Life is Strange: My Unusual Journey

Chapter 7 of my Life is Strange novelization, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

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

Out of Time – After the Storm

I groaned as the buzzing and beeping of my phone alarm woke me up. My eyes felt heavy and I certainly did not feel productive. I awkwardly rolled over and hit the button to turn the alarm off. But then of course, my back-up alarm kicked in, I had set my hi-fi to turn on and play 'Something Good' by Alt-J at a set time after my phone alarm, in order to ensure I got up as I would need to turn it off.

I blearily opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling of my room for a short while, I noted that during the night I must have been restless for I had completely kicked the covers off me. With a tired sigh I sat up, recalling just why I was so tired.

After collecting those books and such from Warren I had got hard to work, using the books, various DVDs, the internet with sites recommended by Warren and God knows what else.

All trying to find out anything I could about my rewind powers, that freak snow storm yesterday was still on everybody's mind, including mine, I was sure there was a connection between it, my powers and the tornado vision.

'But as for what it is I have no idea…No wonder I'm tired, I practically rode my brain into the ground staying up so late.' I mused to myself. 'Got so little sleep and I'm still no more clued in than I was when I started.'

I sighed again and stood up.

I had to admit, I was slightly surprised to see I even remembered to change into my pyjamas, a pair of beige shorts and a green short sleeved top with cute chick designs. I turned to my bed and, acting automatically I began to fix it up.

I almost laughed at doing this; it was just so natural. 'I'm so not a rebel, I like my bed to be neat and tidy…thanks mom.'

Finished with that I turned and stretched, yawning, it was then I saw myself in the mirror.

'Whoa…hello zombie face.' I thought, biting my lip. 'No amount of rewind is gonna keep me clean, I need a shower.'

I turned away from the mirror, I was the very picture of exhaustion despite having got some sleep. Bags under my eyes, total bedhead, I actually thought I looked paler than usual too, which was a little strange.

Before I could move however, my phone beeped, indicating a message. I picked up, it was from Chloe, we had spoken by message last night about what happened and also made plans for today, sure enough here was Chloe finalizing these plans, we would meet at the Two Whales Diner soon. I knew I'd have time, my first class today was cancelled.

I shook my head sadly. 'Mrs. Hoida is still of sick, with severe depression…Poor woman, I hope she feels better soon.'

I checked the few texts I had received from Warren last night too, as well as surprisingly one from Victoria, thanking me but stating we weren't friends. Mom had sent a text just this morning, reminding me about Lisa, while also warning me to be careful not to use too much water.

I looked around my room, it was an even bigger mess than yesterday, with many of the time travel books and DVDs scattered on my desk or the couch, my laptop had e-mails from Warren and several time travel websites still open on it.

I had set William's camera on the desk next to my laptop. I smiled however when I approached Lisa, I had watered her yesterday and she looked well. Recalling Mom's warning I left Lisa and checked my laptop, still trying to get my head around all this crazy stuff I was checking, I had even written my own notes on sheets of paper and post-it notes which were stuck to the wall behind my laptop, or scattered on the desk and couch.

I then spotted an e-mail from Dana which made me laugh. 'Dana is not messing around, she's more into Halloween than I am.'

Acting on impulse I picked up William's camera.

'This picture will capture this historic moment in my life.' I thought to myself. 'Okay, no smiling, take your power seriously.'

I held the camera out at arm's length and took the selfie, setting both camera and photo down on my desk afterwards. Not my best shot, but it wasn't too bad.

I had to remind myself I was on a time limit and turned away, making sure to switch my hi-fi off, didn't want to disturb anyone. I walked over to my wardrobe and picked up my shower supplies.

'Just because some student pranked a girl's shampoo and made her hair fall out, we have to safeguard our toiletries…' I recalled, shaking my head. 'So summer camp.'

Ready at last I went and left my room, ready to hit the showers.

Right away I was assaulted by noise as the dorm corridor already had been up and about. Right in front of me I could see Courtney standing outside Victoria's room. The door was ajar, Victoria standing in it, handing papers to Courtney.

"Courtney don't forget I need these papers done, like, today." She was saying, somewhat forcefully. "Thanks Cherie."

