Captain Blues: Hello, I am back with a brand new chapter of TimeCrawlers so sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
TimeCrawlers
Chapter Two
(Location: Hospital
POV: Chloe Price)
There are so many things that pissed me off in my life.
Max leaving me.
My dad dying.
Mom marring Dick-Tator.
Rachel going missing.
But this has to take the motherfucking cake!
Not only do I see that my best friend for the first time in years back in Ar-shittia Bay, but she was also gunned down by this suit-wearing piece of fucking shit.
But the most damning thing of all is...I was holding her bloody body in my arms as she fell unconscious. I watched the light from her eyes fade away...I was the last thing she saw...
That shit had been playing in my head the entire damn car ride to the hospital...And it only served to piss me off even more. Sure, Max betrayed me by leaving but despite that, she is still my best friend, and to see that...After not seeing her for so long hurts my heart.
But now, as I paced back and forth in the waiting room, clenching and relaxing my hands to not punch the fuck out of anything, all I could wonder was why?
Why was she shot?
Who was the fucker I laid out?
And why was I the one who had to see it?
"You need to relax Kari," Victoria's voice rang out from behind me as calm as possible.
Oh yeah...Her... As much as I dislike her, I am glad Victoria managed to get off her elitist ass and help me get to a hospital but she shouldn't have stayed here with me when Taylor left to get the blood cleaned out of the car.
I don't even know why she was even here anyway.
Victoria and I never got along, even when I went to Blackwell and our dislike of each other worsened when Rachel and I became friends.
She could have just left me here alone and yet she sat there, her face buried in some high fashion magazine while paced like a goddamn mad man.
"I need to relax?" I repeated as I turned to Victoria with a heated glare. "First off, you know my fucking name. Second off, My Max was shot in front of me by some creep in a suit and you tell me that I must calm down? That's fucking bullshit and you know it!"
"I know," Victoria replied firmly. "But I don't think the nurse behind the counter likes you pacing around like a damn lioness waiting to pounce."
I blinked and looked towards this hella cute brunette nurse and saw that her eyes were locked on me with a nervous expression on her face. I gave an apologetic smile and said, "Don't worry, I don't normally look like I want to murder people often."
The cute nurse squeaked before she looked down on the desk, her face red. I sighed and turned back to Victoria and asked "Why are you even here anyway? You could have just left with Taylor to get your car cleaned."
Victoria closed her magazine and said "Caulfield helped me out earlier today and while I normally wouldn't be here with you of all people Kari, Taylor, and I saw her get shot too. I want to make sure she is ok before I go back to being her rival."
Victoria and Max are rivals huh? Interesting...
"Rivals...Rivals in what?" I asked curiously.
"Photography of course," Victoria replied instantly. "That little Calf thinks she's so damn good with her old-timey camera while I know I am clearly superior with my Canon EOS Rebel T6 18.0 MP Digital SLR Camera."
"And you remembered all of that off the top of your head?" I inquired with a blank stare at her direction.
"Why wouldn't I?" Victoria retorted curiously. "Someone of my stature must know everything about the "Weapon" they use."
"Right...Well...That is fair I suppose..." I replied after a minute.
"Quite," Victoria replied before she pulled out the camera from her purse and said "The only reason we knew what was going on was because I was taking a picture of Taylor in the car when I noticed the guy in the suit shooting at someone. The only reason I knew it was Max was due to her gray hoodie and her...Admittedly, soft appearance."
"Wait," I began. "You took a picture of the guy shooting Max?"
Victoria nodded before she stood up and with the camera and showed the screen to me, which revealed the guy, who stood with the gun. I narrowed my eyes at the guy.
Despite me laying his ass out in the street, I didn't get a good look at his face so to see it so clearly, made me realize that I had not seen this guy before. "Damn...I don't know who this guy is..."
"Neither do I," Victoria replied as she chewed on her lower lip, which, despite myself, made her seem...cute to me.
Still a bitch though.
