Chapter Text
You’ve made up your mind. ‘This… this is the only way.’
You dry your eyes with the back of your hand and then slowly, careful not to make a sound, you stand up. You breathe in shakily then softly you release the air through your mouth. You gather all the strength, all the courage that you can, pushing away any lingering thought on just how tired and equally just how fucking terrified you actually are.
You turn the corner, facing them. You breathe in once more, holding it in this time, you raise your camera and, without really the need to aim carefully as they are so close, you click the shutter button.
The flash was immediate.
The deafening bang came very soon after.
You weren’t really surprised, you actually expected it, but when the bullet made contact with your chest, smashing it with a dull but intense and very vicious impact all your mind can really focus on was the pain. It came quick and powerful and nothing can really compare to it.
Well… almost nothing.
When your mind finally understands what was happening, you suddenly realize, you were … relishing the pain. You are actually… happy… about it.
Happy… that… maybe… just… maybe… …
maybe you actually did it… …
just maybe… you actually were able to save…
And you can’t help but smile just a little as you fall down on the bathroom floor.
---
You see him ducking inside the school’s front entrance, shaking as he did.
‘There he is! Slimy motherfucker!’
You run up the stairs and push open the same set of doors he went through. Inside, you waste little time and immediately see him making his way to the other end of the hall, not really running, but walking very fast. And he's still shaking while making his way through.
‘Motherfucker is probably still high! This is as best a chance as I can get!’
You start running towards him again, pushing away any student blocking your path.
He opens a door to his left and goes in quickly. From afar you can see that it was the women’s bathroom.
A few moments later you are in front of the closed door. You take a second to compose yourself.
You can hear him inside.
“...if I wanted to I could blow it up! You’re the boss.”
You take a deep breath and you forcefully push the door open. And he was right there.
Nathan was hunched over on the sink, ‘Dick was actually talking to himself!’ and he was looking at you. His face was a mixture of confusion and anger and … and… something you can’t really place.
‘Doesn’t matter. This time he pays!’
“So what do you want?” Nathan asks, snarling.
You take your eyes off of him and walk inside. You start checking each stall in the bathroom. “I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say.”
You push open the third stall and when you see that it was clear, you turn back to him. “Now, let’s talk bidness.”
“I’ve got nothing for you!” he says without looking at you.
“Wrong!” you answer. “You’ve got hella cash!” He still has his back on you and you can’t see his face.
“That’s my family! Not me.”
‘Fuck this –‘ You walk to his right and stoop low enough so you can be at the same level above the sink. You look directly to his face. He still looks the same as earlier. Perhaps a little bit more anger settling in. You still do see something else, maybe just behind the glint of his eye. You shake away the thought.
“Oh boo hooo, poor little rich kid!” you mock him. “I know you’ve been pumpin’ drugs n’ shit to kids around here.” You inch your face just a little bit closer. You want him to be raged. You wanted him angry. Raged and angry, enough for him to do something stupid. Something you can capitalize, use against him. “I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now.”
“Leave them out of this bitch!” Nathan answers back through gritted teeth. ‘That’s it, get angry!’
“I can tell them that Nathan Prescott is a punk-ass..” You shove him on his right shoulder. “... who begs like a little girl…” You shove him again and take a step forward. “… and talks to himself ---“.
He suddenly draws a gun and immediately points it at your face, his own was a mask of pure rage.
‘Holy ---!’
“You don’t know who the FUCK I am or who you’re messing around with!” He steps towards you, his body still shaking, and you step back and feel the bathroom wall behind you. Any bravado, any upper hand, any… hope… you felt earlier left your body in literally a heartbeat as you feel the cold, damp tiles on your back even through your shirt and jacket.
He pins you with his left arm propping him up against the wall with the gun on his right hand, pointed directly at your stomach. His face just below yours contorted in a hideous snarl. You absentmindedly try to push his hand … ‘his fucking gun!’ … away but there was no strength in it. You're fucking scared! Your knees were actually shaking and you feel that if the wall wasn’t behind you, trapping you, you would’ve fallen on the floor already.