Courtney replied immediately. "Don't worry Victoria, I'll get the papers to you this afternoon, I am so on it, consider it done."

With that she turned and began to walk down the corridor. I bit my lip, considering what I just saw, Victoria basically forcing Courtney to do her homework for her.

Shaking my head and I turned and began to make my way down towards the shower rooms. I looked ahead and spotted Alyssa reading the notice boards. As I drew near I saw the door the bathroom, behind Alyssa, open.

Someone from inside then lobbed a full toilet roll out, striking poor Alyssa in the back of the head. I bit my lip as she grunted from the impact and then turned, glaring.

'Man; that sucks, well, time to help again.' I decided at once.

So with that I held out my hand and began to rewind again, back to before the little incident and a little further back, to give me time. I stepped up, not really thinking about what to say.

So the words just came out. "Alyssa, can you stand over there a minute?"

"Okay Max…if that makes you happy?" Alyssa replied slowly, clearly confused.

But then the toilet paper was thrown again and this time hit the wall, missing Alyssa completely.

Alyssa looked at the thrown toilet paper in surprise before looking at me, grinning.

"Wow; that was close, thank you Max."

I nodded, smiling lightly myself. I was about to resume my trek to the showers when I spotted three other people in the corridor.

Juliet and Brooke were hanging out outside Juliet's room, both looking at something on Juliet's phone, something which seemed to have them totally engrossed. The third person took me by surprise, mainly because, it was a boy.

'Is that Trevor, coming out of…Dana's room?' I thought in disbelief.

Sure enough it was; He was writing something on Dana's room slate, before he saw me and quickly, yet somehow still nonchalantly, left. I approached; still surprised, I then saw what he had written on Dana's slate, in the top right corner he had simply written the words 'love you, T'.

I could already hear the loud music blasting from Dana's room and looking inside I could see Dana, still clad in the simple grey tank-top and matching shorts she wore to sleep, dancing enthusiastically on her bed. I could also hear the sound of banging on the wall and Stella yelling at Dana to turn the music down, she wasn't a morning person.

'I've never seen Dana this bouncy and excited without a cup of coffee.' I thought joyfully as I knocked on the door before entering.

Seeing me Dana hopped down from her bed, turning the music down, and sat down on it, smiling.

I returned the smile as I greeted her.

"Hey Dana, how are you?"

She replied cheerfully. "Much better than yesterday, I'm glad we talked."

I felt relief at that; after seeing Dana so worked up yesterday, it was good she seemed more relaxed now. "Me too, I know it helps to just, talk about this stuff."

Dana nodded and then remarked. "You're almost psychic, it's like you already knew."

Oh if she only knew how true that was.

"Anyway, the best and biggest news of the day, is that Trevor finally asked me to the Halloween shindig." She told me excitedly.

I grinned, caught up in her enthusiasm. "That's awesome Dana."

She was also grinning as she spoke excitedly. "I know, it's great we're finally showing our faces in public. So you absolute have to come to the party with us; borrow one of my outfits and come as a cute geek couple with your bitch, Warren."

I fumbled awkwardly at that; there was that dreaded word, party. With my Asperger's and social anxiety, parties were almost literally purgatory.

"I'm…not big on cosplay." I muttered, trying to think up an excuse.

To Dana's credit she didn't pressure me, merely tried to encourage me.

"Don't let life pass you by Max, c'mon, it'll be fun."

I bit my lip and decided to put a brave face on things, who knows after all. "Why the fuck not, if I don't like it I can always just come back, to my room."

Dana nodded, grinning again. "That's the spirit, after this, you'll be ready for a rave."

"Well, I better go and contemplate my party future." I replied; feeling some of that anxiety within me actually fade away.

Dana nodded and I left the room, allowing her to get to work getting ready for the day.

As I did I looked over at Brooke and Juliet; I could hear them talking to each other, clearly whatever they were watching was something which disgusted them. I heard the Vortex club mentioned and, surprisingly, Kate. I approached cautiously, my curiosity and desire to know what was happening overcoming my usual awkwardness.

"Hi Juliet."

She looked up and smiled. "Hey Max, how are you?"

