Chapter 26

As the moon light pierced the bedroom window, Max began to stir from a state of sleep. Initially reluctant to open her eyes, the brunette begrudgingly did so after discovering the remnants of dried tears on her checks while turning over. Whipping away the dried remnants, the brunette's eyes shot open upon deciphering the décor of her Seattle bedroom through the moonlight. In the next moment, anxiety reared its ugly head as she had taken a moment to recount the events of the previous nighttime excursion.

Chloe! Max thought before stumbling out of bed.

Unable to see clearly in the darkness, Max frantically fumbled around the night stand in search of the switch to illuminate the room. Initially unable to locate the light, the effort was eventually successful after discovering the lamp on the floor. After recovering from the momentary disorientation due to the sudden change in brightness, Max was taken aback by the current state of the room. Posters had been torn off the walls, the contents on the desk brushed to the floor, and various items were sprawled throughout the room. Normally a relatively tidy person, observing a room in relative disarray caused immediate concern.

Well this certainly isn't a good sign, Max thought to herself sullenly. What the frick happened here?

Now surveying through the debris, akin to a crime scene, Max was looking for some indicator of what had transpired. Short thereafter, from her peripheral vision, the brunette noticed something amongst the bedding. Pulling back the sheet, a feeling of dread swept over her recognizing the object as a favorite childhood stuffed animal. Fresh tears began to form in the corner of her eyes as the brunette reached for the toy, before clutching it close to her chest. In her grasp was a red one eyed squid, appropriately named Billy the Squid, of which Chloe had gifted prior to her leaving Arcadia Bay. Uncovered by the pair on the same day that William had passed; Max had always suspected that was the reason Chloe had given it to her. Having made no progress in the assigned task of cleaning her room, the two girls went in search of buried pirate treasure after uncovering a recording from their eight year old selves. Following the clues laid out, the adventure eventually led to a time capsule they had buried in the backyard. After plundering the contents within, a shell shocked Joyce return home to reveal her father's fate.

What otherwise would've been a memento of their childhood, with her father's passing, it served as another reminder of what had been lost that day. Max had gladly accepted the gift and having taken it with her, it became a symbol of their friendship and her old life in Arcadia Bay. The brunette had sought comfort from the squid during the initial fight that had driven the two apart and later when she had closed herself off out of fear after Chloe had attempted to reconnect a year later. Over time, Max eventually lost count of the amount of nights she had spent crying herself to sleep with the stuffed squid held tight in her grasp. Through it all, Billy the Squid had become a piece of her old life as she tried to start anew in Seattle, serving as a reminder of happy memories and tears shed.

Well that certainly isn't a good sign, Max thought to herself sullenly.

Getting back to the task at hand with a sense of urgency, Max was now fearful that something terrible had happened, while resuming the search. Recalling that Chloe had been struggling immensely with survivor's guilt, she was unable to prevent thoughts of the blunette harming herself to some extent. With each subsequent pile of debris, the effort became increasingly frantic, as the brunette's level angst continued to spike. Finding no answers through the endeavor, Max struggled to keep her anxiety at bay before having to place both hands against the wall for support. In an effort to mitigate the familiar symptoms of an oncoming panic attack, she closed her eyes and focused on breathing.

"I can't… I can't go through this again…" the brunette pondered between intermittent breaths. "There has to be something… something that can tell me what happened."

Shortly thereafter, Max began to regain her composure as the worst of the symptoms began to subside. After exhaling an exuberant breath, the brunette opened her eyes to the floor below to find something lay discarded to the side of the trash can. After blinking twice, as though her eyes had been deceived, she bent over to pick up the crumpled piece of paper. Suddenly under the pressure of nerves, the brunette timidly made her way over to her desk to unfold the paper. Recognizing it as a note from Chloe, she had barely managed to suppress a gag reflex after seeing the dried teardrops splashed across the contents. With the sudden reemergence of her anxiety, the brunette meticulously sat down to read the note.

