So, I've got another big one here for everyone. I hope you all like long chapters, I'm thinking about just giving up on trying to limit myself to maximum, and just letting the chapters be as long as they end up being. I've felt the need to go over twice now, but we'll see if the trend continues. Also... I am so, so sorry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Max ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another day, and still no word from Kate. Chloe's going out of her head with worry, and I'm going out of my head with worry with her. I didn't know Kate, not that some of my concern isn't for her, but most of my worry is reserved for how Chloe is taking it. She needs to be doing something, and I understand that, I do too. Small distractions aren't enough though. As much as I'd love to just drop everything and be normal with Chloe for a while, that's just not going to be possible anymore. At least not until we find something to go on. I hand Nathan's phone over to Chloe. "Here... Look over his texts, see if we missed anything helpful." She takes the phone with a frustrated huff. "Max, we've been over those text a million times! We're not going to know anything new unless we can figure out where he was going to meet Frank, and even then, we don't know if any of those places could be where he took Kate." I push up off the bed, and begin to pace around the room and thinking out loud."Okay... well he implicated himself in the disappearance of Rachel Amber, right? And we have the night of her disappearance in the police file..." Chloe interrupts. "If it's legit. We don't know that for sure..." I take a deep breath, and push it out slowly. "Yeah... but it's something we could easily verify by just asking around probably. Besides we do have a text from Nathan to Frank saying he needed emergency supplies on the same night it allegedly happened, and he even asks him to come out somewhere different from their usual meeting spots. I know he called him to talk him through the directions... but if we could find out where they both were that night, it'd be a good place to start." Chloe sighs, and shakes her head. "But how're we going to do that Max?" I take a deep breath, and step towards where Chloe is sitting on her computer chair. My fingers brush gently down her cheek soothingly. "You're not going to like this... but we need to either check the police station for the files on Frank directly, or maybe try that detective's house. Maybe he has copies of the files laying around, or on his computer." Chloe makes a sour face, but leans her cheek into my palm gently. I cup her cheek in response, my thumb slowly moving back and forth over her cheek bone. "You're right, I don't like it." She sighs softly, her eyes closing slowly. "But I trust you, and... I have no other ideas." She let's out another heavier sigh. She sounds so tired, so beaten right now. It breaks my heart. "Can we try the detective's house first? The police station is... That's going to be crazy difficult even with powers." I nod, placing my other hand on her other cheek, and leaning in to press my lips to her forehead. "Of course. It's definitely the safer option, and if we find what we need there, there's no reason to take any crazy risks. Even if it would be hella awesome." I can tell Chloe's trying not to laugh, she probably doesn't want to encourage me. "I mean we could go all Mission: Impossible on the police station... rappel lines, and um... lasers?" She can't hold it in anymore, and she begins laughing softly. "Have you even seen a Mission:Impossible movie Max?" I shake my head, and kiss her forehead again. "Nah... I was too busy kicking ass and just generally being awesome, for nerd stuff like movies." She laughs even harder, and reaches up wrapping her arms around my middle. She buries her face in my chest. Laughter turns into sobs, and I wrap my arms around her head, holding her gently.
Chloe looks up at me, her eyes red rimmed, and swollen. I brush the wetness from her cheeks gently, and smile down at her reassuringly. "Max... Kate is missing, and I'm just sitting here laughing like it's no big deal. What's wrong with me?" I frown, shaking her head at her. "Nothing is wrong with you Chloe... you can't be worried twenty-four seven. You'll get distracted, and that's good. You'll get sick if you just worry all the time. It's normal, and I'm really trying to be a distraction for you right now." I lean in and kiss her forehead. "We'll figure this out Chloe. You said so yourself, and now I'm saying so too." She presses her face into my chest again, and sighs. "I don't know Max... I'm so scared for Kate." My fingers absently smooth her hair, my lip firmly between my teeth as I consider our options. "Oh! How about we try and go by Kate's room at the dorm? Maybe she's there, and feels so sick she hasn't answered her phone at all, or something. Maybe she lost her phone while she was... drugged. If she even was. All we know is that whoever it was got you and Alyssa, maybe Kate's okay, and just missing her phone." Chloe looks up at me hopefully. "You really think so?" I try to smile reassuringly, but I don't feel like I quite make it. "I don't know Chloe, but I hope so. It's what we've got right now." She nods, and buries he face into my chest again. If this were any other time I'd be in heaven right now. Wow Inappropriate much Max? "So do you want to head over, and see if she's there?" She nods her head. "Mhmm..." I start to pull away, and she grabs on tighter. "Noooo..." I laugh softly, running my fingers through her hair. "We can't go if you don't let go of me." She squeezes tighter, face still pressed into my chest. "I control space. We can go anywhere I want, any way I want. Besides..." she adds sounding more serious, though still muffled. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to hold myself together when you let go." Reaching down, I gently guide her head back until I can look her in the eye. "Then I won't let go completely." I rest one of my hands on her shoulder, and squeeze reassuringly as I step to the side. "See, not letting go." Reaching down with my other hand, I pull her arm up, and lace our fingers together. "Still not letting go..." Pulling gently, I help Chloe into a standing position. I snake my free arm around her waist, and pull her hip against mine. "Still got you." She laughs shaking her head. "You're such a dork... thank you Max." I throw her a wink, and begin to gently guide her out of the room. "Only for you."