I moved away from Victoria and said "But that is enough for us to give to the police. Maybe they can catch the asshole and put him away."
And maybe then we can find out why he shot at her...
Damn it, I'm supposed that is supposed to be shot at you idiot...I've always been the more daring punk than your hipster ass...
I feel so...helpless...
Like, what do I do in this situation?
Wait around like a fucking dork? Kick the ass of the one that hurt you? I mean, what more could I do?
If only I had nabbed David's gun, I could have killed the fucker...
It's funny, my ass was going to get blasted today by that fucking date raping asshole Nathan and yet, I'm more concerned about Max actually getting shot...
I guess some things never change.
I always did worry about her well-being way more than my own, even when we were little.
Overprotective? Sure, but since this happened, I am damn justified in that overprotection!
I glanced at the frozen scene on Victoria's camera again and said "You know what? I don't want to wait in here anymore. Let's make ourselves useful and get this asshole put in jail."
Victoria grinned and said "I thought you'd never say that. I saw a rent-a-car place across the street. Let's go there since Taylor is getting my car cle-"
A sound of doctors rushing down the hall and past a door interrupted Victoria's words.
They seemed hella panicked.
The two of us glanced at each other and then at the door and that was when I heard a muffled "Ma'am, you can't be out here. You must return to your room."
But when that door opened up and the doctor came tumbling out like a doofus, I took a sharp breath.
Standing in the hall was Max...
But at the same time, she wasn't Max...
She looked older...Her hair was shorter, like a pixie style haircut and a strand of hair was blue, the same blue as my hair and her body was hella fit...But what caught me was her eyes.
They were cold...unflinching...It was as if I was staring at David when he went on those weird flashbacks from his time in the war.
"You must go back to the room ma'am," another doctor said but Max ignored her. Instead, Max walked to Victoria and me and stared at us long and hard.
All of a sudden, she poked my cheek with an inspecting gaze. Honestly, her hand moved so quickly that I barely saw her arm move.
"You're actually real…" I heard her murmur before she turned to the honey-blonde beside me and touched her forehead with two fingers and gave a wry grin when Victoria brushed her hand away.
"This is real…" Max whispered.
What the hell was she talking about.
"Ma'am, we need to bring you back to your bed. We have yet to finish stitching you up," a doctor told Max, who immediately held out her hand to Victoria and me. "Take my hand you two. Quickly," she commanded.
Victoria and I exchanged a look before we shrugged and took her hand. Max grinned and raised her hand clenched her fingers and pulled her arm down. I don't know what she did but as she dragged her hands, I saw the movements of the doctors begin to slow down until they completely went stock still.
"What the hell?" Victoria breathed out as I stared at Max in shock.
Max smirked and walked to a bench and sat down before she placed her hand at her side, which I saw blood begin to seep through her gown. "Fuck this hurt…Nothing a rewind won't fix…" She whispered as she moved her gown, revealing her bare leg and side of her body to reveal I nasty stab wound.
"Ok. what the hell is going on?" Victoria asked as she looked at Max, her face flushed due to the amount of skin Max was showing.
I unfortunately could not look away.
"How did you...Stop time like this? Am I dreaming? What the fuck?" Victoria continued. "Like, this is some Jojo's Bizzare adventure sh-"
"Calm down Tori," Max said airily, which caused Victoria to look at her in surprise, stopping her rant as well as widening my own eyes.
"Did you just call me Tori?" Victoria asked with a hiss.
"I think she did," I replied as I looked to the honey-blonde.
"That I did," Max confirmed. "It's the only way to calm you down, I find..." Max then turned to me and said "But still...It's good to see you both alive and well again...I thought I wouldn't see it again."
Alive and well?
I don't like how sad she sounded when she said that...
"Look...What the hell is going on? You're Max, I know that but you aren't the Max that I saved," I started, honestly unsure where to even continue.
