This chapter contains some heavy themes, so may be triggering for some readers.
Rachel Amber
Arcadia Bay: Sandpiper Apartments - Room 2311
March 21th, 2013 4:57 PM
A billow of invisible haze smothers the living room of the small apartment with the three girls looking each other with varying levels of perplexity. Rachel announced that she is going to head back to her own timeline, leaving all the unfinished business behind her. Crossing her arms, the blonde time traveler lowers her head, avoiding eye contact into the comfort of the soft vanilla carpet beneath her.
"You want to…" Max pinches her eyebrows together, snapping out of the smog confusion,"...go back to your timeline?" She sends her incredulous stare toward the taller punk right beside her that Rachel used her powers to save. One of the many reasons of why this timeline was even created. A sting sends a fluttering ripple through her small body, feeling the cold tense reminder that Jefferson and Nathan are still out of jail and are readied to act tonight. "What about all the things you did here?"
This Rachel has left a splash on redefining this timeline. Rekindling the relationship with Chloe, Frank, Megan, Nathan and even her own mother. With the eventual plan to takedown Jefferson, she hopes to find a new home for Jefferson's daughter, Audrey.
Rachel shrugs her shoulders, agitated with the tone and words of this seemingly thankless person. "I don't care. I just want to go see my Mom."
The sound of muffled footsteps approach as the door opens from right behind the unsteady blonde as Elizabeth peeks out, "Uh… I'm right here." Her body creeps out more out of the door, leaning against the frame with crossed arms, "What in the world was that?" Her fingers point inward at the bedroom, referring to the awkward conversation they both had. "What is going on?"
Rachel's body wavers slightly to the sight of her mother with a mixture of joy and sorrow. Even though her mother is full of energy and life in front of her, she cannot help but think about her real mother in her own timeline. The one that she simply left behind for all of this. That image of seeing her mother in the hospital still wrings out the large arteries by her heart with hopeless dread. Not sure if it is a flashback, visions of another timeline or from even this Rachel's memories. It seems nothing will ever make sense but it will continue to drive her closer to the edge. With a soft voice that it almost cracks into a squeak, "Mom… please take care, okay? I love you, so much. And please, take care of Dad."
"Gosh…" Her mother's body straightens back up to glance at the other girls in the room to try and squeeze out a confession with her glare if they are responsible for her daughter's behavior. "Rachel, what the hell is going on? You're still going to Blackwell, right?" She eyes the school dropout in the room.
The daughter winces, looking away and unable to remain focused with her trembling eyes, "I am still in school. I just… miss you, a lot."
Elizabeth leans closer trying to get a better view, "Rachel, come here."
"No, Mom I'm fine…" The defiant girl dodges away, still keeping her back toward her.
"I said…" Elizabeth boldly steps away from the door, pulling her daughter by the collar of her plaid jacket, "...get your ass back in here." The daughter resists slightly but the mother is relentless and drags her fully into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She looks deeply into her daughter's faltering eyes, "What is going on? Is it the way I've been treating you lately?" The mother softens her expression, "I'm sorry, honey. I know it isn't an excuse but the sickness does do the talking sometimes."
Rachel rolls her shoulders, as her body stabilizes itself from being pulled. She clenches onto her jacket and shrinking her body. Her voice creaks with straining tension, "I just wish I could do some stuff over again, you know?"
Her mother's mouth slackens slightly, "You're too young to be self-loathing at this type of thing." She expands out her arms, "There's a long future ahead of you."
This Rachel didn't have much more of a future since she is supposed to die in about a month. The daughter cranes her head slowly toward her, "Is there?" She rolls her eyes dismissively, drifting back toward the emptiness of the room. "Or maybe the future is too long. And, that it is never ending."
Elizabeth snorts, wrinkling her eyebrows, "That's nonsense. No one lives forever."
Rachel nods gently, "I wish that was actually true…" Her expression is dull and empty, gazing at her own mother with despondence. "For me, at least…"
The mother lowers her eyebrows, tilting in close. She gently rolls up the sleeve of her daughter's jacket, examining the smooth skin of her arm. Rachel doesn't wince at all, letting it to be examined. Her mother continues with the second arm, eyeing the blue star tattoo and the rest of her clean and silky arm. Elizabeth centers her eyes back on her daughter, concluding her brief inspection of signs of any self-mutilation. She scolds at her daughter, "Don't you say those type of things around me, okay?" After her bitter tone, she swoops in and wraps her arms tightly around her daughter. "I love you too much, you got that?"
Rachel looks on over her mother's shoulder, feeling a flutter that sails up to her tightening chest. In the other timeline, her mind has succumbed to such ill thoughts as she has lost everyone with her own selfish mistakes and resentments relating to her powers. She closes her eyes, nuzzling her face into her mother's neck with soft sobs escaping from her lips.
Elizabeth hears it and warmly pats on her back, almost like she is pushing the sorrow out of her daughter's body. She whispers to her, "There is so much to life than what we can immediately see. It may hurt right now but you will grow strong, okay? You will look back in life and be proud that you conquered such hardships." She nods her head, "And, I will be here..."
Rachel shrugs her body, knowing that she cannot confide with this mother about her secret time powers and the overwhelming burden that it carries. And also, that she isn't even from this timeline and uncertain if she will be here any longer. She deflects her mother's concern, pushing the partial lie through her teeth. "I'm just… going through a stressful time. But, I'll be fine, Mom…" Not sure what her fate and intentions will ultimately be but for this very moment she would like to be in the affable company of this mother. I won't be fine, Mom… but I love to be with you just a little bit longer. If there is something that I wouldn't mind being endless, it is being with you, Mom.
"That's my girl… Teenage years were rough for me but I know you will do fine." Elizabeth reaches up, combing the long hair of her daughter all the way down to its ends. "Be strong… There are many people out there that love you. Especially your mother and father."
The comforting words pull out a weak sob from Rachel. Her mother reacts to this, tightening her embrace even more. The daughter pushes out her tight throat, "I… I know."
The mother runs her hand up along her daughter's stiff back, pushing a joking smile that blends with her slight melancholic face, "You don't want to be wandering spirit, right?"
The blonde teenager's nose wrinkles at the comment, "What? What do you mean?"
Elizabeth chuckles softly, "Remember? You told me about that belief in Buddhism or was it Taoism? I'm not actually sure."
"Umm… I'm not sure?..."
She reels her daughter back giving close eye contact with her, looking at the accessory that dangles from her left ear, "Aww, you always been such a hippie with these spiritual beliefs that I thought you would be wearing a peacock feather instead of a bluejay."
Rachel pushes out a forced chuckle through her confusion, "I love my blue jay earring. Why would I want a peacock feather?"
Elizabeth curls her shoulders, "You said that it symbolizes immortality and whatever…" Her voice trails off for a moment, then returning back, "... it has the eyes of the stars with omniscient knowledge or something like that." She shakes her head in embarrassment of this trivia knowledge, "Nevermind. I like the blue jay legend that you told me. How they are tricksters and clever but still helpful to others."
The daughter runs her fingers, brushing the blue jay earring and rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess… What is the Buddhism or Taoism thing you were referring earlier?"
The mother's tone remains light-hearted, "The one when someone commits the ultimate sin of taking their own life, that they will remain in limbo as a spirit forever."
"Oh yeah..." Rachel's eyebrows crease as she is confused but still have the urge to know more. "I'm just curious if you actually pay attention to my nonsense." She plays it off smoothly. My mother did try and listen to me when I talked about my crazy visions and ideas. It is cute that it is still somewhat the same in this timeline.
"Of course I listen to your shenanigans." Her mother's eyebrows arch in amusement, "It wasn't too long ago. I'm not that old and forgetful. You said how the spirit wanders around aimlessly through time, revisiting their life over and over and unable to remember their previous fate and what they did with themselves." Elizabeth leaves a short pause, hoping to hear some confirmation from her daughter. But still remaining silent, Elizabeth continues, "Until somehow, maybe through some powerful action like a divine intervention, that they can finally break the cycle. Then, the soul may have some rest." Her shoulders shudder at the grim subject she is talking about, "Or, rather finally aware of their sinful actions."
"A lost wandering spirit, huh?" Rachel's eyes blink owlishly, slowly sailing into the empty ceiling. "...That drifts through time… and not knowing its own true fate?"
"I know it's silly, isn't it?" Elizabeth rubs the back of her neck, "But I'm still getting chills just talking about this to you…" She extends out her right forearm, noticing the beads that protrude out of her skin, "Wow, I have goosebumps! Okay, now I remember what you said… You said the soul will never actually find rest. They will live in a state of eternal remorse for their actions." She puffs off a soft chuckle, like she passed the quiz that she inadvertently gave herself.
