Chapter 8

"Please tell me that's not another love note." Alyssa said as Rachel yanked another scrap of paper from her locker door. The last class of the day had finished and Rachel was getting ready for Chloe to pick her up so they could go and see Max. Chloe had rung her and told her that her uncle had advised her that if they were going to do as they discussed and take Max outside to take photos, now was the time.

"'There's a photography club meeting in Miss DaFrame's classroom. Hope you can make it.'" Rachel read out. "God, why did this have to happen today? I have to go and see Max!"

"Couldn't you just ask Chloe to wait a few minutes, go in, say you can't do today and reschedule?" Alyssa asked.

"I suppose I'll probably have to." Rachel said as she pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Chloe.

Five minutes later, she sat in Miss DaFrame's classroom waiting for someone else to show up. Getting bored, she walked over to the board, grabbed a pen and started drawing little heart shapes around the edges. She was interrupted by a call from Chloe.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. No one's turned up yet. I can't reschedule if there's no one here to reschedule with."

"Just leave then." Chloe replied. "You've been polite and turned up and you just got stood up for it. You've done all you can."

"Okay, I'll be out in a second." Rachel said before hanging up. She turned to the door only to see someone standing there. A boy she knew from her science class was standing like a statue in the doorway. "Are you here for the meeting, Hayden?" Rachel asked.

"There is no meeting." Hayden replied. "I just had to talk to you alone. You're different to all the other girls."

"Wait, what?" Rachel had to take a second to process what was happening. The air around her was rapidly growing warmer for some reason. Carefully, she backed up to turn off the heater only to find that it was never on. "Are you saying you tricked me into meeting you here? That's really not okay, Hayden. I should be with a friend who's currently dying in hospital. I put it off to come and reschedule a photography meeting which I now find out was a trick to get me alone. Can you see why I'm slightly annoyed about that?"

"I know. I'm sorry." Hayden said, holding his hands up in apology. "I just see you in class and I can't help but notice how beautiful you are. It's not like I did it anonymously either. I put my name and number on the first note. This was only so I could find out if you got it or just weren't interested."

"No, the name got ripped off. There was no name or number." Rachel said. "Look, I'm sorry but I already have a girlfriend. I'm really not interested in boys."

"You think you're better than me, don't you?" The question caught Rachel off guard. The air was getting even hotter. She couldn't believe that was possible. It was literally like the room was on fire.

"What... No... I..."

"You're such a manipulative little nuisance. You think you can just dump anyone any time. Well you can't just dump me!" Hayden advanced in an almost robot-like manner. As he approached, the air continued to heat up to the point where Rachel thought she would be incinerated where she stood.

"Get the hell away from me!" she screamed as she held her hand up in the hope it would deter him. Suddenly, she noticed he hadn't advanced. She looked up to see him walking backwards into the position he was previously in before advancing again. "What the hell just happened?" she asked herself.

"What just happened is that you realised there's no way out!" Hayden growled as he advanced again. Rachel extended her hand again. As before, Hayden started moving in reverse. Rachel saw his lips replay his side of their whole conversation before walking backwards out the door. Without stopping to think about what just happened, she ran out the door as fast as she could. As she turned the corner, she ran straight into Hayden again. She hadn't rewound far enough.

"Get the hell away from me!" she yelled.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" he asked in an almost loving tone. But when Rachel looked into his eyes, she saw a fiery evil burning inside them. Without thinking, she lifted her hand and slapped him. As soon as her palm made contact with his face, various images flashed in front of her vision.

Hayden stood in a void of darkness wearing only his pyjamas. It was clear he was frightened.

"Hello? Is this a dream?" he called out to no one in particular. "I'd like to wake up now, if that's okay?" Suddenly, a flaming shape descended from out of nowhere. If Rachel had to describe it, she would say it was a man made of fire. Just then, the flames melted away leaving a teenage girl standing where the man once was. Rachel recognised the girl instantly. But something was off. That same dark evil that burned in Max's eyes now was the same one that she'd just seen in Hayden's eyes. This version of Max seemed to radiate a dark light, which wasn't helped by her all-darkness wardrobe. Suddenly, Dark Max grabbed Hayden by the shoulders. The same dark energy encased him. When the black cloud cleared, another Dark Max was standing where Hayden once stood. On cue, they both ignited, leaving two flaming figures of the same man where the two Maxes previously stood.

Suddenly, Rachel seemed to be drawn inside the mind of the first one. Images flashed through her mind that couldn't possibly have happened. Max was duct-taped to a chair. A man was stood taking pictures of her. It looked a lot like the flaming man she'd just seen, but without the flames. Another image was dragged into her line of sight. Max and the man were swirling around in a gigantic tornado. Max grabbed the man's shoulders and watched him fragment in a cloud of blood.

"Goodbye, Mr Jefferson." Rachel heard Max mutter as she succumbed to death in the eye of the storm. As Rachel saw the light leave Max's eyes, she could hear the last thought going through her mind.

'I love you, Chloe.'

Rachel snapped back to reality with blood trickling from her nose and tears streaming down her face. Unable to stand, she dropped to the floor.

"I just saw you. You were poking around inside my head!" Rachel looked up and saw Hayden looking down at her. This time, it truly was him. She could see it in his eyes.

"That was me? I thought that was you." Rachel said as she hauled herself up. Hayden was just about to respond when he doubled over clutching his head.

"Are you actually going to come with me, or do you just want to stay here?" Rachel spun round to see Chloe standing behind her. "What the hell is wrong with Hayden anyway?" Chloe asked. Rachel turned back to see Hayden straightening up. This time, it wasn't him. That dark fire was blazing in his eyes again.

"It's impossible!" he muttered in a tone that wasn't his own.

"We need to run!" Rachel grabbed Chloe's arm and hauled her along. The pair of them ran at a blistering pace through the corridor. They burst out into the courtyard with Hayden in hot pursuit. Still holding Chloe's arm, Rachel spun to face him and focused. Immediately, Hayden started running backwards into the building again. As soon as the door shut, Rachel broke the connection.

"How the hell did you just do that?" Chloe asked. Since Rachel had been holding her arm, she hadn't been rewound too. She'd seen everything.

"It's very hard to explain." Rachel said. "Right now though, we just need to get to the hospital. I have to have a word with Max."