Max bobbed her head slowly as she strummed her guitar, relishing the fact that finally her callouses were tough enough to fend off any cuts. She played along with the music on her stereo, cursing under her breath every time she messed up. Chloe had shown such great interest in her little acoustic that she couldn't help but want to get better. It was paying off, too. Even though she still struggled here and there, she was actually becoming quite proficient. She closed her eyes as the song changed, waiting for the music to kick in.
Maybe if I get over myself, I'll actually be able to play for Chloe. I bet she'd love that. The nerd!
She perked up as King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 came on, quickly shifting her fingers so that she could follow along on her guitar. She began to sing, her voice quiet and only for her ears. She continued through the song, only making two mistakes, though she powered through them. Finally, as the song reached its conclusion, her phone buzzed. She grabbed it from next to her and smiled when she saw Chloe's name.
Chloe: ay ay im done work. time to party and/or cuddle and go to sleep
She began to laugh as she responded.
Max: Honestly those things sound synonymous to me.
Chloe: damn fuckin right! ima snug the shit outta you
She set the guitar against the couch and stood up, stretching her neck until it cracked. She recoiled in surprise. It was a habit she had subconsciously picked up from Chloe. She had never been one for cracking knuckles or necks or backs but as it turned out, her lovely punk girlfriend had a very influential aura about her.
As long as I don't start smoking, I guess...
She sat down at her desk, eager to crack open her journal and add a paragraph or two about her day. It was a pretty uneventful Saturday, though Warren did seem particularly excited about a new manga he was reading.
"Time for some new ink," she chirped as she tore the cap off her pen.
December 3rd,
TOO MUCH HOMEWORK.
k bai.
Just kidding, but seriously! Maybe I'm just salty because it made Chloe not want to stay over last night. Once she heard how much I had, she totally bailed on me! I should be more sneaky about school stuff. But the good news is, she did get some good bonding time with David. The bad(?) news is she had another time dream. But apparently when I was 15? Wtf? I thought they would only be from that week in October...I guess we were just kind of assuming.
The time dreams are so hot and cold. I wish she didn't have them. Sometimes it seems like she adores them, but other times, like when she saw herself KILL Frank...I could tell it fucked with her hard. You can still see it in her eyes anytime she mentions him. Of course, any breach of the subject gets waved away. She's so concerned about protecting ME. Idk, I don't like it. It's like she's putting on a suit of armor just so she can stand in front of a bus. I get sick in my stomach thinking about her seeing the Dark Room or...fuck, even worse, the other reality. I guess I just have to pray it doesn't happen. Maybe I'll ask Kate for pointers? (lol)
Speaking of, she and Chloe hung out without me yesterday! I pretended to be mad (and failed HARD), but I'm actually SO happy! I always figured Chloe and Warren would get along, but her and Kate...that was much iffier. Then I got to take what might be one of my favorite photos ever! It's of Chloe, Warren, Kate and...VICTORIA! I know, I know. Hold your questions until after the show, please! Not only am I proud of the way it turned out from a technical aspect, but just...holy crap, a picture of my best friends! I wonder if Victoria would say that... Either way, it makes me giddy just knowing it exists!
That's the thing...I've been so giddy lately. It's been almost-ish-sorta a month since my last nosebleed. I tried not to think about it because I didn't want to jinx it, but now it just feels...good. Heh, I sound like Justin. "Feels good, man." Maybe that's also why the time dreams still make me nervous... They seem to be the last remaining factor of everything that happened. Blaaaah why do I have to be so anxious.
Note to Max: DONT WORRY BE HAPPY
And now that that's stuck in my head, I think I shall play it on loop until Chloe gets here.
P.S. I'ma kiss her face. SQUEEEEEE.
Max snorted as she noticed her lip had stuck to her teeth, a sign that she had been smiling for so long that her mouth had become dry. She began to gyrate as Bob Marley's voice pooled from the laptop speakers. An embarrassed giggle escaped her lips as she watched her reflection dance...poorly. Playfully, she trotted toward it, pointing and laughing.
"You're just as bad as I am," she teased the mirror. "Don't you judge me!" As she flitted to the right, her eyes slid down the Polaroid collage. "Oh man," she pouted as she stopped dancing. "I forgot to add my new photo!" She slid over to the desk where several photos were scattered and picked up the one of her friends.
