Chapter 9

The constant beeping of her cellphone ripped Rachel out of her deep slumber. She felt drowsy and in absolutely no mood to neither go to school or to travel to LA later that day to visit her father.

With a loud groan of annoyance she deactivated the alarm and then turned around again. But as much as she tried, sleep now avoided her and with every passing second her mind started to drift and flick through her memories.

She recalled last night. The date. Two truths and a lie. Her first kiss with Max. But also what had happened to Chloe and Steph.

Again, her date got – at least only partially – ruined. And though a dark side inside her told the young blonde to be mad about it, her rational side clearly stated that she had done everything right as she canceled the date and helped her boyfriend to get to the hospital.

Max…her boyfriend.

Rachel still couldn't believe that Max was finally her boyfriend.

How many times had she prayed for it? How often had she tried to talk to him, only to lack the courage? How many times had she ogled his figure during swim classes? How many times had she fantasized about him?

In her mind, Rachel imagined how Max would've stayed the night and would now occupying the empty space beside her. Her imagined self would shuffle closer to him and spoon him. Just to fantasize to feel his warm skin aroused the 16-year-old. And as her mind kept on weaving these seducing scenes, Rachel's hand found its way into her pajama pants.

With every passing second and every further brush, her breathing became more and more labored while an intense heat surged through her entire body.

A first soft moan escaped her mouth, making her bite her bottom lip to prevent further lewd sounds from emerging. Rachel felt that she was close on reaching her climax, and would've had, if Sera wouldn't have barged into her room.

"Rachel! It's already past eight! I know it was late last night, but…"

As the older woman realized that her daughter didn't move and that one hand was obviously buried deep under the blanket, her eyes opened wide.

"O-oh…" she gasped while her daughter stayed quiet and still didn't move. "I'll…uh…I'll give ya another five minutes, then. Just…hurry up, okay?"

The door closed again and Sera was gone, leaving behind an entirely out of embarrassment beet-red blushing Rachel Amber, who just rolled on her back and sighed a faint "Fuck!"

Her fantasy was gone. Her mood: gone. Her yearning for Max and an orgasm: was still there. She knew that, if she wouldn't release the pressure, she'd have cramps the entire rest of the day. And masturbating while visiting her fucked-up father? No, thanks!

Therefore – though she actually hated to do this – Rachel decided to finish what she had started under the given circumstances.

Besides of an almost forced and under stress induced orgasm, Rachel also disliked silence during the meals with her mom. Because this always meant that something was wrong.

Sharing the latest news, some gossiping or just having a nice girls-talk was common during the together-time in the Amber-Gearhardt household. But not this morning.

"Sorry for bargin' in," spoke Sera eventually, to break the quietness. But it didn't lighten her daughter's mood in the slightest.

"Ugh! I thought we had a rule, regarding entering someone's private space?" barked Rachel back, letting her with jam plastered toast fall onto her plate. "Fuck! That was so embarrassing!"

"Rachel, I'm really sorry, okay! But I need to be at work on time today, because I have to get you to the airport this afternoon and…"

"Still no reason to just stroll into my room without knocking! What if, some day, Max would sleep here and…y'know…be dressing…or something."

"It won't happen again, promise!" reassured Sera, giving her infuriated daughter an honest smile that actually calmed her down a bit and let them both continue their breakfast in silence, until another uncomfortable topic came up.

"You already thought about protection?"

"Ugh, mo-om! What the hell…?!" complained Rachel as she almost chocked on her bite. "Max and I aren't even there, yet!", but only received a nonchalant shrug by her mother.

"Just sayin'. Happens faster than you think and since you mentioned him, sleeping in your room…"

Now being annoyed again, Rachel lost her temper entirely and then stated "Y'know what? Yes, I know how it works! I know how sex works. Know where the babies come from. Know about protection. And even know – as you witnessed – how to masturbate. Good enough for you?" Then she jumped up, grabbed her stuff and went to school.

As Max woke up the next morning, he felt just numb and missed any further motivation to even get out of bed. Actually, he would've loved to stay there, if it hadn't been for his mother, who knocked softly on his door.

