Monday

Just be cool, you've got that bastard Prescott by the balls, Chloe Price thought as she stepped inside the Blackwell academy main building. He drugged and abused you and he's gonna pay for it, literally. Once he pays, you're gonna settle things with Frank and you can concentrate in finding Rachel.

It felt funny for Chloe to be walking among all the students. Her appearance certainly stood out from the rest of the people with her short hair that was dyed blue and her outfit that consisted of ragged jeans, boots, dirty oversized tank top and a brown jacket. Chloe had not been here since she was expelled.

I wonder, if I'm gonna run into Max? Maxine Caulfield was her childhood friend, who had moved to Seattle five years ago and now returned here to do her senior year at Blackwell. Oh fuck her! She's been here like a month and not once bothered to even text. Some BFF she is, Chloe thought as she approached the girls' restroom.

Just as she was about to reach for the restroom door knob, a shot rang out from inside. Chloe instinctively pulled the door open and found Nathan Prescott, the one she was supposed to meet, holding a gun, stepping around the restroom and rambling in disorder. On the floor there was a small brunette lying on the floor motionless and bleeding.

It took a few fractions of a second for Chloe to recognize the face of the girl lying on the floor. "Max!" she cried aloud. Another few fractions of a second later she realized who was responsible for her childhood friend's condition.

"You fucking bastard!" Chloe raged, as she leapt to the disoriented young man and smashed his head against the mirror. Nathan Prescott fell on the floor under the sinks. Chloe kicked the gun away from him and kneeled at the chestnut haired girl.

"Max!" Chloe tried to shake the brunette to no avail. She felt her neck with her fingers but there was no pulse and she was no longer breathing. The look on the small brunette's face was serene, almost happy.

"Goddammit, Max! Don't you dare to leave me like this!" Chloe turned the smaller girl on her back and pressed her lips firmly against hers. She exhaled strongly two times to fill Max's lungs with air and moved over her chest to start the compression. "One, two, three..." she began counting.

"What is going on here?" Chloe heard a man's voice to ask firmly at the door. It was her stepfather, or step-prick as she preferred to call him, David Madsen who was the head of the security at the Blackwell Academy. "Chloe?" David said as he recognized his stepdaughter.

"Dave, call an ambulance! He shot my friend!" Chloe said frantically, not discontinuing on the compression.

David Madsen secured the pistol that was on the floor and grabbed his phone. "This is security officer David Madsen. There's been a shooting at the Blackwell Academy. One casualty. We need a paramedic unit fast..."

The rest of David's words just faded away, as Chloe kept on pressing her friend's chest. "Come on, Max! I can't lose you too!" She pressed her lips again against Max's and made two long exhales. "Don't give up, Maxaroni!" Chloe moved again over Max's chest and began pressing. "I'm so sorry I never called you. Just come back!"

Chloe kept on resuscitating, while David apprehended Nathan and handed him over to his colleague. The paramedics arrived and made their way to the restroom.

"Chloe, you need to step back and let the paramedics do their job," David said and put his hand on her stepdaughter's shoulder. The punk brushed the hand angrily off and continued pressing. David had no choice than to firmly wrap his arms around his stepdaughter and forcefully drag the kicking and screaming girl away to make room for the paramedics.

"No, you fucking prick! Let go of me! I need to be with Max!" Chloe bellowed to her stepfather, trying to writhe herself free.

"You did well, Chloe," David tried to calm her. "Now let the paramedics do their job."

Chloe calmed down a bit and watched the paramedics do their best to resuscitate the lifeless brunette. The other paramedic intubated her and began to pump air into her lungs using a bellows while the other cut open her shirt and placed defib pads on her chest.

"Ok, clear!" the paramedic shouted and pressed a button on the defibrillator. The brunette's body jolted from the current. Apart from the single spike from the defibrillator, the line on the heart rate monitor stayed flat. He applied more power to the defibrillator. "Clear!" Again the body jolted, but there was no change in the monitor. He tried once more with more power but when the line stayed flat, he changed to manual compression.

After what felt like an eternity to Chloe, the paramedics exchanged glances and stopped the resuscitation. "Time of death, 10:48," one of them announced. The other paramedic removed the bellows from the tube that was protruding from the dead brunette's mouth. They backed away from the body and the other one left the room to retrieve a body bag.