But now, as she looked at it, it was different. It was...horrible. She gasped in terror. Chloe, Warren, Kate and Victoria all stood next to each other as it really happened, but it was altered. Disfigured. Chloe's face registered no emotion as a red, leaking hole was centered on her forehead. Her eyes were cloudy and steeped in death. Warren was still charming and smiling, though one of his eyes was swollen shut as half of his face was covered in a dark purple bruise. Kate's face remained entirely the same but her clothes were swapped out for a hospital gown. And Victoria held her hands to her face, her wrists bound together by duct tape as black makeup streamed down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide with fear. Behind them, instead of a brisk, sunny day was a gray swirl of madness.
"What the fuck?" She squeaked, dropping the photo. A sharp pain lanced her temple, slowing eking out through her mind. She clutched her hair as she winced.
How is this possible? What's going on?
Instinctively, she reached beneath her nose, feeling a small sense of relief that it was dry. Her throat tightened as she felt her eyes begin to water. The song continued to play, the peaceful melody colliding violently with the rhythm of her breathing. She bent down and focused on the photo. Suddenly, it began to shift. It bent and grew, folded and shrank. A small thud in her chest began to beat faster, crashing against her ribcage as she realized what was happening.
"Wait, no!" She shrieked, throwing her arms up and turning away. The words 'don't worry, be happy' smeared into nothingness as the world faded out. For the first time in months, Max slid through time, falling through minutes and hours. After a moment, her surroundings blinked into existence. Frightened, she scanned around her, finding that she was standing on the lawn in front of the dorms. The sky was gray as a steady rain fell down onto her.
Where am I? I...when am I?
"H...hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?" Her voice was encased in loneliness as she noticed the absolute silence around her. Even the raindrops colliding into the pavement made no noise. It was as if she was in a vacuum. "Please!" She regarded the fluctuating, orange walls wrapped around the area. "Hello?!"
"What are you doing here, Max?" A small, scared voice asked. Max whipped around, searching for its source.
I know that voice!
"Kate!" She shouted. "Where are you?!"
"Stop! Don't come near me!" Max's blood turned to ice as her eyes slowly traveled up the dormitory. There Kate Marsh stood on the edge, staring down at her with an intense glare.
Oh god, oh fuck! Fuck! This isn't happening!
"Kate! What are you doing!?" The pain in her head pulsed, causing her to wince. "Kate, please, don't!" She glanced around her in panic.
What is this? Nobody's here...this isn't how it happened...
"K-Kate, please!" She began to cry as a feeling of dread wrapped around her throat. "I don't know what's going on, but you have to...oh fuck, fuck, no!" She screamed as Kate stepped off the roof, falling until she collided with the pavement in front of Max, her body crumpling on impact. "Oh my god, no!" She cried, running over to the body. "Kate, no, no. Oh god." She fell to her knees, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. "Kate, come on," she pleaded, violently shaking the blonde's body. "This can't be happening! This doesn't make sense!"
"What are you doing here, Max?" Kate's voice asked. Max froze, her eyes widening in fear. She swallowed the lump building in her throat.
"Kate...?" She whispered, softly nudging the body. Suddenly, something heavy crashed into the ground, causing Max to fall backward onto her rear in shock. She smacked a hand over her mouth as a scream flooded through the gaps in her fingers. It was Kate. Or...another Kate.
"Oh, oh fuck," she whimpered, folding in on herself. "What the fuck is going on?!" She clamped her eyes shut as she assessed the situation and a thousand ways to will herself awake. "I'm fucking dreaming," she cried. Another loud thud prompted her to open her eyes, seeing a third Kate lying mangled on top of the first. A fourth hit, then a fifth as Max scrambled backwards, sobbing in disbelief. She looked up in time to see a sixth Kate tumbling through the air with a seventh already standing on the ledge. They continued to fall at an ever increasing rate until it seemed as if it was literally raining Kate's. As the bodies fell, they began to pile up, with some of the corpses sliding off the top and rolling down the emerging mountain. Max screamed and cried, pulling her hair as Kate continued to fall over and over. Dying over and over.
This has to be a nightmare. It has to be. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.
