This chapter contains some heavy subjects related to suicide, depression, PTSD and panic attacks. But in my justification, I have to write what I feel about my story and the characters. And the scenes depicted are necessary. But, it's not that bad.

Arcadia Bay

October 7th, 2018, 01:47 am

Arcadia Bay would have been blanketed in a veil of utter darkness if not for the countless twinkling stars carpeting the sky and the ever so luminescent moon was not trying to swallow the dark. A small female figure was furtively sneaking around the fences. Her face was shrouded and hidden behind a hoodie. She was taking cautious steps towards the back of the double story house situated in the outer meadows of the sleepy bay town.

The incandescent lunar light reflected on the figure's deep blue eyes as her eyes scanned the main door and the lower floor's windows. She froze on her steps and lowered her stance even more as the curtain blocking the view of the interior shifted a little. Impulsively, she held her breath and her eyes fluttered and flicked to the window and the main door back and forth. Staying frozen for a few seconds, and deciding the curtain swayed on its own and her position was not given away, she eased her frozen and stiff body by blowing an exhilarant breath.

Just to be cautious, she unhooked the small ornament chain, clasped as a bridge on her worn out jeans of the same blackness of the night itself and a ratty Velcro wallet in back pocket. She took out the wallet, wrapped the chain around it and shoved it deeper into her front pocket and continued her sneaky march towards the backyard.

Reaching the back, she quickly hoisted herself up, off the fences and winced as the weathered fence creaked under her weight. This time instead of waiting again, she slid down the length and, at a striding pace, quickly hugged the outer frame of the house. Again, the momentary hitch did not stop her sneaky march towards her target, the back door of the house.

She knelt down in front of the dried and withered flower pot and lifted it up. A grin grew on her face as she found the shimmering object, pasted with a small tape under the surface of the pot. She ripped the tape and threw it away, took the key and placed the pot back in its place. She rose back to her feet and glanced at her surroundings one more time. Once contended that she was still alone, she quickly inserted the key into the lock and twisted it. With a muffled click, the door was unlocked. She twisted the knob and slowly pushed the door and walked into the house, again quietly closing the door behind her and locking it.

The door led into the adjoined kitchen and the living room of the house. The interior was still shrouded in darkness, which was good for the sneaking figure. She started taking deliberate and soft steps, walking in the direction of the stairs in the main hall going up. Triumphant, she started ascending the stairs. Almost halfway to her destination, the lights of the hallways flickered and illuminated the house.

"What time do you think it is?" An authoritative voice boomed behind her, making the girl sneer and she mouthed a 'fuck.' Her shoulders sagged as she turned around, facing the owner of the voice. A woman in her mid-forties with piercing hazel eyes and arms crossed over her chest as she scowled at the figure.

The busted young girl rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall, "What do you want? I came downstairs to drink water," she said sheepishly, but her eyes showed an irate expression as they flickered, tried not to meet with hers.

"With your boots on?" the woman replied sharply. "Do you take me for a fool?" The elder woman asked but didn't get anything from the young girl, she continued, "Where have you been?" The young girl kept her silence, "To that dirty sawmill again? How many times do I have to tell you not go near that place and meet those people." The woman raised her voice as she chided the young girl.

"As if you fucking care? I'll go wherever I want, with whoever I want," The girl replied and tried to turn around when the woman grabbed her by her arm tightly and turned her around.

"Because I am your mother." the woman said, "Don't walk away from me. I am not done talking and don't you use this language in my house," She glared at the younger girl who hissed as she tried to pry her arm away from the tight grip of the older woman.

"Let go of me," she yelled, "I am not your fucking slave to listen to your bullshit." She raised her voice equally as she glared back at the woman.

The woman released her arm, and her expression softened. "Why are you doing this, Lynn? For how long?" she said with a hint of worry in her voice. "You are skipping school, disappear for the whole day and sneak into the house in the middle of the night. Why are you so intended to worry me?" the woman asked, as her voice wavered and her eyes turned misty.

Lynn's eyes flickered for a second, showing penitence. But again, she creased her brows together and her expression contorted to a disgusted glower. She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. "Because you only want me here to order me around. You do not see me as a person, Amanda." Her own eyes turned glassy but her piercing scowl was still present.

