In the corner of the bedroom the radiator purred, the only sound to be heard amidst the sleepless night of Chloe's world. A world where restless thoughts reigned, the previous conversation with Dana Ward playing on repeat in her head. She'd already lost track of the time, which was funny in a sense, because the only known human being to ever keep and create the literal track of time was nestled close next to her, and that knowledge was most definitely not lost on her.
Late night bouts of insomnia were familiar to Chloe and tonight was no exception. Under the nest of blankets they shared she held Max close in the same position that the smaller girl had fallen asleep in, afraid to move should she accidentally wake her after it had taken long enough to coax her into a calm that would allow to rest in the first place.
It had been an emotional-roller coaster for both girls that day and bittersweet, they had both had their fair share of tears when they had carried themselves to bed and cried together, little more able to be spoken other than soft reassurances that they were there for each other. Curled close to Chloe's body, Max had been rocked softly to sleep, leaving Chloe to fend against her thoughts on her own, a task she was well accustomed to.
She thought of what had occurred the past day. It had been their first real contact with someone from Arcadia Bay since they had left; Dana's voice was that of a survivor. It brought some peace of mind to know that there was a living, breathing part of both Chloe and Max's past lives that was still around and would continue to be there if they wanted it. On the other-hand Dana had provided them with a harrowing account of her story that had truly made the reality hit home that despite how wild and incredulous and impossible it all seemed – it was real. All those people they knew were now gone and now they knew how their final moments were spent before being killed by a tornado they'd never deserved.
Chloe tightened her hold on Max just a little bit more, and wished that like Max she could cry herself to the point of exhaustion and slip into a deep, dreamless slumber. Unlucky for her, sleep was a luxury she was devoid of tonight.
She opened her eyes in need of a distraction.
In the months she had spent in this apartment every inch of their bedroom at night had been memorized by Chloe, and there was much to be desired. They owned little and the bland, bare walls and doors were a stark contrast to the vibrancy of her bedroom left behind. Those walls were adorned with anything and everything that screamed 'Chloe Price', erratic and rebellious in style.
A vision intruded her mind's eye of her belongings strewn about for miles and the structures of 44 Cedar Avenue crushed beneath the weight of a whale carcass.
Whale carcasses remind Chloe of other…bodies. Bodies in the wrecks of storm-ruined buildings. Bodies like her mother, stepfather-
Stop! No! Not going down that rabbit hole again! Try to think of something else…
She couldn't help it. All this knowledge now intruded her thoughts with the storm. What it was like to actually be inside it, not just observing from afar. The stuff of her nightmares could never compare to the real-life memories Dana would carry with her for the rest of her life.
And Chloe knew who Dana was; an energetic cheerleader, funny and sweet and a hopeless romantic. Probably one of the nicest people to have attended Blackwell Academy. She was not a bad person in the least, didn't own a cruel bone in her body. That version of Dana probably felt like a distant memory to version whose pained voice they'd spoken with, speaking of horrors that in no doubt had destroyed her life.
And then there was Kate Marsh… Chloe didn't know her personally, but. Arcadia Bay was a small town and even though she attended school before Kate's time, she knew her by reputation. Kate had made the news a few times for her volunteer work, popped up in the newspaper more than once for her contributions to the community. She was as good a person as they come, and she knew meant a hella lot to Max as a dear friend whom the time traveler had fought tooth and nail to protect and save. Maybe there was a God that cared enough about Kate that she was spared and given a second chance by both Max and from the storm…
She never thought she'd know so intimately the details of what it was like to be in the direct path of the tornado. But the way Dana had described it…Hell, she will never forget that phone call. Not ever. The faces of the people who died in that dorm will be etched into her mind.
Kate and Dana were definitely two of the most undeserving people to have suffered something like that and come out with so much loss and pain. They'd lost their classmates and friends. Dana lost her best friend and her boyfriend while they were mere inches away from her. Who else had been in those dorms?
They didn't deserve that.
They should be living happy lives, with everyone alive, studying and laughing with friends and…
It shouldn't have happened. The tornado shouldn't have existed.
And Chloe shouldn't be here. Everything would be alright for everyone if Chloe had just…just…
Dammit, I can't linger on that!
Her breath caught in her throat.
FUCK. Not again!
It was too late. The sudden familiar numbness trickling through her hands was spreading, the sensation of her vision narrowing, a slight dizziness in her head before her heart rate and breathing increases; no matter how many times she was caught off guard these panic attacks never seemed to get any easier – each as dilapidating as the last.
