"Haunted" by Evanescence

Max couldn't think straight as she led a despondent Chloe through the suburban area of Arcadia Bay. The sky its usual black, starless pitch that enveloped the entire town, her flashlight was the sole source of light. Going from block to block down the street, managing to come up with the idea of returning to the hardware store so they could regroup and focus, Max's brain was a mess of thoughts. Chloe…helped the other Chloe, from that alternate timeline, kill herself? Wowser. I-I couldn't even do it, so I can't imagine what Chloe must be thinking right now… And then there's that other me, the one from my…from my…vision…who told me that I am a cause of this?

"Then how am I supposed to fix it?" Max asked herself in a low whisper, not wanting to bother Chloe as she led her partner by the hand down another block, "What am I supposed to do?"

"M-Max…Max, can we just stop for a sec, please," Chloe finally spoke, her voice weak as she managed to stammer out the words, "I know we're headed to the hardware store, but I need to stop."

"Chloe…Chloe, we can't. The ghosts-" Max started to say before being cut off when Chloe grabbed her by she shoulders and looked at her with tear-filled eyes.

"I k-killed her. The other me…," Chloe sobbed, "I opened up the morphine and let her have the whole dose. A-And she thanked me, like I'd fucking done her a solid or something. Max, w-what do I do? What do I do about that?"

"You live, we live, and we get out of this nightmare," Max said, grabbing the hands on her shoulders and holding onto them tightly, "You're the only thing here that I know is real, Chloe. I know we are real. Trust in that."

"Y-Yeah…," Chloe said, wiping the tears off her face before giving Max a sad attempt at her usual crooked grin, "I mean, this place is hella fucked up so it's no wonder we're getting blasted by the past. Just… I wish it weren't so damn gut-wrenching."

Max held onto one of Chloe's hands as she led her partner through backyards and alleyways, no longer wanting to be on the street, towards the business section of town. It was a long walk compared to the straight-forward path provided by the city's abandoned streets, added onto by the debris of long-abandoned houses and collapsed structures that would cause them to double back at times. Neither girl spoke as made their way slowly made their way towards the hardware store.

If Chloe loses it now…, Max thought as she glanced over her shoulder to see Chloe absently staring ahead, If she doesn't snap out of this soon, I don't know what I'll do. And what about that other Max, telling me that I'm a cause of this? Was that a lie, or a truth? My time-traveling might have caused the storm, but this goes beyond anything I can think of. I bet if I picked Chloe's brain about it, talking science with her might rouse her out of this fugue.

"C'mon," Max said from over her shoulder to Chloe, "The hardware store is just down this alleyway…I think…and then around the corner."

"If you say so," Max heard Chloe mumble in a deadpan tone.

Coming around the alleyway, Max sighed in relief at the sight of their one sanctuary in all of this horrid mess they had endured thus far – the hardware store. Feeling Chloe's hand slip out of hers as she opened the door, Max didn't even register the static in the air inside. Max watched from turning around to see Chloe's eyes go wide as the punk tried to reach for her before she was sucked into the place.

"Max!" Chloe cried out, hands shaking as she desperately tried to pull the door open, "Caulfield, lemme in!"

Chloe slammed the flat palms of her hands against the wood and glass but nothing would budge. Eyes darting left and right as Chloe began to panic, she took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. She's not gone…She's not. She's trapped in there, somewhen or somewhere, and I have to get her out! Running back down the alleyway, Chloe found a back door to the garage adjacent to the hardware store and managed to break it open with the butt of her heavy flashlight. Thank God it's a Mag-Lite, Chloe thought, These damn things are like steel batons. Eat Chloe, motherfucker! Going inside, Chloe scanned the abandoned garage with her flashlight. A derelict car sat up on a hydraulic lift, with tools and electrical components on a dusty workbench that ran the length of the back wall. A couple boxes stacked up near the door; nothing warranting the use of her Polaroid camera as she ran across the garage to an access door leading inside the hardware store.

"This won't break so easily," Chloe grumbled as she spotted the deadbolt lock above the doorknob, "Ah, man, why's the switch for this gotta be on the other side? Max! Max, if you can hear me I'm coming!"