I nodded. "Fine…Um, what are you watching?"

Juliet made a face and shook her head. "It's a video; of Kate partying with the Vortex club, honestly it's…"

I was shocked by that. "That doesn't sound like Kate, at all."

"It's right here Max, seriously, you don't believe Kate would…" She replied, trying to show me.

I gently pushed her phone away from me and glared. "Do you believe everything you see or hear; like Zach and Dana apparently sexting each other?"

That did the trick, Juliet actually looked guilty and bit her lip. "Well, now I feel like an ass. You're right Max, there's gotta be more to this. Sorry, well I promise, I won't watch it anymore, and I'll apologize to Kate…first chance I get."

"That sounds like a good idea." I replied.

Juliet nodded and returned her attention to her phone, closing down the link to the video she had open and instead opening what I guessed was her writing blog. After nodding hello to Brooke, who had surprisingly remained passive as Juliet and I spoke, no doubt simply 'watching the show', I turned and made my way back to the showers, I had to hurry now or I'd definitely be late.

All the same, my worries about Kate increased upon hearing about this video, something was definitely wrong about all this. I made a brief detour towards Kate's room, spotting something which irked me. Kate's room slate was vandalized with another slanderous message.

'I'd sure like to catch this hallway tagger, maybe get a photo of them in the act.' I thought darkly as I erased the message again. 'As if Kate doesn't have enough to deal with, she's already seen this no doubt, but…hopefully she'll see it's been erased and realize someone has her back.'

Shaking my head I turned away and finally made my way to the shower room.

Entering, I finally saw the source of yesterday's flood, the shower nearest the door was out of order, the flood must have come from that one. I was hardly surprised; the plumbing in this place was awful.

The shower furthest from the door was already occupied too, I paused however as I then finally saw Kate. I was surprised as normally by this time Kate would be all prepared for the day and would have already left the dorms.

Instead she was still in her green and white pyjamas and was still brushing her teeth. I approached uncertainly, noting that Kate looked even more depressed than yesterday.

I was even more at a loss on what to do. But I couldn't just ignore Kate, she needed someone and it seemed I was the only person who ever made the effort.

"Hi Kate, how are you?" I asked softly, already feeling like I was being stupid.

Kate turned to me and shrugged. "I'm here…Thanks so much for yesterday by the way."

I knew she was referring to when I stepped between her and Madsen. "Oh, no problem. That guy has issues."

"Doesn't everybody around here?" She queried exasperated.

I bit my lip and bowed my head; there was a brief awkward silence as I fumbled for words, yet again.

Kate was the one to speak first however. "Max, do you still have my copy of the October Country?"

I brightened a little at that and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I do, I loved it. I had no idea Bradbury was such a poet."

Kate just nodded.

"Do you think you could bring it back to my room, I just need to make some notes for class?" She asked softly; actually looking even more awkward than I felt.

I nodded and smiled, doing my best to make it an encouraging one. "Of course, I'll bring it back a little later, okay."

Kate nodded and turned back to the sink.

I once more bit my lip, feeling worried yet uncertain. 'Kate does not look good, I just…I don't want to pry, but I want to help her.'

There was just so much going on just now, I was having a hard time keeping up. Trying to focus my mind I stepped into the shower cubicle nearest me and closed the curtain.

I set my shower supplies down on the small bench next to the shower and stripped off my pyjamas before turning on the shower and immediately letting the warm torrent of water cover me.

I instantly relaxed, allowing myself to calm down as the hot water unknotted my muscles. As I cleaned myself however, I heard something which made me stop, the door of the shower room opened and I then heard Victoria's distinctive voice.

"What's up Kate?" She remarked, already having a taunting edge to her voice.

Cautiously I edged towards the small gap between the curtain and the edge of the shower cubicle as Kate replied.

"School."

"That's it?" Taylor snarked.

By now I was peeking out between the gap, Victoria and Taylor were now on either side of Kate, clearly ganging up on her.

I couldn't believe it; still feeling shitty about the incident with Chloe's weed, I actually wanted to intervene and help Kate. But the fact I was still naked stopped me, I wouldn't have time to dry off and get dressed before whatever happened was done.

