Chapter I: Into the Gallery
AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
This one is based on one of my favourite horror games ever, Ib. It's the story of a kid called Ib who goes to a gallery one day and gets pulled into an alternate horror universe filled with the works of an artist called Guertana. If you haven't played it and you're into horror games, I HIGHLY recommend you do. It's a little RPG maker thing, but it's really, really well done. It's a game with multiple endings too, so #ReplayValue. :D
This story is set pre-Max Leaving, so Max and Chloe are like, tweenagers. I have literally no memory of being a tweenager, and I don't spend any time around children, so writing them as that age was never gonna happen well, hence why Chloe speaks nothing like a kid half the time. Also, since this is pre-Rachel, she doesn't say 'hella', and I've had to stop myself writing it and edit it out after writing it so many times in this chapter.
ETA (2023): Had a weird burst of inspiration to finish this one, but realised the first few chapters were in present tense and the rest were in past, so I'm changing up the intro to match the tail end.
Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
"Uargh." I groaned, letting my head fall back against the head of the seat. "Are we fucking there yet?"
"Chloe! Language!" Max's mom glared back, all parental disdain, from the front passenger seat.
I just shrugged sheepishly. If my Dad's Look of Parental Chaos-Induced Murder didn't get me, then Vanessa's sure as hell wasn't gonna. "Sorry Mrs C, but are we?"
"I have no idea. Ryan?"
Ryan shrugged, eyes still on the road. Even distracted, the dude couldn't resist a crack. "Dunno, maybe. Where are we going again?"
I snorted. Funny. Vanessa rolled her eyes. "The couch tonight, if you don't answer my question already."
"Yes ma'am. Judging by the truly terrible modern art over there," He pointed off to a weird, metallic statue that looked kind of like if a slinky had a seriously bad day and got one of those grinning dog statues jammed up it's- "we're here. Galleries have weird modern art outside, right?"
Vanessa flashed him (Flashed? Ew, wrong word, wrong word!)... gave him a withering look, then beamed back at us. "He's a detective, you know!"
Mrs C was the only adult I knew who could use sarcasm as well as me.
Ryan parked up outside the gallery and we all climbed (Max), fell (me), gracefully exited (Momma C), and just sorta staggered (Ryan) out of the car and me and Max quickly rushed up to the door. I could almost feel Max vibrating next to me. Aww, she was so excited. I didn't even think before I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down. It was just one of the things we do. Best friend things, y'know.
When Mr and Mrs C finally rocked up to the door with us, we all headed in. Max gasped in artsy-fartsy delight as she took in the frankly unimpressive inside. It's all metal and marble and modernist shit that I really don't get. The only thing that broke up the creepy operating room vibe was a big, fancy-looking old portrait of a tall, thin blonde girl standing next to a fireplace. From the look on her face, I was pretty sure art bored her as much as it bored me.
Max's folks walked over to the main desk and asked for some leaflets and guidebooks and the pretentious douche in a suit behind it handed them a little book with a condescending sneer and an "Enjoy your visit." that sounded like he wanted nothing more than for us to do literally anything else. Like go away and stop getting our interest all over his precious artwork.
Asshole.
Max finally chimed up after her parents took way too long thinking over the guidebook (Like, seriously, how long does it take to pick a direction? We're gonna see all this shit anyway, so it's not like it matters.) and begged them to let her go check out Jefferson's exhibition already.
They shared a look, a smile, and a shrug. "Sure, Max. Just be careful!" They yelled after her as she immediately dashed off for the stairs. Mrs C smirked at me. "I don't even have to ask if you'll keep an eye on her, do I?"
I just shrugged, "Always do, Mrs C.".
Her teasing smirk softened into a fond smile. "Good. Now, try not to 'cause too much noise. We don't want to get kicked out of the gallery before Max has seen everything. The drive home would be a nightmare."
I snorted, "Yes, Mrs C." and head off after Max, hands in my pockets.