Rachel lets the silence briefly coat the chilly and bitter room for a short moment. That's an interesting belief… To be stuck in a dreadful loop and can't do anything to stop it. She gazes at her hand, as its fingers grip weakly into the air shooting a few glowing sparks of electricity. A shudder sails up her spine from the passing thought about her existence and purposes in everything. She balls her hand and deflecting the brooding thought. "Mom, are you scared of dying?"
The melancholy words instantly propel away the remaining chirpiness that is left in the mother's throat. Elizabeth licks her lips, nodding softly, "When I heard the news, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Especially with the whole thing with your father." She takes a step back, falling to sit on the bed, "I felt… a little better once I was getting more educated about it. But there is always that chance."
"I know…" Rachel wobbles her way, sitting right beside her mother on the bed.
The mother shifts her body closer, "I'll be honest…" She also tugs on her blue plaid jacket like her daughter, feeling insecure with the conversation as well. "I know I was bitching about him earlier but…" Her head falters uneasily, feeling the ripple in her throat straining her words, "I'm very worried about your father." She presses her lips tightly, swaying her body with a dodgy expression. After a brief silence, she continues, "This isn't how I'd imagine raising you, Rachel." She exhales sharply that sounds almost like a sob, then her head tilts down, looking at her own hands.
The daughter furrows her eyebrows, also dipping her head. In my timeline, my mom was widowed and raised me all by herself. So, in this timeline, Rachel seemed so perfect and immaculate, but even with time powers, she couldn't pave the path she wanted for her parents. Rachel finally speaks up, "I… miss the past." Her eyes flit toward her mother, "When things were easier."
Life should always be about progressing yourself as a person. But how worth it is it if you cannot share your progress and experience with someone else? They will never see you for the person you really are. In one flickering moment, they are your most beloved ones, then the next they're almost complete strangers. Time travel powers just add too much complications. You fix one thing then five more unexpected shit happens.
Elizabeth draws her head back with a forced smile, "Me too… I also miss how things are back then." She gives a simple pat on her daughter's stiff back, then standing up to make her way toward one of the boxes that are littered on the floor of her bedroom. Stacked on the top is a large photo album with a brown leather covering. Perhaps, her mother looked at the photo albums frequently since she is alone a lot. She picks it up and carries it carefully with both hands, returning back to sit beside Rachel.
The mother opens, setting the album comfortably on her lap. The edges of the album are grizzled from both uses and time. With one hand, she carefully flips through the laminated pages containing murals of the Amber family history. With tenderness, her other hand curls tightly around her daughter. Rachel looks on with rousing and curious eyes to these treasured mementos in the album. They are all mysterious, like as if they're portals to other timelines. Or perhaps, discrete markers in one of the continuous lines of time.
The mother freezes at a picture where it shows the young daughter posing with her parents. Not surprisingly, Elizabeth resembles a lot like Rachel in her younger years. Gorgeous traits and worthy to be a model as well.
Wow, this is exactly how I remembered Dad. I refused to look at these pictures because it always broke my heart. Even just the sight of these photo albums would haunt me when I saw them tucked away in my mother's closet. I never felt the desire to look back at the past, since I can never have it anyways.
The mother runs her fingers, brushing gently on the wrapping that is preserving the longevity of the photos, "This was the Christmas around the new millennium, I think. Oh…" Her eyebrows arch up, "I remembered this…" The sly eyes sail toward her daughter, demanding in silence if the teenager also remembers it.
"I-I'm…" Rachel stammers through her uncertainty, but also with the growing urge to know about this life. "Can you tell me?"
Elizabeth's lips twist into a smile from the forgetfulness of her daughter, "Well Princess… maybe it was our fault for giving in to your tantrums." She leans in, scratching her index finger at the chin of Rachel, causing her daughter to let out a soft giggle from the ticklish sensation. "For a little girl, you were so adamant about not leaving Long Beach. We both put in our two weeks notice and already signed up for a housing and construction company here in Arcadia Bay." She takes a deep inhale and puffing out a sighing grin, "Thank goodness we didn't sell our home, yet. But we both had to pick up some part-time jobs in the meantime. I worked at Starbucks for eight months before I could find a stable job, again." She beams with radiant energy, "Shows how much we loved you."
I told Dad to stay in Long Beach because I wanted to prevent his death. I didn't want him and Mom to work for the Prescotts. And, I didn't want to go back to Arcadia Bay. "Yes…" Rachel laughs, trying to curb the welling of the joyful tears, "Sorry, Mom."
"It's fine…" Elizabeth returns back to the photo album, "I still find it even more strange that you wanted to visit Arcadia Bay later." Her eyes widen sardonically, "For vacations, we could have gone to New York City or even San Francisco." She shakes her head in disbelief, "Instead, you explicitly wanted to go to Arcadia Bay. You're such an odd but goofy child. What a foolish lingering regret you held onto as a kid."
"I did…?" Rachel quickly trails to a silence, to interrupt and hide her confusion. However, her eyes light up in an amusement, thinking how adorable she must have been even though it isn't actually her own actions. "I was just a kid…"
"You were a little older but still a silly kid. You do remember coming back to Arcadia Bay, right?" The mother bares her teeth, showing the youthful and playful nature at heart. "There should be some pictures. I forget you were eight or nine." She continues flipping the page, steadily examining each picture which follows with an occasional silent smile from the mother's brief reminiscing. Finally, her eyes land at a photo, "Ah, here's a picture of us. I forget where this park was but I think it isn't too far from here." She lets out a hearty laugh, then pulls her daughter in, "Look at your face… you looked like you swallowed a lemon or something."
Rachel leans in closer, draping her head onto the warm shoulder of her mother. The picture is of the Amber family, still young. Rachel is in the middle with two pigtails but with a pressed lips that seem to look more of a frown than a smile.
"Oh wow, you're right…" She cringes at her picture, "Maybe it is just bad timing?"
"It is something, alright. You have always been photogenic, even as a kid. I don't know what happened." Elizabeth tips her nose, "Ah yes, now I remember this. You wanted a picnic at the park during the trip." She buries half of her face into the palm of her right hand, "So, we just bought already-prepared food from the grocery store. And, we immediately stood out as tourists." She presses her face up from her fingertips, "Well, there was that woman that was nice… I think she was the one that took this picture." She gazes at the picture one last time, "I do love these moments."
Rachel presses against the album, taking a more inquiring examination of the picture. The mother shifts the album over to her daughter's lap to make it easier. The blonde time traveler gazes deeply into the photo, feeling something resonates into her mind. Like threads that weave throughout the endless depth in her mind but somehow still reverberating closely and boldly with her. Her eyebrows lower with a pressed lips as the air in the room becomes still for a single flickering moment before the entire world changes around her.
Shafts of the warm sunlight sweep across her young and smooth skin causing her to squint her hazel eyes. The silhouette of a woman with long wavy brown hair stands in front of the falling sun. The woman takes a look at the camera in her hand, shielding from the blinding golden afternoon sun with the contrasting dimly lit park in the background. It seems like Rachel has entered into the picture, one of the past memories of this timeline's Rachel. However, there is an odd sensation. It feels like she is a ghost yet at the same thing she can feel everything perfectly in this younger and smaller body.
The swabs of the cool wind flow smoothly across her skin like paint from an artist's brush. Even with that soothing sensation, she has virtually no control over her body. Like all of her actions are being dictated by someone else and she is going along for the ride.
The woman with the camera squints her eyes, observing the picture she just took on the small LCD screen, "I think it looks good. Let me know if you want me to take it again." She steps forward handing over the old silver digital camera.
Rachel tilts her nose up, as her towering mother steps forward to receive the camera, who is younger but still looks relatively the same and beautiful, "Should be good…" She digs her fingernail into the micro button to preview the photo, "Yeahhh…" Elizabeth gives a quick dart of teasing eyes to her small daughter then back at the photo, "Thank you so much! What is your name?"
"Vanessa." The lady smoothly tucks her hands into her pockets, who is wearing a casual outfit of jeans and long sleeve tan colored shirt. She sways her body and twisting her tall leather black boots into the earth of the park. She also is a beautiful woman with a fairly youthful appearance like Rachel's mother. Vanessa continues, "So, you were saying you are just in town for vacation? What brings you into our neck of the woods? This isn't exactly the first town people think about in Oregon. I mean there is Florence and Astoria..."
"You tell me…" Rachel's father smiles, then glancing down at his daughter with a playful stern look. "We actually were in Portland for two days. Obviously, couldn't visit any of the breweries that it is known for." Bradley rubs the short blonde pigtails of his adorable daughter, "But, we also wanted to see the beautiful Pacific Coast with a wilderness background opposed to the urban and smoggy setting of the Los Angeles area." His head scans all around at the relatively peaceful park that is crowned in crimson from the radiant molten-gold sun. Kids are running around and adults are chattering through their food coma but the tranquil state is still preserved. "This looks like a cozy town to be in. I was going to work here, but things…" He trails to a pause, shooting a friendly smile at Rachel. "...happened…"
Vanessa's eyes light up, covering her mouth, "Oh… she was born?"