C'mon Chloe, focus!
She grit her teeth trying to head off the attack before it got too bad, the need to suddenly bolt from her bed and out the door growing. Small beads of perspiration formed on her forehead and yet she begun to shiver as if she were cold.
Don't do this again. Don't wake up Max!
Think.
Think of…
Max.
Whenever Chloe began to chase the rabbit through the worst of her anxieties and fearful memories, Max is always the one thing that can bring her back to reality. Panic attacks had been a curse that had followed Chloe for five years and Max wasn't the only one of them struggling with storm-induced anxiety, and although Chloe tries to be honest with her best friend she tries to hide the physical manifestations of her problems best she can. When nights like tonight led to everything crashing down on her at once, she would focus on the girl in her arms, safe and sound, and everything would start to slow down again.
Focus.
Max's chest rose and fell evenly, calmly, and with each breath Chloe willed herself to pay attention to the feeling against her own body. She forced her muscles to relax enough and focused on the steady, slow breathing of the smaller girl in deep sleep. Matching inhale and exhale until they were in sync.
She payed attention to the way Max's warmth radiated against her own skin where their arms touched, allowing herself to melt into the feeling, dissipating the numbness of herself. Chloe held her close and nestled her face into the soft waves of chestnut hair. The floral scent of conditioner was comforting and familiar.
Max's soft little snores, the kind Chloe found so cute and gentle, washed over her as she listened closely. The rushing in her ears lessened and quietened until the only thing left were the smaller girl's breaths occupying the silence like a soundtrack she'd memorized a thousand times. The knot in her stomach loosened and replacing it was a fuzzy warmth, the same warmth that reminded her of 'butterflies in her stomach' whenever she was about to kiss Max.
The thought of kissing Max made her feel floaty; she adored those soft lips of hers, and the way Max would smile against her own was one of her favorite things in the entire world, especially because Max's eyes would light up and she'd let out one of her little breathy giggles. Chloe loved the way her laughter was like music to her ears, more beautiful than a songbird, and that the freckles on Max's face would stand out in those moments. Chloe loved how those freckles spotted Max's shoulders too, and when they'd lay there gazing into each other's eyes she would gingerly trace her favorite pattern with her fingertip across her collarbones.
She couldn't help but lean forward and place a kiss, ever so softly, on the freckles of Max's exposed shoulder, and hummed in contentment as the brunette remained oblivious to the world while in her slumber.
Just like that the world slowed down again.
The storm of her mind calmed, and the panic that wracked her body receded. It felt as though time truly had decelerated, and as Chloe found herself at peace enough to drift off to sleep she idly thought that perhaps Max was responsible for controlling time in other ways, too.
Chloe was on the precipice of sleep, dozing at the point where her mind is quiet and she's about to slip under, when suddenly a strange thumping noise echoes through the quiet from somewhere nearby.
She didn't think anything of it. In an apartment block where their neighbors usually came and went as they pleased, it wasn't uncommon for random noises to be heard during the night.
Until she heard it again. Then once more.
The thumping increased for a minute until it was becoming rather insistent. Max still didn't stir in her arms, the night had really taken it out of her it seemed, and Chloe wanted to ignore the noise and hope that it would go away so she could finally get to sleep. Yet something at the back of her mind, call it instinct, tells her that this random noise demands her attention, or for her to at least investigate it at a glance. Reluctantly, Chloe opens her eyes and raises her head in the direction it appeared to be coming from.
Whatever it was, it wasn't in their bedroom, and it kind of sounded as though it was coming from the living room or maybe even outside. It was increasing in intensity too, and as much as Max is comfortable and warm and peaceful, Chloe had to sigh and resign to her curiousity.
Let's just figure out the source of the mysterious noise and then I can get back to sleep, I have work in the morning…
She carefully unwrapped her arms from Max and slowly untangled their legs, causing the girl to give an unconscious grunt in protest at the sudden disappearance of Chloe's warmth and proximity. Chloe looked down at her and decided to not disturb her so she could sneak out and back in as quickly as possible, and slipped out of bed. Even with the radiator on she can't help but feel the chill in the air while wearing the sweatpants and tank she slept in, a chill running across her exposed skin.
Quietly she opens the door and pads into the lounge to investigate, the hair on her arm raising from the even cooler temperature change, but there's nothing to be seen. Spinning around to get a good look at the room, everything appears to Chloe exactly how it normally is, and mysterious thumping noise had stopped. She's about to shrug to herself and return to the warmth of the bedroom when it starts up again, far more urgent in nature, and her senses follow the noise to the middle of the floor.
