Life is Strange: My Unusual Journey

Chapter 1 of my Life is Strange novelization, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks :)
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Guest: Thanks, well, we'll see; I've got all the chapters typed up now, so it's just a matter of uploading them.
AKhaos: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it; well, the main differences as I said is a more heavier Grahamfield twist and I now have Episodes 4 and 5 finished, so yeah, we can only wait and see.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life is Strange or its characters.

Chrysalis – Confusion

Stepping out into the corridor, I was instantly overcome by the noise of all the students around me, some walking to their lockers, others standing around.

'Welcome to the real world.' I thought sarcastically as I listen to the drama around me.

Then, amongst all that I heard my name mentioned and not in a good way. I instantly zeroed in on those responsible and fought to keep my expression neutral; it was Taylor and a dark haired girl, also dressed in designer clothing.

I suppressed a sigh as I spotted them. 'Of course, Taylor, and Courtney, Victoria's other minion.'

Doing my best to ignore them I considered my plan to try again and show Mr. Jefferson my picture, but right now my mind was too full, I needed to focus. I was certain the stress was showing on my face too.

I shook my head. 'I need a serious time out in the bathroom…Splash some water on my face and make sure I don't look like a total loser.'

With that I decided to head there now, but the sound around me was too much. I felt as if I was being oppressed by it and desperately sought a way out. My only option was to silence the constant chatter the only way I knew how.

I pulled the headphones for my iPod out and plugged them in, effectively quietening my surroundings. Then even more so when the music came on, I smiled as the sounds of 'To All of You' by Syd Matters filled my ears.

Taking a deep breath I set the song on loop and began to walk down the school corridor. As I did so I began to take note of the various students in the corridor, some stood out as I observed them. The first one I saw was a young man with dark hair and glasses, I recognized him.

'That's Evan, he doesn't talk to me much, but his photos are so cool.' I thought to himself, smiling slightly.

A little further down the corridor I spotted Alyssa, texting rapidly on her phone; I slowly made my way over to my locker.

As I did so I noted the two standing in front of a nearby classroom; the first was a scruffy looking young man with brown hair and eyes, a slight goatee and clothes of a typical skater. He was talking to a rather beautiful girl with blonde hair in a ponytail, blue eyes and was dressed in fashionably ripped jeans and dark top.

I thought hard, trying to remember. 'That's Justin, leader of the skater posse and…That's Dana, she's such a gorgeous archetypal cheerleader. They must make them in a factory somewhere.'

Realizing what I thought I shook my head as I opened my locker, putting a few books away.

'I shouldn't be so catty, Dana's nice to me.' I chided myself; before closing the locker.

I paused in my journey to the bathroom as another thought occurred to me.

I bit my lip as I considered the one lingering issue regarding my return to Arcadia Bay.

'Five years, it's been five years and I've not even made any effort…' I thought sadly. 'Oh, now I'm even more scared of what Chloe's gonna say when, if I finally do contact her again.'

Chloe Price was my best friend five years ago; we used to get up to all sorts of mischief and fun together, playing pirates, exploring, practically anything we could. My mom and dad were so pleased I had such a good friend; making friends didn't come naturally to me.

I was just as shy back then as I was now, a side effect of the Asperger's, paired with the Social Anxiety. Of course back then we didn't know why I didn't seem to just…click, with anyone, but now we did and things made more sense.

I sighed as I recalled. 'Of course that all ended five years ago, when Chloe's dad died, shortly after that, my family and I moved away…I never once contacted Chloe after that, God I am such a terrible friend, can I even call myself that anymore.'

This was making my mind even more messed up; I had to clear my head. I focused on the music and resumed my walk to the bathroom. As I did so, I observed the classroom Dana and Justin were standing outside of and smirked.

'Ah the science classroom, here's the door to Warren's brain.' I thought jokingly.

Warren was one of the few friends I had managed to make at Blackwell; he was a nice guy and a major science geek. Not that it bothered me as I was quite geeky myself, just not on Warren's level; he excelled at science.

So too did the girl I spotted just past the science classroom, leaning against the lockers. She had dark hair with highlights and brown eyes, her clothes were a clash of grey, black and red, I recognized her from the few times I saw her around school and in the dorms, her name was Brooke.

I spotted Stella too, sitting on the floor against the lockers on the other side of the corridor; she was lost in her notes and oblivious to the world around her.