"Hold on…" Max ordered as she placed her right hand above her wound. I then watched as this weird ethereal energy formed around her stretched hand and the wound began to close as if It was like it was reversing the stab wound.
After three minutes, Max removed her palm and the stab wound was gone, leaving her creamy pale skin.
"What the fuck?" Victoria whispered.
"Now that I'm healed up, why don't you both come over here and I will tell you," Max said with a chuckle.
This is going to make my head hurt, I know it...
(Location: Hospital
POV: Future Max Caulfield)
It feels...Strange...Seeing Chloe and Victoria like this after so many years but of all the ways I could see you two, seeing my best friend and my rival standing side by side was truly surreal.
The last time I had seen these two was two years ago...Or in the case of my time-bending powers, at the end of this week when I went back in time to send her to her death to save the lives of many more.
"Before I begin my tale...Any of you got a smoke?" I asked as I glanced at Victoria and then to Chloe expectantly.
Chloe tapped her side pockets than her back and frowned as she said "No dice Max-a-rina."
Victoria reached into a purse and tossed me a pack of Super Premiums DJI Sam Soe cigarettes, which was a black box with golden trim and lettering.
I smacked the bottom of the box before flipping over the top and unwrapping the cigarette from its black and gold foil before I was tossed a lighter from Chloe.
I smirked and lit up the end of the cigarette and took a deep drag then blew out the air as I said "Man...I really needed that. Been too long."
"Dude...You're smoking in a hospital...Hell, you're smoking! You've never smoked!" Chloe said to me in surprise, which only made me shrug.
"Things change when you go through hell Chloe. Life is too short for rules and regulations and all of that shit. Just let yourself enjoy the ride before you die," I responded before taking another drag. "I have to see Tori, this is a good brand. Super fancy," I told the honey-blonde as I blew out a smoke ring.
"Thanks...My family travels a lot and my sisters tend to bring me cigarettes back. Those are from Indonesia. Very popular there," Victoria explained.
I nodded and said "They're doing the lord's work Victoria. Let them know that next time. You never know when you'll never see them again." I could see my words managed to hit Victoria as well as Chloe but then I laughed softly
I crossed one leg across the other, which allow the gown to show off my toned leg, and smirked when both Chloe and Victoria gaze at my toned legs. "If you two like what you see, then, by all means, admire them all you want," I suggested playfully. "If you both are good, I may be kind enough to let you see more…"
Both Chloe and Victoria gasped, both of their faces going deep red from my implication, but I merely laughed at this and said, "How cute."
Victoria shook her head and shouted, "You can't just say shit like that!"
"I can't? You plan on keeping my lips busy to keep me quiet?" I taunted her with a grin. She opened her mouth but then she closed it and gave this cute pout, her face still deep red. I then turned to Chloe, who just stared at me with her mouth agape.
"This is just hella weird..." Chloe said to me with confusion in her eyes. "Like seriously! This should not be happening. Why do you have these powers? Why are there two of you? Just what the hell happened to you."
"A lot," I replied darkly.
"Well mind cluing us in?" Victoria asked. "Because we are just as lost as you are."
"I mean, where do I actually start? Should I start at when I got these time powers or when my life went to shit...well...shitter?" I asked them.
"Maybe the beginning?" Chloe answered, with Victoria agreeing with her by a nod.
I nodded and lit up another cigarette and said "Very well…I woke up in our photography class. Didn't even remember going to sleep but I had a dream about this storm. I got bombarded with a question for Jefferson, I answered but got wrong. Victoria corrected me, the teacher talked to the two of us about the Everyday Hero's contest, and then I left."
Victoria's eyes widened as I took a pause to smoke before she stammered out "T-That was today...That shit happened today...You got your time powers today?!"
"Yeah. I went into the bathroom and ripped a picture of mine and then I saw a blue butterfly. I took a picture of it and then seconds later, Nathan came into the room, trying to hype himself up...Seconds later, Chloe came into the bathroom to talk and I quote, "Bidness,""
Chloe gave me a sharp look, caught off guard at the fact that me, and my present self, caught that conversation. "They argued, Nathan pulled a gun and..." I pointed at Chloe and with my index finger and said "Bang...He shot you dead..."
