"Fuck" Chloe whispered angrily under her breath as she clutched her grandfather close and regrettably letting tears be absorbed into his wool sweater. Another knock traveled through the room, shattering her hopes of her being able to ignore it. Alfred felt the same, just wanting this honest moment to last a little longer in silence, knowing that it was something they both needed, however, after only a having been given a few seconds of trying to console his granddaughter, was he forced to take a deep breath and loosen his muscles. "I'll go see who it is," He said regrettably as he let go of his grip around Chloe and made a strained expression while pulling himself up from his position on the floor. He just managed to let these coated words out as another, even harder, knock dared to pass through her ears, as if a person was only allowed two seconds to answer the door before the moronic knocker would sue. Yet, a sudden thought sparked inside of Chloe's scattered mind and prompted her to jump up from the ground and wipe away her tears. "No, it's- it's okay. I got it" She nearly demanded by sending a pensive look to Alfred before turning around and quietly walking over to answer the door. Her reason for sneaking, for answering the door herself, and for being extremely paranoid, was the thought of seeing a familiar and malevolent face standing in front of the house.
"Excuse me? I'm looking for Chloe- oh, and, eh, probably Max as well" A light voice suddenly came from behind the wooden door and Chloe instantly recognized the bushed voice of a confused, yet nonchalant, young boy. Her new associate, Ted. She passed a sigh of relief and proceeded to wipe her face clean once more just to be sure it wasn't totally obvious she had been crying her very soul out. Something she was actually rather annoyed by that she didn't get to finish.
"I mean, I only need one of them actually. Heh… bring me one hostage and I might spare your lives!... I'm just joking, sorry. That was dumb"
Hearing the dumb voice awkwardly speaking, inclined Chloe to glance back at Alfred to see his one raised eyebrow and tilted head, making Chloe's only means of a response a slight shrug.
"Is this even the right house?" Ted questioned himself with a quiet voice just before Chloe finally freed him of his- and everybody's- agony and opened the door to see the halfwit turning his head with clear, brown eyes, a green slacker hoodie, and uncombed orange hair, curling its way down his back.
"Heeeey" Amidst the awkward stretch of words, Ted ground his teeth together as he curled up by looking at Chloe's displeased face.
"Ted, what are you doing here?" Chloe had to dig real hard as to not slam the door in his face, but knowing that Ted hadn't done anything wrong, just decided to come by at the worst possible time, she decided to keep the door open- hesitant about letting him in, though.
"I was in the neighborhood, about… twenty-five miles from here" he whispered the last few words.
"So I thought I'd swing by since I have some maybe important information about Ethan" but his last sentence was unfortunately not whispered, instantly prompting Chloe to signal a hush motion with her hands, not wanting Alfred to overhear anything.
"You could just have called" Her voice was regrettably a little annoyed, not that it was directed at Ted but she couldn't let him in when Max was upstairs sleeping off a mental breakdown.
Ted hesitated a little and intentionally made a scrunchy face while pretending to lean against an invisible wall. "I can tell it's a bad time… but like, is it a 'my dog just drank dishwasher cleaner' bad time or 'a sock on the door handle' bad time? Because I don't see no sock on the door, so it must be the dog thing, yeah?" Putting both his hands in separate pockets of his worn-out jeans, Ted lifted his shoulders and showcased just how bad at conversing he was.
"Jesus Christ" Chloe whispered under her breath, feeling as if she was in a low budget sitcom with terrible writing.
"I mean, the sock usually goes on the bedroom door, but placing one on the front door lets everybody know–"
Ted's obnoxious rambling came to a screeching halt as a sudden, loud, and piercing scream made everyone jump up in shock with Chloe feeling a chill down her spine just as the sharp scream stopped and everything went uncomfortable silent with a sense of strain in the thick air.
"Wow. What the hell was-" Ted scarcely managed to question as Chloe's instincts had already kicked in and begun running towards the staircase with such speed her body nearly fainted from the sudden movement but her beating kept her alert. "MAX?!" She yelled with a crack in her voice and eyes beaming with intensity as she jumped over the first steps on the staircase.
Ted took a moment to phantom the situation, but quickly shook his head and after some expeditious mental convincing ran into to house to follow Chloe, feeling surprisingly concerned as well. "Oh, eh, hi" He managed to blurt out as he ran past Alfred who stood confused and startled in front of the couch and only managed to make a small, cloddish nod before Ted had bolted up the stairs, seeing Chloe literally bum-rushing the door to her room, followed by a loud and distressed yell. "What happened?! Are you okay?!"