Joyce calls out to us from the living area, before we make it out the door. Not that we were trying to sneak away without her knowing, in fact I didn't even know she was here. "Girls, could you come in here for a second?" Chloe, and I look at each other curiously neither of us sure what this is about. As we make our way towards the living area, I lean my head towards her, and speak softly. "Still not letting go..." She snorts out a little laughter, and bumps me with her hip, nearly forcing me to let go, before we stop in front of Joyce. She's standing there, by the couch, looking worried. Chloe's expression slowly begins mimic her mothers, and I frown starting to feel a little concerned myself. Joyce's eyes go to my arm around Chloe's waist, and well I feel a little self-conscious now, but I did make a promise to Chloe, sort of, so there it stays. She takes a deep breath. "Girls, considering what happened on Friday night..." she pauses pursing her lips as she considers what she's going to say. "I know you're young women now, and I can't keep you in the house. Lord knows I want to, but I can't, and I shouldn't. I'd just like it if you girls could try and just check in with me every so often when you go out. Just so I can know you're safe." That instantly grates me. I know it's irrational, and Joyce genuinely cares. She does, doesn't she? I mean this isn't just some attempt to control her walking paychecks... It's not like I'm making her any money, and Joyce just isn't like that. I take a deep breath, and look up at Chloe. I'll follow her lead, while I try to dispel the shadows in my head. "Okay Mom, I understand. We can do that." she bumps me gently with her hip, and I look over to Joyce and nod. "Yeah Joyce, that's fine. We can do that." She looks a little less worried, as she let's out a breath, and smiles. "Thank you girls for understanding. Also, it won't help with what happened exactly but..." She turns a picks up a couple of little canisters from the coffee table, and offers them out to us. Pepper spray. Chloe takes hers, and places it in her pocket, but I shake my head. "No thanks Joyce..." I reach into my pocket, and pull out my blade. "I've got this." She looks completely horrified, and I quickly tuck it back into my jacket, regretting my decision. I look over at Chloe for a moment, biting down on my lip. I let go of Chloe, and rewind. My arm is back in place almost immediately, but she still seems to hesitate a moment before taking her canister from Joyce. This time I just take mine with a smile,and tuck it into my jacket. Joyce smiles still not looking completely comfortable, but considering what happened at the party I don't blame her. "We were just on our way to Blackh-well. We're hoping that Kate just lost her phone, and is in her dorm room right now." Joyce looks so... sad for a moment, but she covers it up, and smiles. "That's a very good idea. I hope she's there waiting for you." I'm pretty sure Chloe caught her mother's momentary lapse as well, as I can feel her pulling in on herself a little bit. I give her a reassuring little squeeze, and turn us towards the door. "We'll be back later Joyce, and Chloe or I will definitely send you a message so you don't have to worry." Joyce speaks up as we begin heading down the hall. "Thank you girls, and... be careful." I reach out and open the door, nudging Chloe with my hip gently. "Hmm? Oh... We will mom! Love you!" We walk together down to the jeep, stopping on the passenger side to stare at the door. I purses my lips thinking about it for a few moments, then reach out my free hand to open the door. I take Chloe's hand and release her waist, before trying to climb backwards into the jeep. "Still not letting go..." She stares at me for what feels like an eternity. It looks like she's trying to decide if I'm a complete idiot, or if this is charming. She starts laughing, so maybe a little of both? She doesn't offer to let go though, so I continue to scramble backwards into the jeep, and over the center console. Our hands never separate. Getting strapped in is a bit of a challenge, but we manage. "You're an idiot." Chloe says between giggles. I grin over at her and shrug. "But I'm your idiot." She lets out a soft dreamy sigh. "Yeah, you are." I place her hand on my thigh, and take the stick. "I hope this is good enough, I kinda need my hand to work the stick." She nods giving my leg a little squeeze, and off we go.
Chloe takes my hand as we cross the campus, heading for the dormitory building. Our fingers entwine together naturally. There's no one around, though it is a Sunday morning so most of the students are probably sleeping in. It'd be a really nice day, if we weren't here because we don't know what happened to Kate. I give Chloe's hand a squeeze, and wonder if I shouldn't have come alone instead. I know she wants to know what happened to her friend, but it might be better if she didn't have to find out directly at least not if there's bad news. It's way too late now though, and I don't think I could ask her to go wait in the jeep. I'm not sure she would even if I did. It feels kinda like we're marching towards our doom to me, I can't imagine how Chloe must be feeling right now. I really hope we can get to the bottom of all this soon. I want this resolved so we can just go and be a normal couple. Do normal couple things, and have a good time for a little while. We've earned that much right? I mean we've both lost important people in our lives, it's about time we got a break right? Chloe looks over at me as I sigh, and gives my hand a squeeze. I look up at her smiling apologetically. " Sorry... too much in my own head right now." She nods in agreement. "I know what you mean. I can't help but wonder if we're going to find poor Kate here today. Can't help but wonder what happened to her that night... or when we'll finally get a fucking break from all of this." her voice remains soft, but her anxiety, and frustration are apparent. I give her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "We'll get through this, and then... it'll be just you and me for a bit. No threats, or mysteries, or weirdness, just Max, and Chloe time. Maybe we can actually have a real date in while we're at it..." We both laugh a little ruefully at that. We lapse back into silence after that, our clasped hands communicating everything we need to know to each other in this moment.
We're almost to the dorms when we pass by a bespectacled man trying way to hard to look young. "Hey, wait a minute. Are you girls students here?" Fuck, he must be a teacher. We turn to face him, and he looks us over curiously. I can feel the sneer he doesn't let grace his face as he looks me over, and subsequently dismisses me. That really doesn't bother me, I'm used to it, but the look he's giving Chloe on the other hand... It's not so open that anyone would see, but I know that look. I've seen that look before, when I was living on the streets. It's a look I would get often enough from men willing to pay an underage girl for certain services. That hungry, predatory look sets me on edge, and I push forward a little, placing myself just a bit between him, and Chloe. He reappraises me, and schools his pleasant mask a little better. Most likely he just enjoys the opportunity to fuck a few willing students, but I'm going to have to watch him extra closely if we ever happen to meet again, just in case. "Yes, well... I am." Chloe speaks up, pulling me back to her side gently. "Max is just tagging along while I go see a friend." He smiles pleasantly, and nods. "I'm sorry I don't recognize you, but then I suppose I don't know all the students here. What's you name? I won't stop you now, but if you're not in the school records...I'll have to report this." Chloe shuffles her feet a little nervously. "Chloe. I'm Chloe Price." He puts on a repentant face. "I don't mean to be a drag, it's just the police were here questioning a couple students yesterday, and you just can't be too careful. Well don't let me keep you." He gestures us onward, and turns continuing on to wherever he was heading. Chloe turns to keep going, but I don't move yet. I just watch him go until he's out of sight. Chloe tugs on my arm, and gives me a confused look. "I don't... trust him. He gives me the fucking creeps." She looks even more confused by my confession. "Mr. Jefferson? He's the Photography teacher, and I guess he's kinda famous...but he seems to be pretty down to earth to me." she shrugs, and I shake my head. "Nah, it's not like a ego thing.. though..." I pause for a moment, and shrug. "Anyway it's just a vibe I get I guess... Be careful around him, if you, you know ever find yourself alone with him." She gives me a worried frown. "Max.. what are you talking about? Why would I need to be careful of a teacher?" I shake my head. "It's probably nothing, but... just Promise me okay?" She looks at me, still clearly mystified by my response, but she finally nods. "Alright, I'll be careful." I exhale, nodding, and give her hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you Chloe. I'll just feel a lot better knowing you'll be alert." She rolls her eyes at me fondly, and turns to pull me towards the dorms. "Come on Max... we're getting distracted from our mission." I quicken my steps till I'm matching her pace, and we continue on to the dormitory.