Max,

Uhhh… I didn't know what… I don't even know how to begin… and it turns out I couldn't... I tried, I really did but… it's just been impossible to talk to you lately. Anytime I brought up going back… it's like I was talking to a different person. One minute you were open to the idea… the next… you would just completely shut down.

I'm sorry for leaving like this but… I have to go back. I just can't live with the fact all those people died so I could live. I have to do something… something to justify their sacrifice. I understand why you can't go back now, so I hope you'll understand why I can't just stay here.

I'll do my best to keep my phone charged… please don't shut me out again.

After all this… I can't lose you again… please.

3 Chloe

Reading through the note proved to be a challenge, as Max had barely gotten past the first sentence before fresh tears began to cascade onto the page. Initially, the brunette enjoyed the excursions with Chloe as a means of escape, but that notion had been shattered after reading the letter. The pain she felt at reading the letter was reminiscent of what she had endured in the bathroom after going to correct the timeline. Crippled by the grief, Max sat helplessly, suffering the trauma of the confrontation for a final time. Now an overwhelming sense of anguish came over her, as the letter caused all of the pain and tears experienced after altering the timeline to resurface.

"Nobody would ever miss your "punk ass" would they?" Nathan had asked, taunting the blunette with the gun.

"Get that gun away from me, psycho!" Chloe cried out, before shoving her assailant away, inadvertently causing Nathan to pull the trigger.

Mirroring the original timeline, Max cried out "NO," unable to stop a verbal manifestation of her grief. Eventually her sorrow transitioned to bitterness, before finally settling on determination. If this really was an alternate timeline, the brunette refused to allow this Max experience the loss of Chloe as she had. After moving to Seattle, she had let Chloe go out of fear of being hurt again, now Max resolved to not that happened again to this Max.

Forcing herself away from the desk, Max paced across the room while contemplating the best course of action. Initially, after discovering a photo taken since their arrival in Seattle, consideration was given to doing a photo jump to warn Other Max of the blunette's impending departure. Although unsure if that was even possible, the option was discarded as there were too many unknowns. Next, the possibility reaching out to Chloe was considered, but that option was discarded as well as it was probable her alternate self would shut down due to the anxiety. Fearing that Other Max wouldn't make the effort willingly, she decided to initiate the plan herself.

Should be easy enough to convince her… she is me after all, Max thought with a smirk.

Realizing the plan hinged on securing a mean of travel, Max set off downstairs to talk to her parents. While on route, a hint of uncertainty crept into the brunettes mind. When making this decision, she hadn't considered the potential of the shift in her parents perception due to the storm. Now finding herself at the bottom of the stairs, she saw her dad look over as he noticed someone coming down the stairs. Realizing it was too late to turn back, Max pressed forward.

"Max… I don't know…" Ryan said with obvious hesitation in his voice.

"Dad…please, I can't lose her again," the brunette replied back, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes and the desperation becoming in her voice.

It had been a hard sell, but eventually Max had been able to convince her dad to let her go, albeit with one small caveat. Initially wanting to take the second car and drive down on her own, but Ryan was having none of that. Eventually they settled on him driving her down himself as that was the only way he would be comfortable with his daughter returning to the decimated town. Now with the transportation nailed down, Max returned to her room to formulate a plan to prevent this Max from backing out of the trip. Eventually, she decided on leaving a note to her other self, suggesting that returning to Arcadia Bay was in her best interest. If that didn't work, the brunette would try a less polite means of convincing herself, but she was confident that it wouldn't come to that.

Max,

This is…well… you more or less.

I just convinced our dad to take you back to Arcadia Bay, and if I come back tomorrow I better find myself there. He'll be driving…I know, but it was the only way to get us there. Try not to act surprised.

I know you're scared of seeing the damage caused by your choice, but you should be terrified of the idea of losing Chloe again.

She needs you… just as much as you… just as much as we need her.

Don't fuck this up.

3 Mad Max