Bradley waves his hands to rectify the confusion, "Oh no!" He slides his hand onto his daughter's back, "She didn't want to move and just loved Long Beach. So, I had to turn down the job." He looks over at his wife, "We both had to turn down our jobs after we accepted it."
"Aww…" The tall brunette lady kneels down to get more aligned with the little girl's height. Rachel winces with a dodgy and apprehensive expression being up close to this lady. Vanessa continues, "You were scared to make the move, huh? You look like a sweet girl with those adorable pigtails! Our town is full of nice people. What is your name?" She has a cheery smile to would invite anyone's heart, except Rachel's.
The little girl squirms, leaning her body closely against the comfort of the jeans of her mother. The sight of this woman instills an oppressing sensation that drains all the courage from the small girl.
Elizabeth looks down at her daughter, "Rachel?" She darts her puzzling eyes to Vanessa with a nervous laughter. "My daughter is usually very bold and talkative with everyone. Even with adults. I'm not sure what's up…"
Vanessa stands back up and taking a retreating big step back, "Oh, it is my fault. I mean no harm but I can appear to be frightening to some people." She scratches her head, "At least, my own daughter tells me that."
Elizabeth smiles, as Rachel nuzzles into her hand for warmth. The mother defends the little girl's awkward behavior, "Rachel is having a rare case of shyness. You have a daughter, too?" Her eyes flicker with curiosity, "How old is she?"
Vanessa cranes her head around looking at the rest of the park that is becoming more dimly lit by the dying sun but still lively with the kids in the playground area. "She just turned eight, last month. The little girl with the blue shirt over there by the monkey bars." She points into the distant to a small girl with a bob cut. "How old is uh…" She looks back to the timid blonde girl, "...Rachel?"
Elizabeth replies back, "She's nine. Only a year older." She gently cradles her daughter's face to give direct eye contact. "Honey, you want to go play with Vanessa's daughter?"
"Yeah, don't be shy." Vanessa's voice is soft, taking a step to the side so Rachel can see with clarity toward the playground where the children are. "She just made a new friend with another girl today. Her name is Chloe."
The sound of the name rouses her interest. Rachel squints her eyes, looking at the small brunette girl who is leaning against the monkey bars, chatting with a girl with long strawberry blonde hair who is sitting proudly on top of the bars, dangling fearlessly from it with a cheery expression. Seeing the way they are smiling and laughing with each other, sends a sharp tear into the little girl's heart. A gash that slowly swells to let in a void to be filled with razor sharp despair.
The muscle in her cheeks relax, causing her lips to gape. Her fingers slither with uncertainty as a part of her wants to reach out to this person. She takes a few steps toward the girls but her legs paralyze to stick onto the waxy blades of the grasses beneath her. "M-Maxine…" She calls to her best friend in a whisper with her head slowly faltering down. Her body may be young but she has the memories of growing up to their twenties with this very special person.
Elizabeth approaches her daughter from behind, whispering to her to hopefully inspire some courage. "I know we're not from here. But you can go play with those girls." She runs her fingers through her daughter's hair, "Maybe you guys will get along and exchange phone numbers." Elizabeth hands her daughter her cell phone as Rachel does not own a phone.
In the distance, Max turns around to look in the direction of her mother, squinting but still unable to see the strangers that her mother is mingling with, including the little blonde girl. Rachel looks back with rapid blinking eyes. A part of her wants to shrug to the side to cover herself but another part of her contradicts that instinct. Maybe somehow that her long time former best friend could possibly remember her even after the resetting of everything in the timeline. She wishes for Max to just sprint across the park with glowing energy and give a long overdue hug with her real best friend. Or, rather anything along that line would be great. Even if it is anger or hatred, just someone to even recognize Rachel in her lonely journey through time. Instead, Max turns back around, looking proudly up to her newly made friend, Chloe.
Rachel presses her lips together, nodding softly, knowing she has to walk this path alone. But still, she yearns for the past that she grew up with. Maybe just for a harmless moment, Rachel can feel alive underneath the mask of torment that she wears. This desire briefly invigorates the girl to drag her legs across the park to daringly approach the two girls. She cranes her head to briefly look over at Vanessa, half expecting her to hunt Rachel down for even daring to approach her precious daughter.
The brunette already senses the girl that draws close to them, turning her body to face her. Max is bold with a sweet and glowing smile that stuns Rachel in her tracks. The adorable girl swings her arms behind her, swaying her body from side to side, "Hi! I saw you over there with my mom. My name is Maxine." She is energized probably just from her initial meeting with her new friend, Chloe.
The strawberry blonde girl waves, rocking on the top of the monkey bars and introducing herself, "I'm Chloe, what's your name?"
Their warm greetings soothe Rachel. It is friendly and simple but it is a sharp contrast to the very last time they saw each other under different circumstances. Being struck in awe, she struggles with her words, "Uh…" Rachel's eyes flit around with growing awkwardness. She knows she cannot give her real name as she doesn't plan on rekindling this lost bond with her old best friend. As alluring as it seems, she knows it will dig back up hurtful memories. Even if you could have a second chance with that person with your powers, Rachel will never forget the long painful path that they paved together or able to share that with Max. So, Rachel makes up a name for herself, thinking about a person whose name rings close in her mind. "Kristine…" She pushes the false name out unsteadily.
Max smiles, baring her teeth of her playful and gentle nature, which is a complete departure to the person that Rachel remembers painfully. But nothing gold can stay. The loving girl continues, "Nice to meet you, Kristine." She looks up to her other new friend with a sly smile, "Me and Chloe were talking about where we should go to hide from the evil grown-ups."
Chloe swings her dangling feet, "Yeah, like an adventure in this town. Do you have an idea?"
Rachel rubs her chin, pondering in deep thought about such place. The other two girls look on with genuine patience, eager to listen. Finally, the pigtailed blonde replies back, "Maybe the lighthouse?"
Chloe tips her index finger up with her lips gaped in amusement, "Oh, that's a great idea!"
Max nods her head rapidly, bursting with energy, "Yeah, that sounds fun. Like a real adventure!"
Rachel tucks her hands into her pockets, rocking back in forth in her sneakers, "I heard something about lighthouses from someone." She tips her head up, gazing at the dim sky to see some faded stars in the distant. "If you look up into the sky with all those stars." Both Chloe's and Max's head follow in curiosity into the swirling violet of the sky. Rachel continues, "The stars up there are like lighthouses, giving us guidance." Her pupils dilate, focusing into the sea that hangs above them. "They're like lighthouses from other timelines." She draws her head looking toward the coast, but it is shrouded by the long line of silhouettes of both trees and buildings. "And, we are just one of very many. If we ever get lost and need guidance, we can always find it at the lighthouse."
The other two girls return to stare at the reminiscing girl with raised eyebrows. Max rubs her eyes, asking, "Timelines? Like… the Dinosaur timeline?" She grins, taking a step closer, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. But sounds neato." The little girl still conveys a warm tone, despite not understanding at all.
Rachel grins, momentarily forgetting that her experiences and knowledge may be too jarring for the two young girls who have a pure and clean slate of mind without a single worry or expectation of the world they are living in.
Max continues, "Do you want to join in on our adventures? I got Chloe's number already."
Rachel relaxes her body, pressing her lips to a forced smile. She knows this is going to be the last time she is going to see her best friend, but she doesn't want this moment to end. "Sure." She calmly pulls out her mother's phone and handing it to Max. "Put your number on this phone."
Max tilts her head up, "Okay! It is actually my mom's phone but you can ask for me." She takes the phone, navigating the menu to spell out her name 'Maxine' and entering her number. She sticks her tongue out, "Isn't the lighthouse pretty high up? I may be a scaredy cat and think I would fall off it."
Rachel looks on with a distant gaze, as the words of Max claws a chasm into her mind, letting her draw deeper into it. Something that is calling her to walk even further along the fragile strands of memories that lies out of time. Her eyes roll up as a blanket of darkness engulfs around her, warping the formerly cheery scene to something more foreboding.
A streak of lightning flickers across the cloud-drenched sky, illuminating the darkest shadows in the bedroom. The thunder comes close behind with the sky shedding its rain onto Arcadia Bay. The two young girls toss peacefully in the small single twin sized bed against the glowing and murmuring from the lambent television.
Maxine fumbles for the remote control, tucked underneath the warm fluffy blanket. She pulls her body up to aim the remote control to turn off the television, inviting more darkness into the room. She leans over and clumsily tosses the remote at the nightstand, causing a loud sharp crash that stirs the sleepy blonde girl that is right beside her. She peers down, seeing the blue jay earring is still on Rachel's right ear. She whispers to her, carefully taking it off, "Keep sleeping, I'll take off your earring. It's late… Mom and Dad are already asleep."