Max watched the door slam shut, almost knocking her aside, and immediately turned around to the sound of distant clattering. Turning on her flashlight, Max pointed the beam of light down an aisle and thought she saw something. Finding nothing there once she had reached the spot, Max cautiously backed up until she was at the storefront once more and tried the door. It would not budge, despite the door technically being unlocked. Moreover, it looked to Max more like the door had become decoration rather than an actual door. It's like the door's just become part of the wall, Max thought as she ran her hand along the door's surface, This doesn't make any sense. I just came through here.

Max turned around and was immediately startled and blinded by the flash of a Polaroid camera going off. Confused and not knowing what was going on, Max was again hit with the blinding light and began to try and pinpoint its location as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden light alternating with darkness. There was nothing she could make out amidst the bright spots dotting her vision; squinting, vainly trying to see anything through her disorienting sight, Max could have sworn she saw someone duck behind a display table for 9-volt batteries.

"W-Who's there?" Max stammered out, her vision finally beginning to clear, "I, uh, I got a flashlight. It's a heavy one. And I know Kung Fu!"

"…Max…?" a voice asked, a voice Max knew right away. Chloe.

"Chloe? Chloe, what the-?" Max asked before she was hit with another flash of Chloe's Polaroid camera, "Agh, stop it!"

Chloe popped up from behind her cover, and Max squinted as she shone the beam of her flashlight towards her partner. She looked a little different – her beanie was gone, and her face seemed a little more drawn, a little gaunt. Crossing the distance between them as quickly as she could with all the clutter on the ground, Max stopped mid-step when Chloe raised her camera to take another picture.

"Chloe, I-I'm not a ghost! Are you cereal? You just saw… You were just with me…," Max tried to explain, the terror in Chloe's eyes apparent once she had gotten close enough to the blue-haired punk, "Chloe, it's really me."

"That's… That's not true. I-I watched you…watched you...," Chloe stuttered out as tears came down her cheeks, "…Max? It's really you? No bullshit?"

"Zero on the bullshit meter," Max said, nodding as she reached out and lowered Chloe's Polaroid camera, "You wasted film, dork. Not a ghost, see? Flesh and blood."

Max watched Chloe apprehensively make her way out from behind the table and step towards her. With a single finger, Chloe poked Max and watched her skin touch skin; Max took Chloe into her arms and held the shaking girl. The last I saw of her was just a few moments ago. What's with this? She looks like she hasn't slept for days. Max pulled Chloe back to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Chloe, what's going on? I swear, I just saw you, but you look like you've been through hell."

"This place is Hell, Max," Chloe said, taking Max's hand as she led her back and through the side door into the garage, "But even Hell has its Limbo. This is mine."

The garage was illuminated by several candles and battery-powered camping lamps, with a double-sized sleeping bag nestled in one corner on top of an air mattress. So it's not so much a lack of sleep as a lack of good sleep, Max thought. She could not blame Chloe for that, however, as she doubted that there was anywhere in this town that a decent amount of rest could be found. This…This is wrong, it doesn't make sense. Letting go of Chloe's hand, Max stood and looked at her partner-in-crime.

"You act like I'm a ghost, then you make it sound like you have been on your own forever… Chloe, what the fuck is going on?" Max demanded, the sternness in her voice making Chloe whimper, "Aw, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. This… All this is just so wrong…"

"The l-last time I saw you, Max, was when we were at the lighthouse…," Chloe slowly drawled out, her words measured carefully as she motioned for Max to sit, "You had told me about the 'other Max' you'd seen at my old house and a theory you had about capturing other Max Caulfields on film to try and put an end to all this. Dude, all I wanted was to hella escape this place, but you were dead-set against it by that point. Super-Max, to the rescue, and all that bullshit… B-But you're here, now, and w-we can finally figure out how to get the fuck out of this town for good!"

Max looked at the area and surveyed everything. There was no way for Chloe to have done all of this in the few minutes they had been separated, and Max had no clue what she was talking about when it came to this 'theory' about taking pictures of other Max Caulfields. The door does look hella strange, Max thought as she remembered how the hardware store's door had slammed shut on her, Is it possible I went into the static place and this is another Chloe? Makes no sense, though. She's dressed just like I remember her… Max walked up to Chloe, who was gathering together some food from the leftovers of MREs, and put a hand on her shoulder. When Chloe looked up, however, it was not the joyfulness of reunion that she saw but Max's overwhelming curiosity.