It's coming from…downstairs? Like the neighbor, Shelly's place?
But…what on earth IS it?
Something about the whole situation really doesn't bode well with her. The noise just gets louder and louder and she can't imagine what it is, yet her gut is telling her that whatever it is it's not good, and Chloe has had enough experience with things that are not good to know that she should probably find out what it is.
Lowering herself to the floor she places an ear to the ground and listens for a moment before she swears she can hear what sounds like the tone of a female voice amidst the thumping. She makes a snap decision, as a woman of action she doesn't hesitate to make her way over to the front door and let herself outside, for surely it can't hurt to go downstairs and see what the haps is. The door closes and she hops swiftly down the apartment steps, cursing to herself over the bitterness of the cold, feeling slightly burned by the chill air.
Shit!
Ugh, it's fine, I'm just going to check on Ms. Dawkins or listen through the door. It's only going to be a few seconds.
She goes to raise a fist to knock on their neighbor's door when she realizes she can hear the sound even better, so she presses her ear up to listen further. From the inside it was like someone hitting something metallic against something hard, and something that could possibly be a murmur of a voice? A grown?
Uh oh.
She raps lightly against the wooden door.
"Hello?" Chloe called out tentatively.
The banging stops and a woman's voice replies weakly, but it's incomprehensible.
"M-Ms Dawkins?" Chloe stutters.
Shelly's raspy voice replies, followed by a few more bangs, "...Help."
Fear and realization shoots through Chloe like a bolt lightning, and she jolts into action. She jiggles the handle -cold and locked- and tries to push the door as she calls Ms. Dawkins' name out again. Nothing. She's definitely shut out, no getting in this way unless she's let in.
She slaps on the door, "Shelly? It's me, Chloe. Your door's locked and I can't get in. Are you able to open up?"
"…No," Shelly rasps back, as if she is struggling to catch her breath, "…help." She repeats.
Chloe feels about as cold from fear as she is from standing outside exposed to the winter air. Her heart is beginning to pound in her chest from her mind jumping to conclusions of what the elderly lady could be going through right now, letting out a groan as she looks around desperately for another way in and one doesn't appear.
"O-okay, Ms. Dawkins! I'm right here, I-I'm going to find you some help, alright?!" Chloe calls back. She's met only with a pained groan and a few more bangs.
Oh shit, shit, shit what can I do?
She needs to find a way through that door and get help. Maybe she could call the office? Should she be calling for an ambulance, or the police? She doesn't know exactly what's happened. The office is closed at this hour of the night, would someone even be able to get here in time? Chloe decides to call for emergency help and pats her pockets for her phone, but of course they're empty. Her phone is laying on the bedside table next to Max.
"I'm going to get Max to come help too, okay? I'll be right back, I promise!"
Shelly doesn't respond, and that worries her deeply.
Chloe sprints back to their apartment, no longer giving a fuck about how cold she is right now. If Max helps too, maybe Max could call for help from the police or something while Chloe finds a way in? Honestly, anything could have happened to Ms. Dawkins. Did she slip over and fall? Is it a heart attack? Stroke? Doesn't matter right now – what matters is that she finds help and ASAP.
She turns the handle to let herself back in, and it doesn't budge. Fuck! Of course, she hadn't thought to bring her key out with her, the door would have automatically locked behind her. Internally cursing her mid-night stupidity she bangs desperately on the door.
Come on, Max, we've gotta hurry.
"Max! Max, it's me, please open up!"
Her palms stung from the frantic slapping on the door, and she felt slightly breathless from the anxiety constricting her chest. Without warning the door swings open and standing there is Max, her extremely bleary eyes wide with shock and chest heaving with fright.
"Shit, Chloe!? Wha-" Max starts, but is cut off as Chloe goes right past her and runs for the bedroom. She quickly starts looking for her phone, or Max's – anyone's – as Max followers her.
"Chloe!? What is it, what's going on?" Max asks desperately.
"M-my phone, Max, where is my phone? I left it on the bedside table…" She rushes about, lifting up the pillows on the bed and running her hand over the covers.
"Chloe, you're blue! Calm down, tell me what's wrong?" Max insists.
Chloe looks Max in the eyes and nearly pleads, "Max! I need my phone – your phone – anything! Shelly needs help; I need you to call for help while I find a way to get into her apartment!"