I continued to walk until I sensed the movement in front of me, looking up I stopped for there was poor Daniel, being shoved against the lockers and likely taunted by two jocks, I only recognized one of them, Logan.

Not only was he a star football player but a member of the most popular and exclusive club in Blackwell, the Vortex Club.

'I feel sorry for Daniel and I wish I could kick Logan's ass for this.' I thought angrily.

But the anger fizzled out as quickly as it came, I hated conflict and tried to avoid being confrontational whenever possible, as a result, I lacked the courage to step in. so dejectedly I made my way down to the main lobby of Blackwell.

Looking around I observed a few other familiar faces, the first being Hayden. He was another jock and Vortex Club member, although admittedly, he was rather laid back and didn't shove his popularity in people's faces. I then spotted a brown haired girl, smirking as she talked with another guy, another football player.

'That's…Juliet and Zachary, if I remember right.' I noted as I bit my lip although I smiled as I definitely knew the next person I saw. 'That's Trevor, he's one of Justin's friends…I like skater boy's, but they don't like me.'

I looked up and saw two other people, both adults, one was the science teacher, Ms. Grant and the last was the school custodian, Samuel. Samuel was a little 'odd', but I liked him, he was a good person.

As I had been walking down the corridor and looking around the hall, I had also been taking in the various posters, some about the school's 'effective' anti-bullying campaign, some posters for Kate's abstinence campaign which had been vandalized.

There were also posters for gun control, stuff about the school's swimming and football teams, a few personal notices requesting help, lost items or such. But there was a pattern in that there seemed to be multiple versions of the same poster. Seeing another I approached it and got a good look. It was a missing person's poster, for a girl called Rachel Amber.

'Seems she's been missing for months…I wonder what happened to her?' I thought as I read the details. 'I hope she's okay.'

I slowly turned away from the poster and, after another careful look around; I made my way to the bathroom. Once I entered I removed the earphones and shut my iPod off, briefly, subconsciously making a note of the time. The bathroom was mercifully empty.

'Good, no one can see my meltdown.' I thought to myself before walking over to the sink.

I carefully tried to observe myself in the mirror, not easy since someone had decided to graffiti it, leaving a novelty mask image on it. I shook my head and turned on the sink.

'Feels like the whole universe is taunting me today.'

I washed my face and let out a slow careful breath, drying my hands and face I pulled out the photo.

I stared at it for a while; my mind continuing to race as, despite my efforts, there was no calming down.

"Fuck it." I said at last, giving up.

I then promptly ripped the photo in two and dropped it to the ground; feeling worse than ever. I was bracing myself for what I felt would be my oncoming meltdown. Instead I noticed a distinct movement in the corner of my eye and turned my head in time to see a butterfly floating in.

I bit my lit as I considered it for a moment. 'When God closes a door, he opens a window, or something like that.'

I followed the butterfly around the corner, behind the stalls where it landed on a mop bucket. The butterfly was blue and seemed almost ethereal, almost like a spirit.

I stared in awe before realizing my opportunity. 'Okay girl, you don't get a photo op like this every day.'

So, being careful not to disturb the butterfly, I pulled out my camera, readied it and edged closer.

Once I was certain I had the shot I took it, the flash startled the butterfly and it flew back out into the bathroom, but I had the picture. I smiled and placed the camera and photo in my bag, it was then I heard the door to the bathroom open.

Normally I wouldn't have worried about that, except that, looking around the corner, the figure that had just entered turned out to be a boy, nor a girl. A boy with short blonde hair and brown eyes, clad in designer clothes.

What was worse, I recognized him and instantly pressed myself against the wall of the bathroom stall next to the corner I was standing in.

'What is Nathan Prescott doing in here?' I wondered. 'This is so freaky, I mean, even he doesn't normally…'

Nathan Prescott was the son of Sean Prescott, a rich man who practically owned Blackwell and perhaps most of Arcadia Bay now. Nathan was a scary guy who had a really bad temper. I found him to also be an elitist, even more so than Victoria, which of course marked me as someone for him to diss.

Not only that, I know for a fact he seems able to get away with murder here, doing practically anything he pleased and not one member of faculty intervening. Yet there were times where he didn't seem arrogant, just messed up, or overly-medicated, like right now. Hiding in the corner I peeked out and saw him vaguely checking the stalls, like he was looking for someone, or just checking if anyone was around.

His eyes had a strangely vacant look to them. As I watched he went to the exact same sink I had just used and stood leaning on it, his limbs jerked and trembled as if he were super nervous or freaked.