"Oooh, now that's a pretty grisly sight," said someone from behind Max. The voice immediately stung, prying Max's pores open and sneaking in to give her a burning sensation. It was the same voice that she had learned to hate and feel embarrassed by over eighteen years of living. She ground her teeth, shaking her head violently, willing it all to go away. "I mean, seriously," said the voice, "talk about An Abundance of Katherines, am I right?"
"Shut the fuck up," Max spat, finally turning to confront her reflection. The girl, the...Other Max, stood tall, holding her phone above her as if recording the event. "This is in my head," Max said. "You're just trying to fuck with my head!"
"Sure thing," said the Other Max, grunting dismissively. She chuckled to herself. "Man, I bet you a million bucks that when Victoria was doing this, she had the camera flipped and was just recording her precious, all important reaction. Some photographer she is, passing up a moment like this! We are way more talented than her. I know you know that."
"Shut up!" Max screamed, covering her ears. "Go away! Leave me alone!" She watched in silence as the Other Max simply shook her head with a vile smirk. She motioned to her ears irritatedly. Slowly, Max took her hands away. "What do you want now? Why are you even here?"
This doesn't make sense! I was...I was so happy!
"Dude." The Other Max snapped her fingers in annoyance. "Over here, Max. Internal monologue is kind of a lost cause in this situation, no?"
"Oh, fuck you," Max shot back, laughing in disgust. "What's your problem? You just pissed that we fixed everything? Is that it?"
"Oh ho!" The Other Max exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Fixed everything!? That's fucking rich!" She let out a bone chilling burst of laughter, doubling over as she clutched her stomach. "Fixed everything. Yeah, you sure did, Maxine." Behind her, Max could hear the bodies thumping against each other. She could feel the pile getting bigger, growing closer to her.
"Yes, I fixed it," she said stubbornly, getting to her feet. She did her best to ignore the disgusting sounds behind her.
"Really?" Asked the Other Max, smugly putting a hand on her hip. "And what tool did you use to 'fix' everything? A fucking wrecking ball? You broke it. You broke all of it." She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, correction. You let your Price-less little baby take a fucking jackhammer to reality. All so you two could snuggle, give googly eyes and pretend like someday you'd work up the nerve to actually fuck her."
"Shut the fuck up!" Max angrily shouted, pointing at her twisted doppelganger. "You're just trying to make me doubt myself. That's all you ever were. The ugly little voice in the back of my head. It won't work. I'm stronger than that now!"
"And we're all very proud of you," the Other Max mocked. "You can think I'm a voice in your head all you want, it's really no skin off my ass." She stared behind Max, smiling as if impressed. "Damn, that pile is gettin' big. Should we call it Mount Chastity in her honor? I think that's fitting, don't you?"
"I'm not looking..." Max said quietly. "I won't."
"Now that's a real shame," the Other Max said. "It's getting pretty crazy." She narrowed her eyes as she looked up and down, whistling with gusto.
"Can you just let me wake up? Please?" Max asked as pain circled through her chest.
"Uh, sure," said the other girl. She clapped her hands, then gasped in feigned shock when nothing happened. "Oh, would you look at that," she said. "You're not dreaming."
"Fuck you, I know I am," Max snarled. "Let me out of here!"
"That's some serious denial you got going on there." The Other Max sighed. "You're really a fuckin' moron, you know that? When Chloe went back through that photo with you, it broke everything. How the concept of existence even works. Time is..." She stopped to think, playfully tapping her index on her chin. "Well, okay, time was like a single, straight line of events. Whenever you used your powers, you were simply rewriting that one timeline. But I feel like I should really direct your attention to the use of the word was."
"Stop," Max said, her voice tinged with fear. She shivered as the anxiety looped around her body, an ugly tentacle of nervousness.
"But now...now that you and her went back, it's spiraled out of control into trillions of different timelines." She chuckled. "Think of it like a string cheese."
"Please, stop..." Max begged, shaking her head.
"Oh yeah, see, you knew. You knew something was wrong, didn't you? You could feel it every time you got a nosebleed. The universe is falling apart and it's all thanks to her." The Other Max grinned, holding her arms out like 'ta-da!'
"I don't believe you," Max said.
"Yes, you do. We're the same, remember?" She sighed dramatically. "As sad as that is for me."