"Chloe… When was the last time you saw me?" Max asked, a little hardness in her voice.

"…I don't wanna talk about that, now that you're here and you're back," Chloe replied, obviously avoiding the subject, "Just…Just leave it alone, Max."

"No, Chloe. How long?"

"…It's been a week since you…since you…"

"Since I what?"

"Since you died, okay?!" Chloe spat out, "Since you shot yourself, thinking that if you died it would all go away! Didn't happen, though, did it? No, I'm still here…but you're here now and everything will get-"

Max backed away from Chloe, the other girl's voice becoming increasingly troublesome and deranged. What Chloe said made no sense; Max had not died, and she had just seen Chloe only a moment ago before…

"…I entered the hardware store, alone," Max murmured, spinning around as she headed back inside the store with Chloe scrambling to her feet.

"No! Don't go! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all that!" Chloe cried out as Max tried the door again. It budged, barely, but Max could see outside and hear her Chloe, the original Chloe, calling out for her. Forcing the door open, some invisible force at work in making it so difficult, Max pushed herself through the partially-opened doorway just as the nightmarish Chloe latched on.

"Please don't leave me!" Chloe screamed, and Max saw through the static haze as Chloe burst into tears, "I can't lose you, keep losing you, over and over again!"

"I'm sorry," Max said, now weeping as well, "But I'm not yours to have. I don't know what happened to you and your Max, but I have no intention of dying here."

Kicking her foot free of the hand latched onto it, Max was propelled forward and through the door just as it once again shut behind her.

"Max! Damn, girl, d'you know I've been tryin' to get into the store for the past five… Whoa, hey, are you okay?" Chloe asked, grabbing ahold of the frantic photographer before letting out a faint cry of surprise when Max latched onto her by the shoulders.

"Chloe? Chloe, is it really you? I-I'm not… How long since the last time you saw me?" Max asked, panic thick in her voice.

"Calm the fuck down, Max. It's been- "

"How long?!"

"…Five minutes, tops," Chloe said, letting go of Max so she could pull out her phone, "I kept track an' everything. I'm…I'm back on top of things. What happened at that house… I can't let it get to me, I just can't. I won't. We're in this to win-"

"We need to get out of this hellhole!" Max exclaimed, burying her face into Chloe's shirt, "I-I don't know how much more I can stand, Chloe. I think I'm near my limit of alternate realities, ghosts, all of it. I just…"

Max told Chloe everything about the encounter with Chloe's future self; at first, Chloe had figured it was a hallucination or some trick being played on them. The more Max told her, over and over, the clearer it became to Chloe that Max had felt it was real enough to terrify her and that made it real for Chloe. Helping Max to her feet, Chloe led Max into the garage and found nothing of what Max had mentioned. In truth, Chloe knew that there was nothing like what Max had described for she had already been inside the structure. It was Max who needed convincing in this case. Spreading her arms wide, Chloe gestured to the interior of the garage and its lack of signs that someone had occupied the space. When Max started to calm down, however, Chloe lightly punched her in the arm.

"What was that for?" Max asked, rubbing her arm tentatively, eyes wary.

"For offing yourself in this alternate future whazzit. Don't think you can just leave me behind or try to fix things by killing yourself, Max."

"Chloe, that wasn't me."

"Still," Chloe said, jabbing a finger in Max's direction, "We don't even go there. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah. I never had any… What would make me think doing something like that might change things?"

"Because all this whackness started years ago, with your time powers. But that ship sailed, my babe, because this town was wiped the fuck out. So, this, whatever this is? Not on us. Not on you, capiche?"

Chloe was not satisfied until Max nodded a second time, the first being weak and not reassuring at all. Slumping down to the floor, Polaroid camera dangling from the cord it was on, Chloe sighed and pulled Max close to her. She could not imagine a world where she and Max were parted so violently. I probably would lose my shit if Max did what that other me told her she did, Chloe thought, But right now, we need to strategize. Game plan type of stuff? Like, how the fuck are we even supposed to get out of this place? Shouldn't there be, I dunno, some kinda hella epic final boss or whatever? Chloe scratched at her beanie and squeezed Max a little tighter.