"Oh my dog," Max chirped, "Have you seen this picture?" I looked over to see her staring at this... wait. What the fuck is that? I tilted my head, trying to see... Huh. Okay. It's an upside down dude.
Or maybe a Llama?
Nope. I think it's a bird.
I know I'm not an artist or whatever, but I know art is supposed to represent shit. What the fuck is an upside down bird-llama dude supposed to represent?
But, Max was beaming at it, and me, expecting an answer, so I grinned and gave her my best supportive thumbs up. "Super cool, dude."
"Isn't it? It shows-"
I tried to listen, I really did, but... I kinda tuned out. When Max gets all photographer, I never have any idea what she's talking about. It's seriously cute though.
I drifted off slightly, just grinning at her excited face, until she pulled me out of it, grabbing my hand with an excitable "Chlo, Chlo, have you seen this one?" She dragged me over to a black and white photo of an untidy bedroom with a load of psychedelic swirls over it. She tried to say something about it using photo-warping to make an abstract representation of the chaos of modern life. Or something. Like I said, I don't know shit about this stuff.
"Yeah, I saw it. I totally took that one." I stated, face and voice as serious as I could make 'em.
She just smirked at me. "You did?" She asked - playing along, like always.
"Yeah." I nodded. "I used the ancient florping technique of Brobdingnag to really emphasise the clutter and shit in the picture." I bullshitted what I'm pretty sure is a masterfully artsy explanation of 'my' amazing photo and Max ooohed and aaahed the whole time. Finally, I threw out my arms and proclaimed grandly, "And I call it, Max Caulfield."
She blinked. "Chloe, why are you naming the photo after me?"
"'Cause it's a mess, just like you."
She giggled, before dragging me off to yet another weird-ass picture.
Two pictures later, I noticed that her enthusiastic babble has stopped. I looked around. Max was nowhere in sight. Shit. "Max?!" I yelled. "Max!?" People around me started to give me the annoyed asshole eye, but I completely ignored them as I pushed and shoved through the crowd to find her. Be an asshole, feel my pointy elbow. "Max? Where the fuck are you?"
She finally called back "Over here, Chlo!" I pushed over in the direction of her voice to find her standing, awestruck, off on her own in front of a massive photo of the New York skyline. Even I took a sec to blink at it in amazement before I finished storming over to Max. I drew up just a little short (heh) and poked her. Hard.
She barely flinched. "Have you seen this, Chloe? It's totally amazing!"
I stared at her, completely ignoring me and utterly enchanted by this admittedly kind of impressive picture, then sighed. "Max?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you, y'know, let me know if you're gonna run off? I thought I was gonna have a fucking heart attack."
She tilted her head at me, big puzzled eyes blinking owlishly at me. "Huh? I did, didn't I?"
"Uh. No, dude. You didn't."
"Oh." Her shoulders slumped, and my heart does the weird little twinge it always does when she gives me the kicked puppy look. "Sorry Chlo."
I took a long, deep breath and let it go. "So, what the hell is this thing anyway?"
"It's New York! It's where all these photo's were taken. Isn't it realistic? I think it's printed on aluminum (AN1). Doesn't it just make you wanna reach out and-" Before I could stop her, she put her hand on the damn photo. "touch it..."
The gallery lights flickered suddenly, then went out completely, and we both whirled. "What was that?"
I snorted, "Guess the fancy gallery can't afford the good lights." and it sounds forced, even to me.
We turned back around to look at the photo and... huh. There was a stain on it. Some kinda blue inky stuff. Max frowned at it. "That's developing fluid. Where'd that come from?"
As we stared at it, it formed into words.
'Max. Chloe. Go down below. I'll show you something amazing.'
We both stared at the weird, creepy... invitation? "Uh, Max?"
"Yeah, Chlo?"
"You saw that, right? The developing whatever, y'know, moving?"
"Yeah, Chlo."
"Alright. Not crazy then."
"No, Chlo."
"Cool. So, we guess we're going down below?" I snorted. "Thought a chick with magic'd be able to get someone to fuck her way easier than this."