"Maximilian?" she spoke quietly and opened the door with caution as she didn't know how her son would react upon her intrusion. But nothing happened. Max simply didn't care but kept on staring into empty space.

Without saying another word, the brunette woman just sat down on the bed beside her son and tenderly brushed over his head. She knew that neither words nor pressure would help in this case. All her son needed right now was comfort, motherly closeness and time.

"Mom," he eventually spoke after some time. "Do you know the feeling, when you suffer with another person, though you never experienced the same?"

"Yes, Maximilian," she answered calmly, smiling soothingly at the boy. "That's called empathy. Some people have it stronger than others. And though such people never experienced the same, they share the pain with others. You had this since you were a little kid and as you met Chloe…it became even stronger." She took another deep inhale, trying to keep her calm as she remembered Chloe and Max in young years. How carefree they had been. Witnessing how this innocence had gotten corrupted by such an incident hurt her. Vanessa simply knew that things would never be the same as before. "Maximilian, I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now, but, though it seems unfair, you need to be strong for Chloe. She needs us. Now even more than ever. You got that?"

Maxine understood. She understood too well. In her reality, she had decided to stay with and save Chloe no matter what, in order to make up for those five years of absence. In her reality she had abandoned Chloe, but this won't happen here. Not this time! Not again! And if – somehow – she would find a way back, she would make everything different. She would use her powers to change everything and just don't care about the consequences. Selfish? Yes! But why bother, if everyone was selfish anyway?

But did she even want to go back to her own reality anyway? Rachel murdered, Chloe's life on a thin thread and tied to a huge hurricane that would flatten Arcadia Bay, Kate bullied and suicidal… As much shit as already had happened in this reality, the original one was way worse. And if the only real downside was being a boy, Maxine preferred this by a longshot.

Yes, Maxine was about to become selfish. She already had tried to think about everybody else and just earned suffer and even more suffer. No, now she had a chance to think about herself. What she wanted. What would make her happy. She would fight for Chloe and Rachel. Lots of people she once cared for where now out of the picture, so she would focus on making just them both happy.

Slowly, Max got up and backed away from his mom to gaze at her, saying reassuringly "I'll be there for her, no matter what!"

"That's my boy!" replied his mom, hugging her son one last time before she said "C'mon, Maximilian. Let's get ready and then head for the hospital!"

[Rachel]: Hey Max, how's it going?

For the umpteenth time Rachel stared at the display of her phone under the table, still waiting for the reply from her boyfriend to a message she had sent to him ten minutes ago. But so far, no text returned, which made her worry sick. But why did it made her worry anyway?

Ten minutes were actually nothing and there were at least a thousand good, non-anxious explanations why he hadn't answered yet.

The loud thud of a flat hand hitting her table ripped her suddenly out of her thoughts, letting the startled girl jump in her seat and gazing with bewilderment at her history-teacher, Mr. Edwards.

"Miss Amber," he said with a chiding tone, his sight shifting between her guilty demeanor and the phone in her hand, "please hand over your phone! You can have it back after classes."

With a sigh of defeat and a quiet spoken "Sorry, Mr. Edwards!" she gave the teacher her phone, who then walked back to the teacher's desk and put it inside one of the drawers before he continued his lesson.

Being slightly blushed out of shame, Rachel let her gaze wander around the room. Half of the students didn't even care, hence being in an almost half-asleep state. Victoria and her cronies, however, chuckled and made fun of her. Luckily, Rachel was self-conscious enough to ignore them. On the other side, there was Dana, sitting right beside her, who softly touched her arm and supportably whispered "What an asshole!"

Minutes started to feel like hours as Rachel awaited the end of the lesson, the moment she would finally get her phone back. Almost every second she glanced at the clock on the wall behind the teacher, trying to still follow his words as a distraction from the ever building up tension inside.

Five minutes before the lesson's end, she almost felt like jumping up and killing Edwards, only to finally get her phone back. She missed Max. His words. The reassurance that he was fine. That his step-sister was fine.

Finally, the bell chimed and the first thing she did, was storming towards the teacher's desk. But as much as she wished for it, Edwards kept on punishing her by, at first, pure ignorance and then with a patronizing speech about responsibility, respect towards her teacher and the curse of modern communication.

