Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you, I don't own. This is a work of fanfiction for personal amusement, fulfillment and a bit of self-therapy. I make nothing from any of it.
Chapter Fifty-Five: Dead man's Hand Again
March 12th, 2012 3:25 PM
The door shut behind her and cut off the sound of voices, of people walking to and from their lockers. Rachel watched her breath manifest in front of her as the long-ended school day was left behind along with everyone else who was still in the main building of Blackwell Academy. Looking past this wave of vapor as it escaped her, Rachel watched Chloe and Kate step down from the bottom of the stairs onto the path. The morning had been so much cooler than expected, but even then, Rachel wouldn't have believed she was going to see a snowfall in mid March. At least, not one like this. Beautiful, fluffy flakes eased their way down to the ground in such numbers that the walls and paths of the edges of campus were blurring. There were sights much closer than that she found far more important, like Chloe and Kate spinning in the snow, laughing as it continued to accumulate around them. Unseasonable weather or not, they were both dressed as one might expect from them: Kate in her dark cardigan and long blue skirt, Chloe in her torn jeans and a ragged old tee that used to belong to her father.
Neither of them were anywhere near dressed for snow. In her new, thick sweatshirt Max, still paused on the bottom step, digging into the dark messenger bag at her side, was probably the warmest dressed of them all, even if Rachel counted the dark leather jacket over her own shoulders. A few steps away, Chloe ducked low as if to reach down for a bit of the accumulated snow. Kate cried out in protest but, laughing, made no move to stop Chloe, who came up with a snowball even as Max came up from her bag with a camera. Chloe arming herself seemed to be enough for Kate to try her best to do the same, but it was simply too late. Rachel heard the familiar snap of the old camera (which, come to think of it, had once belonged to William Price, too) even as Chloe loosed her snowball. Her aim was a bit off, but Kate retreated at the near miss, making for the doors behind Rachel.
Rachel didn't blame her. A skirt did not provide a ton of protection against the cold. Chloe, waving a hand at her as she passed, turned and noticed just in time that she was in Max's viewfinder as the girl snapped a second shot. I want to see those, I bet they look amazing, Rachel told herself as Kate pressed up against the door beside Rachel but did not head inside. The dirty-blonde was still grinning with the same near starry-eyed look that Chloe wore as she turned toward Max and caught her lining up a final snapshot. Rachel let the two of them have their moment and gave Kate a quick once-over. She had freed her phone from her pocket and was typing away on it, the light in her eyes slowly fading to concentration and then concern.
While the large, fat snowflakes around them continued to descend, harder than before, while Max and Chloe held each other in the snow, Kate's good mood soured. Rachel had seen the girl upset before, the way she squinted or pursed her lips if someone said something she didn't like. What she hadn't seen before was a sudden transformation from some kind of wonder to devastation. Bad family news? Rachel kept her eyes to herself as Kate continued to read whatever it was she was looking at. It wasn't her place to nose in where she wasn't invited but she couldn't help but look the girl over occasionally, especially as she became more and more concerned until finally, the normally quiet girl spoke up, fairly loudly and lifted her head.
"Um," Kate called and then, seeing that Rachel was looking, continued, "I think something bad is happening." As Chloe queried as to what the problem was, Kate all but shoved her phone into Rachel's hands. On the screen was Kate's school email inbox, full of what was mostly spam and announcements from staff, as well as one email entitled 'Approval for Extracurricular Organization.' Rachel homed in on the message that Kate had pulled up to one side and frowned as she saw who it was from. Stella, who had not answered her door that morning much to Kate's concern, had apparently written Kate a message during the school day. I guess I don't really check my email often, either. Why didn't she just text her?
From: StellaH
To: KateM
Subject: Sorry
I'm really sorry Kate. I tried but I don't think I can do this. I don't have anywhere to go but I can't be here. I'm afraid he'll hurt me. He thinks I don't know what happened after the party but I do and if he finds out he's going to hurt me. I wanted you to know that I heard you knocking that I'm sorry I didn't say anything you and Alyssa are my best friends and I'm so sorry I did this. Bye Kate
Stella
Okay, Rachel told herself, lifting her head from the phone and passing it off to Chloe. That's not good.
"We've got to go," Rachel told Kate, reaching out and grabbing her by the hand. The girl jumped at the sudden contact, at the shift in Rachel's personality. She did not know what to say to get Kate moving but she had to try. "In case- I don't know, in case something bad happened? In case something bad's about to happen and we can stop it. We need to go." In case she's going to hurt herself. Or maybe she just ran off. Either way, we have to know.