"Do not disrespect me, Lynn. At least call me mother," Amanda objected meekly.

"You don't deserve respect. You never respected Kate. You never saw her as a person, and because of you, she is not here anymore." Her voice got thick and quivered as she swallowed the clot with her tightened throat.

Amanda's face fell. Downcast, she shook her head, "It's not true, Lynn, you know it's not true. I never meant that for Kate. I was worried about her. I only wanted her to get away from here. To stay safe!"

Lynn scoffed again as she flayed her arms in the air and smirked towards her mother. "There you go, with your excuses and your fake teary remorse. Don't sell me this crap. It is your fault, and I will never forgive you for what you did. Here, let me make it easy for you." she leaned her face closer to her mother's. "Read my lips you bitch, YOU FUCKING KILLED MY SISTER!"

*Slap* Lynn's face twisted to the side, as a flash went behind her eyes. She felt the burning sting on her face. Then she heard a gasp. Covering her cheek with her hand, she scowled back with rapidly watering and stinging eyes. She saw Amanda's red-rimmed eyes as she held her quivering hand to her lips, and looked remorsefully towards her daughter she had just slapped.

Lynn said nothing this time. She turned around and ran up the stairs, ignoring the pleas of her mother behind her and walked into her room. She slammed the door behind her loudly and locked it. Ignoring the muffled voice of her mother calling her name, saying she was sorry and she didn't mean to hit her. She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes with the heels of her hands.

She walked towards her dresser and picked up a small framed photo of a young girl with an angelic smile, sporting a dirty blonde chignon hairstyle. She walked towards her bed and plopped on it. Holding the photo frame on her lap, she ran her quivering fingers on the face of the girl, and a drop of sadness fall on the photo frame, and another. She hugged the photo close to her chest as her body jerked with her silent sobs. She fell on her bed, shrinking into a fetal position as her sobbing got harder. Memories of her sister started surfacing.

Marsh Residence

October 12th, 2013, 10:39 AM

There was an eerie silence in the Marsh residence. Yesterday's events in the courtroom had taken a toll on the residents. So many mixed feelings. Richard Marsh had his hands clasped together in front of his lips. His eyes were red and the bags under them insinuated that he hadn't been able to sleep. He'd always trusted his daughter, Kate and always believed that whatever she will do, she will always remain true to her teachings and be a kind, selfless person.

However, what they had shown him in the courtroom had rattled him. Yet, He wanted to believe his daughter, her every word. He disregarded his wife's exasperation, he ignored the court proceedings. He ignored the snide and unethical remarks from Prescott's lawyers or the jeering laughter of the people present in the room. He believed his daughter was innocent and was a victim and intended to hold on to it. It didn't matter, if the video was true, or the words of her fellow students were true or if they trampled her pride and dragged her into a dark corner.

None of that mattered to Richard. He was the type of a man who would believe his family over the whole world even if every single person was against him and his family. Despite all that, he was feeling an unease in his heart. Before Kate ran away from the courtroom, in utter despair, their eyes met and Richard saw it. The way his daughter looked at him, so defeated, shattered, looking for help in his eyes. But, he couldn't do anything, as he froze at that moment. He couldn't tell his daughter that everything will be alright, like usual, and he saw his daughter disappear behind the courtroom's exit door. He stood there, speechless, frozen and confused on what to believe anymore.

He regretted not running after his daughter at that time. She needed his support and he failed as a father to understand what his daughter was going through for the past two weeks. They bullied her for her beliefs and her abstinence campaign. They filmed her during her momentary weakness and intoxication. They exposed her and all he did was sat there, appalled, in disbelief. He heard it from his wife, he heard it from his peers and the people of the church. Still, he believed his daughter, because his daughter was a pure, innocent, and a kind person. She would never do anything deliberately to shame him or her own teachings. Yet, he was here, in regret.

Lynn was seated on the single sofa, her knees curled on her chest and arms wrapped around it. Her eyes were red and welled up. She was not allowed in the court by her parents, so she sat in her room, waiting for them to return. She was hyped, wanted to greet them when they returned triumphantly. The doorbell rang, she ran to open the door to greet her parents and her elder sister with a smile. But when she opened the door, all she saw was the hunched and defeated body of his proud and kind father. He did not look like Richard Marsh she grew up idolizing and adoring. He looked thin, and his sparkling eyes were filled with a solemn uncertainty. Then she looked at her at her mother, wincing at the sight of her hardened, steely gaze. Her jutted jaw and the muscles of her face tightened showing her ire.