Rachel nuzzles deeper into the pillow, feeling the frosty air of the stormy night but cuddling under the shield of the warm blanket. "Thanks… Maxine." Loving the fact she gets to sleep over her best friend's house after staying up so late watching cartoons and animes.
With care, the sweet brunette places the precious earring onto the nightstand, then she peers out the window where combs of dim moonlight slither through the blinds. She jokes with a suspenseful tone, "The storm is coming… Dun dun dun…"
Rachel mumbles through her stirring closed eyes, "Storms always get to me. Because it reminds me of that dream..."
Maxine is still in an upright position in bed, still entranced with the beads of water crashing into the glass of the window, then gliding down the surface as long flowing streams, "I know… the one I yelled 'Geronimo!' and leaped off the rooftop, right?"
"Maxine!" Rachel gives a lazy but sharp slap across the lower back of her best friend, cursing her for even laughing at something that is so foreboding and true, "Don't joke around like that! It is real. I can see into the future."
Maxine rubs the mild sting that steams over her skin with clenched teeth, "Relax… I believe you." She asks her friend with oracle-like visions, "So, I'm not allowed to go to school with tall roofs?"
Rachel's eyebrows lower, closer to her sleepy eyes, "I need to find out what school that was in my vision. But it does look like Arcadia Bay. So I think it is Blackwell Academy."
Maxine's lips twist into a smirk, "Hey, I'm so smart in the future."
The sleepy girl scolds at the reckless attitude, "Stop it… That is not the future you'd want. The dream is terrible. You were in your pajamas and you were holding two photos close to your body."
Maxine snickers, she extends out her arms looking at the light blue long sleeve pajamas she is wearing. "I'm in my PJ's?"
Rachel exclaims at her, "It isn't funny!" She resists this time from slapping her friend's playful attitude. She sniffs her nose as the sorrow from recalling that vision is stifling her throat, "You were crying so much…" She cuts herself from finishing, opening her eyes to join Maxine in staring into the rough weather in the night, "And, it was raining as bad as right now along with lightning."
The brunette blinks slowly, tugging for more of her portion of the blanket to cover her sitting body. Her tone returns back with sincerity to honor her best friend's request, "What were the photos? You never told me the details of this vision."
Rachel squeezes her eyes shut, trying to remember that dreadful moment, shedding a single stream of tears, "One of the pictures… was you and your parents. The other one, I couldn't see because you held it so close to your body." Her eyes open, gazing at the empty ceiling that is always the perfect canvas for her vivid imaginations, "But there was another picture that you threw on the ground… It was already ripped up."
The sound of the pattering of the rain grows in intensity, drowning out the silence in the room. The small brunette girl asks, "What was it?"
Feeling a slight sting of contrasting heat and chill that leak from the pores on her skin and blending with terror, she boldly continues, "I can only see a piece of it since it was ripped. I'm not sure, but it looks like a picture that was taken from behind you. And you're looking at a bunch of other photos on the wall in some room." She crosses her arms underneath the blanket, "There are also some glowing orbs of… something…"
Maxine arches her eyebrows, despite the vagueness of the description, "Interesting…"
Rachel adds to it, continuing to describe her vision, "You were older maybe like in high school?… I can still remember your face when you looked at me." Her fingers paw tightly against the blanket, "You even called out to me in that dream."
Maxine turns around, finally facing her best friend. The muffled moonlight reflects off her young freckled face, "Well, it is because you're my guardian angel. No matter what the future throws at me, you will always be there."
A wave of shyness sweeps across Rachel, "I-I". She stammers, rolling her puffy eyes, "I don't know… but I hope so..."
Maxine relaxes her body, letting it crash comfortably back onto her pillow and getting in close with Rachel, "We're best friends." She reaches out with her hand, squeezing their fingers together. "We will never leave each other, right?"
Rachel looks down at the warm touch, then back into the eyes of the freckled girl, "Yeah..."
She closes her eyes to hide her deceitfulness. All good things have to cave into the hungry end. Some of the most beautiful and alluring moments in life seem to spiral out of control abruptly, slipping from a person's own grasp and leaving them behind. The room slowly glows to a blinding light, returning back to the playground in Arcadia Bay.
The young Rachel stares at her mother's phone where Max punched in her number. A drop of blood splatters onto the LCD screen of the phone, dripping from the blonde girl's nose.
Max's voice rings into her head, "Do you remember that stormy night?"
The blonde's eyes lazily drag upward, finding the young Chloe on top of the monkey bars. Her fingers clutch deeply into her sweater, grasping at her stomach. Her teeth are clenched with agonizing and silent pain. A growing sheet of blood emerges through her clothes around her waist section. Her head shudders, not knowing what is going on or aware of what she is getting herself into by befriending with Max and Rachel. It is the fatal gunshot wound from the restroom. Nothing ever changes.
The small freckled girl has her body completely looking away like she is hiding her face. A small but dominant flame kindles within Rachel, sensing the dreadful aura that emanates from Max's body. Her eyes draw toward the curled fingers of the brunette's right hand. Steadily, a couple of drops of blood weave smoothly between the fingers and then falling endlessly through the earth and what abyss that lies beneath.
Rachel's eyes widen with burning cheeks, looking back up to her best friend who is still looking away. "Max…" She calls to her with thickening voice but silence is the only response she can get. Everything stands peacefully still with the exception of the young dying Chloe, who also looks over at the younger girl, but evidently having no reaction. Perhaps, Chloe can't really see Max anymore.
Rachel glances at the number on her phone again, then putting it away in her pocket. "Things would have been different if I kept in touch with you, huh?" A numbing void blankets her smooth skin, nulling everything she can feel and robbing her breaths. Through her crushing suffocation, a hoarse stream of saliva drips down from Rachel's lips, wrapping down her chin bone and strangling down her neck.
Max's cold fingers twitch in response to Rachel's words, weakly reaching backward for her best friend. Rachel casts a longing stare at the hand that is partially extended out toward her, seeing with more clarity of the steady flowing torrent of blood that drips off it. With frail efforts and her body feeling lethargic and sluggish, she makes a final unsteady approach toward her, reaching out to join Max's bloodied hand.
Their fingers weave together, spreading the blood between them. Feeling their pain together. No more words are being exchanged between the tormented time travelers. There isn't any need to break this tranquil silence. Even the numbing pain, this seems rather serene. Peaceful. Away from the brutal reality of the world. It just feels right for them to be together.
Another contraction from her stomach rises to her chest, sending out another creamy congealed stream through her rugged breaths, dangling down from her lips and partially resisting the full force of gravity. Rachel eyes the girl that is sitting on the monkey bar, with a lost and perplexed expression. Her waist is completely drenched in blood, but her clothing resists it from spilling out. Chloe is dead. Rachel's eyes follow down to her connected hand with Max as the blood continues bridging over. The gleaming crimson stream that breaks into a network of trails. Rachel's eyes get lost in the maze-like design on her forearm.
"Honey!" Suddenly, Elizabeth's voice calls out to her daughter, "What's the matter?" She pries the time traveler from her peace that exists out of time and back into the cold and gritty reality. Finally, the bedroom of Elizabeth swarms back quickly into her sight as the bloodied and young version of Max and Chloe are gone.
Rachel jolts her body, craning her head through all around the room. Why am I seeing this Rachel's memories? She glances down at her own shaky hands but trying to focus them in the glimmering visions that flicker with clarity, almost like her eyes are being drowned in tears but it isn't. Or, are they actually my memories…? All of these memories…? They just feel so real and I'm no longer sure, anymore…
She looks over at the door in the direction where the other girls are at, sensing the awkward and silent patience through the wall. Her eyes stare blankly, drifting off to the bland texture of the room. So this Rachel observed Max and Chloe from a distant. Then later, she eventually came back to Arcadia Bay to find Chloe. But… She scans around the brown boxes that are scattered on the floor of the room. Many things just kept piling onto Rachel. She couldn't keep living in the past and had to move forward in her life. This may have been too aggressive or reckless which eventually led to her death.
"Rachel, you seem really out of it." Elizabeth's tone is more forbidding, "Have you been…" She hesitates for a moment, "...doing drugs?"
The blonde teenager hisses through her teeth, her mind is being swept through a tornado, "I-I'm not… Mom." Still bothered and disturbed by the conflicting visions that surge into her mind.
"Let me see!" Elizabeth grabs Rachel by both of her cheeks, gripping and forcing her to look directly into each other's eyes. She isn't actually doing a drug test from just merely looking at her daughter but trying to see if there is any deceptiveness in her expression. But the whimpering eyes of Rachel quickly softens the bold expression of her mother to shrink away from her accusatory front. She gently releases her, "Alright…"
Rachel lowers her chin to her chest, trying to regain her composure after her chaotic trip through time. Not sure if it is her powers are suddenly surging with augmentation or something within her is trying to draw a message. Slowly, her head drifts back up to make steady contact with her mother, "To be honest, Mom… I just feel like I don't have anything anymore." She wets her lips, finally remembering her undying love for her mother. The only person that she has left, "And, this is taking a toll on my mind and body."
