Life is Strange: My Unusual Journey

Chapter 18 of my Life is Strange story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks and yeah, but still, seems a bit...much.
Marina Ka-Fai: Very true, very true...
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

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

Chaos Theory – Unleashed

We drove in silence for a while, Chloe's rage practically rolling off her in waves. I shifted uncomfortably, wanting to say something, but couldn't think of any words. Finally however I couldn't just leave things alone. I had to reason with her.

"Chloe, you can't just keep blaming me and everybody for everything wrong in your life." I told her. "It's so not fair."

She glared at me sharply and shot back. "I gotta blame somebody, otherwise it's all my fault, fuck that."

I shook my head. "It's just life, shit happens, it's nobody's fault. "Blah, blah, blah" As Mr. Jefferson would say...And Kate Marsh..."

"Yes, Kate Marsh almost killed herself." Chloe exploded; shaking her head. "Such sad. Okay? That doesn't make me feel any better about my fucked up life, get it."

I sighed. "So who do you most want to blame?"

"My fucking dad of course...Hello!" Chloe growled."

I stared at her, shocked. "You blame William? Really?"

Chloe nodded; still glaring. "Yes I do, damn right. He chose to go out that door and leave me forever."

"Chloe, your dad didn't choose to 'leave' you." I said; still shocked at her admission.

When she spoke again, Chloe actually sounded choked up. "I know that Max, my mom actually blames herself...just because she wanted a ride home from work. Sometimes even I blame her."

I shook my head, unable to believe this.

I turned to Chloe and spoke gently.

"No you don't."

"Yes Max!" She snapped. "I do! Do you know what it's like to wait for your father to come home when you're a kid and he never does?!"

"No, of course not." I replied, before explaining. "But I was with you that day. It was just a terrible accident!"

Chloe shook her head. "I wish that made me feel better; but ever since he died, my life has been dipped in shit."

"I can tell." I said softly. "But look at everything that's happened the past week. Your life has changed mine, and that's not shit."

"I'd really love to believe that. I'd like to believe in something after what's happened..."

I turned to her again; desperation seeping into my voice. "Chloe, I can't do this out on my own. I need you with me and Rachel needs you..."

Chloe said nothing else, she simply turned her attention back to the road and kept driving. We finally reached Blackwell and Chloe stopped the truck in front of the main campus. I turned her, unsure what to say.

Chloe just fixed her grip on the wheel. I slowly, awkwardly got out and Chloe drove off. I watched her go, dismayed.

Still worried I turned and walked up the steps, towards the fountain, I suddenly felt self-conscious as I realized people were watching me. I could hear the whispers and realized what they were talking about.

'The clothes, of course...God, I cannot deal with this right now.' I thought. 'Too many eyes, too much attention, after everything that's just happened I just want to spend time alone and clear my head.'

I was actually starting to feel overwhelmed by all the attention. I quickly began to make my way to the dorms.

I soon found myself with another distraction, I was at the dormitory courtyard and almost immediately spotted Warren, sitting on one of the benches, checking his phone. Despite everything that just happened, seeing Warren again made me smile; I recalled what Chloe had told me.

I knew this wasn't the best time, but I couldn't leave it. I had to act now.

Thinking for a moment I made up my mind. 'I'll do it, it's for the best, besides, Chloe...I can't help her when she's like this; she needs time to cool down.'

So, prepared, I approached Warren.

"Hey Warren."

Grinning he looked up. "Oh, hey Max, how are you...whoa?"

His eyes widened, I actually felt myself blushing. "Um, yeah, I kinda...spent the night at my friend Chloe's house and forget to bring spare clothes. So, I borrowed these."

"Well, they look good, you look great." He said, smiling.

I decided to go through with my plan, just as I had made it. "Yeah, oh, by the way, Warren, there's something I wanna talk to you about. Can we maybe, meet up around lunch?"

"Sure." He replied at once. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Fine, it's, it's just something I need to say."

So, with another smile, I allowed Warren to get back to his phone, I made my way into the dorms, heading for my room.

Alone in my room I sighed and put my bag next to the sofa. I sat down heavily on the bed and pulled out the photo of Chloe and me, from all those years ago. I stared at it and an overwhelming feeling of sadness and grief took hold in my heart.

'God, to think...this was the last time I ever saw William.' I thought sadly. 'This was the day he died. How, I wish there was something I could do, to help Chloe, to change things for her, make them better. Maybe all this would never have happened if, if William survived.'

