Chloe hadn't said a word since they got in the truck. She looked at the road ahead, a cigarette burning between her fingers on the steering wheel. Streetlights lit up the messy cab every so often, the only real light. The rain had stopped. The sky had cleared. There had been no eclipse, as there had been on the 8th of October, 2013 that Chloe had known before. There was no sound, save the low rumble of the truck's motor, their breath and very faint music from the truck's radio. Chloe stopped the truck at a stoplight. She didn't know what to say. She had so many things to say, but couldn't bring herself to speak, instead taking a drag of her cigarette.

"So, do you always pick up strange girls at diners at night?"

Gail finally broke the silence with...a joke?

"Do you always get in strange girls' trucks when they ask you to?"

"Touche."

There was an awkward silence again, it was such a strange, painful, so very, very painful feeling for Chloe to hear that voice and conversation to not be easy and open.

So….backwards, so very, very backwards.

"So...who are you, really?", Gail asked, quietly.

"Chloe Elizabeth Price, fuckup extraordinaire."

"Your middle name is Elizabeth?"

Chloe sighed.

"Yeah."

"That's...pretty."

"I hate it, honestly."

"And why is that?"

"Is there anyone who actually likes their middle name?"

"I wouldn't know. Don't have one."

"...hmm..."

"...How...long have you lived in...Arcadia Bay?"

Gail was clearly struggling to find conversation topics, Chloe could feel the anxiety, so much like her...and...this was a difficult question to answer. Not just because of the memories attached, but because, recalling her breakdown with Rachel earlier, how old are we, actually?

"A long time. A really, really long time, Gail."

"You say that like you're old...what are you, like twenty?"

"Would you believe me if I said I don't know how old I am anymore?"

"No, I wouldn't. You aren't like me, Dork."

A...Max word…

Chloe sighed through entire exhale of smoke.

"Nineteen, I guess. It's kind of hard to keep track, sometimes. What do you mean, 'like you'?"

"I only know i'm eighteen because my ID says I am."

"...Wait...what?"

"I...don't remember anything before a year ago."

"...what?"

"I'm an amnesiac, Chloe. First thing I remember is living in a foster home, a year ago. I don't know who I am. Joyce knows. I figured she might have told you."

"...she...just told me you had some...issues...didn't go into a hella lot of detail."

"I see. Well, now you know."

Her voice was so very….gentle. Kind. Like Max. Max's voice, but with an added layer of uncertainty and...is innocence the right word?

"So I do", Chloe said just as gently. Something was starting to click in her mind, but it wasn't quite there yet.

"You went to Blackwell, right?"

"I did once, a long time ago. Actually, I should be there tonight, if things were the way they were supposed to be."

"But...you're older and didn't you get...like…"

"They kicked my ass out, hella quick, yes. I was, uh, supposed to meet a friend there tonight. She...never showed though."

"...i'm...sorry. I really don't...have friends. Well, maybe I did once, I don't know."

"Is that why you came with me?"

"What...do you mean?"

"I know what being lonely is like, Gail."

"I...don't know. Can you really be lonely if you've never had anyone?"

"I don't know."

"And you have friends, right? Like that pretty blonde girl...uh…"

"Rachel? Yeah...she's...a friend."

"She looks like a model."

This conversation…

"That was plan once, a long time ago. Get the hell out of Bigfootville and go to L.A."

"I can't see you in L.A., her yes, you….not really."

"And why is that? Am I too ugly?"

"What? No! ...nothing like that. Just not...your style."

"You're right on that one."

"So Madsen is really your step-father?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry."

"He's...not as bad as you...might think. I mean, right now he's an asshole...but...there was a time...or will be a time...or….uh...forget it."

"You say some really weird things, Chloe."

"Do I fucking look like a normal person to you?", Chloe snapped, without meaning to.

Again, this whole remembering more than one past was getting to her. Along with this whole situation. She, in all this time, still hadn't really looked at Gail. She got a brief glimpse of her face earlier, and earlier in the diner when she'd been staring "at" her, she had actually kind of been staring past her. She couldn't bring herself to really look at this girl, without breaking down entirely.

"...I don't really know what normal is, actually", Gail said, gently.

"Well, it's not me."

"How did you know Kate was going to try….what she did?"

"Lucky guess."

"Was it you who texted me, Chloe?"

"How would I even get your number?"

It actually had been her. But she wasn't going to tell Gail that. Not yet anyway. Her number was the same as Max's had been. Chloe had just been taking a shot in the dark. She didn't think it was actually going to work.