Max's face creased up in adorable confusion. "What?"
"She wants us to 'go down below', Max." I waggled my eyebrows, grinning when Max finally got it and blushed. Aww. "Well, come on then. Let's go check 'em out." I took hold of her hand and gave her my best reassuring smile, felt real proud when she smiled back.
We crept downstairs through the dark gallery, and all those weird pictures I'd laughed at before suddenly looked so much creepier. Nobody else was around, and the place was almost eerily silent. Max squeaked a little when she saw the empty reception, and I kinda had to swallow a groan of my own. (Heh, rhymes). Max's folks were like my second parents, so it was kinda hard not to freak when I saw that they'd gotten caught in whatever the fuck this was.
I quickly pulled Max through into the next room, and we ended up looking down onto a top-down photo of a pool of water. There was a boat-side on one edge of the picture, so I guess it's a harbour? There was a railing around it, but someone had taken one part of it down. In the gap, a few footprints went up to it, then suddenly stoppedat the edge.
"I, uh... I guess we've gotta take the leap?"
Max shrugged, still looking distantly back at the door to the reception. Come on, Maxie. I poked her. "Come on, Maxie. You always said you wanted to try out-dive me, right?" She finally looked at the picture, but she still didn't smile.
Fuck it. Best I was gonna get right now.
We walked slowly over to the picture, and followed the footprints until we were standing right at the edge. "Ready?"
Max just nodded. And fair, what the hell could we say right now?
I wondered for a sec if indulging the weird horny magic person was the best plan.
Fuck it. Best I was gonna get right now.
We jumped.
Our feet touched... went through the photo.
Everything went black.
I sat up, feeling a dull ache in pretty much every bit of me. Huh. Apparently the inside of a harbour painting looked kinda like a corridor from my elementary school. Weird. I looked around the corridor for Max.
Fuck.
"Max!?" I yelled, and my voice echoed off the walls.
I dragged myself to my feet and looked around. Shit. No Max. So, I picked a direction, and started walking. I walked for what felt like hours, but could've been five minutes, until I came across a table in the middle of the corridor.
It wasn't anything weird, or special, just a table. It had a vase on it, with one blue rose in. The vase had no water in it, but the flower still looked alive. Fuck it. I picked it up. Gave it a sniff.
Huh. Just a flower. I reached out to put it back, and my arm froze just before I could drop it. My heart beat slower for a few seconds, and my eyes filled with blue light (exact same damn colour as the flower), and I pretty quickly got the idea I should definitely look after the fucking flower. I tucked it into the inside of my jacket. It's not like I could just carry it, what if I dropped the thing?
I carried on a little bit further until I hit the end of the corridor. There was one small blue door in the end, and I figured, hey, Blue Flower, Blue Door, totally telling me where to go. So, I strode over, and tried the door.
Fuck.
Locked.
Max must've gone the other way. Of-fucking-course I went off in the wrong fucking direction. Damnit Chloe. I turned around and... huh. I was back where I woke up. Great. Magic-Person was fucking with space. I sighed and, just in case magic-chick is listening, said "Hey, could you help me find Max? It's kinda my job to keep her out of trouble, but this whole going down thing is making it kind of difficult."
Nothing.
Of course.
Fine. I started walking. This time (at about the same distance, I guess), I found another vase. This one also had no water. The flower was already gone though. Fuck. Max took one of the weird pain flowers.
I really hoped she didn't drop it.
Nope. Not thinking about that. I am gonna find her, and she is gonna be fine.
I kept on going, and found a red door at the end of the hall. I quickly ran over and tried it, grinning when it opened. If anything was listening, creepy horny mystery magic person or otherwise, thanks. Glad that wasn't also locked. I yanked it open with all the enthusiasm of my disgruntled youthiness and hurried straight into... Damnit.
Just another room, with a really crappy photo of some young chick in a dress on the wall, and an empty table in the middle of it. My good fucking mood disappeared immediately. No Max, no way forward.