Side-by-side we walk down the hallway towards Kate's room. The map on the wall by the stairs was helpfully labeled, so we wouldn't have to go searching. The hallway is pretty quiet, the muffled sounds of life coming from only a few rooms as we pass. At any other time it would likely be rather peaceful, but considering why we came here, the muted background noise feels somber, and a little disconcerting. Chloe's grip on my hand becomes tighter the closer we get to Kate's room. She doesn't really work out, but ouch. She's clearly trying not to freak out, and I don't blame her for the impulse. I didn't really know Kate yet, and I was getting nervous too. The time really seems to drag on, though we're don't really seem to be hurrying towards our destination either. The weight of what we might find seems to be weighing down Chloe's steps, and mine by proxy. "Chloe..." I pull her gently to a stop, and wait until she turns to look at me. "We don't have to do this right now if you're not ready. We can go walk around a little longer, or... I could go check to see if she's there, and you can go outside to wait, if you want." She shakes her head. "Max..." Her voice breaks, and I can see tears glistening in her eyes. "I need to know Max... I need to-to know." I reach up cupping her cheek, as I get up on my tiptoes to press our foreheads together. "Okay, I understand, we do this now. I'm right here with you." I press my lips to her cheek, then the corner of her mouth, then her lips. A door can be heard opening somewhere behind Chloe, followed shortly by a disgusted noise. I give her one more little peck on the lips, before lowering my heels back to the floor and having a peek around Chloe. Victoria is there making a face like she just stepped in something gross, so I give her a big grin and flip her off. "Morning Vicky." Chloe's cheeks flush a little, and she slowly turns to face Victoria as well. "That's a visual I didn't need first thing in the morning... What're you two even doing here?" Chloe speaks up before I do, which is probably a good thing. I'd likely just make things worse. "We just came here to check up on Kate." Victoria breaks into a grin, one that really is the farthest thing from friendly as you can get. "Oh, I'm sure little Katie probably fine by now. It doesn't usually take the whole weekend to sleep off all the fun she had." I narrow my eyes at Victoria. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" She shrugs, her mean little smile still firmly in place, despite my desire to wipe it off of her face. "Why don't you see for yourself? She's all over the web now." Chloe's eyes go wide, and she reaches up to cover her mouth. I take a deep breath, exhale, and begin speaking quietly. "You know Victoria... Kate went to that party with Chloe, and Alyssa... They were both drugged at the same time. There's a very good chance that Kate was drugged too. She disappeared from the party, and no one's been able to get a hold of her since." I stare at her stone faced, as she visibly pales. "W-well... Well how was I supposed to know that? She looked just like the rest of the sloppy drunk idiots at that party." She looks back and forth between us imploringly, before turning marching over to Kate's door, and banging on it loudly. "Kate! Kate Marsh, open up this door right now!" She bangs even harder. "Don't you d-dare ignore me, open up!" Chloe steps forward, placing a hand gently on Victoria's shoulder. "If she's in there, I'm not sure that this is helping..." Victoria does have the wherewithal to look ashamed as she steps back from the door. Chloe steps in to take her place, and knocks much more gently. "Kate? Are you in there? It's Chloe... I brought Max along... we're both worried about you." I can see the apprehension growing on her face, as the silence inside goes unbroken. "Please Kate... if you're in there just say something. We'll leave you alone if that's what you want, but please just... say Something." Chloe leans her forehead against the door, and waits as the silence stretches on. I can't take this anymore, we need to get in there to be sure. I step forward, and gently guide Chloe away from the door, where Victoria wraps her up in a hug. It looks a little awkward, but at least she's trying. Maybe she's not so bad after all. I kneel down by the door, and get out my "tools" paperclips, and bobby-pins. "Keep a look out for me, this shouldn't take too long." Chloe and Victoria nod their assent, and I get to work on the lock.
The door swings open with a soft creak, revealing the darkened room. I step in first, followed closely by the other girls. Looking around I find the light switch, and turn it on. Nobodies here. I look back to see Both Chloe, and Victoria standing in the doorway looking disappointed. A shuffling noise catches my attention, and leads me to a little rabbit in a cage. Poor thing has been alone all weekend. Since I'm already in the room I begin to have a look around, who knows maybe she's just holed up somewhere safe after what happened, and there's a clue to where she might have gone in here somewhere. Yeah, right... but it doesn't hurt to look. There's a lot of christian literature, around, and other church-y paraphernalia. Is church-y a word? Continuing my search I find a printed letter on her desk. Fuck! This is a suicide note. Noticing the look on my face the other two rush over to see what I have. I try to block Chloe from seeing the letter, but I unfortunately leave myself open for Victoria to snatch it out of my hands. She gasps audibly, and thrusts it into Chloe's hands before rushing out of the room. Chloe looks down at the letter, as I begin to open my mouth to say something. "Chloe wait..." She doesn't answer, she just stands head bowed over the page, reading. My heart breaks when she looks back up at me. "Max... she, wouldn't this can't be... This is a joke right?" She looks so afraid, so devastated, I just want to tell her it's not real. I just want it to not be real. My silence doesn't help, I can see the tears building in her eyes, as she looks back down at the letter. She sniffles a little, but her expression changes to once of puzzlement. "Max.. why is this dated for Tuesday? It's Sunday... why is it dated at all?" I grab the letter, and have a closer look at it. It is dated, it's also typed so it's not in her hand writing. Chloe gasps, and I look up to see her eyes wide, and mouth covered. "Max... he's going to Kill her, he's going to kill her, and he's trying to make it look like a suicide! We have to tell someone, we have to report this to the police." I shake my head slowly. "Chloe... they won't do anything with this, except call it a suicide, or say that she was planning to do it. The Police aren't going to help. They're just going to take this at face value so they don't have to get off their lazy asses." She grabs me by my shoulders, and begins to shake me. " Isn't this what the police are for? If they won't do anything, then what are we supposed to do Max? We're in over our heads. What're we supposed to fucking do now?!" This is all falling apart so fast. "We... uh.. we break into detective dicks house, find out where Frank and Nathan were, then bust in there and kick some ass!" Chloe's arms fall away from me, and she sags, the tears flowing freely now. "How are we going to do that Max? How are we going to do anything? We're barely adults... we're not anyone special." I frown, and shake my head. "No, we Are someone special. We have Powers Chloe, Powers, plus we actually care about Kate. We can do this, the police won't really help, they don't know her, or care. All they care about is the little power trip the badge gives them. We can do this Chloe. We Have to do this... no one else will." She shakes her head, sniffling. "It...doesn't matter, Victoria has probably already called the police anyway." Fuuuuck. I forgot about Victoria. I purse my lips, and take a deep breath. "I'm sorry Chloe..." She barely has time to look confused before I stuff the letter in my pocket, and rewind. I push myself, I push myself harder than I have before, and I manage to drag time back to before the letter fiasco. As soon as time starts flowing normally again I waiver a bit, my head spins a little, and it feels like my brain is trying to break out of my skull. My nose starts bleeding as well, as if I needed more complications. I grab some tissues from Kate's desk as Chloe hurries over. "Max, what's wrong? What happened?" I shake my head. "Probably just a little too much excitement today, that's all." Stuffing the tissues against my nose, I pinch the bridge with my free hand, and turn my attention to Victoria, whose looking a little squeamish. My voice comes out a little funny when I address her because of the tissues jammed against my nose. "Vick-...toria, could you take Kate's bunny for now? Someone needs to take care of her, and it'd probably be better if she stayed in the dorm, inc-... for whenever Kate comes back." Victoria looks like she might argue for a moment, but then nods, and walks over to pick up the cage containing the animal in question. "I need to go clean myself up now." I head out of the room then, and down the hall to the bathroom.
The cold water feels wonderful on my face, as my head continues to pound. I've gotten most of the blood off, and it seems to have stopped for the most part. This is what I get for trying so hard. I stare at myself in the mirror, and wonder if I always look this tired, this worn, or if this is a direct result of what we found today. What am I going to tell Chloe? Should I tell her what we found, and why I turned back the clock? She probably suspects something, considering the waterworks coming from my nose. The fact that she's not in here right now checking on me, means she either suspects I'm hiding something from her, Or I suppose, that Victoria is talking her ear off. I don't want her to worry, to have another... the same freak out as before, and I need her focused, but on the other hand... She deserves to know right? Is it wrong for me to keep this from her? If we don't find Kate, is it worse to let her hurt now, and then again when we fail, or is it worse to not tell her, and then let it all happen at once? What if we do find her? Which is worse then? Dog, maybe we really are in over our heads. My mouth presses into a hard line, and I splash a little more water on my face. We have no one to go to, we're on our own. The police won't help. If they even do anything at all, it certainly won't be helpful. I've had my fill of experiences with the "law" and it's all been bullshit. We don't have any other choices, we Have to do this on our own. This still doesn't help me decide whether or not I should tell Chloe about the letter. I don't want to lie to her, but... Is it better to do so? I'm just going around in circles. I shake my head, which is a mistake. A wave of nausea passes over me as my head throbs in protest of my action. I let out a groan, and use the sink to help prop me up. Not that I feel like I'm at risk of falling, just it's nice not to have to worry about silly little things like standing. The door opens, and someone walks in. I don't bother looking up, I'm way too busy with my headache, and self-pity for that. A gentle hand sliding up and down my back let's me know it's Chloe, or that some girl here has some serious boundary issues. Her hand leaves my back, and gently guides my chin around until we're looking at each other. It's definitely Chloe. She takes my cheeks in her hands, and carefully examines my me, concern written plainly all over her face. "What happened in there Max?" she speaks softly, barely above a whisper. I exhale heavily, and shrug. " I rewound." Her lips purse, as a little crease forms between her brows. "Yeah I figured out that much... Why did you rewind?" This is it, the moment of truth, or untruth... I have to decide what I'm going to say now. I take a deep breath. "It was... stupid, I said something really dumb, and caused a huge fight with Victoria, security was called, it was a mess, and totally my fault. I just... figured it'd be better to make it go away, and in my hurry to go back, I pushed too far." She narrows her eyes at me for a moment, and I get the sinking feeling she's seen right through me. Then she just sighs, and leans in to kiss my forehead. "You should be more careful... both with what you say, and what you do." I feel like shit for this, but I just don't know what else to do. I need Chloe focused, the police won't be any help, so we have to do this ourselves. It's for the best, I hope. It has to be... I take another deep breath, and give her a weak smile. "Yeah... I know. I'm trying, I promise." I pull away from the sink, and straighten up. "Come on, no rest for the wicked. We need to go and see about breaking into the detectives house now." Chloe frowns at me a little concerned by my rush, but nods. "Yeah... the sooner we find out where Nathan and Frank were, the sooner we can find Kate." I nod my agreement, and take her hand leading her out into the hall. The doomsday clock is ticking, and we don't have much time left.
A quick google search, and a car ride later, we're parked down the road from a cabin style home just barely outside of Arcadia Bay proper. The Madsen home. We approach on foot, walking the long gravel strewn driveway. The sounds of nature, and the crunch of gravel under our feet are the only noises to be heard. Chloe clutches my hand tightly, her growing apprehension apparent as we get closer to our destination. There's no car in the drive, not any other signs of life in the vicinity. Spotting a security camera I yank Chloe off into the woods, startling her out of her thoughts. She give me an annoyed glare. "What was that about?" I jerk my head towards the cabin, and point out the camera. "He's got a security camera over there. We need to find a way around it..." Chloe looks at the camera for a few minutes, then at me. "Can't you just... smash it with a rock or something, and then rewind once we're inside?" My mouth hangs open as I stare at her in disbelief. "Chloe you're a fucking genius! Also... I think I might be a bad influence on you." She shrugs, laughing softly. "Maybe.. or maybe you're just helping me find the bolder Chloe, from when we were kids, again." I smirk up at her. "So a good bad influence?" She rolls her eyes, sighing, and shaking her head. I shrug, and being to look around for a nice side rock I can chuck at the camera. Finding a nice sized one, we move around a little trying to get a good angle on the camera. I bring my arm back, and fling it forward. "Wait!" Chloe cries out suddenly, but it's too late. The rock sails through the air, and smacks the camera right in the lens with a satisfying crunch. I perk my brow up at Chloe as I turn to look at her. Her cheeks flush a little, as she shuffles her feet uncertainly. "Umm... It just occurred to me, couldn't you have just broken in and rewound, instead of smashing the camera first?" I blink at her dumbly, and then cover my face with my hand. Fuck, of course we could have. "Yes..." I sigh heavily, slumping my shoulders. "It's... fine, this is fine, we just go and break in and rewind. There might be more cameras inside though..." She nods, and takes my hand. "We'll figure that out when we get to it." I nod back, and give her hand a squeeze, before leading her out of the woods, and towards the front door. We step up onto the little porch, and I begin to reach for my tools, when I have an epiphany. We're just rewinding anyhow, so... why do this the clean, quiet way. I let go of Chloe, and step down off the porch to grab another rock. A bigger, heavier one this time, and head for the nearest window. I smash open the window, and reach inside to unlock it. No alarms, so either he's confident in his cameras, or it's silent. It doesn't matter either way, I'm rewinding anyhow. I lift the window carefully, and duck inside. Chloe follows just moments behind. I grab her hand, and give it a squeeze, before taking a deep breath. "You ready for this?" Chloe nods, and squeezes my hand encouragingly. I rewind.
Fire pours into my skull, as I take both Chloe, and myself back to before I smashed the security camera. I'm not completely sure but, I think it might have hurt less this time, than the first time I rewound with a passenger. That's something maybe? Or maybe just wishful thinking. Time begins to move forward again, and I reach up to hold my head. Chloe moves to wrap her arms around me, offering support, both physical and emotional, while I try and weather through the pain. She kisses my temple, and whispers soft words, I can't really concentrate on, until I'm ready to start moving again. I break away from her reluctantly, and we begin to have a look around. The place is sparsely decorated, and clean as fuck. It's spartan in it's comforts, but obviously lived in. "Smells like douche-bag in here... Kinda depressing too." I wrinkle my nose as we begin to explore."You're not wrong... he was kind of a jerk when he talked to me at the hospital." Chloe remarks, a similar look of distaste written plainly on her face. Spotting his computer, Chloe makes a bee line for his desk, and sits down to work her magic. She doesn't stay there long, she stands making an annoyed noise. "Nothing here, it's not even password protected. If he's got digital files anywhere, it's not on this machine." I frown as I poke into random cupboards, and cubbies. "Maybe he's got an office around here somewhere, with a different computer?" Chloe shrugs. "Maybe... Or maybe this was a waste of time." I purse my lips, and shake my head. "No. It can't be a fucking dead end... we just need to keep searching." My voice comes out harsher than I mean it to, and Chloe looks a little hurt by my response. I take a deep breath. "Sorry... I'm just... We need this to, I'm just worried." Chloe nods, and slowly approaches me, taking my hands in hers. "Max, I understand... I'm worried too." She has no idea. She has no idea because I didn't let her remember. I'm a terrible person. She squeezes my hands, bringing me out of my spiral. "Maybe we should, revisit that uh... trip idea. Once this is over I mean. You, me, the open road..." I smile at her sadly, and nod. "Yeah, we should do that. For sure." She leans in and leaves a lingering kiss on my lips, before pulling away, and starting the search anew. I take a deep breath, and try to push everything down so I can focus. It takes a minute or three, but I begin searching around again too.