She did what her teacher had done before, ignoring it, using her acting-skills to pretend to have a bad conscious and guilt. Yet, inside, she gave him a mental middle-finger.

Eventually, Rachel had her phone back in her hands. Hastily she packed her stuff and left the classroom, her destination being the courtyard. There, she sat down on one of the empty picnic tables and activated the device.

To her relieve, Max had sent her several texts. But before she had been able to read them, someone sat down right opposite her. A sigh of annoyance escaped her mouth, which was followed by a quizzical frown as she realized that it was Victoria Chase, who was gazing at her with a fake smile.

It was obvious for Rachel that the blonde with the pixie haircut had some mischief in her mind. Mischief that's going to be involving her.

"How can I help you, Icky-Vicky?" she asked, chuckling in her mind as she witnessed Victoria's sugar-sweet demeanor falter for a second upon hearing this unpleasant nickname. But surprisingly, she quickly managed to regain her composure, signing to Rachel that she wanted something.

"Rachel, I had a thought…"

"Wow, you were thinking… Kudos, Vicky!" Rachel kept on mocking with cynicism, enjoying as her opponent's face turned beet-red out of anger as she tried to suppress it. Yet this time, it wasn't that successful as her voice became colder, fitting her sour expression.

"We both have a lot in common, you know. We…"

Out of a sudden, Rachel started to laugh out loud, making some of the students around shifting their attention towards them, which infuriated the other girl even more as she was getting embarrassed.

"Oh…oh, that's rich! You and me…ha ha…having somethin' in common…good one!"

"Are you fucking done?!" hissed Victoria in reply, her hands clenched into fists. And after a few seconds, Rachel eventually had managed to calm down again, wiping away some tears of joy.

"Oh believe me, Vicky, we're nothing alike."

"Au contraire, Amber! We are very much alike. We both want fame. You, as an actress. Me, as a photographer. But while my career is on a high, yours…well, you actually eff-ed it up pretty good by this quite…inconvenient faux-pas of yours," stated the slight younger girl, pointing with her sight at the small Band-Aid that was covering the small wound on Rachel's forehead. "But…courteous as I am, I'm willing to step back as the main actress and give my understudy – hence you – her part in the play back. How does that sound, hmm?"

With a quizzical frown, Rachel scanned the arrogant girl, trying to read her demeanor. But so far, she couldn't call Victoria's motives behind her offer.

"What's the catch?" she eventually asked, crossing her arms and expecting the worst.

"The catch? Oh, please," scoffed Victoria, arrogance and superiority chiming with each syllable. "All I'm asking you in return, is your help with a project of mine."

"What help?" Rachel kept on asking, still not trusting her opponent's generosity and actually expecting the worst. But again, she got surprised by the answer.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Amber, but you're real model-material. You're very photogenic and, since I need to be behind the camera, want you to be my model."

What an immoral offer! On one hand, Rachel absolutely despised Victoria for what she represented. Arrogance, fake superiority, bullying, nonsensical elitism. The rich girl belonged to a class of people, who thought that they could get everything for money. Giving in to her deal, would support exactly that behavior. Yet, the young actress would do everything to be the main protagonist of this year's play once again.

So, was it worth to make a deal with the devil to fulfill a dream? For over a minute, Rachel thought about the offer, constantly ogled with an amused gaze by Victoria, who had obvious fun, seeing her biggest opponent at her mercy.

Eventually, Rachel made a decision.

[Max]: I'm fine. Won't come to school today. Gonna be at the hospital.

[Rachel]: kk. Gonna copy my notes for you. Mind if I join you after school?

[Max]: thx. Np. Can't wait to see you!

[Rachel]: Can't wait to see you too! Love ya!

[Max]: Love you too!

With a warm smile on his face, Max put his phone back in his pocket, his heart thumping in his chest and his stomach filled with butterflies upon thinking about his girlfriend. A short, joyful rest from the depressing thoughts and atmosphere of the hospital.

For half an hour, he and his family were sitting in the waiting section, waiting for the doctor to emerge from Chloe's room again, after being done with the checkup.

"Max!" suddenly chimed Steph Gingrich's voice through the halls as she was approaching her girlfriend's family. Right away, Max jumped up and took the lanky girl in a tight embrace.

