Hey guys! With Christmas on the way soon, I came up with this Life is Strange one-shot. It takes place while our protagonists are little kids; Max is five and Chloe is six. I hope this will give you some entertainment! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Life is Strange.
"Chloe? Chloe, are you asleep?"
Young Chloe Price slowly opened her eyes.
Standing at her bedside was Max Caulfield. Her parents had allowed her best friend to stay overnight at her house on Christmas Eve. The moonlight shone through Chloe's window and into her darkened bedroom, allowing her to see the broad, excited smile on the younger girl's face.
"I'm trying to, Max..." Chloe murmured, sitting up in her bed as she rubbed her eyes. "You should be too!"
"I can't sleep, Chloe! How can I?" Max strode cheerfully across the pitch black room towards the window, looking out at the moonlit sky, taking in the thousands of snowflakes falling to the ground. "I'm too excited for Santa Claus to come tonight!"
"Oh come on, Max!" Chloe said cynically with a shake of her head. "You should know there's no such thing as Santa!"
"There is too, Chloe!" The five-year old tuned to frown at the disbelieving older child. "Santa is real and you know it!"
"You don't tell me you still believe in that crap!" Chloe sneered, using a word from years beyond her age of six.
"Chloe! You shouldn't say that bad word!" Max gasped. "Santa will put you on his naughty list! And then you'll get nothing for Christmas!"
"Ooh, I'm so scared! C'mon, Max! You can't still be believing in Santa! That's kids' stuff!"
"But, Chloe ... we are kids!"
Chloe made a face. Even at her young age, she was trying to act more grown up than she truly was. It drove her parents' mad that she wanted to do adult things all the time. They wanted her to make the most of her childhood, as her best friend was doing.
"I hope Santa brings me a camera!" Max gazed out of the window again with a dreamy look on her face. "Then I can learn how to take pictures. What do you want Santa to bring you, Chloe?"
"A monster truck!" Chlose answered sarcastically. "And a pet alligator!"
"I don't think a monster truck will fit in Santa's sleigh..." Max turned to the older girl with an innocent, clueless look. "And an alligator may eat the reindeer!"
"Max, I'm telling you; Santa is not real!"
"He is so! And I'm gonna stay up until I see him!" Max stormed over to the bedroom desk, sitting in its chair with a fold of her arms, glaring stubbornly at Chloe. "As soon as Santa gets here, I'll show you that he's real. You'll see, Chloe!"
With a disbelieving shake of her head, Chloe lay back on her bed, the wide smirk on her face remaining in place as she closed her eyes.
"You're such a dork, Max..."
The hours ticked by.
Chloe breathed softly as she snoozed away in her bed.
Max had not budged from the desk chair. She was sitting in silence in complete darkness, trying hard to keep her drooping eyelids open. Staying awake through the night was more difficult than the young girl thought. It was something she had never done in her young life Already, she was beginning to feel tired.
No matter how tired she got, however, she was determined not to fall asleep.
Not until she had proven Chloe wrong when who she was staying up for arrived at the Prices' house.
Max couldn't understand why Chloe didn't believe in Santa. She had no reason not to believe he didn't exist, for he came to her house year after year, leaving her lots of presents. She still dressed up in the pirate costume he had brought her last Christmas. It had made her a very happy child.
So why didn't she believe the person who had brought it to her was real?
Max was just wondering to herself how much longer it was going to take Santa to arrived - when she heard something coming from downstairs, making her ears perk up at once.
It was the sound of footsteps.
Somebody was walking through the house in the late hours of the night.
A wide smile plastered itself onto Max's freckled face.
There could be only one person wandering through the Price household at this hour - on Christmas Eve...
"Chloe!" Max cried, running over to her best friend's bed to shake her from her sleep.
"Chloe, wake up!"
A groggy mumble escaped Chloe as she stirred, rising from her sleep as the younger girl excitedly shook her awake.
"Uhh..." she groaned, rubbing her eyes as she sleepily sat up on the mattress. "Whassa matter, Max?"
"Listen, Chloe!" Max beamed, no lounger tired as she bounced brightly in her delight. "Listen!"
Chloe narrowed her eyes, but did what Max said. She listened out for any noised she could her - before suddenly picking up the sound of footsteps from the lower floor, causing her face to go white with shock.
"Somebody's downstairs!" she gasped.
"Exactly!" Max said gleefully. "And it can't be your mom and dad, because they've gone to bed! And we're here in your bedroom - so it can only be one person, right?"
Chloe gazed down at Max's beaming face. She could tell what her best friend was thinking, but she did not agree with her at all.
Whoever was downstairs, Chloe was convinced it was not Santa Claus.
The elder child had an idea of who was wandering through her house at this time of the night - and she was eager to put a stop to their reasons for being there.
"C'mon, Max!" Chloe hissed, throwing the duvet off of herself.
"Where are we going?" Max asked.
Chlose jumped to her feet and crossed her dark room, beckoning her young partner-in-crime to follow her.
"We're gonna go see who's downstairs..."
Max's eyes lit up, completely misinterpreting why Chloe had told her what she wanted them to do that moment. As far as the brunette was concerned, they were going downstairs to see Santa.
"Alright!" Max said, following hurriedly after the older girl. "Let's go!"
Slowly, Chloe pulled open her bedroom door. A knot tightened in her stomach as it let out a long, low creak which filled the dark landing. She tensed up nervously, thinking her parents had heard it.
Fortunately, no sound came from behind the door to her parents' room. There came no signs she had just woken up her mother and father.
"C'mon..." Chloe whispered, signalling for her friend with her hand. "Follow me..."