"Rachel…" The mother's tone is soft and compassionate, feeling the sorrow and terror that is springing from her daughter.
Rachel closes her eyes to help extinguish the rampaging flames in her mind. I'm starting to think that I dragged everyone down with my powers. With all the tension and friction created, now both Chloe and Kate eventually got pulled into it as well. She rubs the back of her neck, thinking about what Max said to her about that stormy night. Regardless whose memories I was viewing through… that past in the bedroom with Maxine when we were little... should have been my timeline, as well. Is that the stormy night she was asking if I remembered? Shit… I don't know why but I'm actually having trouble remembering some of my past. Even those haunting visions I had when I was younger, I have trouble recalling the details.
The broken teenager deflects the endless amount of ill thoughts and continues with her mother. "I just feel like I'm slipping away from both you and Dad. When you're okay and well, then what about Dad? He has no one in this world, anymore. With him talking about giving me all of his money when he dies..." She sniffs as the gushing sorrow overwhelms her face, "I just want all of us to be happy. I really mean that."
"Oh god, Rachel…" The mother's face falters against her sobs, "I do, too." Her voice squeaks with melancholic pain, "Your father isn't an evil person." She presses her lips tightly together, feeling the growing lump in her throat that obstructs her words and thoughts. She swallows and forces it out, "I just get… frustrated sometimes and on top of that my sickness. But I should learn to…" She balls her fists tightly, digging her nails and hoping the piercing pain will soothe her conflicting emotions.
Rachel nods sympathetically, "Mom, it's okay. You have all the reasons to hate him."
Elizabeth shakes her head slightly, "I want you to be happy." Her eyes drift away looking at something far away in the small bedroom. Something that she strived for but lost it. Slowly, her head sails back to her daughter, "I'll go… talk to your father, tonight. Just to see how he is doing." She bites the inner of her bottom lip, as it truly pains her to even contact him. But for the very special person in front of her, she is willing to put in all the effort in the world to give it a shot. Elizabeth already knows the depressive state that Bradley is in, so even a simple greeting can brighten his day even if it is momentary. She forces out the smile, with enduring effort, "Does that sound good?"
Rachel pushes her smile with a numbing strain, knowing it is the best she can ask for, but just proud that her mother is courageous to do such of an act. Brave like her own real mother. "Mom… yes, it does." She lets out a soft laugh to vocalize her content and pleased feeling, "Thank you." With dreamy eyes, she gazes at her mother who Rachel is starting to open up to as if she is her actual mother.
"Promise to not forget about your, mother?" Elizabeth winks at her daughter, with a sneaky smile.
What is left of the cheeriness in Rachel's face quickly subsides to the very exact words that her own mother muttered toward her in the haunting scene that she experienced. The phantom rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor rings back loudly into her mind, forcing her face to flinch and shrink away from her mother.
I can't let my own mother die. I could be walking down the wrong road, but… what choice do I really have? Is there even a choice? Time is running out...
"Rachel?" Her mother asks with concern.
The daughter shakes her head, as everything has become quiet again. She twists her lips into a distorted smile, "I'm okay…" With clenched teeth, bracing for the jarring sensation that resonates into her body. "My friends are waiting for me outside, Mom. I'll call you later?"
The mother holds on with steady posture, feeling unconvinced with her daughter's erratic behavior. But slowly, she somehow rationalizes it inside her head, acknowledging with a soft nod. She puts aside the photo album and leans in to give a tight hug with Rachel. Elizabeth whispers into Rachel's ear, "If you ever feel lost in life, come to me. I'll always be here for you." She slides her hand across her daughter's back, soothing her. She grins with a thumbs up, "I'll kick the crap out of this cancer. I will show the world."
Rachel chuckles underneath her breaths, enough to even transform her smile to be actually genuine. A warm feeling calms inside her belly with this comforting person in front of her. Having the same feeling no different than seeing her actual mother. She nods her head, muttering to her, "Thanks, Mom. I know you will..."
Rachel Amber
Arcadia Bay: Sandpiper Apartments - Parking Lot
March 21th, 2013 5:18 PM
The four girls walk down the exterior stone steps of the weathered gray apartment, dodging a few young kids that are darting past them and screaming with a boundless amount of excitement, shattering the empty brooding silence among the girls. Rachel lugs on the red thermos carrying her hot tea carefully among the rampant children, afraid they may knock it out of her hand.
The fresh air nuzzles the heated skin of the blonde time traveler, getting the much needed relief from that conscious nightmare. More and more, Rachel is fearful what her powers may deliver toward the girls that are around her. That grim image of the trio continues to eat apart at her insides as she is unable to put any reason around it. She contemplates if she should share any of it to the girls or if it is meritless and actually detrimental. That vision where all three of us… dying slowly was the one that was detached from the rest. Is it a premonition? What is going to happen to us?
The late afternoon sun still brightens the moderately filled parking lot as the girls approach Chloe's parked truck. The bluenette digs into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a pack of cigs. Nervously, she begins packing it despite already done it earlier. She slips a cigarette and holding it between her lips, with her other hand fumbling for her lighter. "So, uh…" She speaks balancing the smoke in her mouth, "...where are we going now?"
The girls stop by the truck bed, with uncertain glares shooting back and forth at each other. Rachel finally replies back to break the uncertainty in the air, "We are going to your house, Chloe."
The freckled girl immediately rebukes at the request, making her frustration clear as ice cold glass to hopefully rally the other two girls, "You seriously want to go back to your timeline?" She knows that Chloe's backyard is where the entry rift was linking it to the other timeline. That is where Rachel originally passed through between the timelines.
Rachel shoots at the weaker time traveler with an antagonizing glare, "Yes, I said that earlier that I want to go back." Her voice is harsh, complementing with the fierce hazel eyes.
"Wait, chill..." Max holds up her hands, scoffing in disbelief both at the request and the ill manner being directed toward her, "What is with your tone, now?" She turns around looking at the direction of the apartment that they just left from then craning her head back to Rachel, "I also felt you were using your powers when you went back into the room with your mom."
Something spells doom with the overwhelming amount of visions and memories that Rachel saw, but it isn't something that she could confide in anyone. Even with this so called best friend in another timeline who she is starting to see it is just a false impression that is created in her disturbed mind. Feeling herself fading away in this timeline and not in any mood to address Max's concerns, with scalding breath she replies back, "Fuck off, Max." She draws her head toward the taller girl, "Chloe, let's go."
The bluenette sways her head uneasily, with the unlit cigarette still levering between her tightly pressed lips. Still, she remains silent despite the feud that is occurring between her two best friends.
"Rachel…" Max bites down her jaw, wanting to snap back at her but instead, she asks the question that the girls were wondering, "...what happened? Is your mother alright?" They are still left in the dark with the conversation that Rachel had with her mother.
Rachel looks around, drawing in the concerning eyes from the other girls to extinguish the bitterness within her. She inhales deeply, as the sorrow constricts her seething tone, "My mom has a stomach cancer that is linked to her genes. She didn't pass it down to me. But basically, the gene means there is a chance that she can develop cancer in her lifetime." The air is stifling even outside in the open parking lot as the girls inquire in silence. Rachel continues, "It is three years later in my timeline where I'm twenty-two. So that means Mom…" She sniffs her nose, as the gush pumps up past her tight chest, "Mom…"
Kate covers her mouth, muffling through it, "Oh no, Rachel."
Max's eyebrows are lowered, gazing deeply into the blacktop of the lot and pondering about the timelines. Wanting to deflect the premonition in the stale air, she mutters quietly, "You don't know that your mom is also sick."
Feeling flustered with the nonchalant response that is void of any sympathy from her best friend, Rachel lifts her head up to defend her pessimistic thoughts, "Well, I do know she is born with it. So, it is possible she already have it and it has been eating away at her body." Soft sobs escape from her lips to temporary halt her fueling irritation, "...Just take me there, Chloe."
Chloe looks on with helpless quivering eyes, feeling lost and almost speechless on what to even say. She nods silently as it is the only thing that she can do.
"No, Chloe." Max chides at her best friend's reaction. Her heart is pumping, feeling the timeline is crumbling all around her, as there are so many things still left to do, "We still have Jefferson and Nathan to deal with."
Rachel showing hardly any remorse or concern, "You guys can deal with it with this timeline's Rachel. I don't care… take them both in jail. Just call the cops. Fuck it." Her tone is cold, already forgetting about her previous intention of providing aid for the broken Prescott kid. Since the discovery of her mother's condition, suddenly nothing seems to matter to Rachel anymore, as the walls are closing in quick to snuff out what's left of her sanity.