Such things were still wishful thinking, even with my rewind power, there was no way I could rewind that far back. As I looked again at the photo, I thought about this again until suddenly I heard something.

It was voices, familiar voices, the voices of Chloe and myself, saying the exact words we said on that day, as clearly as if I was standing there while they happened. With a startled yelp I dropped the photograph and the voices stopped.

'What the...no, no way, that can't be what I think it is.' I wondered; surely not.

I picked up the photo again and the voices resumed; I looked at it and found that it had strangely blurred. As I stared at it I wondered, was this truly possible.

I focused intently on that day, staying focused on the photo as it suddenly began to clear up again. As it returned to it's normal focus I felt a sharp tug on my mind and next thing I knew I was engulfed in blackness.

When I finally could focus again, it was to be greeted by a blinding flash and there was a familiar man standing in front of me, holding a familiar camera. The man was tall, with short strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes; he had a decent build and was smiling, it was William Price, Chloe's father.

It was then I became aware of the girl next to me, fourteen, with long hair the same colour as William's, blue eyes and very familiar, Chloe, as she was five years ago.

Looking down I noticed my clothes were different; a pair of dark blue shorts and a blue T-shirt; I didn't have to reach up to know I was wearing a yellow hairband, or that my hair was darker than normal. I couldn't believe it, surely not

"Someday dad will get one of them new fangled computers." Chloe said enthusiastically.

William smiled as he looked from the photo, up to me. "I hope the flash didn't scare you Max."

I just nodded; still dumstuck by my surroundings, by my appearance. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be.

"This is a keeper." William smiled.

Chloe cut in cheerfully. "Not until I see it first, you know the rules dad. Max tell him, whoa, you look totally pale. Are you okay?"

I bit my lip and tried to act calmly. "Yeah, I just, uh, yeah, I'm fine."

I couldn't believe, I had just rewound five years. It was still the mind and awareness of my eighteen year old self, but in the body of my thirteen year old self.

I was back at the very day William died.

While Chloe and William debated on allowing the photo into the album, I looked around. The house looked just as it did five years ago, I recalled everything. This was indeed that terrible day. But now, knowing what I did, I wondered, could I...Could I save William.

'I wanted to do this, to change things, to make things better for Chloe. This could be the perfect chance, but how...how, think Max, think...' I thought desperately, trying to figure out the best way.

I moved over to the camera, William's camera which I now used in the present day. Desperate to buy time for me to think I decided to take a shot.

"Now I get to take a picture." I said quickly, picking up the camera.

Chloe and William turned around and both smiled as I raised the camera and took the shot.

After taking the shot they returned to cooking, as they did so I walked through the house, noting for some reason I was confined to the living room, kitchen and hall, everything else was blurred and impossible for me to walk into. Disturbed I walked over and, needing time to think, walked to the corner of the room by the TV.

I stopped and stood, desperately wracking my brains for an answer.

While I was thinking the phone rang and I froze, that was Joyce calling to get picked up, I didn't have much time, William would answer the call and then leave and it would be all over. Sure enough, as I watched he walked over and picked up the phone.

"Hello...Hey honey, just making a fabulous breakfast with Chloe and Max." He said warmly. "We're all going to work at the Two Whales..."

He stopped mid-joke and listened for a moment.

"What? Oh, I didn't know you had to get groceries. Of course I'll come pick you up." He responded at once.

He resumed joking again. "Now I'll have an excuse to get a mocha, be there shortly. Love you."

I had to focus, while William joked with Chloe I fought to calm down. I needed to stop William from taking his car. But how, I needed something, anything.

"Shit..." William muttered. "Where are my keys."

Chloe instantly piped up. "That's a dollar for the swear jar!"

William replied instantly. "You mean your college fund!"

He resumed his search and I realized I now had a chance, William's keys, if I could just find and hide them, he couldn't take his car. I'd have to be careful though, I remembered William had a gadget that helped him find his keys when they were lost.

'But if I recall what I read on the package correctly, it doesn't work underwater, so...'

A plan was coming together in my head, but I still needed to find those keys. Unfortunately, William found them first.

They were under a cap on the table in front of me, I watched as he picked them up and began to walk away. Praying it would still work, I decided it was time to act. I held up my hand and to my great relief, I could still rewind. I did so, all the way back to when William was on the phone.