Max's eyebrows shoot upwards. "W-what!?" She reaches into her pocket as she speaks, "I grabbed them both when I woke up and you weren't here, what's going-"
Chloe lurches for Max's wrist and pulls her with her and back outside again, explaining.
"Call for an ambulance, police, the office; anything. I don't know what happened but I heard her banging and calling for help and went to find out. I can't get in and she keeps asking. Please, Max."
Max looks confused but doesn't hesitate to nod, pulling her phone out as they both stood outside their neighbor's door in their pajamas. Chloe knew she could count on Max to jump straight into action. She knocks on the door as Max dials 911.
"Shelly!?" Chloe asks, "I'm back with Max. She's calling 911. Can you hear me?"
The moan in response is barely audible. Behind her, an operator has answered the call, and Max begins speaking and explaining the situation.
"Ms. Dawkins?"
A soft bang can only be heard. She turns to Max with deep concern written on her face, and Max's eyebrows furrow while relaying their address.
"She's barely talking. Can you give me my phone? I'm going to see if I can get to the office and find a key or something."
Max nods quickly, pulls the other phone and hands it over. Chloe can see her shivering from the cold too, then brushes her hand against Max's for encouragement as she passes down the rest of the staircase to the ground level, simultaneously attempting to dial the office after-hours. With natural agility she rounds the corner and makes it to the entrance of the office building in less than a minute, met with darkened windows and another locked door.
An answering machine recording picks up on the other end of the call, and Chloe curses. She lets out her frustration by punching the door once, then curses again as it rattles on its hinges and her knuckles protest in pain. There's no one around to help. Glaring at her phone's screen in desperation the time reads 4:13 A.M.
"Fuck! What's the point of after-hours if no one's going to answer? Stupid manager!" She mutters to herself.
Am I going to have to find a way to break the door down? How am I supposed to do that?
Chloe bounds back the way she came, bare foot across the icy, snowy ground, and is regretting not wearing warmer clothing when she hears Max calling out for her as she rounds the corner to the bottom of their staircase again.
"Chloe!" She looks up to see Max's face peering over the railing to her, "Police and paramedics won't be here for another twenty minutes!"
"Shit!" She looks around desperately for anything that could help. Underneath the steps she sees a stray piece of metal piping as long as her arm, and pulls it out. Suddenly, a potential solution comes to her, and she throws herself back up the steps with the pipe in hand.
Max is bewildered by the sight of Chloe and is about to say something as the punk reaches her when she cuts the brunette off, chest heaving from exertion and cold.
"I've got an idea," Chloe managed to breathe out, "Can you stay here and try to talk to her? Keep her conscious or something?"
Max looks at her expression, then to the pipe in her hand, and back at Chloe again. "W-what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to see if I can break in through the back window." Chloe explains.
"What!?" Max exclaims incredulously.
"Trust me, okay? I've got an idea."
She nods at Chloe and raises her phone; the screen showing that 911 is still connected. "Okay, I'll explain it to them too-"
But Chloe was already heading back up the steps and pushing through their own apartment door, left ajar in their hurry to get back to Ms. Dawkins.
If I can get to the fire escape at the back of the building, I can climb down and try to break into the bathroom window.
It's crazy, but… It's worth a shot.
In the bathroom she placed the pipe down on the counter and opened the window latch just above the toilet. She had to put some force into it to slide the window to the side, but she managed, and once opened it was definitely large enough to allow an adult to squeeze through if they needed. A frigid breeze blew through the gap and into her face, and she gulped when she leaned out to peer down the back of the apartments in the dark.
Okay Chloe… you got this. You can do this.
Beneath her was a small shelf of scaffolding that led to her right, where an emergency fire escape ladder scaled down the side of the building. Chloe momentarily thought about how crappy this was for an escape route, but the place was hella old anyway. She turned, gripped the pipe in her left hand and hoisted herself up onto the sill, looked down and took a leap of faith.
"Argh!"
The shelf held her weight, and to be fair she had only jumped a few feet, but she released a pained groan at the sensation of the crossed metal balcony she had just landed on. With no time to waste however she shimmied along the wall until she reached the ladder, and with one hand holding the piping she climbed down a story until the reached the metallic shelfing beneath window of her neighbor's bathroom.
Locked and closed, the window needed to be forced open. In one swift motion Chloe rammed the end of the bar into the glass and with a loud smash she broke the window and through to the other side. She broke the glass away again and again with a few more thrusts, until she had a gap large enough to stick her hand through and release the latch to force the rest of the window open before casting the pipe aside.