"I thought maybe you got it from Kate…"

"No, I didn't. Today was the first time i've talked to her in...a long time."

"So how could you have known-"

"Lucky guess."

"...alright, then."

Gail wasn't going to push any harder. Though her fear of this strange, blue haired, tattooed, chain smoking...but strangely...sadly beautiful, girl was fading, she didn't want to make her angry or anything. Plus, what she had done to Nathan. She knew Rachel had been there too, but she had a feeling most of the damage had been done by Chloe, somehow.

This was also the most real human interaction she'd had since she came to Arcadia Bay, save some conversations with Joyce and class.

"...so where are we going?"

Chloe realized she hadn't been thinking about that, she was just driving. She wasn't going to American Rust at night, not after what had happened before. Home was a no-go if David was there. She really wasn't feeling the lighthouse, either. Not after everything.

We should be breaking into Blackwell, right about now. Looking for dirt about Rachel, grabbing hella cash, then playing in the pool...except Rachel is alive and well and I don't have the keys to the pool, anymore…

"And you make me feel like I have a reason for still being in Arcadia Bay…."

Chloe remembered her own words, this night, in another life. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and hoped Gail wasn't looking at her, right then.

Maybe that never happened, now. She sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. She would give anything for that time in the pool, again, but now things were different.

She decided to loop back around town and head for the beach.

The beach was empty, almost desolate. Frank's RV was parked somewhere else, which Chloe was glad for. It was off-season, it was October and it was cold at night, but Chloe didn't really care that much. She liked the water. The constant movement. Change. Constant return. The waves washed out, came back in harder. Reminded her a little of her own life...lives. She had parked right at where the sand met the pavement. She walked with Gail across the moonlit beach, carrying her boots in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The cold didn't bother her. The coldness outside couldn't match the ice in her soul. Gail was a few steps behind, having a harder time walking in the damp, but still loose sand in her sneakers.

Chloe eventually stopped, and just looked out over the water, to the dark horizon. Gail stood looking at her, this strange, punked out, probably insane, tall, though she lost an inch or so without the boots, girl. She was beautiful. The moon made what she could see of her hair seem to glow. Chloe in turn finally turned and looked at Gail.

Sneakers, jeans, t-shirt with some artsy design with bloodstains on it, black hoodie, messenger bag. Chloe focused on that before actually looking up to meet Gail's face. Gail's hair was much longer than eighteen year old Max's. The bangs longer, more blunt, and it hung past her shoulders. But the face. The face was the same. The eyes exactly the same. The seemed to look right through Chloe, right into her soul, though she supposed Gail would know a lot more than she did if that were possible. Tears didn't come to Chloe's eyes as she looked into Gail's this time. She simply turned her gaze back towards the water.

"Chloe, why are we out here, really? What is all this about?"

"I can't really say, all of it." Not even a fucking fraction.

"I know you know more than you're telling me, you have to."

"I do, Gail. I know all sorts of things. Like how to get out of handcuffs, pressure points, what year every landmark punk album was released, why you shouldn't mix certain liquors, I know a lot, i'm a walking encyclopedia", Chloe said sarcastically.

"...Chloe….why...are you so sad?"

"Who said I was sad?"

"I can see it. Feel it."

"Most people just think i'm angry, or just flat-out hella fucking insane."

"I don't see that. Maybe angry, but more sad. Something to do with Kate?"

Chloe sighed, she sat down in the sand, setting her boots next to her.

"Have a seat, pete."

Gail nervously took her messenger bag off and set it in the sand, and sat down next to Chloe.

"Gail, i'm going to...tell you a story. An insane one, that could never happen in real life."

"...why?"

"For you to do whatever you like with."

"I...alright."

Chloe took a long drag off her cigarette and began talking. The only other sound the waves breaking gently on the beach in front of them.

"Once upon a time, there were two girls. Best friends. Basically since birth. Though one was a little bit older. A little taller, always. They did everything together. They had crazy dreams about being pirates. Going on adventures together. They made comics. Wrote stories about it. They were inseparable. For years, this was their life. They were always happy. There was nothing wrong. Nothing hurt. They weren't scared of getting old. They knew they would always have each other, no matter what happened…."

Chloe paused and wiped at her eyes, Gail instinctively put her hand on Chloe's shoulder. Chloe glanced at her, directly into her eyes, she held it for a few seconds and then turned towards the water again.