Feeling a whirlwind in her head like she is getting swept closer and closer to the dark abyss of this timeline just to be stranded all alone. Max darts her head between Kate and Chloe, hoping to get some assistance. Instead, the two girls are silent and uncertain of what to even exchange in the situation. Max fends for herself in a sardonic tone, "Oh, the police will surely listen to us teenagers that we have time powers. That is enough evidence to take down a renowned photographer and the son of the richest family in town."
"Max…" Rachel takes a gentle step forward, trying to remain at ease. "Your mother and father died. You said you went and saw their bodies." The paleness engulfs into the freckled girl's face, reminding her of all the tragedies that she had to witness. Kate winces, as she also saw the bodies with the brunette in the previous timeline as well as witnessing Max's mental breakdown. Rachel notes the faltering expressions and continues, "I have only my mother left. Could you please honor this request?"
Rachel's eyes are empty, as she turns toward the quiet road that hugs the apartment complex. There are many things I want to tell you, Max. Like how we are connected with each other, including the Rachel in this timeline. In fact, after seeing that flashback, memory, time jump or whatever it was, it pains me even more to leave you behind. I'm sorry, Max. But I know you don't care, anyways. All you want is a safe future with you and Chloe.
The brunette crosses her arms, shielding herself from the brief haunting thought about the deaths of her parent that still sends a genuine chilling sting throughout her body, even if it was a different timeline. Unable to say anything else at the moment to reject Rachel's request, she turns to Chloe, nodding her head.
Max Caulfield
Arcadia Bay: Stillwell Avenue
March 21th, 2013 5:27 PM
The brakes of the truck squeak to a pleading halt, stopping right behind a sedan in rush hour on one of the largest and busiest road in the town. The seating arrangement with the four girls is similar to earlier in the afternoon. Instead, Rachel is swapped with Kate and the photographer being closest to the driver in the middle seat. Rachel, who has a rather ominous aura since departing from her mother's apartment has the entire passenger seat to herself.
From the middle seat, Max leans her body forward to gaze out of the passenger's window of the stopped truck. Blurring images of the vehicles in the other lanes that alternate between passing by and getting passed with the varying traffic speed. Her blue eyes follow steadily on a mussed old woman on the sidewalk whose timeworn stride is keeping up with Chloe's slowed truck. The dolly that is overflowed with filled grocery bags is dragged sluggishly behind her.
Just how much of this world have we changed? Is that lady walking the very exact path at this specific time in the other timelines? With the exact same groceries in the exact same bags? The aged lady turns around for a passing look, giving an indirect glance at Chloe's rusted truck which is as worn as her faded skin, then returning back forward on her stagnant path. I guess if she didn't look back at Chloe's truck, it would have been another car in the other timelines. A very subtle but still a change that can trickle down in her future. Max's eyes dart around the liveliness of the downtown section in Arcadia Bay that gets coated with the warm and gentle golden color of the luminous afternoon sun. This is going to be the last peaceful moment in this timeline, isn't it? In her peripheral vision, she indirectly looks at the girls beside her that she bonded with today.
Rachel hisses through her clenched jaws, wanting to shove her sneakers against the interior of the truck, "Didn't think rush hour could be this bad in this town..." She lets out an anguished groan, stiffening her body for a better view ahead of her, "Must have been an accident or a broken red light."
Chloe squeezes the steering wheel tightly, partly supporting her body on it for a stretch to her aching body, "Chill sistah, we will get there."
Abruptly, Kate turns over to the blonde time traveler, reaching for her hand to cradle it gently. With undulating amount of distress in her tone, "Rachel, what I said earlier about promising to help out with your mother is true. I'm going to find a job once everything settles down." She casts a desperate attempt, trying to reel this girl to stay in this timeline with her.
Rachel follows down to the warm and tender touch from Kate but still feeling flustered. "I don't care what goes on in this timeline, anymore. I need to see my real mom." Her shoulders shudder at her response, feeling her frustrations are fueling her deathly cold thoughts.
Kate pushes hard through the lump in her stammering throat, "I-I…" She squeezes her hand that is interlocked with Rachel, "I don't want you to go back." Their hazel eyes gaze deeply into each other, for a quick warm reminder of earlier today when everything seemed perfect. She continues, "You're right… I am selfish." Her spoken truth extinguishes some of the boldness in her face, "Not able to know what may happen to you…" She holds her tongue for a moment as her empty eyes are glimmering from the sunlight reflecting off the buildings on this block. "...and also if I could have done anything more to save you…"
Kate's honest but touching words dilute some of the bitterness within Rachel's heart. Chloe sneaks a glance to examine the warm eyes of the person that she loves. Kate is someone that Chloe hardly even know. Yet, Rachel shares a captivated look with this very special person.
While time travel is one of the explanations to this, it isn't something the punk can stomach very well. The bluenette's eyes cover away staring at the traffic jam in front of her, becoming increasingly irritated and neglected. She scoffs, "Alright… what the fuck has been going on between you two?" Her blue nails claw into the steering wheel, in a fruitless attempt to drain out the seething resentment in her, "I've known Rachel for over two years and you two…" A fake laughter spills out her lips, "...only known each other for less than a fucking day." Feeling full of bitterness that even a religious girl like Kate could easily win Rachel's heart. In addition, giving more and more troubling thoughts with Chloe's friendship with the beautiful model.
For now, Chloe resists making any truly condescending remarks toward the pure and conservative church girl for bonding with the blonde time traveler, letting the short silence to give her twisted mind a necessary moment.
Rachel leans forward, making eye contact with the jealous bluenette in the driver's seat, "Chloe, everything is just fucked up with these time travel powers." She boldly justifies the growing bond between her and Kate.
Chloe bites her lower lip, then exhaling boiling breath through her teeth, "You're right, everything is fucked up to hell. I've been holding it in. I really tried! But I've been fucking dying to talk to…" Her face twitches, causing her volume to crash, "...the other Rachel. The one that I've actually been with for this whole fucking time. We would get high in my room, mess around on the beach and in the junkyard…" Her eyebrows lower, "Everywhere… We fucking ruled this town." Chloe casts a quick glance over at Rachel, "I want to have a real heart to heart talk with her. And what..." She exhales sharply, "... everything we have been doing means to each other."
Rachel nods solemnly, "You will get to talk to her soon. Once I go back to my timeline, she will take over this body again."
Kate shakes her head, again feeling hopeless and disheartened. Wanting to hold onto this person that she cares about but slowly their bond is slipping away.
Max finally breaks her silence, "No, we can't…" She groans loudly, letting everyone know of her irritation with how the conversations are going. "Fuck, this is so stupid." She brushes her fingers through her short hair, yanking any slightly tangled hair in exasperation, "We are sidetracking too much when we are supposed to be dealing with Jefferson."
The blonde time traveler's tone mirrors in frustration as well, "You said David was able to take down Jefferson?"
Feeling her remaining options are little to nonexistence, Max explodes her built up anger, "David kicked a fucking table at Jefferson to try and take him down. Then, Mark shot him to death." She shakes her head in disbelief, "He is an ex-soldier armed with a gun but he couldn't even take down a photography teacher that is only armed with a tripod!" She grips her right hand in the air, "I had to use my powers so many times to save David until he fucking got it right." She clenches her fist for a moment, "Or rather, I had to yank down an equipment to distract Jefferson so David could even stand a damn chance." She turns to the blonde girl with a stern face, "Rachel, I hate to say this but I think we will need to rely on your powers for backup." She puffs out an exhale, "In case, things do not go well with Jefferson or Nathan, we need your rewind powers."
Rachel tries to remain composed, trying to draw any remaining sympathy from her dear best friend, "Max, my actual body is hurting every time I use my powers here. I need to get back to my timeline before I fucking bleed to death. And, I can also deliver the message to my mother about her condition."
"And then what? I thought you didn't want to use your time powers anymore in your timeline? You said you wanted to finally accept fate and actually move forward in life." Max furrows her eyebrows, unable to dig up any empathy, "What if your mother is already in Stage III or IV with her cancer?"
Feeling the last thread of sanity is about to burn away in her mind, Rachel snarls back, "Well, I can't just fucking give up, can I? Even if the chance is five percent, it is still a shot for my mother to live." She balls her hands into a fist, "I want to be by her side."
Max rolls her eyes, shaking her head, "What if you are already dead in your timeline from bleeding out? Then, your mother is just going to suffer if she loses her only daughter as well." Her finger glides down to her left wrist, making a gesture and reminder of Rachel's self-mutilations.
Rachel digs her fingers into her jeans, resisting from slapping this ungrateful girl, "Fuck you, Max. If it was your own mother, you would do the same thing."
"Uhhh…" Max drags out her voice, "No, I wouldn't. I would stay in this timeline where my mother is safe and her illness is way more under control. I wouldn't even consider going back to your awful timeline. That's so dumb."