We do find his office, and strangely it's full of more personal touches than the rest of his house. There's no computer in it, but it is full of physical files though. Quite a lot of them actually. This makes things both easier, and harder. There's no passwords to worry about and anything like that, but we can't just send a copy of the files we need to ourselves. We begin searching through the files in earnest, and I find myself occasionally distracted by the pictures he keeps around his office. Pictures of him in army fatigues, or a dress uniform, and of him in his police uniform. A few pictures must be his parents, but I see nothing indicating he has any other family. I feel kind of bad for him, I mean not too bad, because of how he treated Chloe after the party, but a little bit. I bet he's lonely. Chloe's voice pulls from from my musing. "-ax, I think I found something. This file is full of stuff on Frank, and there's a bunch of pages here with coordinates on them. I head over, and slip my arms around Chloe's shoulders as I peek over at the pages she's referring to. "Yes! This is exactly what we need. Chloe you're amazing!" I can't help but feel a bit of relief that we have something to go on now. I kiss her cheek excitedly, and repeatedly. I take the papers, and slip them into my jacket. "Alright, let's get out of here. We can check the coordinates at home, and then pick the places that they both were that seem most likely." Saying it out loud makes it sound like more of a long shot, but we don't have anything else to go on. I can tell Chloe's having similar thoughts, from the pensive look on her face. I give her cheek another kiss. "It's... going to be okay, we can do this, as long as we're together." She nods, not looking entirely convince but, at least she looks a little less worried for the moment. My arms slip from around her shoulders, as I step back. I take her by the hand, and she entwines our fingers as we make our way out. We simply walk out the front door and down the walk, ignoring the camera. Once we're safely ensconced in the woods again I take a deep breath. "I'm going to have to rewind us again... I have a feeling it's going to be tough doing it again so soon. Just be prepared, in case I faint or something." Chloe nods, biting her lip nervously. I get up on my tiptoes to kiss her softly. She gives my hand a squeeze, and as my lips leave hers I begin to rewind. Fire pours into my already scorched brain, and I feel a wave of nausea over take me. I let go with a gasp, and slump against Chloe, a warm wet feeling on my lips. I can taste copper, and I reach up slowly to touch my nose. My fingers come away bloody. We're moving, Chloe is basically dragging me along towards the jeep. I try hard to get my feet under me, to help her move me, but I'm so tired, it's hard enough to concentrate just on keeping my eyes open. She loads me into the jeep, and I reach into my pocket to find my keys. She takes them from me as soon as I have them out, and I disappear into the blessed numbness of unconsciousness.
- Chloe -
Getting Max into the house, and up the stairs isn't easy. She's small, but she's heavier than she looks, especially when she's swimming in that giant leather jacket of hers. Placing her gently onto the bed, I hurry from the room, and shut myself away in the bathroom. I don't want her to wake and find me crying. She's trying so hard, pushing herself so hard, and I know she's just doing it for me. Everything is getting so overwhelming though, and while I know she'd understand, I'm sure she's right there herself, I just don't want to add to the stress she's already under. She's holding herself together for me, and I need to hold myself together for her. This is all so fucked up. Kate's still not back yet... I was drugged. We're moving so fast right now it seems, I can hardly catch my breath. I hope Kate's okay, I hope she comes back soon, and that she's okay, and that we can just rest for a minute. Just a minute or two... That's all I need. I let myself just wallow, and sob it out for a little while longer, before I pull myself together. I take a few deep breaths, and examine my face in the mirror. There's no way she won't know I was crying, my eyes are so red and puffy. I sigh softly and turn away from the mirror. Maybe she'll be asleep for a little while longer, if not, well hopefully she'll stress less about the fact that I was crying than she would if she woke up to it. I splash some cold water on my face, it feels wonderful, soothing, and make my way back to my bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, I swing the door open slowly. Max is already awake, hanging half out the window. The plume of smoke being carried off on the light breeze let's me know what she's doing. I don't mind really, in fact lately I've been wondering if I shouldn't ask her if I could try it. It might make what's going on a little easier to handle. Stepping up next to her, I gently place my hand on her back, rubbing it in a slow soothing circle. "Hey... you really worried me there. Are you doing okay?" She exhales another plume of smoke, and nods. "Yeah... I'm fine Chloe. Just one too many passenger trips on the time travel express." My hand continues to move in a slow circle on her back as we fall into a companionable silence for a moment. "Does that help?" I gesture at the joint in her hand curiously. "Actually, yeah It does a little bit." She turns a bit to look back at me, and I wrinkly my nose. She still had dried blood all over her face. She grins at me wolfishly, and stubs out her joint, saving the rest for later. "I guess I should go clean up... but first... give us a kiss." she makes exaggerated kissy noises at me, and leans towards me. I laugh backing away. "Not until you clean up first, Nosferatu." She laughs, and gives me a mock pout. "What's wrong? I eat a few villagers and now you hate me?" I roll my eyes at her laughing. "Of course I don't hate you, I love you, you big dork!" Max is oddly quiet, and my laughter dies down, as I look at her to see what's wrong. She's just staring at me, her lip between her teeth, looking somewhere between hopeful, and petrified. My brows furrow as I try to figure out what happened. I begin going back over our playful conversation. My eyes go wide when I realize what I just said. Max takes a deep breath, and finding her voice speaks softly. "Um... did, you mean that, or... was it part of the... joke?" I lick my lips, and take a steps towards her. I reach out and take her hands in my own, fidgeting with them nervously, and avoiding eye contact. "I... well I mean I said it was part of the joke... but, Yeah. Yeah I really do." When I peek back over at Max, she's smiling so brightly, and she's crying. "Oh Chloe... I love you too. So much." She leans up on her toes towards me, and I gently place my hand on her shoulder. "Um... you're still all bloody Max." She blinks a few times, and then laughs. "Oh, yeah. Sorry.. I'll just go clean up then..." She pauses a moment, and digs out the paper with all the coordinate on it. "Here... You can get started if you want, or you can wait... but I'll go get cleaned up." She hands me the paper, and our fingers touch. We let them linger there together, sending electricity up through my arm. We've held hands before, but right now, it just feels different. She must be feeling it too, the way she inhales surprised. She looks up at me, and I look back, and we just stare into each other's eyes. I can only hope there's just as much love in my eyes as there is in hers. She breaks away, leaving me feeling a little cold, and heads out of the room to go clean up. Taking a deep breath and shaking my head, I settle down at my desk, and boot up my computer. I grab the paper with the surveillance of Nathan on it, and begin comparing the two looking for shared locations with a timestamp in common. It's not exactly easy to do when you're floating, but I mark down each one I find until I have a nice long list of locations to look up.