Fucking goddamnit! I whirled and punched the wall as I hard as I could. How could I have let this shit happen? So useless, Chloe. What the hell is wrong with you? I let my head fall until I felt the blunt pain of forehead hitting wall. Damnit.
"Ahem." A prim little voice coughed from behind me.
I flipped around so my back was against the wall. "Who's-"
That's as far as I got. My mouth dropped open and I stared at the photo. "Y-you..."
The chick in the picture smiled, small and dainty. "Me, dear?"
Okay. Okay. This is fine. This is normal. I mean, not normal, but I could work with this. I took a deep breath. "You talk?"
Her shoulders shrugged almost like a flinch, like it was just a reaction for her. Like it was no big deal that a fucking photo can talk. "Ever since I was developed."
Since she was... huh, okay. "So, uh..." I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling totally awkward. "Do you have, like, a name or something?"
"The Lady in Red." She says, waving a hand idly down toward her dress.
Which was red. Obviously. Be kind of a stupid name if it wasn't.
"Oh. Um. Hi, then. I'm Chloe." -and now I'm talking to a photo. This day was getting weirder and weirder. "Have you seen my friend Max? Short as shit, cute freckles, wide eyes, camera bag?"
The Lady shook her head, offered a sympathetic expression. "I'm afraid not, Chloe. You're the only person I've seen in a very long time."
"Fuck."
"Indeed."
An idea popped into my head. "So, uh, do you know how I get through the other door? The blue one, back" I thumbed over my shoulder "that way?"
The Lady nodded. "I do. In fact," She moved in her picture, and I grinned when I saw what she'd shown me. Her picture was of a pebbly-beach with some mountainey-hills in the background. The Lady was standing in front of a boat and when she moved I saw that, sitting right on the side of it, was a blue-metal key.
I grinned. "Awesome! Can I have the key? Uh, please?"
The Lady shook her head again, still sympathetic but more sorrowful and apologetic. "I'm afraid not, Chloe. The key is my charge, and I am loath to part with it."
I blinked. I dunno what that last part was, but I'm pretty sure that was a no. Fuck. "Uh, why?"
"It is part of my picture and one cannot compromise one's art for anything." She gave me a haughty sniff and stepped back in front of the key.
I started talking again before I even thought about what I was saying. I had no idea where the words were coming from, but they just sorta... came. "I get it, I mean, you are a pretty cool picture," The Lady tilted her head in thanks. "but don't you think you could be better if you stood over there?" I pointed to the right of her picture, closer to the water. "You'd catch the light way better."
She frowned. "That is not what my artist envisioned, Chloe."
I shrugged. "Sure, but that doesn't mean changing is bad. You've heard of editing, right? Plus, you can totally just go back to where you are now if you really don't like it."
The Lady nodded thoughtfully, and I mentally fistpumped. Fuckin' A, I am made of awesome. "You might be right. Very well, let us try. You will let me know if it looks better?"
I nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Max always said I had a good eye for this stuff."
The Lady turned and walked over to the side of the room I pointed to. Before she could turn around, I darted forward and grabbed at the table. When I felt metal in my hand, my grin only got bigger. Yes! I was right!
When I pulled it back, the Lady whirled on me, blonde hair flying about like she was in the depths of a hurricane, and her eyes went completely red. She screamed "THIIIIIIEEEEEFFF!" and it was loud and echoing and fucking painful; my ears rang with it and I swear my eyes started to bleed a bit.
I chanced a look back as I reached the doorway and my mouth dropped open as I saw her sort of... pushing her way out of the picture. It looked like a face trying to push through cellophane, or a baby lamb being born, and she was screaming in anger the entire time.
It was only me being a total badass that stopped me from screaming and running away like a little girl.
Yeah, that was a total lie. I freaked out and ran like hell for the other door the second I saw her. I slammed into it at first, almost bouncing off it I was running so fast. I fumbled with the key and flailed a couple of times to try jam it into the lock, swearing when I dropped it. If I wasn't so scared, I'd have snorted. I always gave movie actresses shit for doing this whenever they were running away from monsters.