"H-Holy shit...N-No fucking way...You were in the bathroom..." Chloe said as she took a step back, the curve of her back hitting the counter.
"Yep. I saw you die...It was then I discovered my time powers...And after a few trials and errors, I managed to save you. That fire alarm? Me," I replied with a grin, which made Chloe's eyes glisten.
"You...She...You guys saved my life," Chloe said in realization but I shook my head slowly before she said, "Thank you so much..."
"I don't deserve your gratitude, Chloe...Especially at the end of this story. After I saved your life, we met up again officially, I told you about my time powers and we went on a grand adventure but each time, you nearly died. You shot a can, the bullet rebounded and hit your stomach. Got stuck on a railroad. It was as if death really had a hankering for blue punk."
I paused and took another drag then continued with "And during all of this, we were investigating what happened to Rachel Amber and, on my end at least, trying to keep Kate from committing suicide."
"Whoa, whoa," Victoria interrupted with a shocked look. "Kate committed suicide?"
It was then I gave her a rather scathing look and repeated "Kate committed suicide?" mockingly before I leaned upon the bench beneath me and said "You're fucking right she did. Because of your bullshit."
"My bullshit? We didn't know she would go into holy slut getting dr-," Victoria said in defense mode but I am not having that bullshit.
"She was date raped," I interrupted sharply, which made Victoria stop mid-sentence. "Your "Best Friend" Nathan Prescott and that slimy ass Jefferson date-raped her and instead of helping her, you guys humiliated her repeatedly so yes, she committed suicide. She let herself fall off the school roof and no matter what I said, I couldn't save her."
I could see the waves of guilt hit Victoria but I have a feeling she was unaware of what I had just said about Mark Jefferson and Nathan Prescott, her crush and her best friend respectively. "The first thing we will do when I'm done with this is we are going to visit Kate and you are going to grovel for her forgiveness."
Victoria looked like she was going to argue it but then she lowered her head and nodded. I then turned to Chloe, who had a sickened look on her face. "Mark Jefferson and Nathan Prescott...They date-raped her?"
"Yeah...They did that to quite a few girls...But Kate made it out alive...Many didn't..." I lowered my head and said "Rachel...Didn't."
I could see Chloe look confused for a moment before the realization hit her. "No..." She said as she fell to her knees. "Rachel...She...She..."
"She was killed...All thanks to Mark and Nathan...We find that out after we find the Dark Room. The room where they fulfill their sick desires. They even had binders for their potential victims for fuck sake. Rachel, Kate, me...Victoria. The only person they killed that didn't have that binder was Chloe."
Victoria's head whipped up but I could see the horror in them while Chloe flinched at hearing that she had died yet again.
"Y-You mean I was on their list?" Victoria asked shakily.
I nodded "I tried to warn you but you foolishly went to Jefferson. You were his next victim to die...I only got away due to my time powers but I was next after you."
"Oh my god...Why would N-Nathan..." Victoria started as she fell to her knees as well beside Chloe. "W-Why would he do this?"
"I never thought to ask Nathan, considering Jefferson killed him as well," I responded with a shrug. "All I know is that Jefferson is a true psychopath who has murdered time and again with Nathan helping him when he came to Arcadia Bay...And to think I looked up to him...Thought he was amazing...An amazing dickhead is more like it."
I took another puff of my cigarette and blew out smoke before I turned to Chloe and said "But he didn't get away with it. David found me and saved me before I could die as well. When he found out Jefferson had killed you, Chloe, he killed Jefferson."
Chloe looked catatonic at this rate due to the double reveal that Jefferson killed both her and Rachel but I could see confusion in her eyes about David. "Yes, David does care about you," I retorted to her confused look. "He always has. You just never gave him the chance to show that. Though, it didn't help that he still faces his demons from his time in the war."