“Where’d you get that? What are you doing?” Your voice was trembling. “Come on put that thing down!” you continue.
This only enrage Nathan further, his eyes furrowing even deeper. He punches the wall behind you with his left hand and it made a dull flat sound as it hits. His right hand pushing his gun closer and you can now feel the cold metal on your skin penetrating through your shirt. “Don’t EVER tell me what to do!” He shouts back you. “I’m so SICK of people trying to control me!”
“You are going to –“. Suddenly there was a flash cutting you off mid-sentence.
A deafening bang came very soon after.
It was as if time itself screeches to a halt.
You look up and you can see at the far end of the bathroom a little girl with shaggy brown hair standing there, a Polaroid camera in hand, photo just starting to print out. You couldn’t see her face clearly.
You do see, however, the dime-sized hole right in the middle of her chest.
Nathan was pointing the gun directly at the girl. You can only see the back of his head as he is facing her as well. His left hand hasn’t left its place on the wall just yet as if half of his body doesn’t even know what was happening.
And… on the sink to the left of the girl, you can see a blue butterfly, sitting still, clear as day.
Your mind is racing trying desperately, to understand what is happening.
You look at Nathan, the girl, and the butterfly one last time before time starts flowing again
And everything starts happening so fast.
You see the girl fly back to the far wall of the bathroom. Her blood quickly spreading out from the hole in her chest staining her pink shirt dark red. She keeps standing for less than a second before her body gives in and she crumples down to the floor. Her bag hits the floor at the same time and some of her stuff slides out. Her hands still clutching her camera as it continues to develop the photo.
“What the FUCK!” You scream and you push Nathan away as hard as you can. He stumbles forward, his head hits one of the sinks and he falls on his knee, dropping the gun in the process.
You stagger a bit as your knees are still just gaining their strength back from earlier. Your foot slips and then you are falling to the floor. You reach with your left hand and was able to hold on to one of the stalls, stopping yourself from falling face flat and you drop to your knees using your right hand to prop you up.
“HELP!!!” you scream at the top of your lungs, squeezing your eyes shut.
You can feel Nathan to your right, scrambling to stand. “Shit – FUCK!” he cries and bolts right out of the door.
You push yourself off of your left hand and you quickly try to crawl to the girl.
Your head is spinning and you find yourself staring at the hole in the girl's chest, taking note of the progress of her blood on her shirt all the while your mind keeps on repeating the same thing over and over, ‘—whatdoidowhatdoidowhatTHEFUCKdoi—‘. and the only thing moving you forward is that barest of instincts that you need to get to the girl.
You feel something other than the cold tiles on floor on your left hand and you stop. You quickly glance at it and you see that it was her things on the floor and —
Suddenly your mind blanks, the cadence in your head silences. You find your self entirely focused on a photo from the girls' bag. A photo of something ... something ...impossible.
You take the photo from the bag and you bring it up your face holding it with both your hands, examining it. Your eyes grow wide and your lips part slightly.
It was a photo, a selfie, of you, and the girl in the bathroom. It was taken from what looks like your room and you can see the sun seeping through your window.
Both of you were smiling.
You look at yourself and it was easy enough: blue hair, black shirt, shit-eating grin. ‘When did I –?’
You glance over to the girl in the photo. You see her brown shaggy hair, her big blue eyes, soft angular chin, lips parted in an easy smi –. It hits you then and you feel like someone just punched you in your chest.
“m-m-Max?” You stammer out loud.
You almost jump when you feel something cold on your cheek. Looking up you see it was the girl, Max. Her left hand has left her camera and is now brushing against the skin on your face. You feel your eyes swelling, tears forming on the corners. You clasp her hand with your right and look at her and… and…
You see the faintest of smiles in her lips.
“Chloe…” she whispers and for the first time you see her eyes. Cool and blue, half-lidded and gentle. She is looking at you with mixture of relief and fondness and love. You stare back, unable to do anything, unable to say anything. The way she looks at you... it makes you feel like you two were the only ones in the world, the only ones that matter. Like nothing bad has happened and everything is as it should be.