Max slips back into the room quietly, and drapes her arms over my shoulders. That took longer that it probably should have, and her eyes are red rimmed. I don't mention it. Maybe they were all tears of joy, but if not, for now I'll let her be strong for me. We'll need to talk about it sometime soon, but maybe not until things have settled down a little. Right now there's so much to focus on, it's hard to take any real time for ourselves. Max keeps stealing moments, and I am grateful that she does it, but... I don't know. I have a bad feeling, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's Max, she's been tense since we visited Blackwell this morning, maybe I'm just being affected by it. She looks intently at the list of coordinates I've compiled from over my shoulder. I turn my head and kiss her cheek, earning a surprised smile. "This looks good so far... how close are you to being done? Do you want me to take a portion of the list, and start trying to match some of them up?" I hum, looking over what's left, and nod. "Yeah a little help would be nice. I'm only about a third of the way through. There's a lot of surveillance here to go through. He must not have much of a life if he has time for all this crap..." I laugh softly, handing over a few sheets of paper to Max. "Yeah I kinda got that feeling just looking around his place." she shrugs, and leans in to press a kiss to my lips. A warmth spreads through me, and I reach up to entangle my fingers in her hair, trapping her in place. My lips part invitingly, and Max doesn't hesitate to deepen our kiss. Our tongues dance gently together, and even though we've done this before it feels new again. Max pulls away far too soon for my liking, leaving me wanting more. "We need to get hurry up and figure out where we need to go next." I'm sure the disappointment shows on my face, but I nod. "I know... I was just letting myself get distracted for a minute." Max looks guilty for a moment, before she nods, and settles on the bed to look over her portion of the work. There's definitely something going on with her. Maybe putting off talking till later is a bad idea. I take a deep breath, and wet my lips. "Max... Seriously, what's going on? I know you're worried, I am too, but all of a sudden you're just so... intense about everything." She looks up at me, another flash of guilt crosses her features. Is she bad at lying, or just bad at lying to me? She chews her lip nervously for a moment, and sighs. "I... I'll tell you I promise, just... not until after we find Kate, okay? We need to focus, and I don't want both of us bogged down with all this... stuff that's been going on." My brows furrow, and I purse my lips at her, but I'm willing to give her time, so I nod. I'm not sure if she just needs time to process something, or if she's trying to protect me here. I'm not sure what it is that's eating her. Did she find something at Kate's without either Victoria or I noticing? Shit.. did she find something and rewind? She wouldn't do that to me right? I look over at her discreetly. Yeah actually, she just might if she thought she knew best. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean she's lying... Sort of? Is it an omission if she made it never happen? Or it did happen, just only for her? Though she did promise to tell me... so delaying the truth? I'm getting confused. I'm just going to let it go for right now, and be mad at her, or not, depending on what she tells me later. I watch her working diligently for a few moments, before I get back to my own search.
Max brings me her list, about the same time I finish compiling my own. Now begins the arduous task of looking up where all those coordinates lead to. I notice that some, even on my own list are there more than once, so I try to mark the extra ones so I don't end up looking up the same location twice. This venture is going only marginally successfully. As I look them up, some of the locations are easy to dismiss, Blackwell, the beach front, Two Whales, the mill. Since all of those are operating businesses, or public spaces it's fairly easy to dismiss them. There's the lighthouse, but the overlook is frequented fairly regularly by Blackwell students, and others, there to enjoy the view, or to party. Still it's a maybe I suppose. A weak one, but it's something. We've got that housing development going up out in the woods... It's supposed to be rather ritzy, so maybe it's where the Prescotts are living? That could be the place, depending on how much family Nathan has, and how much time they spend at home. Maybe even how big the home is too. I point it out to Max, and she nods. "Maybe... I saw an e-mail he got while I was in his room, so I know he's got a sister in the peace core, but it doesn't mention any other siblings... so if his parents are out a lot... though they probably have staff... so maybe not." She chews her lip shaking her head. "I don't know..." she let's out a little frustrated growl, and flops down on my bed. "There's more to look up still, we'll just add it to the list." I turn back to the computer, and keep searching coordinates. "How about this one... it looks like a barn out in the middle of nowhere." Max sits up. "Na abandoned barn sounds promising, in the creepiest way possible." She gets up, so she can come look over my shoulder. "Got anything on this barn?" I shrug, and begin a search. "I don't know.. let's see what we can dig up." Poking around, I find some links to public records, and information on the sale, and ownership of the property. "Look Max!" I point at the screen. "It's owned by a Harry Aaron Prescott. That Can't be a coincidence... can it?" Max shakes her head. "I don't know, but we should definitely start there. Anything else look promising, or should we go check it out now? We've been at this for a while... I'm getting kinda antsy just sitting around here." I look down over my list, and the other sheets of information we have. "Well.. there are a couple more locations we can look up..." Max chews her lip and leans over my shoulder to examine our clues herself. "Well... look." she points at a few of the clues in front of us. "The barn here... the date lines up the best with the timeline of Rachel's disappearance... so it stands to reason that this is the place... right?" I bite my lip, and shrug. " I don't... I mean, probably. It does make sense. Let's go then... and if we're wrong we'll just look up the rest of these and try again." Max nods, and kisses my cheek. "Yeah, that sounds good. Let's get out of here." She takes my hand and helps me up. "Have I told you how amazing you are?" I laugh softly, and shrug. "Mm.. maybe, but it never hurts to hear it often." she laughs in return, grabs a few of our clues, and we start to make our way out. I'm glad she's feeling a little better for the moment. We're close to something, I can feel it. We're going to find Kate, and figure this all out, and maybe finally we'll get a little peace and quiet.
The trip out was longer than I expected, the barn is pretty far out into the countryside. The barn looks pretty run down, and there's an old rusted out car outside of it. Max hops out of the jeep, and immediate starts poking around. I follow behind more slowly, keeping a watch out for any signs of life. Max points out some tire tracks in front of the barn door. "These look like fairly fresh tracks." Since when has Max been an expert tracker? I stare at her dubiously. She looks back at me, brow perked up. "What? The mud is still pretty wet, so if they were old, the rain or whatever should have washed them away." That's actually a pretty good observation I'm impressed. It must show on my face too the way she grins at me. "Also..." she points up at the power lines. "There's electricity running to the barn. What would they need electricity for in a rundown old barn, that looks pretty much abandoned?" I shake my head. "I mean they probably wouldn't, unless they were hiding something." She nods. "Exactly. So we need to get in here, and see what they're hiding." She grabs the big padlock being used to hold the door closed, and examines it. "Fuck... it's a combination lock. Nathan had a big list of random numbers... maybe one of them opens this?" she reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a slip of paper. "Yeah maybe... while you do that, I'll have a look around, maybe there's another way in." She nods, and starts working on the lock. "Good idea... yell if you find something." I wander around to the side of the barn. There's more junk around everywhere, and some places where it looks like someone tried to patch the side of the barn with sheets of aluminum. With nothing else to go on, I head over and try to move one. It slides to the side, with only a little bit of fuss revealing a hole big enough for us to fit through. Score one for Chloe! "Hey Max! I found us a way in!" She heads around the corner a few moments later, grumbling about something under her breath. When she spots our way in she smiles at me. "Nice going Chloe." She holds her fist up, and I bump it, and explode it. She laughs shaking her head. "Such a dork... come on." she climbs in through the hole, with me right on her heels.