"No!" Chloe broke herself loose from her stepfather's grip and kneeled again next to her dead friend's body. She lifted Max on her lap and carefully covered the exposed chest by zipping up the blood-soaked hoodie. Chloe lifted Max's still warm forehead against her cheek and sobbed silently, tears running first down her own face and then on the brunette's. "Please don't leave me," she whispered.

The paramedic returned with the body bag. David held him back. "Just give her a minute," he said quietly.

Chloe sat on the floor and held her friend gently on her lap quietly for a few minutes. Only a few brief sobs broke the silence that had landed in the restroom and the hallway.

"Chloe, please," David said, kneeling over to the grieving bluenette. "It's time." The punk's eyes narrowed briefly but then she sighed and loosened her grip. The paramedics set the body bag next to them and unzip it. The lifted the small girl gently from Chloe's lap and laid her on the open bag. One of them then slowly closed the bag, before they lifted it on the gurney and pushed it away.

Chloe remained sitting on the puddle of blood, as the people dispersed away from the scene. One single thought filled the punk's mind. Why?

Kate Marsh watched among the other spectators, as the small brunette's body was placed in a body bag and pushed away on a gurney. She had heard the gunshot and run to the restroom like all the others. She had gasped in shock, when she had recognized the girl who had been lying on the restroom floor, bleeding to death.

Maxine Caulfield had been one of the few people in this school that Kate had considered a friend. She had been constantly bullied because of her faith, especially by the members of the Vortex Club. Max had been one of the few that had not partaken into the bullying, most probably, because she had been a bit of an outcast herself.

The difference between her and the now deceased photographer was that Max had not tried to make an effort to blend in. The brunette had not really cared what others thought of her, or at least she hid it well. Kate, on the other hand wanted to be part of the community. That was the reason why she had gone to the Vortex Club party. That had been a decision that had turned her life in shambles.

All Kate could remember about the party, was that she had had one glass of wine. After that, everything had been a complete blackout until the moment that Nathan Prescott had brought her to the dorm.

The next day the events of last night had unraveled to Kate in all of its gruesomeness. According to eyewitnesses, she had been seen dancing on the tables and making out with several people. Worst of all, a video of her exploits was uploaded into the social networks, where it was now spreading like a virus. Also her family had become aware of the video and reprimanded her. Only her father and sisters had been supportive towards her in the midst all the guilt and shame.

Kate couldn't grasp the idea that Max was dead. It had been just a few moments earlier, when they had exchanged a few words with her at Mr. Jefferson's class. She could've never imagined that it would be the last time she saw her alive. Max had said how she missed their weekly tea sessions. There would be no opportunities for those any longer. Not that it mattered. Not that anything mattered any more.

Chloe sat in David's office and was smoking. Her stepfather was sitting on the opposite side of the desk. She could see from David's eyes that he didn't approve her unhealthy habit and she was well aware that smoking was strictly forbidden in the school premises. Maybe because of the situation David was willing to let it slide.

"Look, Chloe," David said to his stepdaughter. "You're going to have to talk to the police anyway. I can't help you with them, if I don't know exactly what happened. Knowing your relationship with the Arcadia Bay Police Department, you're going to need all the help you can get."

Chloe just stared into the distance. She was still trying to process the fact that her childhood friend was now lying in a body bag at the Arcadia Bay Hospital. When she had heard that Max had returned to Arcadia Bay, she had many times contemplated about calling her but every time her pride had prevented that.

Chloe had felt hurt and abandoned, when Max had suddenly moved to Seattle with her parents right after Chloe's father, William had died. She had wanted Max to come crawling back to her. Now there would be no chance for either.

"Chloe, I need to know why you were at the school premises," David said.

Chloe thought about a plausible explanation for her being in a place, where she basically was a persona non grata. After a moment's hesitation she decided to come clean though. For Max.

"I was going to meet Nathan Prescott," Chloe said eventually.

"Why did you need to meet with Nathan?"

"The bastard drugged me the other night and did all kinds of shit to me," Chloe explained. "I also know that he's dealing drugs to other students, so I was gonna blackmail him."

David looked at Chloe incredulously. "Of all the stupid ideas..."

"Hey, you asked!" Chloe retorted. "And I'm all right, thanks for asking!"

"Well, obviously you can't tell the police that you were going to extort him," David said. "Just tell them that you were going to confront him about it."

"Look, if I had known Nathan was so messed up that he'd bring a gun, I would've never suggested to meet him," Chloe said.

David closed his eyes and rested his forehead against his thumbs. "You do realize that your friend saved your life, don't you? Without her, it would be you in that body bag."