Then, to top it off, he started talking to himself.

"It's cool Nathan, everything's gonna be fine, bro." He muttered. "Remember, you own this school, if I wanted to, I could blow it up."

Yeah, that wasn't worrying at all, I mean, when I'm giving myself pep talks to calm down, at least I do it in my head, not out loud. It was then the shit hit the fan, so to speak; the door opened again and a girl, who certainly wasn't a Blackwell student, entered.

She looked to be in the same age group as Nathan and I, tall with dyed blue hair, she was dressed rather punk rock and had piercings, a partially visible tattoo on her arm, mostly covered by her leather jacket.

Nathan mumbled something that I couldn't hear, but the girl must have. There was a small jangling sound, likely from her triple bullet necklace as she checked the stalls, I quickly hid again. Strangely, there was an unusual stirring in my mind, seeing that girl, as if she was familiar.

'But how, I've never seen her before, I'd definitely remember someone like that?' I wondered.

It was then I heard the girl talking and realized she hadn't freaked out about Nathan's presence, as if she expected him to be here.

"I hope you checked the perimeter as my step-shit would say." She snarked before stopping and, I guessed, turning to Nathan. "So, let's talk bidness."

I glanced out of my hiding place and saw the girl approaching Nathan, who replied sharply.

"I got nothing for you."

The girl seemed pissed as she leaned in, getting in his face. "Bullshit, you got hella cash."

Nathan glowered as he replied. "That's my family, not me."

I was shocked by this, this girl was trying to extort Nathan Prescott of all people, she must have had serious cojones to even consider something like this.

The girl wasn't impressed by his denial and threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kid." She remarked sarcastically. "I know you've been pumping drugs and shit to the kids here, I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them."

Nathan's anger was rising; even from this distance I could see it. "Leave them out of this, bitch!"

Yet for some reason the girl kept right on pushing Nathan.

"C'mon, pay up, or I'll tell everyone that Nathan Prescott is a whiny bitch who talks to himself and hides in girl's bathrooms." She demanded angrily.

By this time she had moved around to Nathan's other side and stood, arms folded. Then Nathan did the last thing I ever expected him, or anyone to do, he pulled a gun. I almost gasped and gave myself away when he drew the handgun and pinned the girl to the wall, pointing the gun, point blank, at her stomach.

"Shut up, just fucking shut up!" He snarled.

The girl's bravado was gone, replaced with concern and shock. "What the fuck, where did you get that?"

Nathan shook his head. "I'm sick and tired, of people trying to control me!"

"You are gonna get in Hella more trouble for this than drugs." The girl said seriously.

"Nobody would even miss your punk ass, would they!?" Nathan bellowed, clearly having snapped.

Then it happened; I don't what came over me, but something made me leave my hiding place, just as the girl yelled.

"Get that gun away from me, psycho!"

She shoved Nathan, only for the gun to then go off, shooting her.

"No!" I cried out, reaching out with my right hand.

I don't know what I expected to happen, but it wasn't anything like what did happen. Suddenly things seemed to slow down and I felt like my surroundings were all made of liquid, then, I swear, I saw the whole shooting again, in reverse, before everything went black.

I jerked as everything came back into focus and I found myself perplexed.

'Whoa, what the fuck, I was in the bathroom, saw Nathan, he shot that poor girl and then I…'

It was then as I heard a familiar voice that I took note of my surroundings and froze.

"Alfred Hitchcock once famously called films, little pieces of time. But he could have been talking about photography as he likely was."

I looked up, in disbelief at Mr. Jefferson, and then around the class, where I again saw Stella dropping her pencil.

I was shocked to say the least. 'How did I end up back here, I already heard this lecture…Now poor Kate is being hassled again.'

I had just witnessed Taylor throwing the insulting message at Kate once more. Realizing something, something that couldn't possibly be true, I looked over at Victoria's phone. If her phone vibrated again, this was real.

Sure enough it did, startling me, so much so I accidentally knocked my camera off the desk, breaking it, but nobody noticed.

'Aw man.' I thought, seriously annoyed but also freaked out. 'Okay, somehow, I've gone back in time, but…wait, when I raised my hand, did I…?'

That wasn't possible, surely not, it sounded like the plot of one of those cheesy films Warren downloaded onto a flash drive he sometimes lets me borrow. I looked down at my camera, figuring I might as well test things out; Jefferson's lecture was progressing just as it had before.

