped in the howling wind. There was a roaring monster of a tornado ripping through the bay. Grabbing my phone, I lucked out having one bar of LTE service.
"Come on, Max. Pick up," I begged, deftly tapping away before pressing the phone to my ear. I sat down on the bench in an attempt to calm myself. There was no escaping the storm at this point. The vision came to fruition despite Max's efforts. She'd failed to fix things.
What did we get wrong? I wondered as my phone ringed uselessly. Max's voicemail began and I promptly hung up and hit redial. I continued to attempt to take in everything that was happening. It was all...chaos.
Chaos.
"Chaos Theory," I gasped in realization. We changed something in the past and it had very dramatic repercussions on our present and future. We were so transfixed on Rachel and the Dark Room that we missed something vital. We missed-
"You fucked up!"
Lex tumbling backwards over the edge of the cliff appeared in my mind's eye alongside the audio of Chloe being shot by Nathan. Max saved Chloe that day the same way that I saved Lex- by messing with the original timeline. We played God with the lives of those around us. It wasn't until she saved Chloe that the timeline fully deteriorated.
"We can only save one of them," I realized as Max's voicemail began. I ended the call and set my phone down beside me on the bench. Max was somewhere- probably in San Francisco. She would call me back when she saw the missed calls.
If I live that long.
"Get a picture of me here, Rio!"
"I won't leave her to die," I growled, trying to find a solution to the chaos problem. "Chloe has to die."
My phone began ringing- a dim trill against the sound of my impending doom. I lifted it and wiped away the rain. Max's name was blazoned across the screen accusingly- as if she knew that I decided to trade Chloe's life for my sister's. I answered the call.
"Max?!" I shouted over the roaring storm.
"Rio-schh-'s-rrrk-ng on?" Max's voice came through- only occasionally cutting through the static.
"I can't hear you! Max, I thought you were going to fix everything?!" I yelled into the mic, hoping that she could hear me. "You need to go back. Fix this. The storm is here and it is going to kill everyone."
"I'll-shhr-thi-rrshk-o," Max replied choppily. The line died as my service bar hit zero and I swore. Staring out at the storm, I watched a row boat go flying and followed its path until it hit the lighthouse.
"Well fuck," I muttered as the lighthouse crunched and its top came barreling down on me. I felt a vast amount of pain as every bone in my body cracked and snapped and then I felt nothing.
I took a sharp inhale of air as my eyes snapped open and my vision cleared to reveal, yet again, the ceiling of the Dark Room. My heart was pounding in my throat and my eyes stung with unshed tears. As I took in the familiar surface of the off white ceiling, I felt my breathing begin to steady. There was something eerily calming about the Dark Room. It was familiar and stable.
"It's such a pity. You've been braver this week than you have probably in your whole life," Mark was saying off to my left. My head lolled to the side and I tried to keep the contents of my stomach in my stomach. Mark was facing the chair I assumed Max to be in- his back to me completely. "I've really enjoyed our last session together, Max."
"Max," I repeated the name- sounding it out in my brain as a hazy image of a girl with a soft face and pale blue eyes surfaced. What did he mean by 'last session'?
"Rio," Mark spoke, turning his body towards mine. His mouth quirked up a bit in a small grin and I felt my stomach flip at the sight of the camera in his hands. If I made it out of the Dark Room, I was never going to touch a camera ever again. "You're awake."
"Leave her alone," Max ordered- seemingly very awake in comparison to my last altercations with the petite brunette.
"Max, the adults are talking," Mark chided her, walking over to me and kneeling across the coffee table from me. To my surprise, I didn't feel the insatiable urge to scoot away from him. His presence was almost comforting.
"Yea, Max. The adults are talking," I affirmed his statement, pulling myself up into a sitting position even as my head spun and my stomach tied itself into knots. Mark's smiled widened barely enough to notice. A slight smile pulled at the corner of my lips. "Mark, I'm very thirsty."
"Of course you are!" Mark acknowledged, setting his camera down upon the coffee table and leaning over it to kiss me softly on the forehead. The small peck of his lips was tender and warm. "I'll get you a glass of ice water."
"Thank you," I smiled politely and Mark went through the divider and into the other room to supposedly grab a bottle of water for me. I stared across the room at Max- wondering what she thought of the encounter. The tethers of time that I felt during Kate's attempt at her own life tingled beneath my fingertips and I deftly spun them around my long, thin fingers before pulling. The sound of water coming from the faucet in the other room slows and then stopped. Dust particles that were once dancing among the harsh glare of the lights ceased movement.
"You froze time again," Max remarked, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Her right ankle was still free from restraints.
"I need to know what changes you made to the timeline, Max," I bypassed her remark in favor of pursuing the new subject. It was time to put all of the time traveling to rest- to fix the problem once and for all. I could only handle so much more of the strain upon my body.
"I texted David Madsen- the security officer at Blackwell- about Mr. Jefferson. I guess that in that timeline-"
"Jefferson got arrested and you won the Everyday Heroes Contest," I stated plainly. "Oh, and I died. Again. That seems to be a recurring theme. Every time you mess with time, I die."