While he talked I moved the cap and picked up the keys and made a beeline for the sink. I quickly checked Chloe wasn't watching and promptly dropped the keys in the water and waited for my chance. William searched fruitlessly for his keys, muttering to himself, I decided now was the time to act.

I stepped up to him and spoke. "You can take the bus right? The stop is right down the street."

William smiled lightly at that, nodding. "This I can do, good call Max."

I also smiled; unfortunately my nerves were still playing up, so I ended up rambling.

"Oh yeah, the bus is great! It comes every fifteen minutes and there'll be plenty of room for you and Joyce and groceries and, it'll save the environment."

My curse from the ages of about six to fifteen was the opposite of my curse from then till eighteen. Instead of getting all shy and quiet when nervous, I started rambling until someone shut me up.

"You sold me already." William said soothingly, I calmed down, he knew about that little issue. "I'm off to yonder bus stop, Joyce will love this."

With that he left and I couldn't explained it, but a strong good feeling filled me then.

I was certain it worked, that I'd done it, I'd saved William, I grinned broadly.

"Max, you are being so fucking strange." Chloe said as she approached me. "You feel okay."

So caught up in my happiness I grabbed her arms, practically jumping up and down. "Chloe, I am...awesome, we are awesome."

As I said that, my vision blurred like a camera losing focus, from the edges inwards and soon I was hurtling through the void again.

As I did so, I saw many strange things, what looked like photos, parts of Chloe's life, all of them blurring and changing. However despite my giddy feeling at seeing William remaining in them, my stomach clenched when the last one showed what looked like another car crash, but then the blackness was complete.

When it cleared I was sitting on the grass, in Blackwell's main campus. But something was off, I was wearing some rather upmarket clothing I would never have worn before, a purple cardigan, a white striped shirt, beige trousers and white shoes.

Not only that, I was sitting with, of all people, Victoria, and the rest of the Vortex Club, what was more, their postures and such around suggested something impossible, friendship.

Victoria turned to me and actually looked worried. "Hmm, are you okay Maxine?"

I was so shocked by this and everything else that I couldn't think straight, my mouth moved automatically, saying words that seemed to roll of my tongue easily.

"Max, never Maxine."

To my astonishment, Victoria actually looked worried. "Oh shit yeah, sorry..."

The others all began talking, but truthfully, I wasn't listening, I was too wrapped up trying to figure out what was going on. Instantly my mind went to everything about time travel I'd learned and I realized something, something I should have thought of straight away.

'I messed with time and now everything's changed, everything, even me...It's almost as if...God, this is an entirely different time line...'

Excusing myself I stood up and began walking away, fearfully wondering what else I had changed. Instantly my thoughts went to Chloe, she was the one I had did this for. I had to get answers.

As I hurried to the bus stop however, I soon saw first hand evidence of my meddling and I felt like my heart was torn from my chest.

'Is that Warren, with Stella?' I thought, almost unable to believe it.

They were there, clearly more than friends; I was horrified. In this new reality, Warren got together with Stella.

I just didn't compute in my brain. Shaking my head I hurried to the bus stop. I froze before I even got on the bus, confronted by another change, David Madsen was the bus driver. Still shocked I got on the bus and sat down as it drove away.

As I sat I listened to the people around me talking and found out, to my horror, that the freak snowfall and eclipse had in fact happened in this time too. Then I heard the gasps and looked up, I saw another anomaly, for there on the beach were several dead whales.

'God, this is messed up, is, is the tornado still going to happen…?' I couldn't help but wonder.

However that was soon pushed aside as I got off the bus and approached Chloe's house, desperately.

I paused as I reached the door, everything seemed the same, except the paint job on the front was finished. Practically chewing my bottom lip I rang the door bell and waited. It wasn't long before the door was answered, by William.

"Max Caulfield." He gasped, grinning widely. "Oh, it's great to see you again, hold on. Chloe, you have a visitor!"

I waited tensely and then saw Chloe approach. I almost gasped in horror, my hands going up to cover my mouth.

Chloe did not have any of her tattoos, piercings or even dyed hair. But she was still shockingly different. She was in a wheelchair and, judging from how she moved, was paralyzed from the neck down. Nevertheless she smiled when she saw me; I couldn't however, my thoughts were consumed by one horrible thought.

'What have I done?'

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

Well, now we reach the end of Episode 3, this is as far as I got last time, so now it's all new stuff. This is where things get tricky however as Episodes 4 and 5 turned out to be a real bitch to write, especially Episode 5.