"...but, one day the older girl lost someone very close to her. And the older girl needed the younger one more than ever. But the younger girl had to go away. They meant to keep up with each other, but they never did. Too much changed at once. The older girl just got more lonely and angry as time went on. In that time, the older girl did some very bad things, lost even more, wanted to die, even. After five years of that, the younger girl came back. When she met the older girl again, she didn't even recognize her. Time, loss...had changed her so much. Corrupted her. And now there was a catch, the younger girl had...a superpower. And the younger girl saved the older one's life. And over the short time that followed that, the younger girl saved her many, many times. With this superpower and just by having come back. They had all kinds of crazy adventures, they were pirates again. The older girl found her will to live again. To be happy again. But...their time together...had a price. Eventually, the superpower changed so much that a terrible storm came. Or maybe, the older girl was never supposed to be saved. Either way, the younger girl had to make a choice, to save her best friend...maybe more than a friend...or save an entire town and then some. It was one, or the other….and the older girl had enough peace, from this short time with her friend to be okay with sacrificing herself, so that everybody else wouldn't be killed by the storm, but it was a horrible choice to have to make, for anyone. And the younger girl didn't know what to do. She knew she could never live without the other girl again, but she also knew how many people, most far more innocent than the older girl, would die if she didn't let the older girl go...there was no winning. Either way, her life would be destroyed, but it came down to whether she could face life without the girl, or face the destruction and death with the girl...with the guilt both of them would carry."

Gail was enthralled by Chloe's words and had dazed out a bit.

"...which did she...pick?"

"That's not important."

"But-"

"The story should have ended there."

"But...it didn't?"

"I don't know anymore."

"...what do you mean anymore? Are you saying you were...there? There is no such thing as superpowers, Chloe, a storm because of them...or because someone was supposed to die? Life isn't Donnie Darko."

"You're absolutely right."

"Then why did you...tell me this?"

"Maybe I just have a vivid imagination", Chloe said gently, wiping another tear away.

"Are you...alright, Chloe?"

"No, Gail. Not really."

Chloe's gaze was still unbroken from the water in front of her, though Gail's gaze hadn't broken from Chloe since she began talking, she sounded so much...older...than she was.

"Can...I...ask you something?"

"I guess."

"...What were their...names?"

"Names aren't important, Gail."

Gail didn't know how to respond to that. She thought back on her own short life. Well, the short part of it she remembered. I only know my name is Gail because people tell me it is...if I could remember, would my name...matter?

Before Gail had a chance to say something else, Chloe was up.

"I'm going in."

"What?"

"I'm going in the water, are you coming?"

"Chloe, it's like 40 degrees out here."

"Scared of a wittle itty bitty cold?"

"I-"

But Chloe was already running towards the water, leaving only her jacket, boots and hat next to Gail. She watched Chloe run right into the water, that had to be freezing, mostly fully clothed.

"YOU'RE INSANE", Gail called.

"FUCKIN' INSANE IN THE BRAIN, HIPPIE", Chloe called back.

Gail wondered how exactly Chloe had just gone from somberly telling a story which she couldn't tell without crying, to this vibrant display of craziness she was witnessing now. Though she thought maybe she was beginning to understand Chloe, a little. She was...lost, like herself. That story, no matter how bullshit it had to be, proved that, if Chloe had come up with it herself. But why did it sound so familiar?

Gail sighed.

"CHLOE, COME ON, GET OUT OF THERE, YOU'RE GOING TO BE FREEZING", Gail called.

"I ALREADY AM, YOU SHOULD SEE MY NIPPLES RIGHT NOW!"

"I...GROSS, CHLOE, GROW UP!"

There she is, thought Chloe, to herself, but damn, this water is fucking cold.

Still, she felt the need to make some connection to the version of this day she remembered, so it was a freezing ocean instead of a pool.

"GAIL I THINK MY LEGS ARE FROZEN, I'M GONNA NEED SOME HELP HERE!"

"OH NO, I'M NOT GOING IN THERE!"

"JUST COME TO THE EDGE!"

Gail sighed and walked down to the edge of the water, where the waves stopped, for now.

"Give me your hand!", Chloe called.

"You're going to pull me in, look Chloe, I don't like open water...Jaws and like...I can't watch shark shows and stuff…"

Holy fuck, Chloe thought to herself.

"I won't! Just give me your hand!"

Gail nervously stuck her hand out, Chloe walked up out of the water and took it with one hand...and then splashed Gail with the other.

"Bitch…", Gail muttered, through a laugh.

"I'm sorry, couldn't resist."

"You really are crazy."