"Okay, so we need to figure some shit out, pronto," Chloe said finally, after neither girl had spoken for what felt like an hour, "Like, where's the borders for this place? How far does it go? And we need to stick together, meaning no more doorways or anything like that without a thorough search to make sure neither of us get sucked into another alternate timeline. Past, present, or future – we do it together."

"Agreed," Max said, nodding emphatically, "I've had my fill of parallel worlds. If I've got you to back me up, it won't be so bad."

"Well, I am quite the badass," Chloe said, a smug little grin on her face.

"My badass."

Gathering their bags, Max swapped out her small flashlight for one of the battery-operated lamps and led the way as they headed out of the garage. Checking the hardware store door, Max and Chloe found it odd that the entrance to what had only hours ago been their sanctuary was now locked. Shrugging, Max looked at Chloe who in turn jerked a thumb at the bag of goodies she was carrying on her back. We're supplied, we're armed with plenty of film. Do or… No, it's now or never, Max. Don't go to that bad place, Max thought to herself as they turned the corner and headed back towards Blackwell Academy and the murky forest beside it.

Walking through the forest felt like something from a dream to Chloe as Max led the way with her lantern. It was more than just a grayness that could be made out deeper in the woods; there was an ethereal quality to their surroundings, almost mystical. A low fog hung at their ankles and the girls watched their footing as best they could manage. While the town was relatively "plagued" with ghosts, the forest seemed to be completely devoid of them. Munching on an energy bar as her partner led the way, Chloe wondered what it would be like to probe the gray space they were closing in on. Is it a barrier? Will we push and simply be pushed back? Or is it more like 'in one place and out another' like…like… Fuck, I can't remember the name of it…

"Alright. We're here," Max said, setting her lantern down amidst the fog-covered ground as she and Chloe stood before the grayness that seemed to stretch past the naked eye, "I'm going to look through my viewfinder, see if there's anything we need to worry about."

Max pulled out her old Polaroid camera and lined up a shot of the grayness. Nothing. Not even a glimpse of what's past it. It's like a solid wall, really. Lowering her camera, Max reached out and felt Chloe's fingers intertwine with her own as they touched the grayness. Their hands went into it as deep as their wrists. It was cold, but not a leeching cold like the ghosts had been. There was a substance to it, thick and churning like wet cement being constantly poured. Pulling their hands back together, Max and Chloe examined their digits and found nothing. Their hands weren't even paler from exposure to the chilled area.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Chloe remarked as she nudged the space with a boot, "Nothing. I figured it'd be hella creepy, with faces and hands reaching out for us."

One look from Max left Chloe giving the other girl a cringing smile.

"But it's not, and it isn't, so we're good? Yeah?"

"Sure, Chloe. I'm glad you didn't lead us to a death trap. Wowser," Max said, a mildly contemptable smirk on her face, "So now what, genius?"

"That question seems to come a lot."

"That's because, aside from making ghosts turn into burnt film, we've got nada on how this place works. Alternate timelines abound, multiple versions of ourselves – alive and dead – linger about this place, and we have cameras. Forgive me if I choose to be less than thrilled one secret is revealed."

"Well, I say we head somewhere…significant. Somewhere that a lot of shit went down. The girls' room at Blackwell."

"Blackwell? We were just there!" Max cried out, sitting down amidst the fog, "Really? You want to go back?"

"Max, this stuff is tied into that week, so it only seems hella right that maybe things go down in 'hot spots' or whatever," Chloe said before kneeling down to face Max, "Look. We've both been traumatized multiple times over since we got here. We've seen some fucked up shit, and then some. I… I'm grasping at straws, babe, but if it leads to something then who the fuck knows? It'll be more than we have now."

"…You're right," Max admitted after a moment of stewing it all over in her head, "We don't have much else of a lead. I… I'm just sick of all of it."

"Believe me when I say that I know that feel, dude."

The girls made their way back to Blackwell and it was as though the 'time bubble', as Chloe had coined it along the way, popped. The illumination of the cloudless sky had been replaced with the dark, oppressive starless sky that shrouded the rest of the town. Gone was the peacefulness of the courtyard and the school's untouched façade; instead, the school was dilapidated with a feeling of abandonment permeating the place with a sense of great loss and foreboding. A number of ghosts wandered the distance between Max, Chloe, and the entrance. One front door was gone completely, broken and lying on the steps, while another hung open by a single hinge. Preparing their cameras, Max slapped a fresh cartridge into hers as Chloe counted in her head just how many shots she had left. Shaking her head, Chloe pulled out the near-depleted cartridge and discarded it in favor of a full one just as Max had. Tip-toeing through the campus, the two did their best to avoid the ghosts, snapping shots only when the specters came close enough that it was warranted. Max would have preferred to help the ghosts by freeing them, if that is what the shots truly did, but she opted on the side of caution and preservation of their film supply.