"Why did you let me jump, Max?" It was a tidal wave of voices, all entwined together but separate. Max turned quickly to see the enormous mountain of Kate's bodies. They were all conscious and alert, crooked and bent in unnatural ways, staring at her in unison. "Why couldn't you have been a better friend?" They asked accusingly. Max felt her stomach flare up in pain.
"Kate, I...I don't even know what's going on! You didn't jump! I saved you! I talked you down!" She felt dizzy as she realized she didn't know where to focus, which Kate's eyes she should be looking into.
"Right," said the Other Max. "You saved her. It was all honky dory back when there was only one timeline. But since you were kind enough to create infinite possibilities...well," she gestured to the pile of Kate's. "That means there are infinite universes where you couldn't convince her to come down with you."
"No," Max said, shaking her head. "That's not true. This...this never even happened! She never went to the roof! We changed it!"
"Jesus, do you ever just fucking accept things? All you do is twist and turn everyone and everything until it suits your needs. That's not how things work, Max." She made a sound of disgust as she shook her head. "Just face it, your little wishy washy heart tore the universe into actual shreds." She looked over the mound of Kate's and snickered. "Dude, we could get like a claw machine for this."
"It's not real," Max mumbled, mostly for herself. "Not real."
"Good lord," the Other Max sighed, "will you give it a rest? It's real! It's here! You killed all of these Kate's! Why don't you just take a breath and accept it? Shit, maybe you should be proud. That's an impressive body count. Fuckin' George R. R. Martin up in here."
"No, no," Max whispered, pressing her palms into her temples. "Just gotta wake up. Just gotta wake up. God dammit," she hissed, hitting herself in the temple, "wake the fuck up!"
"Real nice, another great habit you've picked up from Chloe," Other Max said with bitterness. "Wah, wah," she fake cried, "I'm so stressed out I'm going to punch myself in the head! What a fucking baby. And look at you! Think you're so cool now because you got yourself a piercing and a bullet around your neck?" She raised an eyebrow. "You know, speaking of...if you had just let her get shot, Max, you wouldn't have this pro-"
"NO!" Max shouted, hurrying toward her reflection. "You won't talk that way about her! You can say all the shit you want about me, I don't fucking care, but you will not speak about her that way."
"Wow, holy shit, man." The Other Max stared as if she was being ridiculous. "Guess we know how to strike a nerve should the situation call for it." An evil smile spread out on her face. "You really think you're in love, huh? And you really think she loves you? That Rachel is just a thing of the past? Who do you think she would choose if Rachel were still alive?" Her lips drew taut as she shrugged nonchalantly. "I know who I think she'd pick, and we are the same person, so..."
"We're not the same," Max argued, stomping on the ground. "You're just a fucked up, mangled piece of self doubt. That's all you are. God, it's the same fucking rhetoric as before. I'm a good person, dammit!" The Other Max leaned to the side, sizing up the pile of corpses behind Max.
"Yeah, you're a real winner," she said flatly.
"Look," Max scoffed, puffing out her chest as she set her feet. "I get it. I get what you're trying to do. But you're just a voice in my head! That's it! You have no real power over me!"
"Okay, so..." Her reflection stalked toward her with an amused smirk. "You're telling me that the best case scenario here is that you've reached a level of psychosis that transports you to fucked up, hellish dreamscapes to fight with yourself?"
"Curiouser..." Max heard from behind her in a hushed voice. She took a deep breath and turned once again to face the tower of Kate's, still increasing to a ludicrous height. "Curiouser...and...curiouser...and...curiouser...and...curiouser..." Each word sprang from the mouth of a different Kate. Their eyes held no semblance of life, though they focused harshly on Max, even adjusting for every twitch and tremble she made. "And...curiouser...and...curiouser...and..."
"Kate..." Max's voice bubbled in despair. "Please stop. Please. I'm begging you, please. Kate..."
"Curiouser...and...curiouser...and...curioandusecuriousandcurandiouscurand..." The whispers layered over each other, creating an indiscernible but maddening noise. She wound her fingers through her hair, tugging tightly as the strands grew taut and burned at her scalp. Just as she felt her sanity slipping off the edge, the Kate's ceased their chanting. Breathing heavily, she glanced up, catching the quick glimpse of a doe disappearing around the dormitory. Even still, their eyes followed her movements.