"Sometimes I think so, too, but you know, you are hanging out with me."

"You didn't really give me much choice."

"I didn't force you into the truck, dude."

Gail knew this was true. She was intrigued by the blue haired girl. And now she was starting to actually think she could enjoy being around this crazy girl. They collected their things and headed for the truck. Chloe had no change of clothes or towels so settled on blaring the heat in the cab.

"I really should be getting back to Blackwell, Chloe, I have class tomorrow…"

"Not for much longer", Chloe muttered.

"What?"

"You're a photographer."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Uh...yeah, a bit."

"Jefferson won't be around for much longer, Gail."

"...what?", Gail didn't like Jefferson, at all. Didn't trust him, for some reason she couldn't explain.

"He had something to do with Kate, Gail. And the thing with Nathan, too."

"Did you really put Nathan in the hospital?"

"Yes. Well, with some help. But, yes. Fucker deserved it."

"But what were you even doing there, you don't go to school anymore so-"

"That's a hella complicated story."

"How is Jefferson involved?"

"You wouldn't believe it, but I know where there's proof he's doing something fucking terrible. And I can get David in there, but I have to play it just right."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"If I tell you too much, you're going to be in danger, if I don't tell you at all, same. Watch yourself around him, Gail."

"...how fucking terrible is it?"

"It's….look, Gail if I tell you more, you are going to end up mixed up in this with me and Rachel, I don't want to do that to you."

"What does Rachel have to do with this?"

Chloe sighed.

"Look...Gail...all I can really say is, I know more about certain things than I possibly should be able to. So does Rachel. I can't explain it to you, unless…"

"Unless?"

"...nevermind."

"No, unless what?"

"Gail, forget it. Just be careful around him, please", this was more of a plea than anything from Chloe.

"Chloe...I...don't like Jefferson. He scares me. I don't know why, just...something, about him."

Well, this is completely fucking different, Chloe thought.

"Well….your fears aren't unfounded."

"I see him...in my nightmares...sometimes. Though I never really remember them afterwards, sometimes i'll remember a few words, or part of a face, but I know I remember Jefferson in them."

"You still...you still...get them, even here?", Chloe asked, sadly.

"...what?"

"Uh...nothing. I have bad dreams too. Horrible, actually. Even the good ones, just good memories that I can't get back. I don't sleep much."

"Neither do I."

Okay, so we have more in common than I thought, but still...this isn't what I fucking wanted to have in common…

Chloe thought for a moment.

She's going to find out about Jefferson, anyway.

"Gail...Jefferson...drugs girls...to take photos of them...and sometimes he kills them afterward...and I don't know what else he does...or want to know...and Nathan is...involved."

"What? Oh my fucking God, how do you know?"

Then it clicked in her mind.

"KATE? THAT WAS-"

"Nathan and Jefferson."

"Oh my God", Gail was starting to shake.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, Kate's alright, you're alright", Chloe tried.

"But...I knew something was wrong...with Jefferson...and I just...I didn't listen to that text….that was you, wasn't it?"

"...yes."

"How...did you...even get my number?"

"Lucky guess."

"Chloe…", Gail was starting to cry now, not even sure why, if it was fear, confusion, loneliness, something else… "...who...are you, really?"

"A friend."

"I...I don't…have...friends", Gail sobbed.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

"Well, you do now."

"Chloe…i'm so...lost...I hate Blackwell...it just makes me so...uncomfortable...and I don't know who I am...why i'm really here...I don't remember...and i'm so...alone...I can't...it's so hard to deal with...and I get these headaches and pieces of flashbacks of horrible things...and now nosebleeds...afuckingpparently...I...I…", Gail was choking out the words through sobs, so much like an after the storm Max. So many memories, so fucking many, came back to Chloe in that moment. So many nights holding Max, making sure she was going to be alright until morning. So many late night talks. So much...everything...too much.

She took Gail in her arms and held her tightly. Gail didn't protest, even though Chloe was cold and soaking wet.

"It's okay….it's...okay...Gail...it's alright", Chloe tried, but she wasn't in much better shape, she was trying desperately to hold it together.

"I don't...want...to...go...back to...Blackwell...tonight...i'm...scared", she sobbed.

Chloe thought about this, seriously, thought about it for a few moments before making up her mind.

"You can stay with me, tonight."

"But...but...what about….David...and…"

"He's on a shift tonight at Blackwell...I know...and in the morning we'll sneak out...window if necessary."

"Are you...sure?"

Absolutely fucking not.

"Yes."