"..."
All of a sudden her eyes close, her head drops and her arm becomes limp.
“Max!!” You scream and you immediately throw yourself at her, your hands grasping her shoulders, shaking her furiously. “Max! Don’t you dare die on me!”
“Max! Maaaxxx!!!” You keep on screaming her name as the door flies open and people start pouring in.
---
Click.
Click. Click.
Click.
‘What is that?’
Click. You try to open your eyes, however you find that your eyelids seem heavier than normal. ‘What the hell?’.
Click. Click. Click.
You try to bring your hands over to your face and you find that they seem heavier as well.
Click. Click.
‘What is going on???’
With more urgency this time you try to lift your arms again without any success and you realize they weren’t actually heavier. They feel restrained somehow. Like you were tied down. Or taped. You try to wiggle your arms –
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
-- and based on how the restraints feel on your skin, you decide that you are taped. On a chair it seems. You try your legs and they are taped down as well. You try opening your eyes again, still heavy but it’s giving way this time. Light, bright and harsh, bleeds through your eyelids every little sliver it gives way.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. “Yeeesss, yeessss!”. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Your blood freezes when you hear the voice. His voice. A tingling sensation travels quickly from the area where your arms are taped, travelling up your shoulders, to the small of your back and up and down your spine. You feel your breathing start to quicken. You force your eyes to completely open and the light of the room explodes, overwhelming your vision and you are blinded momentarily.
Click. Click. Click. “Yes! That’s it!” Click. Click. “Beautiful!” Click. Click. Click. “You are perfect… Max...” Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Your eyes, fully open now, takes a few seconds before it can get used to the light. However you didn’t really need your vision to clear to comprehend what is happening.
Although your eyes are still blurry, you can see he was right in front of you, his face, thankfully hidden behind his camera.
At first he was crouched low with his camera facing you, but after one final shot (Click.) he drops the hand holding his camera and closes his eyes He draws air through his mouth, straightens his back, pushes his glasses to the bridge of his nose and tilts his face upward. He stays like that for a few seconds then he parts his lips and pushes the air out and he was… he was…
“…ahhhhhhh…”
Was he shuddering?
After a few seconds like that he decides to bring his face back down. Back to you.
‘You fucking monster!’
He is looking intently at your face, lips thin and pulled into a smirk, his hands at his sides. You can see his eyes, move up and down, absorbing all he can from your body. His tongue come out ever so slightly as he gently licks his lips.
“Stop... Stop STARING at me!!” You scream at him. You can feel your face twist in anger you’ve never felt before. Your teeth clenches. Your cheeks hot with fury and embarrassment (-- and helplessness). Tears forming at the corners of your eyes. You look at him full of contempt, of rage. You want to take his fucking camera off of his hands and smash it to the ground, shatter his glasses to his face. Rip out his hair taking huge chunks of his scalp. You pull your hands, shake them, twist this way and that hoping you can feel something give, just something for you to work with.
And he smiles. The fucker bares his teeth in a toothy grin, a wild lust formulates at his eyes. He walks slowly forward then he crouches his body, and brings his camera up pointed at you.
Click. Click. “Yes Max!”. Click. Click. “Fight it! Fight those bonds.” Click. Click. Click. “Show me your animal nature! Yes! I always knew you had something raw, something PRIMAL in you.” Click. Click. Click.
You continue to fight against restraints. You know it was pointless as they barely moved since you started and you were only giving him what he wants, however you just know you had to fight it. You just had to do something! Because you just can't give in. You just can't! Tears pour over the side of your face as you feel that helplessness wash over you. You squeeze your eyes shut. Fear and despair envelope you eating away at any semblance of heart you have. And still you twist and shake and pull. You feel your arms getting tired, the tape biting into your skin. It was useless. It didn’t work. But you fight, you struggle. Because if you stop, if you give in... this would be the end. No last minute saves, no second chances.
And Jefferson wins.
You feel his cold, callused hands on top of your hands. Once again your body freezes, and you finally stop.
“You know… you look so beautiful when you struggle.”