Making it inside, Chloe flipped on her flashlight as Max powered down her camping lantern. Voices seemed to echo through the halls, people lost to the storm or its aftermath. How many people died because the relief services took too long? Max asked herself, How many went unnoticed because of, well, time? Max wondered how many ghosts filled the halls of the school, how many faces she had once known might be fizzled out in a brilliant flash of her or Chloe's Polaroid cameras; the idea left a hollow pit in her chest. Peering from around the corner, Max signaled to Chloe that the coast was clear for them to cross the hallway to the girls' room.

"You ready?" Chloe asked, grabbing ahold of the door knob.

"Not really, but we don't seem to have any say in the matter at this point," Max conceded, her slight defeatist attitude getting a grimace from Chloe.

"Dude, we will make it out of this place alive. Trust me."

"I do. I just don't trust this place," Max said as they entered the girls' room.

Chloe looked behind her to see that Max was nowhere to be found as the girls' room door closed. Fuck! Chloe cursed internally, gritting her teeth before she slammed the door with the flat of her palm, I hate this place! Like Max, Chloe was sick of the mind games that seemed to be played on them constantly; unlike Max, she buried it as survival was paramount and there was a need for one of them to be optimistic. Chloe stood in the ruined bathroom and chuckled a bit to herself.

"Who thought I would be the optimist in this hellhole?" she remarked as a pale blue light emanated from the end of the room. Readying her camera, Chloe watched as a ghostly Nathan Prescott appeared, "Oh, you've gotta be… Oh, man…"

A gunshot wound to his temple, blood splattered on the front of his clothes, Chloe watched as spectral tears ran down his face while he simply remained in place and looked at her. She never thought she would harbor anything for Nathan but bitterness and anger, but there was something saddening about his state. He killed himself, after…after killing me. Oh, fuck… Chloe thought as her hands trembled a little with the camera in hand.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…sorryyyyyyy…," Nathan's ghost wailed as it looked at her, "D-Didn't meaaaaan toooo…"

"Yeah, but you still did," Chloe said, all emotion drained from her voice, "Wait. Max was here still, in this room when it happened. Nathan, what did you do to Max?"

Max entered the girls' room and suddenly found herself crouched down at the end of it, hiding behind the stalls. Looking around, she immediately rolled her eyes upon recognizing the state of its cleanliness and lack of dilapidation. Back in time. Again, Max thought with a chagrin as she peered around the corner and immediately froze. Lying in a pool of her own blood, a 19-year-old Chloe Price lay still on the floor. Rushing forward, scrambling to her feet as she moved, Max knelt in the pool of blood collecting around Chloe and began to cry as she held the limp head in her hands. Chloe was dead, her skin cooling as the warmth left it.

"Chloe, no…," Max sobbed out. It did not matter to Max that this was an alternate timeline; seeing Chloe suffer in any world always caused her a grieving wound to the heart, "No!"

Touching her forehead to the dead girl's, Max felt her tears run down the sides of her face and watched as they landed on Chloe's pale skin. Is this a timeline where I chose to not save Chloe? I-I wrecked reality for her, multiple times over. Why would I go back and undo it all? To save the town? What's the point, then, of that whole week we had together if I just undid it all? Max thought with a deep bitterness as she cradled Chloe's head in her lap and began to rock gently. Max was on the verge of losing her sanity to this place, bombarded time and again with ghosts and visions of people she knew from years ago.

"I should've never come back here," Max whispered to herself as she tucked some loose blue hair behind Chloe's ear, "I-I saved you, but somewhere…sometime else you still died. I-If… If you're dead here, Chloe, then where's your ghost? Where are you?"

With that, the door to the girls' room opened and Max, sobbing as she gently set Chloe's head down, walked forward to whatever was beckoning her…

Author's Note -

Divided they fall...?

Only time will tell ;)

Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls!