Life is Strange

Mirrored Feelings

Chapter 1

"-a whole month since the scandal that blew apart the Pan Estates project in Seattle. The Prescott family was found to have connections to several companies that funnelled money into their activities including the Tollen hydroelectric dam, Montevado Legal Eagles and Ilima Research and Development. Their connections also stretched as far as Hit Logistics, a company long suspected of having connotations to Nazi activities in the 1940s, and the Typhon Mining Corporation. Typhon themselves are implicated in several illegal activities including covering up the deaths of eleven miners and subsequently causing the death of Haven Springs local Gabe Chen, a much-loved pillar of their community. The Prescott family have also been implicated in a vast conspiracy involving Illuminati connections, however that theory had been dismissed on grounds of circumstantial evidence due to nothing more than triangular logos.

So far, Tollen, Montevado and Ilima have all chosen to sever ties with the Prescott family after the late Harry Prescott II was implicated in a plot to kidnap a pair of twin sisters. The motive for this plot is unclear but has been corroborated by videos on Live Leak of a kidnapping attempt being foiled by known sources and a police report filed of an illegal raid on a household in Seattle. This is also not the first time the Prescott family has been implicated in illegal activities that have hurt minors in some way- with their family having a strong connection to the Arcadia Bay scandal back in 2013. Sarah Goldberg reporting."

The radio had been playing all but unheard for the best part of five minutes. But still, it was in the background as the girl sat at the desk worked. Her fingers moved expertly, flying over the keys of her laptop as she glanced between the screen, the drone in front of her and the smart watch lying between the two. For her, it was time to focus and nothing else. The distraction was the only thing that could keep away the agonising memory clawing at the back of her mind like a ravenous monster dying of starvation and craving the one thing it fed on- attention. She couldn't give it any attention. She just had to get the upgrades finished. Nothing else.

"Okay, Sally: cut the radio." The voice from behind her forced her to hide a jolt in her seat. She'd forgotten that someone was sitting on her bed behind her. There was a beep of acknowledgement as the smart home system turned off the radio. She couldn't hide her relief and she knew he'd be able to sense it.

"Thanks." She let out a shaky breath and took a break from typing to fight the tremor that was plaguing her right hand. "By the time I realised what it was saying, that got a bit close to home for me."

"And you think it didn't for me?" the boy sitting on her bed shrugged, scratching the labrador draped across his lap behind the ears. She huffed appreciatively and began relaxing back with her mouth slightly open in a state of ecstasy. "I was waiting for you to turn it off yourself. I should have cottoned on, really. You've been out of it for the last month."

"Joey-" The girl at the table went to give a pithy response but came up short when she realised she had nothing. Everything he'd said was true. "You're right. I'm a piping hot mess. I haven't been able to sleep. I spend every day feeling disgusting and I haven't been able to say anything to anyone."

"You can't process the deaths of those soldiers. It's okay, Ali. It's perfectly natural." It was a statement. Not a question. He was certain of what he was saying. The worst part was, she could only wish it was as tame as all that.

"Actually, I feel great about killing them." Ali replied. "They and that fucking sick military surgeon were trying to cut Katie's brain out. While we're on the personal topics, I bet you're feeling amazing about killing Harry Prescott." Joey flinched at that. It was an odd reaction and certainly not one she expected. Surely he must feel good about that, right? He'd said the man was responsible for taking his sight away. Who knew how many other people he'd hurt? Yes, she'd taken out a few soldiers she'd caught off guard, but Joey had hooked the big fish. He'd shot Harry Prescott; the man who basically ruled Seattle! He'd got his revenge! So what could be weighing on him?

"Taking a life wasn't a favourite memory of mine." He wrapped his arms around Lola gently who rested her head on one of them and twisted onto her side. Fuss over, she was going to use this down time to get some sleep. "But if it had to be anyone, I'm glad it was him. I know it's too late to change what was done to me, but I'm glad it didn't happen to anyone else. But if you're so overjoyed about the soldiers then what is it?"

Ali grimaced at that question. She'd saved Sophie and Katie from Prescott and his insane marching band with her weaponized drone- the same one on the table in front of her now as a matter of fact- and she'd been relatively certain they wouldn't come after her for it. She'd been right. It was a covert op tied with all kinds of illegal activity. They couldn't afford the details of it coming out. Just to be safe, she'd had the drone's on-board camera recording until about a second before she started firing. She had it backed up on six separate servers on encrypted files and had uploaded one copy to the internet. It had been taken down immediately, but not before it had been viewed and shared a good number of times. It was still up there, albeit very difficult to track down. She knew it had been seen by the right people and her message was clear: if they came after her, she would release it so broadly that they would never be able to stop it. She had her safety net. She didn't fear them.

"About a month ago, I went to see Sophie at the hotel." Each word in itself felt like a confession and she hated herself for letting it out. For even acknowledging what was lurking underneath. It should be sealed away and hidden, just like everything else surrounding the twins. Katie was dead and Sophie was out of their lives now. That was it. It was over.

"She wasn't doing well, I bet." Joey reasoned. She knew it was a way of prompting more information from her and she hated herself for obliging.

"Understatement." She grabbed a sour candy from the bag in the corner of her desk and popped it in her mouth. She'd been pulling these upgrade marathons where she just threw herself into her tech work, sometimes for days at a time, and those candies and G Fuel were pretty much all she was living on when she did. "Anyway, I showed her what I'd found on that USB stick. We sent a copy in to the Pan Estates project and CC'd the police and a couple of newspapers into it as well. Then she and I spent a night together." That got Joey's attention. She could tell by the way he say up slightly from where he was slouched over Lola.

"You- I- I mean... What?" he spluttered frantically. "Damn..." Ali rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't have been able to see it even if she was facing him, and didn't bother to hide her condescending undertone.

"Mind out the gutter, fat-ass!" she snapped. "Yes, we did the thing. And I know you said you wanted to be included in things but there are limits. You being in the room would have been way too awkward. And not to mention the fact you'd probably have a pizza with you that you'd have insisted on eating."

"I would have eaten it quietly and I would have done so with pride!" Joey defended before bursting out laughing. In spite of herself, Ali couldn't hide a grin of her own. This was verging on dangerously close to feeling how things used to feel and that only made her begin to feel worse.

"Seriously, though." She mentally dug her heels in as she tried to bring the conversation back. "I just- by the end of it I wished I'd never bothered going."

"Was it not what you'd hoped for?" Joey asked, confused. "I openly admit I don't get it. You were really close with the twins. We both were. And you tried to stay close to Sophie while giving her space after Katie died. You keep insisting that you won't contact her now because of wanting to respect her privacy. Ali, she took off without a word! I know you have the means to find and contact her. But you seem to tune out at the mention of her name now."

"It was everything I ever wanted." Ali shrugged. "And at the end of it, she said something that made me regret everything. We were both exhausted and I tried to rationalise it as I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I was woken up by her mother bursting in with her cell phone in her hand and screaming in Japanese. I don't know much but I've watched enough Anime to understand some. I'm pretty sure she disowned her right then and there. That was why she left. And she didn't even apologise." To her horror, Ali realised that tears were running down her face. She swiped them away only for them to be replaced by fresh ones. Helpless, she collapsed into a sobbing fit. A few seconds later, she heard the sounds of Lola being moved and felt the strong arms of Joey wrapping around her from behind and turning her round to him. He held her close and didn't let go. She stayed like that for a good few minutes until she trusted herself to speak again.

"Okay." Joey muttered as he remained steadfastly gripping her while Lola glared at her from the bed, unhappy to be usurped. "Time to ask the million dollar question, I guess. What the actual fuck did she say?" It was a memory Ali hated with a burning passion. The memory she'd been doing everything she could to avoid for the last month. But there was no avoiding it now. She told him. And as soon as she did, she felt him effortlessly lift her from her chair and turn to place her gently on the bed. Sure, he placed her the wrong way around with her head closer to the bottom of the bed, but he'd picked her up at an awkward angle and while he was pretty good with manoeuvring around in her house, he was never going to be perfect. But that wasn't important. What mattered was that he sat with her. And neither he or Lola moved until she felt ready to face the world again. To her, that was what mattered most of all.

Author's Note: Well, its been a while. Don't worry, I haven't just been sitting idle all this time. As I promised, the best is yet to come. I have this story ready to start publishing and a wide variety of others to soon follow in its wake. Hope you all enjoy this first chapter. Please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think. Don't worry, they do get longer as it goes on. As usual, updates will be on Mondays and Thursdays just like my other multi-chapter stories. I do have a couple of oneshots coming too which will be uploaded once I finish the stories and give them some editing time.