"Yeah that video of you clubbing sure didn't look like homework." Victoria teased nastily.

Kate shook her head. "Victoria, that wasn't me."

Even from here it was obvious Taylor was rolling her eyes. "Oh my God, yeah right."

Victoria smirked cruelly. "Don't be so negative, I think it's awesome you set a tongue record on video."

I glowered at that; just what was their problem, again with that video, whatever it was. This was ridiculous and one thing that truly infuriated me, it was Kate, what had she done to deserve this?

I only caught a brief glimpse but it was impossible to miss Kate's tears as she turned and fled.

"You're going to be sorry someday." She called back, her voice choked.

Victoria of course was flippant and dismissive. "Oh boo hoo, sorry you're such a viral slut."

She turned towards the mirror and grinned. "I bet she had fun."

"It looks like it." Taylor replied.

"I know Nathan hooked her up." Victoria remarked; shocking me even further. "You know he gets the good shit."

Taylor laughed. "Preach it sista."

I slowly backed away from the gap but did not yet re-enter the shower.

Thus I heard Victoria's next comment. "Yuck, I still have goddamn paint on my face, good thing my faithful minions took their sweet time bringing me a towel."

There was an awkward pause after that; I bit my lip curious as to how this would go down.

"We ran all the way…" Taylor began.

Victoria cut her off angrily however. "Give it a rest Taylor. Now I know if I'm in trouble, not to rely on you or Courtney for help, you could go hang with Max."

I rolled my eyes, wondering when she'd get around to somehow taunting me, even if she didn't know I could hear.

Taylor paused awkwardly before replying, likely trying to get back in Victoria's good books. "She's a weirdo with that dumb camera."

"I hate that 'I'm so quirky' crap." Victoria continued before sighing and I swear I could hear the smirk as the words came out of her mouth next. "Anyway, let's leave the link to Kate's video here so everyone can see her in action."

"You are such an evil beeatch, I love it."

I was horrified at what I was hearing, I could only stand there, frozen until the door shut again, jolting me out of my trance.

Recovering I quickly got back into the shower, finished cleaning off and switched it off. My body was going on automatic pilot now, I was still processing what I had just overheard.

I quickly dried myself and pulled my pyjamas back on before picking up my shower supplies again and leaving the shower cubicle. I knew I had to hurry back to my room, get dressed and give Kate her book back, however, I paused when I saw something. Written on the shower room mirror, in lipstick, was a web link.

'Is that the link to Kate's video?!' I thought; aghast; I never imagined she'd actually do it. 'Man, Victoria is so fucking mean…'

I couldn't let this stand, so, I immediately wiped the lipstick off the mirror; hoping that if I could stop at least one person from seeing that video, it would help. I then quickly washed my hands, earning a scolding from that girl still in the shower.

I quickly apologized, turning the sink off, another problem with these showers. The plumbing was messed up, so when a sink was turned on, they instantly got cold. I quickly turned and left the shower room, making my way back to my room, I briefly noted the corridors were empty.

I returned to my room and set my shower supplies back on their shelf. I decided to find Kate's book first and began searching through the various books and bits of paper from my frantic time travel research last night. Finally I found it hidden beneath a sheet of paper and reached for it, only to knock over the glass of fruit juice next to it, covering the book.

I sighed bitterly and dropped the sheet of paper.

I cursed my clumsiness once again. 'Of course you spilt soda all over Kate's book, I better fix this fast, Kate has enough problems and I don't want to add to them.'

So I quickly used my rewind to correct my mistake and this time moved the glass out of the way before picking up the book. Satisfied I set the book in my camera bag which I had put on the sofa and turned to my wardrobe.

'Think I'll just pull on a shirt and jeans.' I thought; like I had anything else, but still. 'Einstein had the same exact suit for every day of the year and he couldn't even rewind time.'

Grinning I removed my pyjamas again and got dressed, the jeans from yesterday were still thankfully clean enough to wear again, so too was my grey hoody, so I simply had to pull out a pinkish white T-shirt with a doe picture on it and get dressed, I pulled on my hi-tops and slung the strap of my bag over my shoulder. Now I was ready, I exited my room.

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