Though Maxine never met Steph in her own reality, she already had grown fond of the nerdy brunette, but not only because she made Chloe happy. Smart, geeky, polite, self-confident and without prejudice, Steph was a person, who could've been her best friend in her own reality as well. No wonder that Steph and Maximilian had already been friends.

"How are you?" Max eventually asked after breaking the hug.

"Well, got a concussion. So, lotsa headaches and dizziness. But I'm fine." answered Steph with a shrug. Yet, her demeanor darkened as she thought about her girlfriend. "I already heard that Chloe got it worse."

Not knowing how much his friend really knew, Max just heavily sighed "Yeah." It was clear that Steph would never turn away from Chloe, because of what had happened to her. Yet, he guessed that it could definitely have a deep impact on a relationship. Luckily, Steph didn't ask for the details, but sat down as well and greeted William and Vanessa.

"Heya, Mrs. Caulfield! Hey, Mr. Price!"

After Max's parents had greeted her as well, the three of them started a conversation. Max, however, stayed out of it, his mind a mixture of joyful memories of Rachel and the depressing thoughts about Chloe. He hadn't even realized how much time had gone by as a female doctor finally approached the small group of waiting people.

Immediately, everyone jumped up, eager to learn about Chloe's condition.

"Mr. Price, Mrs. Caulfield," she began to say, "I'm glad to say that your daughter is recovering pretty well from the surgery. I think she'll be up and about in a short time. However,…"

At first, everyone was just full of joy to hear the good news. Chloe was doing well and would eventually recover. But as soon as Max noticed the word however, his mood took another dive. Tensely he awaited the answer, which followed a moment later after the first surge of happiness had abated.

"However, the part of the brain, which is responsible for verbal communication, got injured and had swollen up. We were able to drain all fluids and prevented the build-up of an aneurysm. However, for the moment, Chloe has lost the capability to speak. If it's temporary or chronical, we can't say at the moment. Of course, we'll offer her a proper therapy and have high hopes that she'll be one day able to speak again."

Chloe was mute. A slight shocking diagnosis, yet better than to be bound to a wheelchair, or worse, dead. Maxine had experienced it. Had witnessed how her best friend and companion had to suffer due to her injuries from a car accident and was destined to slowly suffocate while sitting entirely paralyzed from her neck down in a wheelchair. So, being mute seemed to be a small price in comparison.

"Can we see her now?" asked William after processimg the news, wanting to finally see his daughter again.

"Of course," answered the doctor in return and added "But I recommend that you keep her stress level at a minimum. Every rise in her blood pressure could lead to a new aneurysm, which could cause even more damage. Therefore, I recommend that you enter her room in small groups of one or two people and, please, avoid any talk about the incident until she's better. Got it?"

Avoid the incident…

As if it wouldn't be already hard enough to tell Chloe anyway about that she had been sexually abused by a stranger, now keeping it a secret would be even harder. The knowledge about it hadn't left anyone unscathed and hiding the deep shock would be almost impossible. And to Max's dismay, he would be the first one to face Chloe as William and Vanessa explained him, that he would cause the lowest amount of stress and could prepare Chloe for the visit of her father and step-mother.

Unaware of what awaited him behind the door, Max timidly knocked against it and waited for an answer.

'Ugh, idiot!' Maxine chided herself with an internal face-palm. 'How could Chloe answer if she is mute?' Huffing out another deep breath, Maximilian opened the wooden barrier and walked inside with small steps.

The room was a typical, small hospital single-room. Sterile-white walls and furniture, with a big bed, a TV on the wall, a try-hard artistically picture, wall-in closet and a tiny bathroom. The only thing that was out of the order was the person that was lying in bed.

As soon as Max set his foot in the room, he was greeted by his step-sister with a warm, yet slightly weak smile.

Her head was wrapped in white bandages, where also some tubes were leading to a bag on the bedside, which contained a reddish fluid. IVs were running from other plastic bags to her arms, while a bunch of cables were linked to different machines.

"Hey, Chlo!" greeted Max with a timid smile, which was answered with a slight hand wave. "How're you doing?"