"What's happening?" Max asked, voice suddenly lower and more serious, dark blue eyes narrowing. Rachel did not have time to answer because understanding settled into Kate's features and she nodded. It was impressive how fast the large, heavy snowfall turned from a sweet sight to see her girls sharing a moment wrapped around each other, laughing, spinning in to a detriment. Not only did Rachel trip and fall on her ass twice as she ran for the dormitories, she managed to bring Kate down with her once. With Chloe and Max behind them, though, they got back on their feet each time. Occasionally a student or two would be playing in the snow near enough to see it happen and Rachel felt more than heard their snickers. For the most part, though, the path was clear of people.
Deja-fucking-vu. Almost five months ago, she and Chloe had come sprinting back to the dormitories, threatening David to get out of their way so that they could check on Max. Wow, it's really been that long. It was crazy to consider but in a lot of ways their relationship had changed since then. They had all gotten a lot closer without so many secrets between them, emotionally, mentally, even physically. Imagine that, talking to each other is a good thing. Who would've thunk it? Rachel did not speak as Chloe and Kate tried to explain to Max what was happening. In fact, she didn't say anything even when Max somehow got hold of Kate's phone and began to read the email out loud. As the line about the party hit, Max audibly choked. The brunette was not able to finish reading as, at that moment, they reached the door to the dormitories and only a few seconds later Rachel was barreling up the stairs to the second floor.
What followed was actually kind of excruciating to Rachel, especially since it reminded her so much of trying to find Max the night of the second forest fire. Except this time, it was Stella's door that was being surrounded and as Kate had no way into the room, the hall was filled with the sound of her fist against wood. Given the peculiar snow outside, Rachel did not expect the dorms to be occupied yet and, sure enough, they were not harassed as Kate called Stella's name time after time in a pained, panicked voice. Rachel turned to Chloe and Max. A few minutes ago Rachel had been laughing off Max asking her if she was responsible for this snow while secretly wondering if she could find a way to make snow.
Now, as Max and Chloe's faces darkened, she could see that they were asking themselves the same question she was. What were the odds that, two nights ago, Nathan Prescott had realized he was being watched and faked intoxication to the point of passing out to throw them off his trail? In retrospect, none of it seemed that far-fetched. Have we been underestimating him this whole time? Thinking that so much of what he has done was just down to illness and not everything else? How fucked up is that? Nathan was, himself, a force to be reckoned with. There was all the potential in the world that this email was a sign that Stella had learned that the hard way on Saturday night.
Eventually Kate was forced to give up. Though she turned in a panic to the three of them, Rachel watched her rubbing softly at the underside of her fist, as if she had hurt herself knocking. The idea that Stella of all people might have ended up under Nathan's tender mercies was enough to make Rachel sick to her stomach. The effect it had on Max was disturbing. Though she had been a bit absorbed in her thoughts, Max had also been in a good mood as of late. Now, the way she clenched her jaw and looked through or past the three girls in front of her was enough to momentarily rob Rachel of her words. Thankfully, Max had plenty of her own.
"Go to your room and try to call Stella's parents. We'll be right behind you in a minute." Rachel wasn't even sure if Max registered Kate shaking her head in denial. Kate was clearly unaware as to what thoughts were going through their heads, but remained dubious.
"I'm not sure what you know, but Stella's parents aren't very... good people." At this, Max cursed loudly.
"Fuck, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"It's okay," Kate promised her, though her voice was still higher, more urgent than normal. "I-I just-"
"Maybe you should go to your room, write Stella an email and send a text both." Chloe spoke up for the first time since they had pulled to a stop in front of the pale wooden door to Stella's room. Feeling a little lost for words, still, Rachel turned toward her even as Kate did. Max stared through Chloe toward the wall some feet behind her. "That way if she doesn't check her email she might get the text? Or maybe she'll get alerts for both. Something to get her attention, alright, Kate?" For a moment the blonde's eyes shot between the three of them and then, hands clenching and unclenching, she reached out toward Max, who handed her back her phone immediately. She did not seem to realize that Chloe and Max were trying to get rid of her in the moment so that they could speak freely. Rachel had trouble feeling much, but she did feel bad about that. Kate deserved better, but there was truly no telling how she would handle even a quarter of the things that they could tell her to inform her about the situation, or at least the situation Rachel was coming to believe they were—no, Stella was—in. Once Kate's bedroom door had shut behind her with the devout girl completely unaware of the details of their deepest fears coming reality, Max took one or two steps further from Stella's door, further from Kate's.