Another scream from behind me (pants-shittingly close behind me) pushed me to be faster, and I grabbed the key and pushed it into the lock. I opened the door and slammed it closed behind me just in ti-
Or not.
The Lady managed to get one of her freakishly long arms jammed into the door and her nails scratched bits out of it as I try slam it down on her arm. She screamed again and shoved at the door, pushing it open far enough for her to take a fucking swing at me with her arm. Fortunately for my leg, she couldn't see around the door, so her sharp-af nails wooshed past my leg. She swung at me a few times more, getting more and more fuckin' frantic with each one, but de nada. I was a goddamn badass and she missed every time.
Okay, so she got way closer to me than I was a fan of more than a couple times, but still.
Badass.
Another great idea popped into my head and I started slamming my foot down onto her arm, again, and again, and again. Every time, the bitch squealed in pain, and I grinned wolfish and proud, knowing that I got her. I slammed my foot down over her wrist, pinning it underneath the bridge bit of my boot. She wriggled about, but I got bitchin' leg muscles, so she wasn't going anywhere. I pulled back the door and started slamming it on her arm, putting my shoulder into each hit to give it as much force as my weak fourteen-year-old ass could manage.
I lost count by the time the arm started to crack, and suddenly the entire thing just... snapped and the broken bit of it still attached to her (like, nothing apart from her bicep) disappeared back behind the door, and I slammed it shut with a grin of victory. Yes! I am totally made out of awesome.
I turned around to find out where the hell I am now.
"Max!" I rushed over and threw my arms around the little hobbit, grinning as she hugged me back. "I was so fucking worried, you little punk. Why the fuck did you run off?"
She buried her face in my shoulder, so I only barely caught her muffled "Language, Chloe!"
I snorted. "Yeah, yeah, Mom. Swearing is totally allowed on the SS Pricefield."
She pulled back and eyed me imperiously. "Are you forgetting who's the Captain, first mate Price? It's my decision, and I say no swearing!"
"Welp." I brushed off all trauma and horror of the day and smiled at Max. "Guess it's time for a fuckin' mutiny."
She laughed, and buried her face back in my shoulder. "Where are we, Chlo?"
"I have no fuckin' idea. But the photos here are killer. Did you see the one back in the corridor?"
She nodded in recognition. "The Lady in Red! She's one of Jefferson's pictures."
"Yeah. That bitch tried to kill me."
She blinked, slightly bemused, then peered anxiously at me. "Are you okay?" Her eyes quickly scanned down and back up me in concern. I grinned again, pretty sure she's not gonna find the gaping wound she's looking for.
I shrugged, like I get attacked by artwork every day. "Sure. I kicked her ass."
She giggled. "Totes you did, Chlo."
"I did!" I said, indignant. Why does no-one ever believe me when I tell them I'm a badass? "Ripped off her arm and everything. Want me to go back and get it? We can use it as, like, a back-scratcher or something."
She shook her head. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."
"Ahem." Another prim, little voice came from behind us, and I whirled, putting Max behind me.
"Who the fuck's there?" I yelled, when I don't see anyone who the voice could've belonged to.
The voice "Ahem"-ed again. "Down here, miss Chloe."
I glanced down to see an ant, about the size of a hamster, sat on the floor, staring up at me. It had those weird Morpheus glasses perched on the end of its nose (AN: Pince Nez, if you were wondering) and was frowning at me like the librarian from School.
"Um. Hi?"
The ant didn't have eyebrows, but if it did, one of 'em would be up right now. "Hi." It said back.
"So, uh. What's your name?"
"Tony."
Seriously? "Oh, like an-"
It put up a claw. "Don't." The glare it gave me over its glasses is almost as cute as when Max tries to put her foot down.
I smirked. "Okay, okay. Sorry dude. So, uh..." I rubbed the back of my neck again. Not sure which was weirder, talking to a portrait, or an ant. "Are you gonna try kill us or anything?"