The inside looks pretty much as run down as the outside, except for the fresh straw on the floor. There's an old ass tractor, and some equally old tools on the wall, but it definitely doesn't look like this place gets used enough to warrant the straw on the floor. There's a chest on the floor by the opening, and I kneel down to go through it, while Max begins searching around the room. It's basically just a bunch of junk. Broken tools, odds, and ends.. nothing that pertains to anything. I groan frustrated, and let myself sag tiredly against the stupid box. "Hey Chloe I found something!" I perk up at the sound of Max's voice, and stand up to go have a look. It's a metal door set into the floor, and locked with another padlock. I purse my lips. "Well that's not suspicious at all... nope." Max laughs, and kneels down to examine the lock. "This one takes a key, I am all over this!" she grins pulling out her make shift tools. I'm pretty sure she likes having the opportunity to show off. I stand back, and make sure to look suitably impressed when she opens the lock. She looks so proud of herself too, it's adorable. "She pulls the door open easily revealing a set of stairs beneath. I forget how strong she is sometimes, because she's still so small. We head slowly down the stairs into a short hallway that ends in a big vault door or something like. Looks like the entrance to a super villains Lair. "Heh... every villain needs a big ass creepy door." Max quips at me, practically reading my mind. Or did I say something, and she rewound to say it first? I mean she could, but why would she? But she could, and I'd never know the difference. It's probably best not to think about it, that way lies madness. There's a keypad next to the door, and Max goes over to examine it. "Wow this must get used a lot... the numbers are all rubbed off a few of these." She pulls out the slip of paper she was using earlier, and after a quick comparison punches in a code. The door unlocks, and we head inside.
The room we walk into is kinda small, it's got shelving, and a sink. There's food stockpiled on the shelves, like in a bomb shelter. Maybe that's what this is. There's a roll of duct tape on the sink, which is mildly disturbing, but it's the next room that's really creepy. It's like something between a photography studio, and an operating theater. It smells faintly of antiseptic, and something I can't quite identify. Something primal, and dark. The walls are covered in pictures, things that look like they came out of a horror film, or a nightmare. There are tripods set up, and studio lighting, but there's also an operating table set up in the center of the room... with restraints on it. Little tray tables and carts litter the room, as well as cases for sensitive equipment. There's all kinds of machines set up around the table, some I've seen in hospitals, others I can't even guess at the function of. There's a desk in the back with a computer on it, and several cabinets set up along the wall. The room feels oppressive, menacing, and despite the immaculate cleanliness, it still feels grimy. I feel trapped despite the fact that I know I can leave at any time, and I really just want to hurry up, and get out of her as soon as possible. Max heads for the operating table, and I head for the computer. "I think I'm going to need a bath for a week after this..." Max comments as she pokes at the contents of various trays. "We've got drugs, and needles, and... scalpels..." The computer's locked, but I do find a letter typed up with the Prescott logo on the top. It states that no additional funds will be provided until the Imperious project(whatever that is) can show some results. It's signed by Sean Prescott himself. There's really nothing else though, so I get up, and start opening up cabinets. The first just has supplies in it. Disturbing things like vials of drugs, rubber gloves, needles, surgical tools, and such. Just like those trays Max was looking at. The second contains a stereo system, several bottles of scotch, and copious amounts of condoms. Gross, just gross. The implications in that cabinet are terrible. The next one has file folders, all labeled with names. I think this might be it. There's one in here with Rachel's name on it, and one in here with Kate's as well. I pull them both out and put them on the desk. "Hey Max... I think I found something." She puts down the camera she was drooling over down(I guess she's not completely over her childhood interest after all) and comes over to have a look with me. I'm not sure I'm ready for whatever is in here, and I hesitate. Max places a gentle hand on my shoulder, and steps in between me and the desk. She opens up Rachel's binder first. It's labeled asset evaluation. There are pictures of Rachel, clearly taken without her knowledge, surveillance photographs I guess. The file lists her as a category two manipulator, adept at emotional control. I mean that seems kind of rude, but then I didn't really know her at all. It further recommends capture and conversion, and that should conversion fail she would be a likely candidate for the Imperius project. There's the Imperious project again, what is that? There's a note at the end of the file stating that the asset was lost when an assistant used too much sedative during capture procedures. Does that mean... Rachel is dead? Max speaks up putting voice to my suspicions. "Fuck... If I'm reading this right they killed Rachel." I reach for Kate's binder, my hands shaking. Max reaches out to place a hand gently on mine. "Maybe... we shouldn't look." I shake my head, and flip open the binder. Like Rachel's file there are some surveillance photos, and an assessment listing her as a category zero, no abilities. The file differs from Rachel's in that there are more photos. Pictures of Kate tied up, looking so out of it. The final page states the subject should be conditioned for release, and should conditioning fail, to enact the Muut protocol. I frown "What the hell does that mean? Does that mean Kate's home now? Did they move her somewhere else? She's not here that's for certain..." Max shakes her head. " I don't... we need to go home, look up more places, and search them too. We should... should go to the place, the one that might be the Prescott home." She grabs my hand, and starts pulling me towards the exit. "Come on Chloe, we need to hurry!" She barely gives me time to put everything back into place, as we rush out.
It's gotten pretty late while we were inside the bunker, but still Max is dead set on Checking out the housing development, so that's where we head. The place is creepy in that horror film kinda way, lot's of half finished luxury housing, along with a few empty completed structures. And they Are empty, all of them. Nobody is living here yet, and well I don't blame them. The development isn't finished so there's not much of a view yet. Max is getting more, and more agitated as we rush around from building to building, finding more nothing. "Augh! I can't believe this shit! There's Nothing here!" Max kicks at a faux column on a completed house. "How can there be nothing here? This is bullshit!" She picks up a rock, and sends it sailing through a window, with a crash. I hurry over, and wrap my arms around her from behind, squeezing gently, in an attempt to comfort, but also trying to restrain her a little. "Come on Max... it'll be fine. We can just go home, and maybe we can find more places to look. Okay?" She wipes at her face a few times, and sighs. "Yeah... okay." I entwine my fingers with hers, and lead her back towards her jeep. I really don't know what's going through her head right now, she seems to have so much riding on searching these locations. I get her into the jeep, and she seems to come back to life a little bit, at least enough to drive, and we head home.