"How do all those eyes on you feel, Max?" The Other Max asked with a snicker. "See, that's how Kate felt. And what did you do? Took another photo of her instead of intervening when David was hassling her."
"No, I didn't! What are you talking about!? I stepped in!" Max held her arms out in frustration, her hands binding into tight fists.
"You're missing the point. You did both now, thanks to Chloe. And more..." She shrugged indifferently. "But that's right, you're a good person! I almost forgot! Whatever... Who knows how long it'll take, but it'll all come crashing down eventually. Or together, I guess. See how valuable your 'good person' badge is then."
"What do you mean?" Max asked.
"Now you're interested, huh?" She laughed disbelievingly. "It's really not hard, Max. You created infinite, unstable timelines that are chaotically tangling through existence. Eventually, they'll crash. Then...collapse. And uh, that won't be pretty. Eventually, all running water reaches the ocean..." She stared for a moment, soaking in Max's fear and confusion. "It's already happening, you know?" She brought her hands to her mouth, bending them to mimic tiny paws. She playfully smacked her lips, simulating a small rodent eating.
"Samuel..." Max said quietly, her stomach spiking with a shock of pain. "No! No, that was just... That was..."
"What was it, Max?" Her doppelganger crossed her arms. "You don't understand anything! Stop pretending like you do! I mean, fuck, you still think that the storm was-"
"Max!" The voice was a high pitched echo, reverberating through the courtyard. The orange, Polaroid walls surrounding them began to flicker.
"Oh Christ," Other Max said, rolling her eyes. "And here she is to save the day."
"Max!" The voice boomed in again, folding around Max's body, providing warmth and comfort. "Please, come back to me! Max!"
"Chloe?" Max asked, feeling two hands press against her chest, though no one was in front of her.
"I love you so much, please wake up!" Chloe cried, her voice falling from the heavens. The Other Max, displeased with the punk's intervention, coolly pulled her camera out of her bag. She studied it for just a moment, then aimed it at Max.
"Fine, you win this time," she said with annoyance. "But do me a favor, okay? Ask your jailor about the homeless woman behind the Two Whales. Yanno, just for funsies."
"Max," Chloe's voice whispered directly into her ear, "I need you." And the camera flashed.
"Max, I need you," Chloe whimpered, pulling the girl closely against her chest. Slowly, Max's eyes fluttered open, her head shifting and turning, the gears grinding and creating sparks as she readjusted to reality. She opened her mouth to speak and was overcome with the taste of blood, enough that as her lips parted, some ran directly out of her mouth.
"Chloe?" She asked quietly, the spinning room finally coming to a stop. She heard a loud gasp from above her, as two hands forcefully gripped her and moved her so the punk could see into her eyes.
"Jesus Christ, Max," she cried, shaking her head. "Oh my god, I was so scared. I was so scared." She brought the girl into a tight hug, but not before Max noticed the enormous red stain on Chloe's chest. "I just, I came into your room and you were laying on the floor unconscious! And your nose was bleeding...I didn't know what to do!" She took a deep breath and buried her face in Max's hair, unleashing a million small kisses. "I love you so, so much."
"I love you too, Chlo..." Max said, her eyes tired and mind numb. She uncurled her fingers, revealing the crushed Polaroid of Chloe, Warren, Kate and Victoria. The right one. The one she remembered taking. She closed her eyes, content to fall back into a slumber. She was so drained. But little bubbles of clarity formed, bursting and revealing everything she'd just experienced. Or at least...maybe experienced? She saw Kate falling and her eyes grew wide, her body convulsing as she pulled away from Chloe. "Kate!" She shrieked. "Chloe, what about Kate?! Is she okay?"
"What?" Chloe asked, her tone concerned. "Kate's fine. I just talked to her on the way in here."
"Are...are you sure?" Max gripped the girl's jacket tightly.
"I'm positive, Max. She was outside with...uh, Courtney? What...what happened? That was so scary, you were just on the floor..." Her lip quivered as tears rolled off her cheeks. Max opened her mouth to speak, but found no words would come out. She simply stared into Chloe's eyes, watching her pathetic reflection as it began to cry. All she could do was grip Chloe tightly and hug her, sobbing as the nose bleed finally stopped.