Her mother was always strict, authoritative, especially on Kate and Lynn herself. She would chide them for minor things, berate them and force them to repent of even insignificant mishaps. But she had never seen this look on her mother's face. Lynn was 10, but she knew something had happened. So, she asked for her sister, she asked where Kate is. Her father's quivering lips formed a smile and he cupped her cheek and told her she's alright. She would be coming back home, tomorrow.

Her mother, however, screamed that Kate will not set foot in this house. She will be sent to a monastery, or to their relatives. Lynn didn't understand what she meant. She had been kept in the dark. She'd heard whispers in the church, people pointing fingers at them. Her friends were avoiding her. Nobody would answer her phones. Nobody wanted to join her in studies, or help her father in community work.

The whole two weeks were like that for the Marsh family. In the house, there was a silence which was gnawing at her. The silence was only broken by the arguments between her parents. Her father trying to pacify her raging mother. Her mother blaming it on her father's weakness to be lenient to her daughters. She would blame his decision to allow Kate to enroll in Blackwell Academy and stay in the dorms. She blamed him for what her daughter did. Lynn's innocent mind could not understand the dark and dense air that was swirling in the house. So, she would just curl up in her room, hiding under her blanket and shed silent tears. Her happy family was breaking apart, bit by bit and she couldn't understand it at all.

Amanda Marsh, stood by the window, looking through the curtains. Her gaze was far away. As much of a strict mother she was, she loathed the idea of hurting her own daughters. The strictness was because of her fears. She did not want her daughters to become like those ill-bred, strayed teenagers who would mock their parents, and resort to drugs and alcohol. Shaming and betraying their parents' trust, by indulging in indecency and getting hurt, and ruining their lives. So, she had to be strict. To keep her daughters safe from the darkness of the rotten society. To let them grow into becoming respectful adults.

She did not hate any of her daughters. She loved them. They were her children, but she had to compensate for Richard's softness. Yet, in mere two weeks, her years of teachings, and cautious upbringing of her daughters, all of that was trampled to the ground by the mistake her daughter had made. She'd given in to the desires. She'd committed an immodest sin. Something that had destroyed the tranquil of their house. When they'd told her about the video that was circulating on the internet, she didn't believe it.

Her sister, Abigail had sent the video to her phone and what she had seen was something she had not expected from Kate, her sweet and obedient daughter. That girl in the video was so drunk that she was stumbling down and crawling on her knees, was not her daughter. Fraternizing with boys of her age, indulged in indecency, disregarding her disheveled clothes, her exposed cleavage. She was not paying heed to the crawling hands, disgustingly groping her body. Amanda, not bear to watch the whole video, had refused to do so. She had seen enough. Her sister called, chided her and her daughters. She'd told her that this is a great shame brought upon their family and the community. She'd told her she should disown her, cut her off. She'd called her daughter names, which Amanda had not wanted to listen to, but which she'd had not enough courage to deny either.

Outside the courtroom, she saw Kate. She saw her pleading eyes, requesting her to believe in her, but she ignored her pleadings. She did not even tell her to come home. Instead, she sat in the car and glared at her, until her broken daughter's visage disappeared from her sights. But she did it to teach her daughter a lesson. She had to be strict with her, to make her understand that what she did was wrong and she needed to repent of the sin she committed. Or she would never be able to face the questioning people. Not even Amanda, herself, would be able to face the people, her sister, and their community. This brought a tinge of disappointment in her. A feeling she simply couldn't dispel.

Nevertheless, Kate was her daughter, after all. Her flesh and blood. She could not abandon her. But vanity had gotten the better of her and she didn't have the strength to overcome her stubbornness. Richard called and spoke to Kate. Even Lynn and Julie-Anne consoled Kate, but Amanda did not. She did not know what to say. Her daughter was pleading her mother to speak to her. She had stayed stubborn and refused to talk.