"I went back in past as far as I could and managed to fix things so both you and Victoria didn't die but the storm was coming. I went through some shit mentally that I wish to not speak about but at the end of it all, my Chloe realized that her coming out of the bathroom alive was a mistake that caused the storm...And so she asked me to rectify that mistake...And as much as I begged and pleaded...I could never say no to Chloe..."
"S-So you want back to the past...And let me die..." Chloe stated, her tone empty.
"I let you die and it tore me apart," I confirmed softly. "Tore me apart enough to try to kill myself that very night. If it wasn't for Kate, Warren, and Victoria, I would have followed you shortly into the afterlife and in hindsight, I wish that they hadn't."
"Why would you wish something like that?" Victoria asked me, surprise in her eyes at my admission, and who wouldn't be? Victoria is probably more surprised at her coming to my aid than anything.
"Because...Sending Chloe to her death did not change anything," I told the two of them. "The storm…It still came."
"What?! You have got to be shitting me!" Chloe screamed. "All that death and nothing changed?!"
"That's right…" I responded. "The dreams were still there. Death was still coming…But my time powers…They were gone. I had no way to reverse anything. "
"What happened next?" Victoria asked.
"Because of this, I had a jump on trying to save everyone one last time. I managed to save Warren, Juliet, and Dana since they believed me, and we fled the city. Kate had already left the Bay due to her depression. I guess seeing me desperate to kill myself snapped her out of it to know she needed to go home. And Victoria, you left as well to get away from it all due to Jefferson being found out and your near brush with death with him…but everyone else was dead and this city was wiped out…"
"Wait…Courtney and Taylor…" Victoria breathed out in terror.
"Mom…David…" Chloe choked out.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Your friends did not believe me and Joyce and David…They were so hurt by your death that they… just could not move on…"
I could see both were close to tears and while I understood, I did not need this now. "Enough!" I shouted, which caused them both to look at me. "I get that this is upsetting but it has not happened yet. There is still a chance."
The two stared at me long and hard before they both nodded, albeit shakily. "A year after Arcadia Bay was destroyed, I had another dream. This time of a bigger storm. One that would wipe half of this country off the map. Nowhere would be safe…and when I woke up, my time powers were back…And they were stronger than before…"
"W-When you say stronger? What do you mean?" Chloe asked.
I took a puff of my cigarette and answered with, "At this time, all I could do is rewind time. Later this week, I would discover the ability to travel through time using a photo. When my powers returned, not only could I do both of these, I could also fast forward time and stop time. But not just the world, I could do it control time in an area, a person, or even an object. Observe…"
I tossed the cigarette into the air and as it began to fall, I raised my left hand and the cigarette slowed down and stopped in mid-air.
"Whoa..." the two chorused out in unison.
"You saw how I healed myself? I was able to rewind that spot of my body to the moment before I was stabbed and since no one else can stab me, it won't repeat," I explained.
"Whoa…That is awesome…" Chloe breathed out.
"You see it as awesome now but when I found out, I saw it with dread..." I finished before I grabbed the cigarette from the time bubble and once, I did, the embers at the end began to glow and I smoked it again. "I never asked for these powers, not did I want it. I was given these powers for reasons unknown and now, I am stuck with them…They are a curse to me. Not only to my life but for others as well…"
"What happened next?" Chloe asked.
"A few days after I got my powers back, I started receiving letters that alluded to my time-bending abilities. At first, I ignored them, trying to, I do not know, deny that they were happening because again, when I first got them, things were bad…but then the letters became threatening. Once that occurred, I began to learn self-defense and learn how to shoot a gun because no offense Chloe, I didn't want to accidentally shoot myself if things got bad..."
"None…Taken?" Chloe replied.
I chuckled but grew quiet, that familiar emotion of failure overcome me as I said "One year after that on October 7th, the anniversary of your death Chloe, Kate was found murdered..."