I concentrated hard, trying to figure out how to reverse what just happened, after all, what I had done was like rewinding time itself right. Nothing happened; so I tried to remember exactly what I had done in the bathroom.

Then it hit and, feeling foolish, I slowly raised my right hand, until it was in the same position it had been in the bathroom. I felt a strange sense of displacement as once again, my surroundings seemed to become liquid and blur, but as I concentrated it happened, slowly but surely I noticed things going in reverse and, before I knew it, my camera fixed itself and flew back up onto the desk.

I lowered my hand and things started to flow normally again, I stared in amazement at the camera and then at my hands.

'I did it, I reversed time.' I realized in amazement. 'I'm a human time machine…'

It then struck me, if I had reversed time, the incident in the bathroom hadn't happened yet.

'That girl, I could save her…I just need to get the bathroom and figure out a way…'

I thought for a moment, I still wasn't a hundred percent convinced I had really gone back in time. There was a way to make sure however. When I took my selfie Mr. Jefferson reacted and then asked me a question, if it happened again, that had to be proof.

So I took the selfie and sure enough Jefferson reacted.

"I believe Max has taken what you people call a 'selfie'. A dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition, and Max has a gift."

I bit my lip, this was real, but I couldn't freak out, I had to stay focused.

"Of course the concept of self-portrait has been part of the art world for…as long as it's been around. Your generation wasn't the first to use pictures for, 'selfie expression'." Mr. Jefferson remarked and the class groaned 'again'. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

I tensed as once again Mr. Jefferson then spoke directly to me.

"Now Max, as you've caught our attention and clearly want to join the conversation, tell us the creative process that gave birth to the first self-portraits."

I needed an excuse to leave and so said the first one that came to mind. "I…I feel sick, may I be excused."

But Mr. Jefferson didn't buy it. "Nice try Max, but I'm not falling for that one. We'll speak more after class."

With that he once again asked the rest of the class and I fought not to groan. 'Shit, Mr. Jefferson plans to keep me after class and I need to get to bathroom to save that girl…I wonder, could I rewind and give him the right answer.'

I knew the answer now as Victoria just said it and I did my best to take it on-board, hopeful this would work I raised my hand again and once more found myself rewinding through time.

I wasn't sure how far back to go, but in the end it didn't matter, seemed there was a limit to how far I could go back. I was suddenly forced to stop rewinding when my vision blurred and my head nearly exploded with pain. I quickly recovered however, ready to answer as Mr. Jefferson then asked.

""Now Max, as you've caught our attention and clearly want to join the conversation, tell us the creative process that gave birth to the first self-portraits."

Ready this time I replied. "The Daguerreian process, developed by Louis Daguerre in…the 1830s."

Mr. Jefferson seemed impressed as he replied. "Someone has been studying, as well as posing, very good Max."

I smiled, doing my best to ignore the sound of disgruntlement from Victoria. Mr. Jefferson went on to explain more about the Daguerreian process before the bell rang and he once more made his speech about the Everyday Heroes contest, pointing out Stella, Alyssa, Taylor and myself again.

I slowly stood up from desk, having packed everything away. 'Max you are not crazy, you are not freaking out…It's time to be an Everyday Hero.'

Wanting to be absolutely sure however that I was back in time, I spoke to Kate. She congratulated me on my right answer before telling me this was the first time we spoke today, I made an excuse to detract suspicion but now I was certain.

I hurried towards the door, but the moment my hand touched the handle; I jumped as Mr. Jefferson called to me.

"I see you Max Caulfield; don't even think about leaving before we talk about your entry."

I silently cursed, I didn't have time, I slowly made my way over to Mr. Jefferson's desk and he smiled.

"I'd never one of photography's brightest new stars avoid handing in her picture."

I faltered at that and quickly tried to think of an excuse. "I'm…not sure I have one."

Okay, not good, but surely better than last time.

Mr. Jefferson raised an eyebrow at that. "I figure with your Selfie output you'd have…a thousand pictures by now?"

"It's gonna take a while to get the right one."

Mr. Jefferson shrugged. "Well don't take too long Max, as John Lennon once said, 'Life is what happens when you're busy making plans'. Now, go on."

I bit my lip and nodded before turning and leaving the classroom, I had no time, I couldn't talk to anybody, not that they'd believe me. So I just rushed to the bathroom, praying I wasn't too late. I entered the bathroom, nobody was here; I decided to make sure circumstances were exactly as they had been.