A day later, she finally had started to think rationally. She had to believe her daughter. She knew what they said in the court was not entirely true. She wanted to send her daughter away. Away from the darkness of the academy which was devouring young souls. A girl missing, a girl murdered, a girl deemed crazy and unfit, and her daughter, exposed and berated. Her beautiful, kind, and obedient daughter, was exposed in front of the world to save and acquit a murderer. Despite these thoughts, of believing her daughter, she was stubborn. In the pretense of keeping her daughter safe and way from Arcadia Bay, she was abandoning her.

The blaring ring of the phone broke the eerie silence of the house. Lynn was the first one to get up and run towards the telephone. Richard tilted his head up and pensively looked on as his youngest daughter picked the phone. Amanda moved away from the window, crossed her arms just below her chest and her brows creased together in anticipation.

Lynn picked up the phone, "Hello?"

'H-Hello, Lynn' she heard a despondent and weak voice from the earpiece.

"Sis!" Lynn tilted her head towards their parents, "Mother, Dad, it's Kate!" she announced. Richard quickly got up from the couch and strode towards the phone.

"How are you, Kate. When are you coming back home?" Lynn asked, her innocent and excited voice held all the adoration she felt for her elder sister.

'I…' there was a pause, 'Yes… I am fine, thank you, Lynn. Is…is Dad t-there?' Kate spoke softly from the other end. Her voice was weak and shaky.

"Yes, he's here. I am passing the phone to him," Lynn replied. "Dad, she wants to talk to you," she said as she handed the phone to her father. Without her realizing, her eyes were already welling up again. Her sister was always cheerful, happy, despite whatever their mother said to them. Whatever mistakes Lynn made, she covered and kept her sisters safe from their mother's reprimanding ire. But today, she felt it too, young and naïve, she herself felt how broken and sad her sister was.

Richard answered, "Hello, Darling. How are you?"

'D-Dad…' His heart twisted and shattered into hundreds of pieces as he heard his daughter's broken voice. He was a man, a semblance of strength and a will. Yet he was not able to hold a dry airy sob that stubbornly tore through his chest and escaped from the confinement of his mouth.

"Yes, sweetheart, I am here," he said in a tender voice, ignoring the rising emotion that was clotting his throat.

There was a prolonged silence on the other end, which broke with a sob and a sniff, 'Dad, I am sorry, I am so sorry. Please believe me, I did not do that deliberately. I… s-swear on God, I di…' Richard clenched on the handle of the phone and gritted his teeth so he would not give in to his emotions. He shook his head furiously.

"No. No, no, Kate, my sweetheart. It's not your fault. I believe you, my baby, I believe your every word. I know they told lies. I know my daughter. You will not do anything to hurt your family." He tried his best to console her distraught daughter. But her broken sobs were twisting and breaking his own resolve.

'Dad, I've hurt you, and mother, Lynn, Julie. I shamed everyone. But I didn't mean it. I just wanted to live l-like a nor… a normal teenager and make friends. I didn't want to…' Richard could feel Kate's voice was breaking with every word she forced to speak.

"I know, sweetheart, I know. You didn't mean to. It's alright, everything will be fine. I and your mother will come to pick you up from school."

'Mother is upset with me, she was right… I humiliated the family name. Because of me, everyone has to bear their questions. I am sorry, Dad. I am so sorry.'

"It doesn't matter. People will understand. Believe in our Lord, Kate, like you always did. He has plans for us."

'I am tired, Dad. I cannot face anyone at the academy. They look at me with disgust and mock at me. I want to get away. I want to go…'

"Don't worry about them, my child. I'll come and pick you up soon."

'Dad, Can I talk to Mother?' The hurt and broken girl asked.

"Of course," He covered the mouthpiece with his palm and tilted his head towards his wife, who was attentively looking back at him and listening to the conversation. "Amanda, Kate wants to speak with you."

Amanda's jaw tightened for the moment, but then she averted her eyes. "I have nothing to speak to that girl."

Richard huffed. "Amanda, please stop this. She's our daughter. She needs us. For once, think about your children rather than letting your pride cloud your judgment."

She scoffed back. "Don't even get me started with pride, Richard. Just tell your daughter to pack her bags. She will leave that academy and will be going straight to the relatives. She will not set foot in this house as long as I am here."

