* Monday, Early Afternoon, After the Funeral *

You have to follow the voices back. I can't help you from her.

...

Don't be like that.

don't wanna

I know we don't see eye to eye all the time but you need to wake up.

no

Come on. Stop being so childish. You're supposed to be more mature than this. Dealing with death. Dealing with loss.

no. you keep making me...

I don't make you do anything. I only tell you things. Things you already know.

i don't like the things

You do NOT get a choice. You do NOT get to ignore the world. You do NOT get to pick truth.

what do i

You get to try. That's it, try.

i'm tired

Now get up and TRY HARDER.

Sound filters in poorly through closed doors. Cool and wet touches grace her forehead. Her nose is stuffed, her lips are chapped.

Not chapped, they would hurt. There's something around my mouth.

Quiet breathing mirrors her own, just out of sync. An intake, a voice. 'Max?'

That's me. I'm Max.

'Max, are you awake?'

I'm still. Just. Max...

More concern infuses.

'Max?'

'I'm awake.'

The voice that issues is a bit burnt. Dry.

Water

'Here. Drink. But sit up first.' A straw touches her lips as the world spins and her equilibrium settles on a new down. 'Not too fast. Don't choke.'

More focusing.

'Victoria? How long was..?'

'Three hours. And Kate's going to be back in about fifteen minutes.' A shuffle on the bed next to her. 'She's, uh. She's really pissed.'

Cracking open an eye.

FUCKING SUN OHMYDOGTHATFUCKINg-

More focusing.

Victoria's face is the first thing to focus in Max's vision. Concern. Fear. A bit of anger.

Tears.

I- I am so sorry.

'Victoria, I'm-'

'Save it, Max. Just- just fucking save it. Now we need to worry about what's going to happen with Kate. We'll deal with... this later.'

I've hurt her. Like, I've really, really hurt her.

'So, Katie said she was coming right here after class.' She checks her phone, for the time presumably. 'I was able to keep her from calling any teachers. Or an ambulance. Or anyone else.'

'So, what do you think we should tell her?'

'I've got no idea. This- this is up to you.'

I don't have any choices.

'In spite of... of everything that happened, I still trust you.'

No.

'You're still the one who knows... stuff. Your limits. You have insight that. That. I don't know.' The frustration in her voice strangles the conversation..

No. I can't be trusted. I can't make any changes. I'm

You're not done yet.

I'm useless.

You still have to fix what you broke.

I'm weak.

You have responsibility.

I'm nothing.

'Vicky, I- I don't think you can trust me. I can't trust me.' Max stares at her hand. 'I don't think I'm really... lucid, anymore.'

Painful fingers dig into her shoulder. A hand grasps her own. Her right hand. The source of her power. And trouble.

If your hand offend you, cut it off.

'Max, look at me.' Victoria's face dominates. The same emotions. But a new one is there as well. In the eyes. Concern?

'Max, you loved someone. And lost her. You gave her up for others. It's okay to feel that pain.'

Deep breath.

'But you can't pull this shit. You have so much power in this.' Punctuation shaking in between them. 'You can hurt people with this. Or help them. You've got nuclear power literally at your finger tips.'

'But-'

'No. More. Fucking. Buts.' The dominate eyes harden and soften in instances. 'No excuses. You have shown how responsible you are. I would never trust anyone else with these powers. Not even myself.'

Timid knocks at the door interrupt anything else Victoria intended. She looks around rapidly, smoothing the non-existent wrinkles on her skirt.

Why is she acting guilty?

Hand pausing on the door knob, Victoria turn back to Max. 'I'm following your lead. Just... don't hurt her.'

The opening of the door causes Kate to stumble in. Hand raised, she obviously had been leaning forward. Th embarrassment of the situation seemed to be at war with the situation itself.

Vicky's right. She is pissed.

'So, uh, Kate? W-what's new?'

She's going to bite my head off. Literally.

'Oh, you know. Lots of homework. I got a B+ on my practical lab. Oh yeah, and my best friend has this big old secret about something I don't know and would love to hear about.'

'Yeah, I-I don't know-'

Hands on hips, tilted head, stern expression. It's like she's pretending to be Victoria. 'I know what you don't know. Like how hurt I've felt. Like how confused I am. And how p-pissed off. So instead of telling me what you don't know, tell me what you do.'