'Okay Max, how did it go, step by step…?' I thought carefully and then carried out the actions as I ran through them in my head, as things unfolded exactly as before. 'I washed my face, shredded my photo, then a butterfly appeared and I…took a picture.'

I stood up from taking the butterfly picture, thinking to myself, so lost in thought that when I recovered, Nathan and the girl were already arguing, just like before.

I knew I had to act fast, there had to be something, some distraction I could use. Intervening directly would just get me shot. My eyes fell on the ancient fire alarm.

'That'll work but, I'll need to break the glass, where's the hammer?' I thought in a panic.

Acting on a hunch I moved the cleaning cart and found it, I was running out of time, Nathan was getting agitated; they were nearly at the part where he shot her. Acting at once I used the hammer to break the glass and hit the alarm.

The cacophony of noise echoed throughout the school as the alarm went off; I peeked around the corner in time to see the girl shoved Nathan, the gun pointed away from her now.

"Don't ever touch me again, Freak!" She yelled before fleeing.

I hid as Nathan scrambled to his feet, mumbling to himself; before finally leaving. It was then I, at last, emerged from my hiding place.

'That did not just happen?' I thought in disbelief. 'I just saw a girl get shot, then went back in time and saved her life…'

I could still scarcely believe it; but right now, with the alarm still blaring I knew I had to get out of here, before anyone got suspicious. I quickly hurried to the door and exited the bathroom.

I thought I could slip out unnoticed, no such luck. I had barely gone five paces from the bathroom when a voice startled me.

"Hey, don't you hear that alarm!" A thickly accented male voice suddenly burst out. "That means you should be outside!"

I looked up in time to see a man with dark hair and eyes and small beard and moustache. It was Head of Blackwell Security, David Madsen.

'Of all people it had to be him, Mr. Paranoid of everything.' I mentally cursed before trying to offer an excuse. "I had to use the bathroom."

Madsen shook his head. "Girls always use that excuse."

"Excuse for what?" I replied, shocked at his response.

"Excuse for whatever it is you're up to." He snarled. "Guilt is written all over your face."

I shook my head. "It's true, I was in the bathroom, the alarm tripped me out."

"Then trip on outta here, missy."

I bit my lip but then another male voice interrupted.

"Thank you Mr. Madsen; that will do." He said.

I turned my head and saw the person talking, a middle aged bald man with dark eyes and dark skin, it was Principal Wells.

He continued to talk. "There's no emergency here. Please stop harassing Miss Caulfield and please turn off that alarm, since that's your job."

Madsen glared at me and, muttering to himself, headed off to do just that. I let out a small sigh and then saw the Principal indicating for me to come over.

I approached cautiously; I didn't know what to make of Principal Wells. He had been welcoming enough when I first arrived, but following that he hardly emerged from his office. He also seemed to distrust me and I always felt strangely uneasy on the few times I did have any contact with him.

"Are you alright, Miss Caulfield?" He asked; trying to sound casual, yet failing miserably.

I decided to take a cautious approach. "I'm just a little worried…about my future."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're sweating pinballs, you sure that's all your worried about? Or have you done something wrong, tell me Max?"

I bit my lip, realizing he was right; I was perspiring quite a bit, another side effect of being in a stressful situation especially when you had Social Anxiety. But still, how could I tell him I saw Nathan Prescott with a gun, especially given the…unique circumstances of what happened and besides, it was Nathan.

'He wouldn't believe me if I told him…I mean, c'mon, Nathan's family practically own the school. No, I can't…'

I shook my head and said the first thing that came to mind. "Nothing like that, I just…had to go to the bathroom, girl troubles."

"Do you honestly think that's the first time a student has used that line on me?" The Principal replied, shaking his head. "Just tell what you did…?"

I responded quickly. "It's true, I felt sick in Mr. Jefferson's class, these things happen, right?"

Principal Wells rolled his eyes. "There's that teen 'tude again; I think your parents would be very disappointed if they were to hear about this sort of behaviour."

I stepped back, a little surprised at that.

"You know what, I've heard enough of this, just…go on outside with the rest of your class."

With that Principal Wells turned and stalked back into his office and I sighed.

I almost felt like someone had just let the air out of me.

'No, he did not buy that at all…I probably just flushed my scholarship down the drain…But; urgh, I'll take the risk.' I decided in the end.

So, with a soft sigh, I turned and walked over to the main doors, leading out to the main campus. I pushed the doors open and headed outside.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.