Richard's eyebrows arched upwards. He was a considerate man, soft-spoken and kind. But what his wife just said meant she was kicking out her eldest daughter, disowning her. It brought a fiery surge in his body, and it might have been the first time he actually glared at his wife. "You are out of your mind if you think I will let you drag my daughter out of her house, Amanda. She will come back here, she will live here and she will do whatever she wants."

"Fine by me! If you bring her back here and in front of me then I will leave this house and I will be taking Lynn and Julie with me." 'You are wrong, Amanda. Why are you saying this? Kate is your daughter, your precious girl.' Her thoughts were the complete contradiction of what she was spitting out of her mouth, but yes, pride and vanity are something Amanda was accustomed to. She wants her daughter to learn. This hardship will make her strong, and a respectable person.

Richard ignored her and turned his attention back to the phone but it was disconnected already. He sighed and placed the phone back in its place and faced his wife. "She disconnected the call. She might have heard everything. Amanda, why are you doing this? Why do you intend to hurt your own daughter when she is so vulnerable?"

"You think I don't care about her well-being? She is my daughter too, Richard, but she has to learn. She has to understand what she did was wrong and sinful. You are blinded by your love for your daughter and you have shut off your ears, but I have to face it. I have to face people. I have to listen to the whispers behind my back. Do you even know? Lynn was bullied because the words are going around."

"Mother, I was not bullied. It's not sis's fault. I fought because they were saying bad things about sis," Lynn tried to justify the actions she had taken at school when one of her fellow student, also a member of her community church, had started badmouthing Kate. Lynn tried her best to stay calm but when the girl called her sister a sinner and a harlot. She couldn't bear it and slapped the girl, starting a fight. Her mother was called and Lynn was reprimanded for it.

"Do not speak when adults are talking, Lynn. Go to your room," Amanda reprimanded her youngest daughter.

"I will not. I want my sister." Lynn clenched her hands into small balls of fists and tried to match her mother's glare but she couldn't. She averted her eyes, and spoke pleadingly this time, "Please, mother."

"I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOM LYNN MARSH!" Amanda shouted at the young girl, who shrunk at her mother's furious voice and her shoulders slumped. Tears began pricking in her eyes yet again. She lost the count how many times she has cried. She dragged her feet as she slowly climbed the stairs and went back to her room. Even though the closed doors, she could clearly hear the muffled argument that was still going on. She sat on her bed, with her hands joined together on her lap, tears flowing like a river. She was young. She couldn't comprehend the things that were affecting her family. She did not know who to fault. All in her head were the thoughts of her sister. She wanted to see her.

Marsh Residence

October 7th, 2018, 01:52 am

Lynn shrank further in, the moonlight that was seeping through the blinds was reflecting in her glistening eyes. Tears were running over the bridge of her nose, wetting the bed cover, but she couldn't help it. She didn't have the energy to wipe her eyes. She tried to block the onslaught of past memories, and the things that kept rearing in her head. Memories she wanted to forget. Memories that haunted her to this day. That made her want to tear everything around her into pieces. So, she muffled her mouth and screamed, screamed till her lungs gave out, but the dreaded memories kept emerging. She was weak to fight them as the sickening dark engulfed her whole.

Blackwell Academy

October 12th, 2013, 13:45 PM

Richard parked the car in the Blackwell parking lot and turned off the engine. He turned his head to his side to look at his daughter who had her head rested on the glass window, looking out with deep pensive eyes. He sighed and placed his hand on her head, running through her striking blonde hair softly. Lynn lifted her head up and opened the car door, without even looking at her father. The argument earlier had disturbed the young girl so much that she was not even able to look at him, let alone speak to him. It was the first time she saw her father so angry. In the end, her mother didn't come. Getting out of the car, she started to walk fast, almost running. She was anxious, almost jumpy. She wanted to see her sister.

They passed by the gym building, all the way across the main campus, to the opposite side. Lynn anxiously glanced at the towering campus building. Her brows knitted together and fists clenched. This place, she thought, this place had brought only hurt and hardship for her sister. She still remembered the day Kate was excited to be accepted in Blackwell Academy for her fine arts studies, despite her mother's protests. Her father had been somehow, able to convince her mother. And Kate joined the academy just this September as a senior student.