"If what happened is what we think happened, we have a problem." No shit? Rachel thought that that statement went without saying. Stella was, best case scenario, missing. Apparently their friend's disappearance was not what Max had in mind because as the brunette shifted her shoulders beneath her new sweatshirt and took a step to distance herself from Chloe's hand as it reached out to comfort her, Max sighed. "At this point my ability to just... rewind moment to moment goes back about 28 hours. If Nathan did something to Stella after the party, it wouldn't be enough. The best I can do is rewind and stop Stella from leaving." Rachel thought that that seemed like a pretty good idea, but did not say anything before Chloe, of all people, shook her head dismissively, shouldering her backpack high enough on her right side that the back of the board sticking out of it bumped against her head.
"That might not be worth it. For all we know Stella's okay. Stella heard Kate knocking this morning, remember? We should try to figure out what's going on and then, well," Chloe's angular face twisted into a grimace, "if we find something horrible, that she did something to herself you can just do your voodoo and stop her from leaving to begin with." This time it was Max's turn to shake her head, but it was slow and her features became mournful, regretful. The girl's lips turned downward and her arms tensed at her sides, eyes watering briefly before she blinked at them and swallowed at nothing.
"That's not how it works," Max told them. "If someone is, um, if someone is dead," the photographer continued as if she did not quite want to give voice to the possibility, even as Chloe had not wanted to moments before, "then trying to bring them back is, uh, bad."
"Well how bad can it actually be?" Chloe asked her, all but huffing. "This is Stella's life we're talking about."
"'Giant-Fucking-Tornado-Killing-Everyone-You-Know' bad," Max snapped back, her features tightening, knuckles white. The girl's cheeks reddened and she looked down at the carpet. "I wish I could but I can't." Change the subject, Rachel counseled herself as she filed that information and reaction away for later analysis. Get us back on track.
"So if this was Nathan, this means he's active, doesn't it?" Rachel asked. She instantly wanted to kick herself. That was a stupid question, considering what he had tried to do to Victoria. If he's at the point where he's going to try to pull a victim in every fucking party, people are going to start talking, right? She really hoped she was right, at least. The sooner people stopped trusting this guy, the better.
"Right," Max agreed, though her voice sounded hollow.
"What we need to focus on is Stella," Chloe interjected, sounding hard and a bit frustrated. "We should go look for her in town."
"I'll take Blackwell's bus into town. It'll be by in half an hour. I can check out the diner and that used bookstore on Beech Street that Stella likes." As soon as the idea was out of Max's mouth Rachel shook her head to veto it.
"I absolutely don't like the idea of you waiting out in this cold, not to mention all the time you'll be waiting," Rachel told her, crossing her arms over her chest. Max sighed, perhaps a bit exaggeratedly and then closed her eyes. When she reopened them, they were focused and she looked as if she were a tiny bit more put together. Rachel tried to see any sign that this was some side effect of time travel, but none of the signals she had been told to look out for surfaced. While Max looked upset, she did not look to be disoriented or in pain. In fact, when she opened her eyes, she looked clearer headed than she had been since she had read Stella's email.
"I'll check the diner after I drop Max at the bookstore and swing by after to pick you up," at this point, Chloe turned away from the both of them, perhaps to cut off any questions about how she felt about seeing Joyce again after such a long time of little more than a couple of curt text messages in the way of communication. Frankly, Rachel wasn't sure she would have been alright with letting Chloe go to the diner if it weren't an emergency. They had not bought so much as a burger from the place since Chloe's big falling out with her mother. Or to put it in other words, when Joyce fucked up.
"I think I'm gonna go grab Kate and check the bus station, then take the main road out to Bruss."
"Then Max and I will drive over to Edgeton. Whoever finds her, text someone else and pass it on. Like hell are we leaving Stella out on her own in this fucking cold. Especially if Nathan did something to make her scared to stay at Blackwell." Rachel took a moment to bask in the surety Chloe seemed to have that one of them would find Stella. She only hoped that when they did, the brunette was alright. It was cold outside and Stella had never been a big fan of the cold, or slick conditions. Today most certainly qualified as both. Or then there's the fact that we don't know what Stella's doing. Is she alright or... well, is it bad? A moment or two of silence passed before Max abruptly turned and started for the stairs. It was alright: there was nothing to say. There was no need to say that they were all worried enough about Stella that words were running a little dry.