Your eyes are still closed but you feel his face inching towards you, his fingers are caressing your own.
“I want to see… I want to see the fire in those eyes…”. He inches ever closer. His breathe hot on your own skin. He takes his hands from yours and they find their way to your cheeks, cupping them forcefully. And they were cold. There was nothing but his heartlessness in them. Nothing but his own will to prove his power over you. He angles your face. As he leans over…
You squeeze your eyes even more. You start struggling again against your bonds. But it was futile. You know what he wants, what he means to do. So you struggle, but deep in the back of your mind, you know he was right. You are powerless against him.
When your lips touch, your mind blows up in a frenzy. A light explodes inside and it feels like you were everywhere at once. Images flood your brain and it was trying to focus on everything all at once. You can see all of their faces, staring at you. Kate. Chloe. Rachel. Victoria. Nathan. Chloe. Stella. Brooke. Warren. Chloe. Kate. Joyce. David. William. Chloe. Images continue to flash around, and you don’t understand what is going on but it seems your brain is intent to try. Your head was pounding. Its rhythm trying to match the stream of images still going through. But like with everything else, it was disjointed. Trying to catch your attention on its own.
Then you feel his tongue try to find purchase on your lips.
Blood starts dripping from the sides of the images. Slowly covering the images. You can still see their faces, but it was now covered in red. And all their faces contort in anger. Eyes filled with hate and contempt. And you feel them accusing you.
You begin to hear their voices. It starts low and guttural then it starts gradually increasing in volume and intensity. And they were all saying the same things. Murderer! You killed my family! You had no right! You killed everyone! It was not your choice to make! You couldn't save anyone...
You shake your head furiously. Tears flowing no freely at the sides of your face. "NO! I tried to!" You scream.
You try to use all the strength you have left as you struggle from the restraints. You can now feel them breaking skin, your blood now flowing. It doesn’t matter, all you want is for this to stop.
"Please believe me! I wanted to... I did! I tried EVERYTHING!" You just want the visions stop. You want to get away from him. You want to hide from their accusing eyes. You want to stop hearing their voices. It was all driving you crazy. The images continue to flow, the blood still dripping, his tongue now trying to force its way to your gritted teeth. His hands, stronger now continue cupping your cheeks, nails digging in.
"..."
Suddenly you feel a warmth in your hands as it entangles itself with your own. The skin, the fingers so soft yet so firm, and so familiar.
The hands bring your own above your head pinning you.
You continue to fight, you try to scratch the hands entangled in yours.
“Get away from me!” You scream. “Get away! Get away!”
You feel another body on top of you. Once again it feels like you know who it was. You feel warmth spreading all over you. But you don’t care, you twist your own body. You see that your legs are free and you try to push her away with your feet (--her?). You try kicking but it just won’t move.
You hear someone shouting from the distance but you can’t tell what it was saying. And you don’t care. All you want is for this to stop. You want to get away. You want the visions to… to--.
Then you realize the visions were gone. So have the voices.
All you see white.
Something fluttering in the distance catches your eye... You follow it with your gaze. It was a blue butterfly.
You feel something soft on your cheek. It was damp. And warm. And still veryfamiliar. When you hear her, her voice was just as soft as a whisper. Only loud enough for you to hear.
“…please come back to me… you are safe Max. It’s just a nightmare. Please, please come back to me…”.
All fight left your body. And you let it go limp.
You try opening your eyes. The first thing you see is the fluorescent light in the ceiling.
The next second, you see her face as she brings it in front of you. Her lovely face. In a moment you take in everything you can. Her wide blue eyes, filled with fear, tears flowing. You see her soft cheeks wet with the tears and red with worry. You see the shock of blue hear framing her face. You see her thin lips, parted slightly.
“Max?” She whispers, her voice trembling. Emotion floods your body like a stream. You feel the warmth flow through you from your face, down to your chest. To your arms and to your fingers. To your legs down to your feet and toes.
“Ch-chloe.” You say, your voice cracking. Tears again starts flowing down your face. You take your hands and wrap it around her shoulders, and you pull her into you, hugging her fiercely.