Ignoring the rising bile and the erratic thoughts in her mind, Lynn increased her pace. She stopped in her tracks along with her father when they saw an ambulance and a police car parked in front of the campus. All of a sudden, Lynn felt a dread and her heart started to race, pounding faster every second. Blackwell Academy has already taken upon a reputation of an unsafe environment in the eyes of most of the Arcadia Bay locals. The presence of ambulance and police car meant something might have happened again. She tilted her head and looked at her father, but saw only fear in the kind man's eyes and it didn't take much time to transmit the same fear in Lynn.

Before even fully comprehending the situation, Lynn was already running towards the dorm building. Pushing through the crowded pavement. They finally reached the dorm entrance. Lynn could hear whispers by the entrance, but she didn't stop or wait for anyone. She pushed through the entrance doors. She remembered Kate's dorm room was on the second floor, room 222. She quickly ascended the stairs. Her father caught up with her near the entrance, heaving, and panting. The door to the hallway was blocked by students, murmuring, whispering, and gasping. They both stopped, more like were frozen, as they heard the heart-breaking weeping of a girl.

The dread Lynn was facing and trying to ignore was becoming a reality. She was smaller in height, so she pushed through the crowd, dodging, being bumped. But she finally managed to pass through the sea of students. The hallway was full of academy staff and a couple of police officers, trying to keep the students at bay. Her feet were planted on the floor. She tried to move but felt like invisible hands are holding her legs. She was 10, yet she was feeling so old and brittle, almost on the verge of crumbling, turning to dust.

Her eyes were on the girl who has fallen on the floor holding her chest, crying so hard that Lynn felt her own heart was tearing out of her chest. The naivety of her age was gone. She understood. She knew the room, she heard of the girl. She was her sister's best friend in the academy. A short brunette, kind and friendly and Kate's very first friend outside the community, Max Caulfield.

Why was she crying? Lynn thought. Why was she crying in front of her sister's room? Why was nobody helping her up? Why were all the people looking stressed and busy? Where was her sister? Why Lynn's own body was not moving? Lots of thoughts in her head. But one, which was the loudest, telling her that she had to move. Had to take a step, had to find out. She was in a turmoil. A turmoil of emotions. She was feeling many things and at the same time, she was feeling nothing but a numbness. The 10-year-old girl's heart was breaking. But she had to move.

So, the young girl pushed her young body, but her bones were feeling elastic and weak, like melting. Her skin was pulsing, a throb in her chest was beating so fast that she felt everything inside her body would come out. She moved, she got closer. One step, another, and she stopped. She tilted her head at the crying girl, but there as another one with her now. A taller brunette, who was hugging the girl tight and a policewoman trying to console the crying girl. The taller girl's eyes seemed empty like she had witnessed something horrific and been traumatized by that.

She felt someone tried to hold her, but she yanked herself loose. Someone was telling her not to look. But she did not heed it. She turned around to face the entrance of the room. At that moment, she felt a numbness engulfed her. She was frozen, couldn't even twitch. She couldn't pry her eyes away from the scene. She could not blink. Her eyes were stinging. Blood was all she saw. An arm dangling from the bed, a slashed wrist, streams of red that had marched through her palm to those curved fingers and ended up on the carpeted floor.

"Aaa….aaaAA….AAAHHHH!" she cried. "AAAAH! AAAHH!" the young girl screamed. She was on the floor, but she felt the ground was pulling her in, she was sinking. She was in a horror. She left her body and all of it was filled with despair, coming out as screams. Agonizing, painful and heart rendering screams. She was drowning in an abyss. She called for help. She tried to call for her sister, but her voice came out only a raw audible emotion. Words were broken and took over by agonizing screams. She almost fell, when two strong arms grabbed her. She was saved, but her body thrashed and struggled amidst the despair she was in. It was thrashing, kicking, screaming, biting, crying. Tears of every emotion she could muster, all of it were spilling from her eyes to match all the agonizing feeling she was being thrashed in.

And then, she felt nothing.