When Rachel shot Chloe a look of warning and then glanced at Max's back, the 'take care of our girl,' was implicit. The only answer she received before Chloe followed the photographer out of the dormitories was a slight nod. The thing was, Rachel regretted she couldn't go with the two of them, but the more she thought about it the more her plan made sense given the idea of watching the routes to the two nearest towns. If they wanted to cover the two main roads out of town, it was going to take two vehicles. Rachel crossed the hall back to Kate's door in room 222, relieved more than anything by the fact that no one else had returned to the dorms. She struck the door a couple of more than knocked on it.
"Kate, get your shoes on. We're going to check the bus station then we're riding out to Bruss." There was no immediate response to the proclamation but Rachel stayed close enough to the door to eventually hear the 'Okay!' which did not come out in Kate's usual quiet voice, instead ringing clear as an expression of concern. For the moment there was nothing Rachel could do but flex warmth back into her fingers as she waited.
"I'm coming," Kate called after almost a minute more, a minute in which Rachel shifted her weight from foot to foot, eager to get downstairs and across campus to her car. When the girl emerged from her room finally, she understood what had taken her studious photographer friend so long. As if the day could not get any more abnormal, this marked the first time Rachel had seen Kate in a pair of pants that weren't meant to be pajamas. Probably would have been sensible during the winter but, fuck it. Winter seems to want to hang onto every last second. As the two of them descended the stairs, Rachel kept her finger on the pulse of Kate's emotional state. What she saw was a little surprising. Despite her apparent concern about whether they were going to find Stella or what state she was in, the girl whose hair was still up in that large, ornate bun was actually smiling. Smiling was the last thing on Rachel's mind. In fact, the longer she thought about the whole situation, the deeper the pit that had once been her stomach felt. Something threatened to rise from its depths, too, whenever her mind strayed to the potential involvement of Nathan Prescott.
"What's the smile about?" she finally asked, as non-judgmentally as she could. To her surprise that changed nothing about Kate's appearance or behavior. As they slipped past the gate guarding the path to the dormitories, Kate looked to consider the best way to express her thoughts and then shrugged.
"I was just thinking that I'm glad I'm not doing this on my own. I was wondering what Stella would think if she saw you three helping to look for her." This did nothing to help Rachel's mood. It wasn't that she was at all upset that she could be there for either Kate or Stella: they were her friends. That was undeniable. What was upsetting was the idea that maybe Stella didn't realize that. For one ugly second, she almost asked Kate about that and then instead reached out, settled an arm around the girl's shoulders, squeezed once and said the only thing she could think of to reassure Kate a little bit further.
"Well, if you decide you want to, you can tell her all about it when we find her. And we will find her. Chloe and Max are checking a couple spots in town and then driving the main road out to Edgeton. We're gonna do the same to Bruss. If Stella's out there and not sitting somewhere warm and safe, we'll find her." Kate gave a solid nod and though the smile faded from her face, she looked a little more relaxed if anything. Rachel thought that was probably a fair trade off.
"I know we will," Kate told her. "With the four of us looking, if she's in any trouble, we'll find her. I know it." Rachel released her and continued to focus on walking on the suddenly slick path. She could still see vague indentations in the snow from where she and Kate had fallen in a haphazard mess a few minutes before. Her knee no longer hurt from the impact and in a few minutes if the snow continued at this pace, it was going to hide the evidence of their fall, but she still felt a tiny bit guilty about rushing around like a reckless idiot. Love them as she might, Chloe and Max had really hammered home the importance that she stop doing that, which she thought was awfully hypocritical of them and had ruined a few conversations by telling them so. It wasn't that they were wrong as much as it was that Chloe and Max had a habit of going off half-cocked at the slightest sign of trouble. Admittedly Chloe had not quite reached Rachel or Max's level of stupid risk taking yet on that front, but she had come close.