They sat like that for over an hour, Max clinging to the blue haired girl for dear life, loud sobs that slowly burnt into quiet tears. Chloe held her. She rubbed her back, she played with her hair, she kissed her. But no words were exchanged. She watched the sun set through the window, the light fading until they were sitting in a dimly lit room. Finally, Max took a breath.
"Chloe," she whispered. "I'm so fucked up."
"No," Chloe said, returning her voice with the same volume. "You're okay. I'm here, baby. We're fine." There was a beat of silence. "Max, what happened?"
"I don't know..." She loosened her clutch on Chloe, then let her body rest on the girl. "It was like that blackout during the storm. Where everything felt real but...wasn't." She sniffled. "It wasn't...right?"
"You mean the crazy nightmare where people were walking backwards and I made out with Victoria?" The punk shook her head. "No, of course that's not real. It was like...time stress, right? I mean, when you were telling me about it..."
"It felt so real. So real." Max's eyes wandered, noticing the splotches of blood on Chloe's neck. "Fuck!" She shrieked. "I was doing so well! Everything was finally okay!"
"Everything's...everything's still...it's still okay, god dammit!" Chloe closed her eyes, letting her head droop back and bang against the wall. "It has to be okay!" She whined. "I'm so sorry, Max. I'm trying so hard. I'm trying to be tough."
Be careful what you fucking wish for. God dammit, I'm so stupid.
"I'm so tired," the brunette mumbled. "Physically. Emotionally. Just...tired." She burrowed her face into Chloe's chest once again. "I'm like actually crazy. What do I do?"
"I don't know..." The punk strengthened her grip on the smaller girl. "Fuck it, man. Just whatever. So you have time PTSD that causes really vivid, bad nightmares. So fucking what? It's not enough. I'll fix it, okay? Just like we've been doing, I'll help you through it. This fucking storm isn't going to win. I promise, okay?"
"I'm so tired," Max repeated in an even tinier voice.
It's already so fuzzy. What is going on inside my head? I hate that...other me? All she does is collect everything I have in my subconscious and spin it. Feeding off of my fear that I somehow messed everything up... Of course she knew about Samuel. I know about Samuel! It's just fucking reorganized information I already ha-
"Chloe?" Max asked as she sprung away from the girl. She could already feel her pulse begin to speed up.
"You're tired, Max. Let's take a nap. That was the plan anyway, right?" The punk managed a chuckle as she reached for the girl.
"No...No! Wait! No! You..." Max's brow knitted together in confusion. In fear. "What do you know about the homeless woman behind the Two Whales?"
"Uh...what?" Chloe regarded her confusedly. "The homeless lady? I don't understand?"
"Just...just tell me everything you know about her, please." When Chloe didn't immediately begin speaking, Max lurched for her shoulders. "I am literally begging you, Chlo. Anything!"
"I mean..." Max could see in the blue haired girl's eyes how nervous she was. "She's just a homeless lady! I've only talked to her like three times! Mostly about food..."
"Are you sure? She never said or did anything weird?"
"Well, she just kind of is weird? Like, the first time I talked to her, she got all ominous about the Prescotts but who the fuck doesn't in this town? I don't understand, Max. Literally all we've ever talked about was food, the Prescotts, cigarette prices and you!" Max's eyes went wide.
What?
"Me?" She asked, feeling the small whirs of electrical pulses in her skin, bringing goosebumps to life.
"Yeah, but I mean, it wasn't weird!" Chloe held her arms up defensively, showing genuine fear of the girl before her. "She just said she likes you! That I should take care of you and that she'd like to talk to you again!" Max fell backward, clapping a hand to her mouth. The restlessness in her stomach lunged to the side, causing her to gag.
No fucking way. NO FUCKING WAY.
"Baby, please, you're scaring me so bad," Chloe whimpered, reaching a hand out for Max. "I don't understand what's going on or why you're...Jesus Christ, Max!" She pounced forward, wrapping the girl in a hug. Max already knew why she screamed. She could taste it. The blood cascading across her lips and down her throat. Chloe began to sob as she held the brunette as tightly as possible. "Please tell me what's going on!" She screamed through her tears.
"I..." Max said, her voice cold and devoid of all emotion. "I never talked to her in this timeline."