I closed my eyes, unable to shake the sorrow that rushed through me. "October the 8th, Victoria, you were found murdered. October 9th was Warren; October 10th was Juliet and October 11th was Dana. All with a single gunshot wound to the head..."
"Wait…" Victoria interrupted. "You said that we all survived the storm, and we were all privy to Nathan and Jefferson's fucked up secrets. This means that anyone that was in Arcadia Bay that made it out was all murdered."
"Which spells cover-up…" Chloe concluded. "That's fucked…"
"You two caught on faster than I did," I told them. "By the time I realized that it was October 12th and right at 11:50 pm, I was attacked by men in suits…"
I snuffed out the cigarette and finished up with "I managed to fight off a few of them but then I got stabbed in the gut which took me down. Just before they could shoot me, at 12 am on the dot on October 13th, the storm began and they all left, leaving me alone to die... Just as the storm began to shred the house I was in, I used all of my power to send me back in time...Hence why I am here," I finished up with a frown on my face.
"Holy fuck," Chloe exclaimed.
"Indeed," Victoria muttered in agreement.
It grew silent for a moment as I watched the two of them, they seemed to be absorbing this well but it was then I watched Chloe's eyes widen while Victoria's narrowed, realization settling on both of their faces. "Men in suits...You don't think that Agent Smith looking guy knew Max had time powers, did he?" Victoria asked out loud.
"You've seen the Matrix?" Chloe asked, surprised.
Victoria blinked in surprise before she turned her head and replied "N-No. I just heard about it."
How cu-wait what?
"Agent Smith looking, guy?" I repeated. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, the reason we are here in the first place was that Max was shot by this Agent Smith looking guy," Chloe explained.
"That cannot be," I muttered to myself before I asked the pair "Are you certain of this?"
"We're damn sure Future Max, Victoria even took a picture of this fucker," Chloe said before she looked to Victoria, who walked to me and showed me an image of the guy standing before my younger self and felt myself growing pale.
"Could they have anticipated me coming back here? But how can that be..." I lowered the camera and looked to the two and said "This is troubling..."
"Troubling? Is that what this is? Because it sure as hell is not easy like Sunday morning," Chloe said. "You pretty much just dropped bomb after bomb on us and now it's troubling when one is dropped on you?" Chloe asked with a scowl on her face.
"I am surprised they haven't decided to check local hospitals for you. Considering they know who you are and what type of skills you have..." Victoria said as she rubbed her chin.
Chloe leaned over and knocked on the wooden bench with a brief glare at Victoria before she said to me "So in short, someone knows you can change the flow of time and is hunting you down and because of this, it caused my Max to get shot. Not to mention, whoever this person was changed time enough for Arcadia Bay to be destroyed this week and half of the country two years from now. Summed it up right?"
"Pretty much," I responded. "But I wonder who ordered this guy, in this time, to kill me."
"I'm also concerned about something," Victoria said. "You traveled through time to get here, right? Did you always have your own body, or did you appear in the Max of that timeline?"
"The Max of that timeline…" I confirmed. "I've been thinking about this as well because I should have just gone into the body of the Max of this timeline and yet, I am in my own body..."
My eyes widened. "Wait…When I went back in time, I went back with this picture," I held up the picture of a blue butterfly. "I can go back in time using pictures as a time anchor. I was in the bathroom but instead, I wound up in your Max's dorm room. That should not have happened unless…" I looked to Victoria and then to Chloe and asked, "Do either of you know what time your Max got shot?"
"About thirty minutes ago which was…4:20," Chloe answered. "I was waiting for my new weed connect in an alleyway and that was when we were supposed to meet up. He never showed and that was when I heard the gunshots."
"4:20…That was the time you were shot in my timeline…" I said to Chloe. "And what time did you meet Nathan?"
"Around 3:30," Chloe answered.
"The flow of time was changed enough to alter where I was supposed to go…Which means that me having my own body is temporary…"
"What do you mean?" Victoria asked.