Once in the car, Rachel's first action was to crank her engine on and her heater up to full. She did not miss the small, relieved sigh that escaped Kate as she did this. In fact, she quite mirrored it. If she was going to be honest, she felt cooler than she had expected to, certainly cooler than she had on the way into the dormitories. You know, Rachel thought as she turned the car out of Blackwell's parking lot and found herself instantly gripping the steering wheel too tightly, the whole 'can't be used to stop people from dying' shtick is good to know about Max's powers. She aimed her car for the tiny bus station on the south side of town and hoped that the heater warmed her up before the cold and nervous energy could combine to ruin what was left of her optimism.
She wasn't sure that the cold had anything to do with it when they got back into her car outside of Arcadia Bay's bus station which really amounted to one booth with a space heater sitting in the center of several benches. Dejection had finally set into Kate's features. This is starting to look ugly, Rachel told herself and she wasn't sure if it was in response to the increased snowfall, rapidly slickening roads, the sleet that seemed to be mixing with it all all of the sudden or just the idea that Stella might not be in Arcadia Bay after all. Either way, she was starting to think she was going to have to kick some Prescott ass if they didn't find Stella. Hell, she thought as the car started, maybe even if we do. Whether he did this or not, he needs an ass kicking.
"Kate," Rachel started. She could not find it in her to tell the girl to buck up. She had wanted very badly to find Stella waiting there, as well. Kate did not look up from the folded hands in her lap. "Oh, fuck it, we're hitting the road. Edgeton's the quicker walk or hitch, so maybe Chloe and Max will find her, unless you can think of anywhere else in town we should look?" Kate shook her head no and then, just as Rachel was beginning to resign herself to the idea that she might have no one to talk to during the entire trip when Kate spoke.
"No, she just goes to the bookstore, the diner and the general store if she wants drinks or snacks or something." With a sigh, Rachel put the dark sedan into reverse.
"Then let's blow this popsicle stand." The snow had begun to make the roads dangerous. This meant that the trip to Bruss was going to be a lot slower than she wanted it to be. This means I'll have to see what I did. She did not want to be distracted while looking for any sign of Stella out walking in freezing rain, snow, sleet. Why is the weather doing this, anyway? The answer occurred to her about the time that the businesses and houses of Arcadia Bay started to give way to less populated areas. The reason that they had gone from an unseasonable snow to brutal, freezing rain probably had something to do with her. I wonder if it's going to go back to normal or stop all together in Arcadia Bay when we get far enough away?
With the heater and defrosters going full blast, her headlights on and the speedometer reading something around 10 miles per hour under the speed limit Rachel and Kate began what was sure to be a comparatively long trip to one of the nearest towns to Arcadia Bay. With Kate not speaking much, she wasn't entirely sure what to do beyond squint through the windows and hope to see some sign of Stella before the light started to fade. Snow continued to accumulate on the ground around them. As that happened, it was going to be harder and harder for Stella to cover ground if she was no foot. She kept her eyes out for a sign of Stella as much as she could but keeping them on the road was more important than ever. Then there's the matter of whether or not I'm influencing the snow, Rachel told herself. Over the last few minutes the sensation of tiny pinpricks spreading across her skin had become more and more pronounced and distracting. This was the kind of feeling she had experienced each time she had pulled the moisture in the atmosphere down to the earth in the form of rain. If she was doing such in that moment, it would explain the increase in snowfall and other weird behaviors.
"Kate," Rachel told the girl five minutes into their slow trip, "I hate to do this to you, but some of Chloe's shitty habits have rubbed off on me and if I sit in silence any longer I'm going to lose my fucking mind." She slowed the vehicle slightly but kept her eyes on the road as she reached down with her right hand and flipped on the radio. It whirred for a moment as it began to read the CD in the player and then the dulcet tones of a band Rachel was willing to bet Kate wouldn't have been allowed to listen to began to impose themselves upon the air and the thoughts in the cab. She was reaching under her armrest for a cigarette and a lighter when she spotted the change in Kate's face out of the corner of her eye. She had gone past frowning to pursing her lips. Rachel couldn't say she much cared whether the girl approved of her taste in music, but the transformation was notable and jarring. It's a shitty day, don't read into it. Even still, she stowed the smokes back under the arm and did not speak.