Yes, Chloe couldn't speak anymore. But since Max knew her for what felt like ages, he could easily read her mimics and gestures. In this case it was a shrug of her shoulders and a roll with her blue eyes.

Been better.

She mustn't know!

How easy those words sounded, yet it was so hard to hold up to them. How was this supposed to work when Max's mind was constantly remembering him what had happen? How could he suppress those images of a Chloe, who was lying in the gutter while some pervert was having his way with her?

"I'm so sorry!" he eventually spoke with a weak, trembling tone as the brunette boy fought down his desperate sadness.

Chloe didn't know. She was unaware of the origin. So, she simply touched her step-brother's hand and gave him a wry smirk.

Dude, I'm okay. Don't worry!

Taking another deep inhale, Max tried to calm down enough so that his words wouldn't come out like a giant whimper.

"I'm glad you're okay! We were really worried."

Though being mute, Chloe could still make basic sounds, like a scoff.

As if…

"Chloe…we all care about you. Mom and Will…they couldn't sleep all night. Fuck, we all cried because of you!"

Chloe sighed and her gaze dropped. She understood.

Maybe you're right.

"They're here and wanna see you. And Steph…"

Hearing her girlfriend's name, the injured girl's eyes widened as it came into her mind that Steph had also been hit by the attacker.

"…she's fine too. Just a slight concussion."

Suddenly, Chloe – still holding Max's hand – pulled at it, signing him that she wanted to be hugged, which the young boy did right away, being cautious to not rip off any cables or tubes.

A new surge of emotions flooded Max's body and he couldn't do anything else than to shed some tears and sniff into the blonde's shoulder. It took them a few minutes to eventually break the embrace and, to his surprise, Max even received a kiss on his cheek.

You can send in the others, signed Chloe by bobbing her head towards the door.

Max understood her. Always had, always will. No matter if she was mute or not.

For Rachel, school was a much needed necessity that existed only to give her the much needed knowledge and skills for her later life. However, this didn't mean that she had to like school, which she actually didn't, apart from some assorted classes and the one or other friend. Bottom-line: school sucked, especially when you waited for it to end.

And as the last chime of the bell sounded and signed the end of the last lesson, Rachel had already packed her stuff and literally sprinted out of the classroom. She simply had to get the earliest bus to the hospital, which left the Blackwell bus stop only five minutes after classes.

Someone called her name, but she ignored it. She was actually supposed to head home and drive with her mom to the Newport-Airport, but she simply gave a damn about the visit of her father. Max was more important to her right now. Actually so important, that she also needed to talk with Chloe, in order to settle their little feud.

She reached the bus in time and not 20 minutes later she finally arrived at the Arcadia Bay hospital and after some few exchanged texts with her boyfriend, she eventually reached the right floor.

Until today, Rachel hadn't found out why she always felt so mesmerized by Max. What caused this tickling sensation in her belly. Or why she felt so empty and alone without him. Normally, she always had been a free and independent girl, not minding spending some time without a trusted person. But with Max it was different. It was like they were destined to be together. Like there was a bond between them, which linked their souls together.

Since the first time she met him, the need to see and spend time with him had increased, almost driving her insane. And now that they're finally together, it had reached new heights, because as soon as their sights met, Rachel ran towards her boyfriend, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him dearly.

It was like being hooked to a drug. Joy and relieve, short: a massive amount of endorphins, flooded Rachel's entire being as soon as her lips touched Max's.

She didn't care that everybody around was staring at them. She gave a damn about what they were thinking. It didn't even matter that they were in a hospital. Rachel was simply confident enough to don't give a shit about other people's opinions.

Only with reluctance, she eventually broke the comforting touch, immediately missing the contact.

"I missed you!" she whispered, the sound of her voice having an undertone of desperation. "How are you?"

'Fine' or 'decent', that would've been the answers she would've wanted to hear. But just getting a shaky sigh paired with a quiet "I'm okay." wasn't really what she had wished for, because it sounded different than in the text message she'd received before and told her immediately that something was wrong.

But she wouldn't push it. The whole situation was already fragile from the start and Rachel had the feeling that even the slightest disturbance could escalate it. Luckily, Steph joined the two of them as she emerged from Chloe's room.

"Steph!" she greeted her friend, hugging her as well. "How are you doing?"