The ant(tony)'s shoulders sagged. "No. I'm far too sad."
Max leant in. "He's looking for his picture. He hasn't seen it in forever! Isn't that sad, Chloe?"
"Totally. Want us to help you find it, dude?"
The ant shrugged, somehow. Didn't even think that was possible. Pretty sure my biology teacher said ants didn't have shoulders. Eh, whatever. "If you found it, I'd be very grateful."
"Sure thing. And if we find it, will you help us get out of here?"
Tony shrugged again, muttered "Sure", then pulled out a tiny newspaper and resolvedly ignored us both.
Oookay. So, what now? I took a look around, checking for new ways out. And scary photographic women. De nada for the second, but we had two different ways to go, one to the right of the door (the corridor had a lot of weird animal photos on it. None of an ant though. Shit can't ever be easy, can it?), and the other one straight ahead from it (that way does look kinda... dark...).
I was about to pick a direction at random when I remembered something important. "Oh, shit!" I reached into my coat and pulled out the rose. "Max, did you get one of these?"
She nodded, pulling hers out of her little messenger camera bag thing. Huh. Apparently they don't need skin contact. Maybe just if you deliberately intend on leaving it? "Yeah! I found it in a vase where we woke up. Isn't it pretty?"
I tried to smile, but it definitely came out as more of a grimace. "Yeah, Max, they are, just... don't drop them."
She frowned. "Why not?"
"It hurts like shit."
"Oh." She said, suddenly looking smaller and far more scared as she blinked down at the rose. "Okay." She put it back in her bag, way more carefully this time.
"Cool. Now, where do you wanna go?"
Max looked down the dark way, then the animal pictures way, and pointed off to the second one. "That way. The other way looks sort of... creepy."
I shrugged. "Wuss. Come on then." I walked off down the corridor before she could say anything, but I know she'd got one of her cute affronted little glares all over her face.
But, she skittered after me, her tiny legs having to make two steps for every one I do. Not that it makes any difference to 'ole Maxie. I was breathing deeper after ten steps, she wasn't even red-faced. I really needed to start exercising or something. If my metabol-wotsit (metabolognese? metaboloney? Huh. Straight to the food, huh Price? Might've got an idea of why I get out of breath so quickly...) ever slows down, I'm so screwed.
My shoulders sagged when we hit the end of the corridor and found a giant fucking crack in the floor. I might have been able to jump it, but Max definitely couldn't. Shit. "We can't get over this."
Max took the situation with easy acceptance. "So we go the creepy way. It'll be okay."
It wasn't.
The second we stepped into the other corridor it just... oh god. It was so dark, and so, so fucking cold. I knew Max was right next to me, but I just felt so... alone, like everything that made life worth living and shit worth doing was just... gone (AN: #Foreshadowing). I started walking forwards, but my feet felt like they had weights tied to them, and even walking just... wasn't worth it.
My legs started to go numb with the effort of moving and I stumbled, reaching out for the wall.
The wall reached back.
I felt the long, cold fingers just barely touching my skin. I flinched back just in time as nails start to fucking dig into me, getting some seriously badass wounds out of the deal (and a shitload of fuckin' ow), but managing not to get grabbed by a fucking wall. That would just be embarrassing. I didn't wanna think about what'd happen if it got to pull me all the way in. Shit.
Max squeaked as another hand reached out for her, so I yanked her closer to me and started walking again. Somehow, concentrating on protecting her kept the weird cold, empty feeling out, so I managed to get us both all the way to the other end of the corridor.
When we got there, and the cold suddenly disappeared, we both stumbled, ending up in a pile on the floor. Max giggled like a loon, shoving at my foot that ended up in her face. "Gross, Chlo!"
I snorted, rubbed my toes over her nose, getting an even bigger giggle out of her. Glad she was doing okay. I still... that feeling was just... No, Price. Don't think about it. I pulled myself up and dusted myself off, then offered Max two hands and dragged her up to her feet too. Didn't have to drag her far, but still. I took a look around. The place split off into a T-Junction, one way to our left, the other way to our right. Both ways lead to a green door.