Trying to be careful as possible she hoisted herself up onto her stomach on top of the windowsill and held onto the frame on either side. Unlike her bathroom, Ms. Dawkin's had a bathtub instead of a shower, and it was right beneath her and now full of shards of glass. Chloe flipped onto her back and pulled herself up by the frame until she was sitting upright, then swung her legs over. Her pants caught something though, and instead of lowering herself down onto the sides of the tub she accidentally slipped and crashed down onto her side, half into the bathtub.
"Fuck!" She spat and groaned, pushing herself up and standing. Her side ached in protest but Chloe had to push forward and out into the hallway with her arms wrapped around herself.
"…Shelly?" She calls out. It's only been a few minutes but it worryingly felt longer, and she doesn't hear a response. "Hello? It's Chloe!"
It isn't until she rounds the corner to where the kitchenette meets the living room does she notice anything concerning; a few dishes and pots laying on the ground next to the bench leaving a trail of mess towards the table and to-
"Shelly!" Chloe rushes over to the unconscious and still form of the elderly woman collapsed onto the floor. A fresh wave of fear washes over her as she notices her neighbor unmoving, a pot next to her hand – the source of the desperate banging - belongings scattered around as if knocked over by a fall.
ShitshitshitshitSHIT.
"Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Chloe bends down and places a hand on the woman's shoulder. Her eyes are closed and nothing indicates that Chloe had been heard. She shakes Shelly's shoulder gently, then taps lightly in an attempt to garner a reaction. Nothing.
"Oh no…" Chloe runs over whatever self-taught first aid she can remember from one of David's doomsday-survival books and lifts the elderly woman's chin up in order to free her airway, and checks her airway. A sigh of relief escapes her lips when she realizes that despite her unconscious state she is still breathing.
There's a banging on the door and Max can vaguely be made out on the other side, still talking to emergency services, and yells out, "Chloe, are you there!?"
"Yes!"
"Thank dog! What's going on?" The concern in Max's voice is almost palpable.
"Sh-she's unconscious, she won't wake up. I think she might have fallen, there's broken stuff everywhere where."
Max says something Chloe can't make out, then there's a pause before- "Can you let me in, Chloe?"
She swiftly reaches the door and unlocks it from the inside, allowing a shivering and blue Max inside while on the phone, and returns to the unconscious neighbor's side. Max kneels down next to her, speaking.
"Yes. We've managed to break in. She's unconscious. Okay," Max turns to Chloe, "Is she breathing?" She asks.
"Yes."
Max relays the information and then asks another question, "Are there any visible signs of injury? Is she bleeding?"
Chloe shakes her head, "I-I don't think so."
"What about her pulse?"
"I c-can't really tell if anything's wrong. It definitely looks like she fell, though. Maybe she hit her head?"
Max listens intently to the operator on the other end. She nods to herself and says, "Okay. We'll do that. Thank you," before hanging up.
"Get her into a recovery position and we've got to keep her warm. Help is going to be here soon. One of us might have to run out onto the road and show them where we are, though." She instructs. Chloe does exactly as she's told as Max gets up and finds her way into the bedroom, turning on lights as she goes and returning with a blanket to keep the elderly lady warm.
Chloe takes hold of Shelly's hand and speaks soft reassurances to her, hoping she'll hear and wake up. "You're okay, we've got you, it's going to be okay."
It takes a dozen more minutes before help arrives, Max meeting them by the roadside while Chloe never leaves Shelly, nor does she stop talking to her. She doesn't feel relieved either when the paramedics walk through the door and take over, she just moves out of their way and to Max's side while they work over the elderly woman with professionalism. Max and Chloe grip each other's hands tightly and answer any and all questions the paramedics request until a police officer arrives and the paramedics manage to lift Shelly onto a stretcher.
"Are you girls alright?" The officer asks. He has a friendly face with a full beard and salt and pepper hair. Chloe still felt quite tense and Max was in one of her usual states of quietly zoning out. Chloe manages a weak nod as the paramedics leave quickly. They'd been acting with such urgency that surely the situation must be quite serious, and the knot in her gut tightened.
"I came because I might have been needed, but it looks like one of you managed to get in just fine," he lightly joked in an attempt to life the mood, "Which one of you girls is the master at breaking and entering?"
"Me." Chloe half-squeaked. The officer regards the girls softly.
"It looks like you ladies need to sit down. Let's get you somewhere warm, alright? Then we'll have a little talk."