"Hey Rach! I'm actually fine…given the circumstances." answered the brunette with a shrug, smiling wryly. "Guess you're here to pay Max a visit or does this girl here still have a place in your heart?"

"For you, there'll always be some space!" remarked Rachel with an added playful wink. Yes, she liked Steph like a sister and, honestly, had already had the one or other indecent thought about her, making the blond girl sometimes questioning her sexuality. But for now, she was committed to Max entirely. "So, how's Chloe?"

It was a normal question out of curtesy, yet Max went stiff and stayed silent, which caused the two girls to frown at him since both expected him as her step-brother to answer. But since it didn't happen, Steph took over.

"She's fine… Well, except that she can't speak anymore. Got a pretty bad blow to the head which caused some brain-damage."

"Shit!" muttered Rachel, feeling really sorry for Max's step-sister albeit their differences. "Hope she doesn't freak that I visit her."

"We can come with you, if…" suggested Steph, but got interrupted by her friend right away.

"No. I think, I wanna do this alone and finally settle this little feud between us."

With a soft smile she gazed at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement and let her girlfriend go alone, being proud that she was about to take the moral high ground.

Though not seeming to be nervous, Rachel actually was almost dying inside. Timidly and after a deep inhale she knocked and then entered the by Chloe occupied room.

It wasn't quite a hostile glare that welcomed the blonde, yet more a questioning one, signing that Chloe hadn't expected to see her.

"Um…hello, Chloe! How are you?"

Chloe couldn't answer, she knew that, but as Max's step-sister rolled with her eyes and turned away it was like "Fine. Get to the point!"

With slow steps, Rachel walked towards the bed and said "Listen Chloe, I-I just want you to know, that I never had anything against you. Shit got outta hands that day and…I'm sorry that I brought you in some trouble. But since I and Max are officially together now and you and Steph are a thing now too, I…I just want us to get along. Y'know…peace 'n' stuff."

Slowly, Chloe turned her head towards Rachel again, looking at her a bit suspiciously.

"We don't have to be friends, just…accept each other's presence," added Rachel quickly and waited for a response…any response. Which came as Chloe lifted her hand from the mattress and offered it to the other girl.

A wry smirk was forming on Rachel's face as she shook Chloe's hand, saying "Thank you, Chloe!" which she answered with a scoff.

No, they weren't friends…yet. But Rachel felt that they would get along pretty well as soon as both of them would take the time to get to know each other better. In the end, it was a soft knock on the door that ended this solemn moment.

"Excuse me, kid…" chimed suddenly a strict, male voice that let Max freeze in his seat in front of Chloe's room.

Maxine recognized it right away. Had learned to dread it when her Chloe had been around as well as welcome it when Jefferson had captured her: David Madsen!

In this reality, David had never occurred in any form, yet, neither as security guard nor as Chloe's step-father. It almost seemed like he wouldn't exist. Not that Maxine had really missed him anyway. But as Max raised his sight he saw why David wasn't an employer at Blackwell: he was in fact a police officer for the ABPD.

Still, he looked like the same: moustache and short-cut hair, yet the police uniform made him appear even more intimidating.

"Is this Miss Chloe Price's room?" he asked, gazing with a frown at the brunette boy who stared at him.

It took Max some time to shake off this stupor, only to stammer at the officer "Uh…y-yeah. Sorry…Sir! I…uh…I bring you in."

"Thanks!" grumbled David Madsen in reply and followed the young teenager, who knocked softly at the door and cautiously opened it, hoping in silence that Chloe and Rachel had found a common ground for a truce. So, he was more than happy to see them both relaxed and smirking, which however turned into the opposite as they saw the police officer behind Max.

The tall man simply walked past Max and addressed the injured blonde. "Miss Price, I'm officer Madsen and I need to ask you a few brief questions about last night's incident…under four eyes, of course."

Emphasizing those last words by throwing a stern glimpse at Max and Rachel, who got the gist and left, the policeman and Chloe eventually were alone.

"Miss Price, let me at first express my sympathy about what happened to you. I swear that we will find this pig who did this and bring him to court!" he said with determination, which got answered with a slight nod.