When Chloe had entered the room, her eyes immediately fell upon the bed in which Max was now sitting, breathing heavily with sweat dripping from the bottom of her chin down to her hands clawing the sheets, her eyes locked on the nothingness in front of her with wide pupils, black as coal, removing and replacing the brown iris. Without asserting the situation, Chloe ran towards her terrified friend and took a firm grip on her burning shoulder. "Max, Max! It's alright! You're okay!" She reassured her while desperately trying to catch her disorientated attention.
Eeriness spread inside of Chloe as Max seemed unresponsive. Fearing she might be having a panic attack or another breakdown, Chloe looked back and saw Ted standing in the door frame with turmoil painted all over his face.
"Ted, grab my wallet! It's- fuck, where is it?! Shit, see if it's on the desk!" She demanded with unrestrained dismay. Ted nearly jumped out of his own skin as he nodded dazedly and ran towards the table pushed against the wall and began scanning with twitching eyes and quivering fingers.
"I have two pills in the- eh- fuck, the little flap thing!" Chloe kept anxiously shouting instructions, only making the confused boy even more frantic.
"I had a nightmare" Max suddenly whispered out strained with her eyelids lazily covering her vision.
"I just need a second" Her breaths became deeper and more controlled as Chloe loosened her grip on her shoulder, but kept her full attention on her expression that luckily fell into a more a calm position when a drop of sweat ran from her neck and in under her white shirt.
"So you're… you're not having some sort of…" Chloe bit her lip, not wanting to actually say the words.
"No" Her stare fell in place as the room began feeling unduly dark with only a few dim light sources in the room.
Chloe let out a sigh of relief while gently knocking her forehead against the side of Max's head. She let the hand she had kept on her shoulder slide down her back and felt her friend's aroma working as tranquilizer against her rushing heart. "Okay," Chloe whispered as she solicitously began stroking Max's sweaty back while nuzzling her face into her bristly hair, having to resist the temptation of attempting to kiss her once more.
A shuffling sound was heard as Ted repositioned himself, his hands still hovering above the table, uncertain whether or not to stop searching for the wallet. "I would have nightmares too if I had to sleep in a room with a constant beeping noise" He let out, his voice a little tense from the sudden drama, but he was right. Chloe only noticed it after he mentioned it, but there was an irksome and seemingly erratic beep in the room.
However, before she could gather herself she felt Max swiftly turn in her arms. "Ted? What is Ted doing here?" She directed her question at Chloe while blinking quickly to moisten her eyes and get a clearer vision.
"I'm actually not sure?" With a tilt in her voice, Chloe turned her attention towards the young boy standing self-consciously in the middle of the room with a stiff smile forming on his lips.
"Hi, Max" He lifted his arm slowly, imitating a lazy wave with his right hand.
"I came to tell you- I mean, I found some information about Ethan, and I thought… you might be interested" His voice steadily fell in volume as he sucked in his lips and looked to the side.
Chloe was quick to pick up on the imminent silence and with the speed- and the sustained growl- of a writhing leopard she got up from the bed and rubbed her face to get the blood flowing in her pale cheeks. "Right right, but first-" then opened her mouth wide to stretch her jaw, feeling more like a zombie with each passing second. "I need to stop that fucking noise" Chloe had pinpointed the source of the sound and practically swiping Ted away so she could get to her computer lying apparently not-so-peacefully on the table. It was a wobbly sound, but annoying nonetheless. It was undoubtedly the noise of notifications invading her physical life, but it sounded as if the system was glitching out with a new notification sound resonating every fifth second or so and even with different sources. Chloe could recognize the bubble-burst-and-single-piano-tone Facebook notification sound, but there were others in the mix. Unrecognizable ones. As she popped open the screen, she was met with a radiant glow and various numbers next to various applications, indicating just how much her PC was being bombarded. For a second, it scared her, but when she clicked the Skype icon at the taskbar with the mousepad, it absolutely terrified her. Twenty-one missed calls, seventy unread messages. Her eyes nervously flickered from side to side and her breath only got eerier when she saw what the messages contained.
Sent 9:12 - Jackerjoe
MAX CAULFIELD?!
Sent 9:18 – Emma Destiny
is it true? did you allow the tornado to destroy arcadia bay? he said you could have stopped it…
Sent 9:30 – Robin Scheller
Trolololol. Some fag said you destroyed that arcadia town because of your SUPER NATURAL POWERS! I believe the police reports tho. You look like a deranged mf. I don't know what i will do with ur social security number, but fuck. If ur half as crazy as the guy who posted that link i won't even feel bad about stealing your identity. Ill don't want people to think im a drug addict but ya know LOL! I will definitely check if that credit card info is legit tho. Having a hooker blow me for YOUR money… gg.
Her thoughts grew wild as every word made a scorch mark in her throbbing brain and her breath got shrill as an overwhelming sensation of being strangled overcame her; she could not avert her eyes, not even move the muscles in her hand to close the screen or open her mouth to speak.
Sent 9:39 – Jackerjoe
I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHRIST IF YOU KILLED MY SISTER IF WILL FUCKING STRANGLE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I HAVE THEIR ADDRESSES I ONLY LIVE A FEW MILES AWAY! IF YOU DON'T ANSWER RIGHT NOW I WILL GO OVER TO YOUR PARENTS AND STOMP ON THEIR FACES!
Sent 9:42 – MayMayMayDay
Is this really Max Caulfield? If it is, then you should know that a lot of private information about you have been published about an hour ago. It gives your credential information and tells some pretty horrific stories about you. It even says you have been convicted of making your dog attack a child, ripping the kids face apart? Also, something about you having time powers, but that is obviously bullshit. I can't link to it since the link keeps being re-uploaded with different URL's every five minutes or so. I think it happens on different sites, but I found it randomly on 4chan. You should really contact the police or something.
Her unsteady heartbeats could be felt throbbing all the way up in her ears and without even noticing it, her fist had begun clenching, her nails digging into the palm of her hand.
Lies… red shapes in her vision began taking shape, boiling blood rushing to her limbs in complete enragement from not only knowing that Ethan published the information, but would even go as far as to blatantly tell lies about Max.
It was inevitable that with the anger, fear grabbed her neck as well and held her in place, forcing her to wonder about the actual and present danger they were in. And this was only some of the Skype messages, whereas she hadn't even dared to look at the number of notifications on Facebook. Threats from random people who could very well make good on them, private information handed out as if it was a blessed pack of gum. We have to cancel her credit card, we have to call her parents, we have to hide away, we have to call the police, we have to-
"Chloe?"
A single, faint voice calling out her name with such a vulnerable essence to its delicate tones, such a sound she wanted to store in her memory and keep safe forever. Her thoughts stopped like a broken clock, no longer ticking and stuck in place. We have to do something.
"What is going on?"
Chloe didn't turn her head to look at her loved one who had already been beaten down to a pulp. If her eyes fell upon her deadpan face, her tongue would only slip out lies to present a false sense of comfort in the pursuit of acceptance and normality. She only wanted the tragedies to end so the rebuild could start. Only wanted a day in peace so she could focus entirely on her and what they had created together.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak the pitiful truth, the triggering sounds stopped altogether, all at once, leaving a suspenseful silence.
Ted who had been hanging back lifted his head slightly and adjusted his green hoodie. "Finally. I ne-"
"Shh!" Chloe instantly hushed him, signaling for him to stay quiet and stand still. Ted pulled his head back and raised his eyebrows as if he was offended while Max held her breath and stared inquisitively at Chloe who looked as if she was listening for something.
The humming of the PC was blocked out within the moment of a still heartbeat. Max had picked up on Chloe's inexplicable reaction and forced herself to not move a muscle while Ted darted his eyes around avidly. A car door was slammed shut from outside, continued by light steps on pavement which Chloe traced with her attentive ears. Twelve steps until the front door creaked and she lowered her shoulders. A tapping of shoes walking on the wooden floor downstairs and she took a strident breath. A rustling.
"Max! Reverse time!" Chloe spun her body around and sent a terrifying stare directly into Max's consternated eyes. Her whole body shook as she stomped her foot down onto the floor to get closer to her and flung her front body forward. "Right now!"
Max was sent back by the sudden demand but could tell all too well that Chloe was serious and began breathing frantically while lifting her right arm. Not a single force on earth could stop the trembling of her hand as she began bending her fingers.
"What the fuck?" Ted abruptly spoke up while blinking hard.
"Reverse time? What the hell are you talking about? What is going on?" While he did not dare to take a step closer, he still used his body language to insistently demand an answer.
However, neither Chloe nor Max paid any attention to him as Chloe was far too focused on getting Max to do as she told her, as Max was panicking, having no idea what was going as well, but did her best to do what was demanded of her. "I- I'm trying" She whispered but finding it too difficult to concentrate as her body began replacing the sweat down her body.
But all that stopped, everything froze as a chime and vibrations came from Chloe's front pocket, a small light escaping through the fabric. For a moment, Chloe didn't advert her eyes and simply stared shocked at the girl before her. With the pause in time and the only sound being heard was the rocky-tune playing from the phone in her pocket, Chloe slowly hovered her hand up her body, the joints in her fingers bending without intent. Her daunting blue eyes fell upon the girl in her bed who had now lowered her hand, looking so devastatingly vulnerable and the air between them was nothing more than the message of calamity. Chloe felt her heart choking her throat and her brain saying over and over "Not now" with a nagging gnawing. She didn't know how she managed to do it, but she eventually felt the warm metal touching the side of her cold, bloodless cheek, the phone line open, the breath in her ear being sinister and subdued, but the voice that followed was all too clear, all too familiar.
"This is the final challenge"