Marsh Residence

October 7th, 2018, 07:48 am

She screamed and sat up. Heaving, her lungs were burning. Sweat was showering all of her anxiety out of her body. Her body shivered and her jaw rattled and she was gasping for breaths. She tried to calm herself down. She clenched her fists tight and brought her arm near her mouth and bit on it. She clenched her teeth down until all of the pain in her heart had transferred to the clamped chunk of meat. Short on air, she breathed through her nose. She focused on the pain in her arm. Her nerves were coming back. Her lungs started working. Her hands and legs stopped shivering.

She let go of her arm, the teeth marks were already making that clump dark tints of red and purple, but she breathed. Slowly, steadily. Her ears were still thumping, but she could control her body, so she shifted, tried to move. A prolapse of shiver ran rampant one more time but she jerked it off. As soon as the feeling in her limbs almost returned. She grabbed the water bottle next to her bed. Tearing the cap, she chugged water like she had been thirsty for years. She coughed and hacked as the final spasms of her attack were subsided. She held her breath for a few seconds and exhaled in a whistling blow. A few more, and she was calm. Almost.

"Lynn! Lynn, open the door!" Her mother screamed, she bared her teeth into a sneer and groaned. As if her panic attack had not been enough to exhaust her, now her mother, the She-Devil, wanted to devour her. 'Once awoken by a panic, here comes the mommy manic. I am so glum. Meh!' She mopped her raven emo long hair, with the fringes which were painted in neon blues. She fell back on her bed and sprayed her arms long. The door kept banging until it stopped. She sighed contentedly. 'Finally!' She closed her eyes and giggled like a maniac herself. Her mirthful moment was washed away when she heard her father's, Richard's voice.

"Lynn, open the door," She was stiffened. Frozen. She would've had another lapse, had she not held fast to her senses. She quickly got up and opened the door. But what awaited her was not a proud, kind, strong and loving father. All she saw was a hunched man with a rugged beard, unkempt hair and drags like clothes. She only saw a defeated, trampled, decayed old man, with wrinkled and dry skin. Eyes, hollowed out, with not a single semblance of the proud and upright man, Richard Marsh was.

"Lynn, listen to what your mother says." His husky under the throat voice was like a rattling croak. It was not the voice of a preacher, a pious man. A soft-spoken, kind father who used to tell her stories when she was a twinkly little girl. All she heard was a despairing and agonized croak of a living yet dead man. She fought with her mother, she didn't answer the door, all of it, she did to spite him. She wanted her father to be angry, to hit her, to scream, yell. Take all the emotions, all the rage, all the agony, he had inside her. She wanted to sacrifice her own body for it. If she was to be hit she would have let him. Anything. She would do anything to bring him out the despair he was in for five years. But alas! It did not work. She saw the man descending the stairs, still hunched. His posture was even lower than yesterday. Yes, another day he added into keep holding the horror and the emotions which he had locked away from every living being in the whole universe.

Five years. Five years and the man, her father, blamed himself for the death of her sister, Kate. He had been shattered, and never become whole again. He blamed himself, he blamed his incompetence. He blamed his blindness. He just blamed. She had to see it all, but it also meant she was seeing nothing in that man. She only saw a husk, who once was Richard Marsh.

As soon as her mother entered the room, blocking Lynn's view, her father already descended the stairs and went to his room. Her eyes flickered with a raw emotion of hurt and disappointment, but then it started a fire in them. A glare, a menacing glare that could melt a person into a smoldering pile of nothing. This time, however, it was a reminder, something she did not want to forget but was temporary wavered off. Her thoughts were clear. Her senses were with her, and she thought as she clenched her fists and her black painted nails dug into her palms. She screamed in her head, 'PRESSCOTS!'

AN: Back, with another chapter. So, Lynn Marsh. Judging from the previous chapter and this, you've already gotten the idea of what happened in this AU-esque, diverged post-bay. I wanted to shed some light on the aftermath of the game, with a tragic twist. Max sacrificed Chloe to save the town and get Jeffoshit and Nathan arrested, but she did not expect how corrupt and rotten the judicial system was in Arcadia Bay.

I also wanted to write about the lives of the Marshes, how Kate's suicide has affected each and every member of the Marsh family. Mostly, Lynn as she blames her mother and the Prescotts for Kate's death. She is hell-bent on revenge but how will she succeed. Does she even stand a chance against a powerful family who has authorities of the town in their pockets? Find out more in future chapters.

Please leave your thoughts what do you think about this chapter.