"Now," he then said, readying pen and paper, "the doctors informed me about your current condition and I'll try to keep the questions simple enough, so that you can answer them with yes or no. Got it?"

Once again, Chloe answered with a nod, already feeling pretty tired.

"Alright. I already asked Miss Gingrich some questions, so I'll take her answers as a basis for your questions."

He paused for a moment, awaiting the young girl's confirmation once more before he continued.

"Miss Gingrich told me, that, before the incident, you two were having a date at the Italian Pizza Palace. Is that correct?"

Chloe confirmed it, memories of the evening slowly appearing in front of her eyes.

"And then you both walked through the town, back to Blackwell Academy?"

Once more she nodded, the images in her mind getting more and more detailed. Because of the exhaustion, she drifted in some kind of a trance-like state, reliving the last night like a movie in front of her eyes. Only instinctively she answered the police officer's questions.

"And you didn't realize that someone was following you?"

This time, she negated with a shake of her head, remembering how hers and Steph's emotional moment got violently interrupted by the attacker. How Steph had went down with a pain-grimaced face. How she froze upon this sudden assault.

"Miss Price, you're still with me?" came the unexpected question, forcing Chloe to come back to reality and gaze directly at officer Madsen. "I know you must be feeling pretty bad and want some rest. Just one more question and I'll be on my way again."

Gathering her strength one last time, Chloe nodded and tried to hold open her already heavy eyelids.

"Can you identify the attacker? Details, special features, anomalies, a voice, something like that?"

The moment before the baseball bat had hit her. Yes, she remembered that. Weakly she signed at the notepad in the officer's hand, telling him that she needed something to write. Of course, he followed that wish, putting the pen between her fingers and the pad under her hand.

Slowly and almost unreadable, Chloe scribbled three words on it.

Masked. Blue eyes.

Then, she drifted off again, into a state between being awake and asleep.

"Thanks for your help, Miss! Rest now, you need it!" said David Madsen with as much honesty as possible, honoring that, despite her exhaustion, Chloe had answered all of his questions and even had given him a clue.

The young girl didn't really notice as he left the room upon being caught in reliving her memories again. It was like a nightmare during a fever.

The fresh scar on her head stung as she recalled the moment the baseball bat had hit her head, and for some time she was surrounded by darkness. But as she hoped that the nightmare was over, she got merely disappointed as a glimpse of light appeared right in front of her, a distorted eerie voice chiming from it.

"Why did you do this, Chloe?"

"N-no!" she gasped, already expecting the impendent doom.

"You always act like a badass and hurt others. You shouldn't have done this! Now it's time that you're treated like the whore that you are!"

"N-no…! Pl-…please…!"

She felt a stinging, hot pain in her crotch, making her groan in pain as it occurred in constantly repeating waves.

"Fuck! For a fucking whore, you're tighter than I thought. Guess we have to cut this short, huh?"

In a glimpse of a second Chloe's tear-filled eyes shot open. Panicky her gaze shifted throughout the entire point of view. Her breathing was labored and close to hyperventilation, while her head hurt like someone was hitting it continuously with a hammer, the insanely beeping machines beside her bed not making it better. She felt how some liquid began to run down over her lips, carrying the metallic taste of blood.

Barely being able to unclench her hand from the bedlinen, Chloe searched for the call-button that was supposed to lie close to her right hand. Luckily, she found it after a few seconds and pressed it multiple times like the call-button of an elevator, hoping that the often you press the button the faster the wished result would occur.

Chloe now knew what had happened to her, her mind having buried up memories that once had been locked away in her sub-conscience. And right away she felt disgusted and spotted.

A first sob escaped her mouth, followed by another one. A big pressure was quickly building up in her chest, begging for release, which eventually occurred in a loud scream of desperation.

"Thanks, Rach!" spoke Max out of a sudden as he and Rachel were sitting in front of Chloe's room, waiting for the police officer to finish the interrogation.

"What for? Making up with Chloe?" she scoffed in reply, adding a friendly smirk, already knowing what her boyfriend was referring to. And as she received a confirming nod, she took Max's hand and added "I actually like her and was pretty pissed at myself that I fucked it up with my stupid jealousy. I should've trusted you both, but I didn't, and now it's on me to make it right."