The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say
I don't share your greed, the only card I need is the Ace of Spades
The long dead trees around the edge of Arcadia Bay gave way to desolation. The earth was still cinder black in some places and the same could be said for the remnants of those trees which had not been cleared away, stretching up and out of sight to the north. Disturbing as the sight was, she focused her ears on the music and her eyes on the road as much as possible. For the next few minutes she did not look at Kate. She did not try to do anything except drive and hope to see the shuffling form of a person walking along the side of the road. If the silence from Max and Chloe was anything to go by, the girls had not had any success so far, either. Stella, she knew, had a horrible home life. Whether her family was abusive or just neglectful, Rachel wasn't clear on and didn't want to ask. What she did know was that Stella had often echoed Max's sentiments that Blackwell was like home. If something had happened to make her feel unsafe at school she was probably devastated. If she's going to run off, it has to be the worst kind of bad it can be. Nathan is just that kind of bad. Admittedly they had no proof that that was what was going on, but she also couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she broke into Nathan's room and stole his camera or laptop, or both. What would she find?
When Rachel's handiwork in the way of devastated earth and flora began to give way to the cleaner land around Bruss, she shut her music off. Without so much as a sign of footsteps along the roadside, that they could see, it seemed less and less likely they would find any sign of Stella in this snow, which was still pouring, even as the skin across her shoulders and neck continued to tingle. It was as they passed the last burnt tree that the man she had been trying not to think about surfaced, puncturing her thoughts about Nathan Prescott, Mark Jefferson and even Stella. Frank. That's why Max never tried to save Frank. She just couldn't.
Kate's apparent disdain had faded by the time the first buildings just outside of Bruss city limits began to pop up. Frankly, Rachel was relieved. The last thing she needed was Kate to fall into a worse mood. I guess I'd better keep my music to myself from now on. On the other hand, she still wanted a smoke. There was just something about doing anything to move her hands from the wheel that felt fairly unsafe in these conditions. Her own spirits were much lower a few minutes later as they hit the main road into town. Kate's hands rose at one point and, clenched between them was the chain of the crucifix usually hanging around her neck. Rachel shut her mouth firmly and made as little noise as she could as the blonde beside her bowed her head. On her end, Rachel scanned sidewalks, parking lots, anything that looked like a potential spot for Stella to stop at but saw nothing that immediately jumped out at her. It was conceivable that stella could be in one of the fast food places or somewhere else, but they couldn't search the town building by building. She could, however ask at the bus station.
Getting to the bus station required going a couple of blocks off of the main road through Bruss and when they finally found a parking spot near it, Rachel was out of the car even before Kate. Together the two of them pushed past unfamiliar people into the equally alien bus terminal. They approached the ticket stand set into one wall and the woman behind it set aside her phone to pay them attention. Kate's photo of Stella was up on her own phone screen before they even reached the counter and without any other form of greeting, Kate slid it through to her.
"Please," Kate started, enunciating the word, as if to emphasize her admittedly completely legitimate desperation for some sign. Rachel pulled her own phone from her pocket and checked for any new messages or missed calls. There were none. The background of her main screen, Max and Chloe curled up on Steph's couch, was clear of any kind of alerts overlapping it, but brought her some comfort, anyway. "Have you seen my friend? She ran away from our boarding school and we're really worried about her." Almost as soon as the woman (somewhere in her late twenties with bags under her eyes that suggested sleep was a long lost friend) leaned down to squint at the phone, her face changed. It bore a pensive looking frown and then the woman called out for the person to her left to 'Look at this!'
"Oh shit, that could be the girl," this second person, Janice, said the minute she was shown the phone. Glancing up and paying them attention, the rather androgynous individual made an unsure face. "I saw a girl who looked like that about three hours ago. She didn't have any glasses on or anything." Why wouldn't Stella have her glasses? The thick rimmed frames were rather iconically Stella. "She wanted to buy a ticket out to Portland, but didn't have enough cash on her. We had to turn her away. Honestly, she looked so out of it I thought she was trying to run away from somewhere. I almost called the police but I didn't know... that can sometimes be worse for a person, you know?" Rachel did know, she thought as she considered what would have happened had Joyce Madsen brought Chloe back to the house the day David had made another attempt to injure her.
"Do you know where she might have gone after?" Kate asked, in the same earnest, please help me voice. "It's very important. Something bad happened to her and we want to help. She needs to know she isn't alone." For all that Kate had acted a little out of character earlier in the car, this reaction was genuine, this desire for Stella to know she was not alone made sense. Rachel rather hoped the girl found that out soon, too. Unfortunately, no one there could give them anymore information, Janice informing them that she 'saw too many people every day.' It was with some regret that they returned empty handed to Arcadia Bay a few hours later, having exhausted a good part of a gas tank searching the town for any sign of their friend.