"I'm not trying to get you killed, Rio," Max argued, her face turning an angry shade of red. I felt the invisible fibers strain against my grip. I wanted to trust Max- I needed to- but there was too much holding me back. I gave her her chance and all she proved was that her priorities did not align with mine. Max wanted to save Chloe- not Arcadia Bay.
"No, you're trying to save Chloe and get revenge on Mark instead of figuring out the problem. Mark isn't the problem, Max- the storm is," I countered, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. I felt much more comfortable holding back the tide of time now than I did the first time. This time I was not carrying the stress of Kate's life upon my shoulders. I just needed a few minutes.
Just a few minutes to collect my thoughts.
"Why do you call him Mark?" Max asked, her face twisting in confusion and betrayal. I recalled what I said to her. I did call him Mark- several times- and without having the threat of him lashing out at me.
"Just because you're asleep doesn't mean that things don't change, Max," I whispered, recalling the altercation between Mark and myself. Max was so concentrated on my use of his first name that she was missing the point.
"What changed, Rio? Are you suddenly okay with everything he's done to Kate and Chloe- to me- now that you're his little pet?" Max spat. The word 'pet' was like a slap across the face or the feeling of someone dumping ice water down the back of my shirt. My blood ran cold in my veins.
"What about what he's done to me?" I growled, unable to contain the angry tears that trailed down from my eyes. "He murdered me, Max. He's drugged me more times than I can count. He's touched me and kissed me and ruined me!"
"Rio."
"But it's not about me, is it Max? It's about you and your precious Chloe," I snapped and the chords wrapped around my fingers seemed to vibrate beneath my touch. "Mark isn't the problem Max. It's you."
Max looked as if I punched her in the stomach. I felt the darkness that lurked in the back of my mind festering as if it were agitated.
Max doesn't care about you- not the way that I do, Mark's voice whispered in my mind. I felt the strings begin to writhe in my hand as if they were contorting in pain. I didn't even feel the burning agony that was racing through the muscles in my arm like a fiery rod. She would put you in the grave in Chloe's place in an instant.
"You would put me in that shallow grave in Chloe's place, Max. Wouldn't you?" I reasoned, feeling as if the warmth had fled my body. My chest twisted with pain as if my heart were shattering into fragments and piercing through the muscle and tissue like daggers. The metaphorical blood bubbled up my throat in the form of words. "Mark understands me- you don't. You're just a child, Max. A child fucking around with a power she never should have gotten."
"Rio, you have to listen to-"
"I don't have to do anything Max- not for you," I interrupted her, unable to even stomach looking at her anymore.
"Rio, there's something wrong with you. You're not well," Max insisted in a pleading tone.
"No Max, I'm not well," I agreed. My world was crumbling around me and everything felt dark and cold. As if sensing my spiral into the darkness, a familiar earthy scent drifted on the breeze. I could recall the number of freckles that dusted across Max's nose and cheeks and how soft her hair was as my fingertips threaded through it. "Do you remember when I kissed you?"
There was a long pause and then, "Yes."
"I'm so sorry Max," I whispered. I looked for a way out- a photograph that I could slip through. Max's journal was laying against the wall- burnt to a crisp as if Mark had gone into angry fit and torched the whole thing. "I don't know who I am anymore."
I understand you, Rio.
The strings slipped out of my hands and became intangible once again. The sound of water gushing from the faucet resumed as if it never stopped. I could feel Max's eyes on me- burning holes through my skin one layer at a time before the faucet tapered off. Mark strode back into the room with a glass of water in hand and eyes only for me. Looking up into his eyes, I felt a sudden calm wash over me as I met his gaze. The dark, almost black, irises saw straight to my very core and I saw a reflection of myself in his shadowy pupils.
"Rio, you look pale," Mark commented, coming forward to kneel before me. He pressed the rim of the glass to my mouth and tilted it. I took a small sip- enjoying the refreshing chill of the water coursing down my throat. I felt very light headed- as if my equilibrium was thrown out the window and then someone shook me around. After a moment, Mark pulled the glass away from my mouth and reached up to caress my cheek. I rested my face into his palm, relishing the warmth of his skin.
Max's presence faded into the back of my mind despite the fact that I had no doubt that she was watching the scene unfolding before her. Even if the timeline changed, Max would very likely have memories of the alternate timelines.
"Thank you," I whispered. Mark smiled and leaned forward, brushing his lips against mine. I was already so accustomed to him kissing me that I didn't hesitate to meet him halfway. I could feel him smile against my lips.
"Tell me you love me," Mark requested, his fingers tilting my chin upwards so that I was forced to meet his gaze. I didn't mind the angle. My eyes were drawn to his. There was something deep and unfathomable about the darkness that lurked in his soul. It was like walking into my childhood home- familiar and comforting yet strange.
"I love you."
Hello again! I have noticed that some new followers have decided to jump on board for the ride and that is EX-CIT-ING. Please review and let me know how you're feeling about the latest turns in the story! Things are going to get really wild these next few chapters so hold onto your laptops. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
Time flies when you're having fun. ;)