The normally reserved girl has developed over the past week. Being a hopeless spectator to tragedies along with all the events that led up to it but unable to do anything about it with her powers. Whether it is cowering down onto her jeans in the cold bathroom floor and hearing Chloe repeating her final lines before getting fatally shot by Nathan or getting that final text message from her mother before the car accident. Her bold but yet crumbling mind cannot take it anymore. She will no longer allow any of this. She will not risk this future when the apprehensive signs are there. Even if she has to become a self-seeking person in order to obtain what she wants.
On the other side, the rage builds up inside Rachel with the churning tension between the time travelers. Feeling resentful from the degrading words from Max who is supposed to be supportive and caring. But Rachel is starting to realize that it was all just a mask. The blonde defends her idea about going back to her timeline, "Easy for you to say… but I grew up in that timeline with a very hard working mother that loved me. Maxine..." Saying her name chokes up her echoing voice for a moment. "...The one I loved and grew up with is there as well."
Max scoffs with soft laughter. God, she is so stupid! Continuing with a mocking manner, "You don't have Maxine, anymore. That ship has sailed and you said it."
Rachel crashes her fist hard against the glove compartment of the truck that saps out all the sound from the already still truck, "Shut it, Max! You're a coward! Any signs of conflict, you're going to go whimper away into another timeline." Her hazel eyes dart to the silent bluenette on the other side of Max. "Would you ever leave Chloe behind? If you had the choice, which Chloe would you bring into your timeline? The Chloe where you spent that week long adventure with where you were trying to find out about Rachel's disappearance with your seemingly invincible time powers?" Rachel creases her bold eyebrows, "Or the Chloe that is right there?" She points at the quiet punk, "...The one right beside you. Which one would you pick?" She glares at the brunette, daring her to even squeak a single word.
Max shrinks her body closer to the seat, unable to look away from the scalding eyes of the blonde but also unable to seek comfort in the ocean blue eyes of her childhood friend.
Rachel continues relentlessly, "I bet if you had the choice, you would choose the one you spent a week with… because Rachel is dead in that timeline and you can have your selfish paws all over your beloved friend that you abandoned for five years."
Chloe presses her thin lips together, feeling a shuddering that wrings up from her shoulders and constricting her neck. "Max…" Her faded voice is barely louder than a whisper. Feeling her place to be absolutely worthless in the perspective of these two girls that mean the world to her.
Max wants to speak back to defend herself but her crushing thoughts of guilt squeeze her tongue in place and too stubborn to let go of it.
Rachel returns her voice back to a normal volume but still stern, "In that other timeline, you overdosed a disabled Chloe with morphine to put her out of her misery." Her eyebrows arch, "And boy, the Max that will take back control of her body after you leaving it will have to live with the murder of her own best friend that she didn't commit for the rest of her life." She tips her nose at Chloe, "While you get to relax with your healthy best friend right here. Dumb selfish bitch. Don't you dare tell me what the fuck you would do."
Kate turns her body around to face the troubled girl and also trying to shield her from the onslaught of Rachel. The church girl's voice is soft, not wanting to raise it onto the person that she has been protecting. "Rachel, please…"
Rachel looks at the outline of Kate's back, already sensing the gentle and kind nature from this girl. However, this irritates Rachel more that an angel like Kate is getting neglected. She continues, "And, don't get me started on what you have done with Kate..."
The conservative girl creases her eyebrows, shaking her head softly. "Please don't…" She pleas, wishing for Rachel to not say any more to keep inciting hatred and tension among the girls.
Rachel blinks her eyes slowly, hesitating for a moment on going against the wishes of this kind-hearted person. Her eyes drift to the side, staring blankly through the back window of the truck that is covered in a thin sheet of dirt that partially obscures the view of the traffic behind them. She drapes her head down, squeezing her eyes, knowing she is going to begin this descent with her relationship with this new friend. "Kate really wanted to be your best friend after Chloe's death. She genuinely wanted to help you and be by your side to get through all of the hard times." She swirls her finger around, "But now time travel shit happened and you got your beloved Chloe back. So now, she is basically worthless in your eyes."
Max's lower jaw drop at the incredulous statement, her fists clenching tightly, digging her nails into the fleshy palm. Un-fucking-believable… this… ugh! She snarls back, "Kate isn't worthless to me. I appreciate what-"
Rachel rolls her eyes, then crashing back into her seat with loud thump, "You're not fooling me." She grumbles, staring off into the window to avoid further eye contact and finally conceding her verbal abuse.
Max also crashes herself into the seat with crossed arms, as both Kate and Chloe gives a comforting but nervous glance to try and invigorate the brunette with some silent support. But instead the freckled girl unable to keep still, squirming with anger and wanting to lash back at this person that should have been dead.
Her seething blood courses through the blood vessels in her eyes, resonating out of it to distort her vision with a gleaming haze. Gosh! Rachel is so stupid! Doesn't matter which timeline she is. Everything was better when it was just me and Chloe! And, no wonder she is dea-
A deafening rumble crashes through the truck. Max's head jolts, scanning around quickly but realizing there isn't an actual car collision as the girls have no reactions to it. A swirling line of shadowy figures whirls around her, seemingly inching closer to trap and choke her. But the bodies suddenly become blended with the blanket of darkness that stretches from one end to the other. Both Kate and Chloe are reduced to flickering apparitions that quickly vanish into the abyss. Only Rachel's brooding presence remains who is blurred with a glowing crimson. Combined with her stern and cold shoulder it almost looks like her anger is being radiated out into a form of ruby hellish energy, lighting up this void.
I only see Rachel… She is the only one I can see.
The stubborn girl draws away from the raging demon, despite being the only form of recognizable life in the desolate darkness. Her eyes begin feeling heavy and weighing down so much that she can barely keep them open. Above her, she sees a trail of golden heavenly orbs that dangles in the air. Their ominous glows warp like a burst of nova stretching to its ends. Her eyes flutter like the wings of a butterfly, as everything in her sight seems to doubled and displace itself in the muddled haze.
Her vision begins to strengthen slowly but her eyelids get progressively heavier trying to bury her swollen eyes permanently. Her ears twitch, hearing the soothing pattering of the raindrops onto the window. The room surges into a ghostly white for a split second before returning back to the welcoming darkness.
I'm back in my dorm in Blackwell. What the hell is going on?
A muffled voice from the fathomless depths stir into her soul, "Max, are you okay?"
The darkness vanishes as a strong sting sails up to Max's chest, causing her body to jerk forward with an igniting sensation that cooks her fragile heart alive. Her dull gasp is sealed safely behind her closed lips for now as her body feels like it is rejecting to something that is unknown. Like all the timelines that she has fought hard for but didn't even matter in the bitter end.
"Oh shit…" Chloe holds down the brake pedal firmly behind the ongoing slowed traffic, reaching her hand to comb the struggling brunette's back. "Kate, open the glove compartment. There should be some brown paper bags." The car behind her honks because Chloe's truck isn't pulling close enough to the car in front of her. "Fuck off!" The comforting hand that was on Max's back sails up into a middle finger.
Kate quickly obeys the order, leaning in front of the silent Rachel to pry open the rickety glove compartment. She spots the bag and quickly fumbles in between her fingers to open it and handing it over to the sick girl.
Max holds onto the bag, hovering her damp head over it to let her body slowly collects itself with this reality. She doesn't even have time to think about what she just experienced as the throbbing pain of discomfort cannot make up its mind of crawling out of her throat or staying nestled to continue to immolate away at her chest.
A few repeated wet and empty gags to lure the pain closer to the edge, feeling the streaks of blazing acid that are skipping up to her throat. Finally, it successfully climbs up to the top, gurgling out of her mouth to be expelled and collected into the sturdy bag.
The three girls eye on helplessly on the fatigued time traveler, giving her a moment. The moist and foul scent fills the cabin of the truck but doesn't disturb anyone one bit. Through the putrid vomiting sounds, Chloe mutters gently, "Let it all out… it'll feel better." She darts her eyes around her surroundings, seeing the traffic is clearing up ahead. "Should I pull over?"
"Mmm…" Max shakes her draped head, mumbling loud enough through her wet lips to signal the bluenette to keep driving, despite not at all wanting to reach to the destination of Chloe's house.
"There are some napkins in there…" Chloe points again at the glove compartment.
Rachel opens it this time before Kate does. She grabs a few sheets of napkin then leans in to get close to her best friend in pain. Her tone is filling with anxiety, "I… felt your powers." Max pulls her head out, still breathing heavily almost like she is hyperventilating. Rachel wipes a gleaming and viscous trail of vomit on Max's chin with the napkin, "Are you okay? Are you seeing things?"
Rachel's words feel empty to Max as the brunette gazes deeply ahead through the windshield, feeling a glowing bloom rising to her face. The pain isn't from her sore stomach or the vomiting. Everything just seems perfectly still and empty around her, like not a single worry left in this world. Or this timeline. Or this dream.