I waved Max over to try the left, and I took the right. Mine was locked, but hers wasn't (she grinned delighted back at me when she finds out, and I had to hiss back at her to stop her from immediately opening the damn thing) so I started to head back when...
Oh shit.
My legs went out from under me when a hand grabbed my ankle and yanked, hard. I hit the floor with a thud, and nails dug into my shin. I screamed in pain, desperately trying to drag myself away from the clawing hand, but it had a seriously strong grip. So, since flight didn't work, I turned to fight.
It was more my speed, anyway
I started clawing at the arm, trying to get it off me (I'd seen movies. Trying to pry someone's fingers off you never fuckin' works. Always go for the arms. Or the eyes. But since the wall didn't have eyes, I'd have to stick with the arms... Wait... It didn't actually have eyes, did it?), feeling the cold start to sink in under my nails every time I dug into it. I felt something there when I scratched the arm, like I should've got bits of skin or whatever under my nails, but I never got anything under them except the cold.
The wall screamed and shook about like jello in an earthquake, and a couple more arms came out of the wall to grab me. I managed to dodge one, but the other dug into my other shin and tore a huge fucking cut in my leg. I screamed in pain again (and probably a shitload of anger. Seriously? I thought art galleries were supposed to be dry and boring bullshit, not whatever this was.) and kicked out as viciously as I could with my leg as blue light filled my eyes again. It disappeared quickly, but it's enough to distract me from kicking.
I don't think I hurt the wall, but the hand loosened its grip just enough for me to slip out and shuffle back on my ass as far away from that fucking corridor as I can and I didn't stop until I hit the opposite wall. Max drops down next to me, looking down at my leg in tears "Chloe! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Let me see!" I let her talk for a while as I breath, trying to calm down. I could still hear blood pumping in my ears, and my breaths were coming way faster.
"Max." I tried, but she doesn't stop talking, completely unaware in her panic, she doesn't even look up from my leg. I tried again. "Max!"
She shook her head, blinked up at me after that. "Um, sorry. What? It looks so bad, Chloe."
I snorted, gritting my teeth against the pain. I tried to make it look like a grin, but Max's face doesn't change from worried, so I was pretty sure I had not succeeded. "I'm fine, Max. Just, help me up. We can't stay here."
She nodded reluctantly and moved up to my side, putting my arm over her shoulders. "Okay, on three. I'm gonna lift with the other leg, and use you like a crutch for my other one, okay?" I laughed. "You're short enough for it, so..." I joked, trying to distract her from what I knew was gonna happen. I'd hurt my leg like this before when I fell off my 'board, and it was never fun.
She smiled at me, but she' was obviously not convinced. So, fuck it. "One, two... three." I pushed up with my uninjured leg, whining when pain from my shin shoots up my whole leg. Fuckin' ow was a serious understatement. If I wasn't such a badass, I might've whimpered, but I kept my jaw clenched and we managed to get me straight. "Cool. Okay, okay. You got this, Price. Thanks, Max. Now, let's get outta here." Max wrapped a hand around my side to help support me, and I leant on her more than I'd want to, but this was way worse than anything I'd done on my skateboard, so I kinda had to.
We walked very, very carefully and very, very slowly over to the door. Max pushed it open with her other hand and we headed into the next room to see a photo of a huge and seriously detailed-looking cat-face in the wall. I peered closer at it and my mouth dropped open. It wasn't a photo. It's... like Max's wall. Shit, what did she call it? Like, a mosaic? A collage, maybe? Loads of little photos of cats stuck together all seemed to just... flow into a bigger cat. It's weird, but totally the coolest thing I'd seen so far in this fucked up nightmare.
The eyes opened and the huge cat face smiled. "Hello there. Welcome to the Gallery."
AN1 - Aluminium. Darn Colonials. :)