Chloe crept as quietly as she could across the landing with Max following close behind. The two girl's made their way to the top of the staircase. As they began to made their way down, the sound of shuffling reached them from the lounge area.
Max's excitement increased over the thought of them about to see Santa - while Chloe was building up bravery to face who they were about to encounter.
As the girls reached the foot of the staircase, they noticed a dim light coming from the doorway that led to the living room. Continuing to keep quiet, they made their way through the hallway, entering the lounge area - where they came to an abrupt stop.
Their eyes widened at the sight of what they found there.
A single lamp was illuminating the living room, giving off just enough light to reveal what was inside it. The fireplace was burning away at the logs piled inside it. Two red Christmas stockings were hanging at each end of the mantelpiece. They had been empty when the girls had hung them there that evening, but were now looking like they had just been filled up.
A bearded man dressed in a red cloak was kneeling down at the foot of the Prices' Christmas tree. He was humming merrily to himself as he took beautifully-wrapped gifts out of the sack he had with him, laying them out below the tree. He was sure the two little girls at this house would be so happy to find their gifts the next morning, not knowing they were in fact right behind him.
Max and Chloe watched the figure as they stood in the lounge doorway, their expressions complete opposites of one another.
"Look, Chloe! It's Santa!" Max whispered so the man would not hear them, happily nudging her best friend with a bright smile. "See, I told you he was real! Here he is, right in your house!"
Chloe said nothing. Her mouth gaped with shock over the person who was in her house at such a late hour of the night. His red cloak and beard did nothing to ease what was building up inside her, nor did the presents he was leaving under the Christmas tree.
Her worries confirmed, Chloe clenched her fists in her hands, ready to take action.
"Chloe?" Max murmured, noticing the concerning look on her friend's face. "What's the matter?"
"YAHHHHHHH!"
With a loud, deafening roar, Chloe charged in the direction of the figure at the Christmas tree.
The man jumped, startled by the sudden noise which filled the lounge, swinging around to see the furious little girl charging towards him. "What the hell?"
With all her energy gathered, Chloe leapt at the man, knocking him backwards into the Christmas tree. It came crashing down, sending baubles, figurines and candy canes flying everywhere.
"Chloe!" Max squealed in horror. "What are you doing to Santa?"
Chloe didn't answer. She pinned herself on top of the fallen man to keep him from getting back up. With her small clenched fists, the little girl started to hit him in the fact - proving herself to be far tougher than she looked.
"Ow!" the man cried, trying to get the child off him to no avail. "Cut it out! Stop that! Ow!"
"Stop it, Chloe!" Max wailed, running up to the scuffling pair to attempt to pull the other girl away from the man she was hitting. "Stop it! Don't hurt Santa!"
Taking no notice of Max's pleas, Chloe continued to hit the man. She refused to get off him, as she was confident he would try to escape - which she was going to let him do after he broke into her home.
"Take that!" she yelled, throwing punch after punch at her victim's face. "And that! And that! Try and steal from the house of Chloe Price, will ya?"
"What the hell is going on here!"
Chloe's assault on the man was instantly haulted open hearing the booming voice of her mother. Staying on top of the figure, she turned in the direction of the lounge doorway. Joyce was standing there in her nightgown and slippers. She was looking appauled by what she had been woken up by and come downstairs to.
"I've caught a burglar, Mom!" Chloe explained proudly. "He was snooping around in our house! I caught him red-handed!"
"It's not a burglar, Chloe!" Max wailed. "You just attacked Santa!"
"Max, for the last time, there is no such thing as Santa! This guy is definitely not Santa! I can prove it to you!"
With a smug smirk, Chloe grabbed hold of the man's beard. She pulled it away from his face, revealing just how fake it clearly was.
"See! This guy snooping around the house isn't Santa! It's none other than-"
Chloe paused, the smirk on her face disappearing when she saw the face of the figure which the false beard had partially concealed, having no trouble recognising who she had just attacked.
"Dad?"
William groaned, feeling pain from the blows he had received from his young daughter. He sat up on the floor to look down at his child, giving her a smile of agony.
"Oh, Chloe..." he muttered. " Christmas is a time for families to show love for each other - not for beating them up!"
Joyce leaned against the doorway she was standing in, folding her arms as she frowned at her troublesome daughter.
"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?"
Chloe turned from her father to her mother, rubbing the back of her head as she smiled uneasily, embarrassed about hitting her own parent who had just been leaving out her Christmas presents.
"Heh... Um... Well..."
"Wowsers..."
Chloe averted her gaze to Max upon hearing her cry out. The younger girl was gaping in astonishment at William. Her blue eyes took in the red cloak and hat he was dressed in, as well as the presents he had left under the fallen Christmas tree.
"Something wrong, Max?" William questioned.
"I don't believe it..."
Max slowly turned to face Chloe in her great bewilderment. Her jaw was hanging open over what she had pieced together from what she had seen for herself.
"You don't believe what?" Chloe asked. "What's wrong, Max?"
"Chloe ... your dad is Santa Claus!"
"What?!"
Chloe gave a baffled look. She was bemused over what had just come out of the younger girl's mouth. William gave a chuckle of amusement over what Max said, as did Joyce.
"You can't say you don't believe in Santa now! Not when you've just found out he's your dad!"
A huge smile spread across Max's freckled face as she beamed at Chloe in all her innocent nature. She was too happy for her best friend to noticed the way she was facing her over what she had assumed.
"You are the luckiest kid in the whole wide world, Chloe Price."
Hope this way okay! Thanks for reading, have a very Merry Christmas - and don't beat up Santa! XD