"There is never supposed to be two of the same entity in one timeline. I deduced this due to always going to Max's body instead of appearing in my own every time jump or rewind…I remember her, Dana, and Juliet and I remember her carrying me so her touching me did not cause a timeline collapse but eventually, I wi-"
Victoria gasped in horror and shrieked "What the hell is going on with your body?" as she looked at my feet. I looked down and noticed that my feet were slowly becoming an ethereal blue and see-through.
"Shit..." I muttered in annoyance. "That's what I thought. It seemed that my assimilation into the present Max was only delayed because of the time fuckery...Damn it! Listen up the both of you. Time has already been fucked with due to this person and me coming back...I don't know what will happen at this point because time has been altered. I do not know if I will become her or if my memories and abilities will go to her. It's new ground."
"Then what the fuck do we do?!" Chloe yelled.
I began to feel lighter as my gown and my lower body began to fade away as well. "Stop this…Find out what caused this storm to appear in the first place and stop it by any means," I answered.
"And how do we do that? I mean, we're fucking teenagers for goodness sake!" Victoria asked.
"You already know what happens and you have your Max and her abilities… " I gave them a sad grin as I closed my eyes, my head only remaining visible as I said, "It was nice to see you both again...Please take care...and stay safe."
"Wait! You can't just go after this!" Chloe yelled but I shut my eyes as the light rose beneath my eyes.
I just hope things will go ok...Good luck present Max...You're going to…
(Hospital:
POV: Chloe Price)
She was gone.
She came into my life, dropped some major bombshells to my core, and then faded away, there was this beautiful ethereal light from where she stood and I reached out to try and touch it but the light shrunk and formed into what looked like a butterfly.
This glowing butterfly fluttered its wings and flew down the hospital hall and a second later, time began to move again. The doctor that had chased future Max out here looked around in confusion and asked us "Where did that patient go?"
I shook my head and said "No idea. She asked for some info and then she ran off..." The doctor scowled and ran past us to find the person that had just disappeared and once they did, I turned to Victoria and said "So...It seems shit has gotten real."
"Yeah...I don't know what to think about all of this, to be honest...But I know I'm not high or anything like that..." Victoria replied softly.
"Well...I suppose we need to think about what just happened. How about we meet back at Blackwell tomorrow when things have settled down?" I suggested. I was kind of sure she wouldn't go for it but to my surprise, she nodded.
"Yeah. Give it a day to settle and then we'll discuss it. Besides...If Max doesn't get any of her memories or if she isn't the Max we just spoke to, we'll be the ones that know the truth...We'll have to protect her..." Victoria replied.
"Well...Then...How about we go across the street and get that rental car for you?" I suggested again.
Victoria chuckled and nodded and together we left, knowing that our lives had just gotten hella complicated.
(Unknown Location:
POV: Max Caulfield)
Darkness...
That was all that I could see around me.
Unending darkness.
Ever since I was younger, I hated the darkness. So much so that I had a night light in my room until twelve years old. It was only due to Chloe that I got over the fear but even then, the darkness still unnerved me.
But as I floated here, I did not feel fear.
I felt at peace.
I felt warm.
Why did I feel this way in this dark place?
It was then I noticed something about my body. The outline of my body was glowing. It was a soft, ethereal blue light. Was this light causing the warm, peaceful feeling that I was feeling?
"It's time for you to wake up," I heard myself say...But it wasn't me who said it but I heard it.
"Your wounds have been healed and it's time to face the world..." My voice said once again. "Things are going to get exceedingly difficult for you. I do not know how things will turn out for you and I do not know when or even if my memories or abilities will come to you. All you must know is this…"
It was then the butterfly began to glow brightly.
The light expanded until I saw my doppelganger. But instead of the pained look on her face that I remembered, a warm smile replaced it.
She placed her hand on top of my head and said "You are not alone..." And like that, the light intensified until I was completely blinded.
Captain Blues: End of that chapter. See you on the next one.