The sarcasm in her voice is a physical blow to Max. Not because Kate is never sarcastic. It is that, before, she always used it as a joke or ironically, or on a few occasions to be self-deprecating. The fact she used it to be mean, and to Max no less, has the brunette is a tailspin.

It doesn't matter that she doesn't know how to act like a bitch. The fact that she's trying...

hurts.

'Oh. Oh Katie. I am sorry. Just, I am sorry I hurt you.' Max finds Victoria's eyes. 'Both of you.'

Victoria's frown deepens. On the other hand, Kate softens, sitting next to Max on the bed. 'Please, what's going on?'

I'd love to know too. 'Before we get to that, I need to... apologize right.' Why is this hard? I was wrong. I know it. 'Vicky, I'm so sorry. You are right, and I'm getting so tired of that. I hate that I can't do the right thing.'

'Max, you don't need to-'

'Yeah, I do. I told you to kick my ass when you need to. But I shouldn't have put that on you. I should get my own crap together and work it out.' A crack in demeanor, but no tears. Victoria looks closer to sobbing than the brunette. 'You're being way to good of a friend for me to pull crap like this. I need to stop it. But...'

A switch flips on the blonde's face. 'Here we go.'

'BUT I don't know if I can stop it. Definitely not without your help.' Max holds out a hand. 'Please, still help me. I can't promise I won't mess up again. I can promise to keep listening to you.'

A hesitation before trading grips. 'You are still in trouble. God, if I didn't know everything, I'd never talk to you again.'

The handshake goes on for a few elongated seconds. Her hand is so cold.

The petite blonde sitting next to Max chimes in. 'So, my turn?'

How far do we go?

She's earned a bit of trust. See if you want to push it.

Max shakes her head.

Since when am I a 'we'?

Shh. Later. Deal with what's in front of you.

'Kate, I don't want to lie to you.'

Chagrin filters through the girl's features before she tries to stand. 'If you don't-'

'No! Wait! I'm going to tell you everything. Just, I need to find the right words.'

A stricken expression overlays. 'What? Is it really that bad? I mean, you had no problem telling me you're gay. Not that being gay is bad, I mean. I just must have been really hard. To me, especially. Like, I know we're friends, but I also know some religious people like me won't accept you and that would be terrible but I'd never-'

The hand over Kate's mouth is a welcome reprise. Vicky, taking control.

The tall blonde holds her hand there for a moment. 'Max, please begin.'

Easier said.

'Katie, what do you know about time? Like, as something other than in the most abstract way?'

'Um, I don't know? Time flows, from the future to the past. Max, I don't get this.'

Going about this all wrong.

Fuck it.

'Kate, I can control time.'

And now to prove it.

In unison, the two of them say:

'Max, are you crazy? No you-'

'What?'

'How are you-'

'Stop it!'

A single voice repeats. 'STOP IT!'

Pushed too far.

'This is- this is crazy, Max. A cool trick but- do you seriously want me to believe?'

Round two.

'Kate, in a moment I asked you why you couldn't believe me. You said, verbatim, "Because only God can control time. He created it, only He could be so great." In that moment I also asked you what I could do to prove it and you said "Nothing" which, I might add, is a bit closed minded. So I also asked you if you trusted me and you said, without hesitation, yes. So, I'll ask you this. Is there enough trust there for you to have a little faith in me?'

'...yes...'

Good. Fourth times the charm, I hope.

'This is a story from last Tuesday. It's terrible. It's one of two recurring nightmares I'll keep with me forever. Last Tuesday, late afternoon, you died.' Even Vicky didn't hear all of this. 'You went up on top of the dorms and... jumped off. I saw- I saw it and I had to save you. It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life.' Keep going. 'I was able to stop you, though. I rewound it. I stopped time, and walked up those stairs and talked you down.' I'm reliving it again. 'I talked to you and you chose to step down from that edge and take my hand.' Matthew 11:28. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.'

'...That's my favorite passage.'

'Yes. And you were so tired and beat down, but you still took my hand.'

'...But that nightmare is so bad...'

'It wasn't a nightmare. It was my last Tuesday. And I was able to f-fix all of last week. But.' The real crux of Max's reasons. 'But you never got help for everything. For what you ended up wanting to do last week.' Eye contact doesn't want to be made, but needs to be. The tears brimming in Max's eyes are mirrored in Kate's. 'I couldn't burden you with this, with everything else. I couldn't put you in danger.'

And it's true. I never really thought about why I haven't told Kate. Why I confided in Victoria instead. It's because I didn't want to hurt Katie. I can't bear her standing up there again.

But, don't I care if Vicky gets hurt? Or is it because I think she's strong enough?

The small blonde breaks the silence of Max's inner monologue.

'I don't think I can-'

'She can prove it.'

Both girls have forgotten there is a third party in the room. Victoria stands by the door, staring off into space. 'She proved it to me, she can prove it to you.'

'How?'

'Well, we need a pen and paper...'

Five objective minutes later and Kate is flitting around the room like a hummingbird. 'Like, okay, you can do some time travel stuff. Like, you rewind it? And you can stop it. Like in my room earlier. I mean, it makes sense now. Well, like, it makes no sense whatsoever but, anyway. I mean, you didn't even write what I wrote but you knew it, obviously, before I opened the door.' Finally, the steam seems to run out and she plops down next to Max again.

This time, a very different mixture of emotions.

'Tell. Me. Everything.'

Not again.

'I-I can't.' The old conflicts begin to mar Kate's expression. 'No, not because I won't or don't want you to know. I just can't tell this story again.' Wrapped arms around knees, down face. 'It just... keeps hurting too much.'

Further arms embrace Max, and she leans into it. 'Don't worry Max. I'll help you.'

She is such a saint.

'Just tell me what you can.'

'I got it.'

Thanks Victoria.

'So, the short story is that Friday a storm was coming to destroy Arcadia Bay. But Max went back in time to Monday to fix it. And with the new weirdness in the Bay, Max is working with me and Warren to try to stop a similar event.'

Wow, next time you can just throw a grenade in the school yard. It'd be less blunt.

'Oh...'

Victoria continues. Thank Dog. 'There is a whole lot more than that, but the gist is that Max had a prophetic dream about the end of the Bay and had to...'

Why's she stopping?

i can't

i can't

'She had to let Chloe die or let this storm come and demolish the town.' Why is Vicky the one crying now? 'God, I don't know how you did it. I could never choose.'

She has got to stop before-

The unbidden, unwanted tears glide along Max's face, tickling her nose and dripping onto her clenched hands.

Small, soft hands overlay on to her tension.

'Max, if this is true... No. It's true. I've seen what you can do... Max, how can you...' One of those soft hands draws upward, taking a chin with it.

Kate's eyes mirror everything Max has felt over the last week, the last five years.

Pain. First the pain. It comes from the tears spilled and held back. The pain of losing love and trying to fill that void. The pain of isolation, loneliness, forever being apart from people because of differences.

Then anger, from the creases around the eyes and angles in the brow. Anger at the world, at society. At those who should reciprocate kindness shown but instead misbehave and hate others. Who revel in being powerful over the weak, instead of raising the weak upward.

And love. Love that can't be located in any specific point of a face. Love that has no simple expression or explanation. You cannot project love without living it and, in spite of the state of her world, Kate has lived in that love. For others and herself.

An instant of contact but a lifetime of conversations, friendship, support. Talking through their eyes.

'Max.' The words seem to form in slow motion, though it has nothing to do with powers.

'How can I help?'

Hour later and Kate is caught up. Victoria does most of the talking, with Max only interjecting to clarify or correct. General information is used for the bulk of the week that never was, with a bit of glossing over what happened Tuesday afternoon. Or in the Dark Room.

Kate doesn't press the subjects. Instead, she does offer some insight.

'You don't have two different powers, you have three.'

Her audience is confused.

Pointer. 'You can rewind time.' Middle finger. 'You can just through pictures.' Ring finger. 'You can see the future.'

'Well, that's just... like, the picture but reverse...'

A shaking head. 'No. nothing like that. You have to be unconscious. It doesn't stop time like picture hopping. And, it isn't set in stone.' A smirk plays across her face. 'You can change the future.'

A sharp intake between gritted teeth prompts Victoria entering the discussion. 'You think Warren...'

Kate's as enthusiastic as a bobble head. 'Yup, he flat-out wrong.'

What?!

'Okay, explain. Because you're getting my hopes way too high right now.'

A flush on her face, Kate continues. 'You saw the future, you changed it. And, according to Warren, you only could see the future if Arcadia Bay was fated to have that storm.'

Yeah, I guess.

'But the came before you screwed up time. It wasn't fated until you made this... multiverse mess.' The petite blonde's hands gesticulate wildly, conveying a snarl of confusion. 'Which means the fate of the world was supposed to be that you screwed with time. You were meant to mess up the bathroom. To s-save Chloe. But that makes no sense. How could your power warn you of something that couldn't have been fated yet? So something else has to be true.'

Hope, like most emotions, is one of those words completely inadequate to fully encapsulate it's own meaning.

'S-so I didn't screw up?'

'I'm not sure you did.'

Pensive.

'Maybe I was right earlier.'

Almost perfectly in sync.

'What?'

'Maybe the visions aren't mine. Maybe they are someone else sending them to me.'

Victoria's two cents. 'That's... okay, everything is crazy, that's no crazier than normal.'

'So maybe I'm being pushed by someone with these visions. Maybe a couple of someones.'

Kate's turn. 'What makes you think there's more than one?'

Okay, now is the time to finish coming clean.

You sure about this? Talking about us?

Considering every other thing that's been going on, this is the least insane path to take.

'I've been arguing with... myself. The little voices in my head, you know. You get happy, one part of you is in ecstasy. The other part might be waiting for the shoe to drop. Or you get depressed and part of you feels like you deserve it. The other part has hope things will be better. The usual crap.'

Except...

Except you have finally figured out "we" and "you" and "I" are not just the same person.

What are you?

You will figure that out when you are meant to.

Are you, uh, me?

No.

So you are someone else?

No.

THEN WHAT ARE YOU?

Not yet.

'Max?'

Interrupted inner monologue. Like someone else is in control of her body, letting her sit and contemplate while the world marches on. Max stops and time moves on.

'I've begun to suspect that not all these voices are my own.'

Well, that's not an awkward statement.

'Oh my dog, I'm not crazy. Or I guess I am but I recognize it now.'

'It's like what? Are you a-a prophet or something?'

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Shut it. She's working in her own frame of reference.

'No, I'm not talking to God. It's different. It sounds like me. It's my own thoughts, but made bare.'

You are not good at this.

Another approach.

'You know about the whole ego and id thing psychologists talk about? Never mind, I always get those two confused. So, let's say I'm conscious. I think a conscious thought. But half way through, a memory pops up and I think about that, and that changes how I was already thinking about the first thing.'

Yeah, so not good.

'Okay, example. I see a stray cat. I remember I like kittens, how fluffy, etcetera. But, while I'm looking at this cat, all ready to pet it, my subconscious butts in and reminds me of the times a cat scratched me, and rabies, and a million other negative things. So, now, I don't see a cute little kitten, I see something dangerous.'

'Except my subconscious is straight-up talking to me.'

Nope, still not right.

But not fully wrong anymore.

...Maybe.

Questions are raised.

'But how do you get from that to some fucking with you, sending you visions?'

'Because there's more to it. It isn't just a voice. It listens. I can make it stop. And not everything it says is what I would think.'

That is just blatantly wrong.

'And it doesn't always talk like I think. Or how I would feel.'

...

Okay, got us there.

'It can be so negative, when I'm feeling great. Or it eggs me on when I'm at a low point. Or it helps me figure out what to do when I'm confused.'

...

'And it uses plurals.'

...damn...

'And I'm beginning to suspect what it really is.'

Pause.

Still pausing.

What, nothing to say? I'm right, aren't I? I know what you are. And that little nugget of thought my subconscious has always known is what you are.

'Dammit, Max. What is it?'

Last chance to come clean.

'Hang on, I'm waiting for a response.'

Victoria is about to claw out eyes. Kate is stricken with worry.

Fine. 'Fine. It's me. Or rather, "me"s, from the future.'

Victoria doesn't break the silence. She straight up drives a semi through it.

'WHAT THE FUCK?'

'Vicky, language.'

'Sorry Kate, but I stand behind my previous statement.'

The petite girl frowns, but accepts. 'She's right, Max. That makes...' Dawning. 'That makes complete sense.'

A little bit of triumph colors Max's expression. 'Yes! If I can travel back in time...'

'...You can already send your body, just by rewinding. And your mind, with the photos...'

'Why can't I just send back thoughts? Or memories?'

'But why would you send back such negative thoughts?'

'Because there's more than one me in the future. And they, or rather we, or "me"s? Whatever. There are multiple Max's in the future, and I took different paths to get there. I want different things depending on different choices I made.'

They get it.

I hope.

We do too.

And Victoria gives words to her fear.

'But, that means you can't trust... you.'

Shit.

Yeah.