Her eyes flutter, tapping her eyelashes together repeatedly feeling the numbness trickling and painting across the skin of her body. Pupils are dilating and the scene washes away to the familiar white color of her Seattle home, prying her away again from reality.
The late pale afternoon sun weaves through the blinds of the living room as her own mother stands in front of her. "My beautiful princess…" Vanessa snaps the picture and the accompanying whirling of the motor that spits out the pale picture from the Polaroid. She places both the photo and the camera on the coffee table, then returning her admiring stare at her own daughter. She covers her lips with her knuckles to partially muffle her soft whimpering of joy. Her eyebrows lowered with her eyes almost welling up, "Gosh, Carson is going to be blown away with how beautiful you look. I knew the pink color was the right call."
Max smiles proudly at the gorgeous pink prom dress that she is wearing along with the beautiful slightly curled hair that falls close to her shoulders.
"Hmph…" Ryan casts a disapproval snort, taking a few steps toward his daughter, "I still think it shows too much... This Carson is going to be blown away by my fist if he tries anything..."
The daughter giggles in embarrassment, crossing her arms to find some security on her shorter dress that is more revealing than she is normally comfortable with.
"Ryan, stop it…" Vanessa paces toward her husband giving him a quick shove from towering right next to her poor daughter, "Let our little girl have her fun. She deserves it so much!" She winks at Max then returning back to Ryan, "Just imagine the moves you used on me when you first met me…"
Ryan lowers his eyebrows, tipping his head up to the ceiling for a quick ponder about his first meeting with Vanessa. Then, he lowers it back down to his daughter, already jumping to an abrupt conclusion, "Oh no no no... I'm not letting Max go anymore."
"Oh stop it, honey…" Vanessa gives a single arm hug with Ryan. Then with her other arm, she wraps around her daughter, uniting them all together.
"You guys are too much…" The freckled girl squeezes her eyes closed, grinning at her two loving parents.
Suddenly, everything flickers quickly and moving rapidly as the dawn has fallen with the night settling in, leaving the living room to be filled with an artificial glow from the floor lamp and no longer illuminated by the sun. Max sits in an adjacent connected room in a chair. A jacket drapes on her exposed shoulders as the cool evening demands for the warmth. Right beside Max is her mother, who has draped her head onto Max's jacket and also holding her daughter's hand dearly.
Max gazes out the window into the dreary night, seeing the bright wraith-silver halo that hangs in the middle of the dead sea. The tendrils of the moon blanch onto the red and swollen eyes of the freckled girl. Max cranes her head gazing back into the well-lit living room that her father is standing around in silence.
Max's father looks at his watch then whispering quietly in the breathless house. "It is eight o'clock already." He announces the time, "What should we do, now?" Vanessa pulls up her head, revealing that her eyes are also gleaming with tears. She gives a close glance at her heartbroken daughter who just have been abandoned in prom. Her prom date never showed up, called or even picked up his phone. Perhaps, she should have known that this was too good to be true... Like many things in life.
Max's lips shudder, feeling there are no more tears left to shed from her sore eyes. Her head wavers, accepting the truth that she can never find real lasting happiness with other people. Her hope and expectation may sail high, but it can be taken away in the next flickering moment. All of this… is caused by her. All the mistakes she has made will never go away. No one cares if you have social anxiety or an illness, they will never forget. It cannot ever be erased. For now, she has to hold onto whoever she can, like her beloved father and mother.
She exhales unsteadily and the faded golden color of the living room dissipates into a ghostly white. She lifts up her heavy head as the smell of cold death overwhelms her nostrils in this new place. In front of her, is a glass window that collects her misty warm breaths. On the other side, is a room with two long aluminum tables. The lifeless bodies of Vanessa and Ryan lie on top of the tables, with long white towels to cover their bodies.
On the cabinet is a hanger that hangs a light orchid-colored dress, that is worn and spotted with dried blood. The same one that Vanessa wore when she died in the car accident. The same one she wore wandering aimlessly like a lost soul on that dark winding highway as an apparition.
The loud and heavy pulse in her throat seemingly constricts all the air through it, seeing her deceased parents again. Her head tilts to the right, seeing the familiar Officer Berry who is staring solemnly at the window. As he is the one that guided Max through the basement of the police station to the viewing of the bodies of Ryan and Vanessa.
The freckled girl lets out a distressing and shrill wail, feeling even more sorrow than even when she first saw their bodies for the first time. Her head flinches to the other side, seeing it is just the lone empty derelict hallway of the basement level. She hangs her lifeless head there for a moment, as an exhale escapes from her cold lungs.
Kate... isn't there with me...
A frozen breeze drifts off gently on her numbing skin as everything lies motionless to a perfect soothing silence. Her faded breaths are the only thing that is audible as it caresses the deathly cold window. The tendons that bind her muscles stand firmly against her pale skin. And again, feeling all alone. And again, being left behind by everyone that loved her.
Suddenly, a ghostly hand emerges from beyond the window, grabbing her, "Max!…" Jolting the brunette back to reality in Chloe's truck. Rachel asks, "Are you okay?" Her voice is no longer filled with hatred as she has crawled over Kate's lap to get in real close to comfort the mental state of her best friend.
Chloe looks over at her with uneasy and distressing eyes, "Max…?"
Kate, who is now holding the brown bag for Max, looks on with earnest eyes but remaining silent hoping to hear a reassuring reply from the disturbed time traveler.
The confusion weaves into the folds of her brain but it doesn't draw any reaction into Max. The vivid flashback feels hauntingly real, like memories drowning back into her reality. Her mind is feeling detached from everything, including her current goals and desires. Nothing seems to matter anymore.
Why is this happening now? Is it because I got upset at Rachel and somehow it is triggering my powers or perhaps my traumatic memories? Is it because she is leaving this timeline and it is going to spell doom for us all?
Why am I seeing timelines that I don't belong in? And also, why wasn't Kate there with me? I feel like someone is trying to send me a message, telling me I need to keep this timeline no matter what. Or else, something bad is going to happen. I can't let Rachel go… I need her powers to keep this timeline safe.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay on this chapter. Originally, I would really have liked to finish both Chapter 29 and 30 by the 1-year anniversary of this story. But doesn't look like that will happen. So I'm going to treat my Chapter 30 as my "1 year anniversary" chapter even though it is going to be well after the actual date. I'll probably have some wall of text in the notes section in that chapter. Thanks to Harpu, for offering to do some alpha reading on certain parts of the chapter. I really needed someone else's opinion on many scenes.
So anyways, an update is that I have been slowing down with the release of the chapters. It is a combination of reasons so I'll be honest with them.
First one is simply writing burnout. I've been writing for much much longer than I've originally anticipated. I thought I would have given up with this story months ago, but somehow I'm still here. The story has become much more challenging to write than the earlier chapters. Writing over 260k words and spending close to a year, as the writer I grew really attached to "The Twin Moons universe" and emotionally invested with the characters, the world and the journey of the four girls. Strange as it sounds, my own story is kind of my personal "canon" now, as I almost forgot what happens in the game. :P I started with zero writing experience from Chapter 1 and have learned a lot on a personal growth level.
As you may notice, there are definitely ups and downs. Some fluff/steamy moments and then loads of sad/angst/dark moments. These depressing moments are becoming more taxing for me as I'm more 'invested' with the characters. The stakes are raised now. :P I'll be honest, it does drain a lot out of me. Not to say it didn't back then, because this whole story has been a rollercoaster for me.
Second, I am getting way more busy. Not to dive into details, just many things I need to really set aside some time and just focus. With the direction where the story is going combined being burnt out, it isn't just a simple flip of a switch to hop back and forth… at least mentally.
Anyways, I just wanted to communicate this to everyone. Do expect a delay on the future chapters.
So back to the chapter… well… lots of 'weird stuff' happened in this chapter. The growing time powers/PTSD of both Max and Rachel are manifesting themselves along with the elevated emotions between the two girls.
In the game, there are some hints/theories that emotions may trigger/augment Max's time powers. Feeling the shock when Chloe got shot could have been one. Seeing Kate jump off the roof is another trigger with Max's frozen time powers. And, possibly after the heated argument and the yearning for the distant past could have triggered the photo hopping ability. I'm not saying that the explanation of it in my story. :P I'm just throwing it out there as it relates with the game.
There's a lot of revisiting to earlier parts/mentioned events of the story. Including Chapter 9 and 16, Max's prom, and some of the past. The supernatural elements in the game included spirit animals and those sorts. I felt like adding some other beliefs in this chapter as well.
The whole writing saying "confuse the characters but don't confuse the readers", I feel I violated it big time on this chapter. :P I wasn't going to "spell out" everything with the flashbacks, so inherently it is going to be confusing. My intention is to really let the thin out that boundary between a memory/vision/time powers inside Max's and Rachel's mind. And, really drive them nuts and their expectations with everything.
Anyways, cheers everyone. Happy Easter Day. :) Leave a comment/feedback or feel free to ask me anything.