They both nodded and without letting go of one another they led the way back to their apartments while another officer stayed behind. The officer introduced himself as Constable Morley and kindly but forcefully instructed the both of them to grab a blanket or something warm and sit down on the couch. They willfully obliged, and Chloe realized just how numb from the cold she had become when the warmth of her blanket and the heating of their apartment started to cause her mild pain as her senses came back to life.
"How are you ladies feeling now?" He asked.
"Truthfully, a little shaken up," Max answered.
Chloe agreed, "Yeah...not the best."
Constable Morley nodded understandingly. He reminded Chloe of a typical, friendly version of a small-town cop; not unlike one or two she had her run-ins with back in Arcadia Bay. Idly she thought it was unusual for her to be speaking with a police officer when it wasn't for something she was at fault for, yet this wasn't exactly a good situation.
He just wanted a few minutes to go over a quick debrief of what happened in case there was anything he needed to know and make sure Chloe and Max were going to be okay before he headed off. It was freezing outside and he was concerned about them after being outside for so long, but after having a chance to warm up again they were no longer shivering. In fact with the numbness receding, Chloe started to feel a little bit-
"Ow, shit!" She exclaimed suddenly, causing Max to startle. She shuffled her legs.
"Something the matter?" Constable Morley asked. Chloe looked down at her leg and both Max and the officer followed her gaze. Max hissed at the sight.
"Yikes, did you do something to your leg? Let me take a look." The officer moved forward to lean in front of Chloe.
"I ah, I might have fallen in the bathtub full of glass?" Chloe confessed, then swore again under her breath while the policeman gently lifted her pant leg up -which was soaked with blood, as it turned out- and revealed a rather bloody and cut up calf.
"Oh my god, Chloe!" Max yelled.
"It definitely looks like you've cut it up pretty good, Miss Price. Ah, Max? Could you run downstairs and see if any of the paramedics can bring us some gauze and bandages while I look at this?" Constable Morley instructed. Max leaped up and out the door with surprising energy, considering their rather eventful night.
"Ah shh- is it bad?" Chloe asked.
"I think it's going to be okay, there's nothing in your leg as far as I can see," he replied, "I'd say you've just cut it grazing it on something. We'll wrap you up and you should be fine."
Chloe nodded somberly. Suddenly, the weight of the night felt as though it was crashing down on her, and she felt more than a little exhausted.
"You okay, you're looking a little pale again?" He asked her.
"Just…feeling the weight of everything, officer." She admitted. He smiled kindly.
"Take it easy. You've had a big night. You're a hero you know, after everything you've done?"
Chloe felt her eyebrows furrow as if by instinct. A hero? That wasn't something she was.
"I don't feel…like a hero." She responded quietly.
Constable Morley raised an eyebrow at her.
"Maybe you're feeling exhausted and you'll be a little better in the morning, but," he smiled at her, "I can tell you with confidence you're a hero, Miss Price. I heard what the paramedics said. If it weren't for you being here tonight, Shelly Dawkins would never have lived to see another day. Fork River would have lost a beloved member of the community tonight if it wasn't for you."
Chloe mulled over his words in silence.
She would have died…if I hadn't been here tonight to hear her call for help?
"Don't be surprised if you're a bit of a celebrity in the morning," he continued, "in a small town like this news travels fast. I've known Ms. Dawkins for years growing up in these parts, and…"
She raised her eyes to meet his, which were brimming with sincerity as he spoke.
"Thank you for being here tonight, Chloe Price."
A/N:
This chapter has been sitting on my laptop for awhile and I'm going to have to split it into two parts. I work on Pieces in my spare time when I have the inspiration, and I have a few chapters pre-written that I've just got to edit! I set a deadline to get this up today and I'll probably re-write/re-edit some of it at a later date, since I just wanted to get the story out there.
Speaking of editing! The first five or six chapters have been re-edited and re-written, if you notice some changes. I've been taking on the advice you guys give me to make the story (and my writing) better as I go. I feel with every chapter I get a little bit better at what I'm trying to capture.
Another reason for the delay, I have another LiS fic in the works! It's already about 50k into a draft right now and the first chapter will be going up soon. It's an AU – far more angsty and serious – and a story for me to put all my LiS angst and adventure into where Pieces is a much more lighthearted story. So if you're interested in something different from me, keep an eye out of it.
Finally, I just have to say: I'm so hella fucking excited for the release of the final BTS trailer today! While also just as equally saddened the end is nigh. I'll probably binge-write my feelings for months after December.