Max sits dejectedly on my bed, going through an old box of photos, while I work diligently at the computer. I don't mind doing the work, but her mood is something of a distraction. I really wish she'd talk to me. Though it's not like I'm finding anything useful. More public spaces, and that's about it. There's still the lighthouse we could go check. Maybe there's bunker hidden there too. "I took this one the day I found out we were moving... just a few minutes before if I remember right. Just a few minutes before everything got so fucked up." Max's voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I look back to see her brandishing a photo of the two of us together. I remember that day. She'd had a bad day at school, the kids in her class were picking on her. I walked her home that day, partially just to spend time with her, but also to help make sure no one gave her a hard time after school. I used to be so much braver then. How did I become so timid? I stopped going out, and doing things as much when Max left, that's how. I spent so much time wrapped up in my family I forgot how to be adventurous. I don't regret the time I had with my dad because of it, but still... I take a deep steadying breath. I've got focus, and help Max now. "There's still the lighthouse." She blinks at my seeming non sequitur, her brows beginning to furrow in confusion. "Uh... the search." I gesture at the computer screen. "There's still the lighthouse... maybe there's a bunker there too." Her eyes light up and she stuffs the picture in her pocket as she gets up to hug me. "Chloe you're a genius!" I can't help but laugh at her sudden enthusiasm. "Come on.. we need to go check..." she begins tugging on me gently. I bite my lip, and look at the clock. "It's really late Max... I have school tomorrow. Couldn't we go in the afternoon?" Max frowns, and shakes her head. "No, this is way more important. Pretend your sick tomorrow, and skip it." It's my turn to frown. "Max, school is important, besides the file said she was going to be released right? So.. we just need to wait for her to come back, right?" There's a pregnant pause as Max appears to deliberate with herself. "Maybe... I don't..." she bites her lip, and sighs. "Okay... how about I go and check it out, and you can stay here and sleep, then I'll take you to school in the morning?" I purse my lips. I really don't like the idea of her going off alone, and I tell her so. She looks like she's getting ready to yell, but instead kind of deflates, looking tired. "I know you don't like it... I don't like going out without you, but I really need to know now, and I can handle myself. If it gets to be too much I can also, always just rewind." She kisses my cheek, and I sigh softly. This whole idea gives me a bad feeling. "I can't stop you..." Max interrupts. "You can. Tell me not to go and I won't." I frown, that's really not fair to this all in my hands. If I say no then she resents me, but if I don't stop her, and something happens to her, I'll never forgive myself. "That's so not fair Max... You can't just tell me I get to decide what you do." She looks a little guilty for a moment, and nods. "Then... I'll go. I promise I'll be careful. You stay here, and try to sleep." She leans in and leaves a soft lingering kiss on my lips. "I love you. I'll come back soon, I promise." I nod, and watch her head out of my room into the unknown. I take a deep breath, and start my preparations to lie in bed worrying until I'm too exhausted to keep my eyes open any longer. I don't know when Max got in last night, but she does manage to get me to school on time.
Max looks defeated when I meet up with her after school, and she drives me home in silence. She trudges up the stairs ahead of me, and turns into my room. I'm really worried about her, I have no idea what happened last night, or maybe today to affect her so deeply, but the silence needs to stop now. We need to talk. I follow her in, and place my hands on my hips. "Okay Max, what's going on? It's time for us to talk about it, because you're clearly not okay, and all this silence? This isn't healthy, for you, or me, or our relationship." Max pauses, licks her lips, and then nods. "I know... I know it's not." her voice is barely above a whisper. "I just... I want you to know I did what I believed was best for everyone..." Well that sounds fucking ominous. I frown waiting for her to continue. She reaches into her jacket, and pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper. She presses it into my hands, and looks away, unwilling, or unable to look me in the eye. That's really not a good sign. Opening it up, I find a suicide note. Kate's suicide note, postdated for tomorrow... or did Max rewind, and bring it back from tomorrow? Can she go that far? "Max...?" Her shoulders slump, and she still won't meet my gaze. "We found that... in Kate's dorm room, when we went to go check on her. You were freaking out Chloe, you were freaking out, and Victoria... and... I just... everyone needed to focus." She looks at me, her eyes begging for my understanding. I look back down at the note, it's so hard to breath right now. " I... I don't understand. You, knew about this... the whole time? The whole time?! We should have gone to the police!" My sight goes blurry, and I can feel the hot angry tears on my cheeks. I ball up the note, and throw it at where a Max sized blob is standing. "No... Chloe... The police wouldn't help... couldn't help even if we could trust them..." she reaches out placing her hand lightly on my arm, and I shake her off. "No! Don't you touch me... You knew... you knew, and she's not coming back... oh god she's not coming back..." Max reaches for me again, and I shake her off just lie before. "Get out. Get. Out. I can't... I can't look at you right now... you lied to me, you let me hope.. and you knew, the Whole time!" She steps towards me, and tries to wrap me up in a hug. I lash out, punching, and kicking , and squirming till I manage a lucky shot that sends her reeling. "Get out! Just leave me alone!" She backs towards the door slowly. "Alright... I'm... I'm sorry." I collapse onto the floor as she tromps down the stairs. I spend the rest of the day in my room, sleeping between crying jags. I keep my head buried in my pillows so I don't bother mom. The night passes in much the same way.
I wake up feeling hollow inside. Grief comes in waves, and I guess I'm in a lull for the moment. My eyes are sore, and my throat is parched, so I drag myself out of bed, and head downstairs to get a drink. Getting up was a mistake. I see mom standing in the living area, her hand over her mouth in shock, or horror, maybe both. The news is on the T.V. and the headline has to be about Kate. "The body of a student at the prestigious Blackwell Academy was found this morning..." I don't hear anything more, except the sound of the blood rushing to my head. I didn't think it was possible to hurt this much all over again. Sound begins to filter back through, and someone is screaming... I'm screaming. Like some kind of wounded animal. Mom hurries over, and wraps me up in her arms, and I just collapse into her. Tears I thought I was too dehydrated at this point to cry pouring out of me with renewed vigor. "It's Kate. She's gone.. they killed her..." I blubber into my mother's chest, over and over. How could this happen? What kind of world allows things like this to happen to people like Kate? I know this is bigger than just Nathan now, but I don't understand, who could do something like this? What's the point of all of this? I'm still really mad at Max, but in this moment, I wish she was here too. I'm crying so hard I start hiccuping, and mom helps me to the couch. She gets me settled, turns off the T.V., and goes to get me a glass of water. I try to give her a smile when she comes back, but I just don't have the energy. I drink my water down, and curl up into a ball on the couch. I don't know what to do now... I don't know how we even have a chance at doing anything. It's gotten so big, too big. I feel my breath coming in short panicked bursts, and I'm starting to feel dizzy. I think I'm hyperventilating. Mom brings me a bag to breath into, and another glass of water, then settles down next to me on the couch, stroking my back soothingly. I wish Max where here, that I hadn't sent her away. I almost get my phone out to text her, but another surge of anger at her for lying to me, stays my hand. Everything is so fucked right now. Maybe I should just leave Arcadia Bay like Nathan said. I don't know what to do about mom, or even Max. I'm not sure I could convince them to just up and run off... well maybe Max, if I decide to forgive her. There'll also be a funeral I'd need to attend I suppose, so I can't leave until then. Another round of crying begins with that thought. My mom makes soft soothing noises, and I lay my head on her lap. She strokes my hair gently, trying to keep me calm. "Chloe sweetheart... where's Max?" I was just starting to calm down. The crying starts again, though this time over the situation with Max, which then makes me feel bad for not being sad about Kate, which just makes the crying worse. "We... We had a fight, and I d-don't know where... where she i-is right now." Mom sighs softly above me. "Oh that girl..." she takes a deep breath. " Well don't you worry, I'll make sure to find out where she is for you. You just rest here, no school today." I just nod, and cry myself to sleep again.