'Did Rachel actually take the moral high ground again?!' thought Maxine upon Rachel's confession, increasing the feelings she had for her even more.

Max would've loved to kiss her again. However, as the blonde's phone suddenly began to ring, she broke the contact and groaned "Shit!" before she took the call.

"Hey, Mom! Listen, I…"

Rachel wasn't able to finish her sentence as Sera's angry voice started to blurt through the speaker, which caused her to wince. Even Max could hear, that Rachel's mother was pretty mad at her daughter, who immediately jumped up and walked along the corridor to get more privacy for this rather uncomfortable conversation.

At about the same time, officer Madsen emerged from Chloe's room, saying "She's just fallen asleep. Please tell her parents that I'll contact them soon to ask some more questions. Have a nice day!"

Short, cold and rather unfriendly, that was how Maxine would've described David Madsen's common conversational tone. And it wasn't any different in this reality.

Steph being gone for a last check-up, Rachel having a heated conversation with her mom, his mother being at work for a few hours and William out to buy some groceries for the next days, Max was now alone. But in a way, he didn't mind. He actually enjoyed the peace, knowing that Chloe was resting now and was going to better.

Some people passed him, probably on their way to visit another patient. A nurse emerged from a room, only to vanish in another one. Slight chatter could be heard from the reception close by, maybe some nurses who exchanged the latest news. Then, the sound of a vending machine came into the mix. All those, for a hospital, normal noises carried something calming with them and forced Max's eyelids to become heavier with every second, until an unnerving clicking sound was disturbing the peace.

Curiously, Max looked around in order to find the source of this annoying noise, realizing soon, that it came from above him.

As Max saw that the red emergency-lamp of Chloe's room was constantly blinking, he immediately jumped up. And it was just at this moment that his step-sister's loud, eerie screams broke the peaceful atmosphere entirely.

He stormed into the hospital room and witnessed in horror how Chloe was flailing out, tubes and cables flying around like whips, accompanied by the bleeping cacophony of the machines she was hooked on to.

Actually, the young boy didn't know what to do, but just acted on instinct as he jumped on his step-sister and tried to pin her down.

"Chloe…!" he spoke with gritted teeth as he had to endure the one or other hit and had to muster all his strength. "You…you need to calm down! Please!"

He knew what was at stake. Every further second stress could be her last one. And just this knowledge alone let tears of desperation shoot up in his eyes.

"Chloe, please! I'm here! Sshh! I'm here! I'll always be there for you!"

Luckily, his words worked!

The flailing ended. Powerless, Chloe's legs came to a rest while she weakly flung her arms around Max as a sign that she needed soothing closeness. And though the worst part was over, Chloe kept on weeping into her step-brother's shoulder, welcoming the soothing contact.

Max realized that Chloe must've somehow found out what had happened to her. So, who could blame her for freaking out like this? He couldn't. He understood. Or better: Maxine understood. This reassuring and comforting was a solemn moment for both, Chloe and Max, which was eventually broken as a bunch of nurses and doctors stormed into the room and pulled the young boy away, only to throw him out a second later. Too weak to protest or even to resist, both teenagers had to accept their fate.

At the doorframe Rachel was already awaiting Max with a shocked demeanor, also pulling him in for a comforting hug right away.

The sky above and the lights of civilization beneath her. Normally, Rachel loved flying. Not just because it was bringing her closer to her beloved stars, but also because up here, above the clouds, you saw things way differently than down on earth.

She was staring out of the window, watching the ascending stars on the horizon. She tried to find comfort and advice in them. Tried to figure out why the world could be such a cruel place sometimes. Max had told her the truth about Chloe's incident. What the attacker had done to her. You hear about it in the media or read it in books. But knowing that something like this actually happened to someone you personally know, was an entire different level.

So, leaving those beloved persons with their burdens was even harder. Especially, if the reason was something nonsensical like the visit of a father you don't like.

A tear strolled down the young girl's cheek, which she wiped away instantly. It was hard for her to hold up the act, until her phone chimed and she read a message that even painted a faint hopeful smile on her face.

[Max]: Chloe's gonna be ok. Miss you like crazy! Talk to you tonight. Love ya! Max