Chloe hadn't thought about that, until now. It was true. Max had saved her life by being there then. Chloe also realized that Max would be alive, if she had not come up with the idea to blackmail Nathan.

"Oh my god! Max is dead because of me!" she said. "It's all my fault!"

"Chloe, listen to me," David tried to calm his stepdaughter. "While the idea of trying to blackmail Nathan Prescott was stupid and irresponsible, in the end it was him that pulled the trigger on Max. I've been following him for months because I was suspecting him of trafficking. I had noticed that he had become very unstable after last spring. The Prescotts pretty much own this school so without any solid evidence I couldn't do anything." He leaned back on his chair and sighed. "My point is that sooner or later this would have happened no matter what, and anyone could've been the victim."

"But it happened now, and Max is the victim!" Chloe shouted.

"I..." David began but was interrupted, when his phone rang.

"David Madsen... ...Yeah... ...You sure? ...I understand... ...Thanks for calling!" David ended the call. "It was Andy Berry. They've found Rachel Amber."

"They've found Rachel?" Chloe lifted her eyebrows. "Is she all right?"

"Chloe, Rachel is dead," David said with a dreary voice. "Nathan confessed having overdosed her and buried her at the old junkyard. I'm sorry, Chloe."

"Rachel, dead?" Chloe whispered. At some level, she had known it but she had kept up hope that she would turn up in L.A. or something, like they had planned together.

"This isn't happening! First Max, then Rachel!" Chloe began to ramble frantically. "David, please tell me that this is just a bad dream! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." the punk curled into a fetal position on her chair and broke into tears.

David stood up and walked to his stepdaughter. He placed his hand on her shoulder but Chloe just twitched.

"Let me be!" Chloe snapped. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Sure, take your time," David stepped back and walked to the door. "I'll be right outside, if you need me." He almost closed the door behind him but he stopped and turned around. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you or Max from Nathan."

Chloe didn't see how her stepfather closed the door behind him. With Max and Rachel dead, there was little to carry on for. Her mother, Joyce had moved on after William's death, when she had met David. William had always been closer to Chloe than Joyce but Joyce's remarriage had alienated Chloe from her even more. With David, Chloe had been at odds most of the time. She owed a debt to Frank Bowers that she possibly couldn't pay. She was a high school drop-out and her future didn't look too bright. She was a loser with a capital 'L'. No one would miss her sorry punk ass, if she died.

Kate sat on the bench outside the dormitory and stared into the distance. She had spent the last night praying and asking for guidance, but in the morning she had felt as lost and hopeless as she had in the evening.

Kate had watched the viral video of her. When she had reached the end of it, she just couldn't see a way she could face her family any more. Kate also couldn't see how she could continue her studies in Blackwell. How could anyone possibly see her as anything other than a wanton slut.

The shame and guilt was so overwhelming that Kate just wished that she would stop feeling altogether. She looked up to the roof of the tower that was on top of the dormitory entrance. Yes, that would give people something to talk about and post pictures on the internet. She was already all over the web. Why not give people more of the same; that's what they obviously wanted. Maybe someone would then care about her feelings too.

A cool autumn night breeze swept through the platform roof of the Prescott Dormitory. The sky was clear but it was still quite dark as it was only two days after new moon. Only a thin waxing crescent was dimly shining in the sky. Chloe had always loved staying up late and watching the night sky with all of its stars. Thanks to step-prick's key ring, she could enjoy it here at the top of the dormitory. Chloe let her eyes enjoy the divine view as she took a long drag from her joint and then slowly blew it away. She grabbed a bottle of beer and raised it towards the sky. "To you, Max and Rachel! I'll be joining you soon!" she said and took a long swig.

With the joint slowly blazing between her lips, Chloe pulled a revolver from the waist of her jeans. She had stolen it earlier from David's gun cabinet at home. She checked that all the chambers in the cylinder contained a cartridge, before she swung the cylinder back in place and cocked the hammer. Chloe took one more drag from the joint and tossed it away. She slowly raised the barrel against her temple and put her index finger on the trigger.

Just as Chloe was about to pull the trigger, the door to the roof opened and she saw a girl in her pajamas to step on the roof. Even though it was dark, she recognized the trademark bun of Kate Marsh, who walked slowly towards the edge of the roof.

Chloe lowered her revolver as the petite girl climbed on the edge of the roof. She's gonna jump, Chloe thought as she stood up. She cleared her throat, startling the girl slightly and making her turn.

"C-Chloe? W-what are you doing here?" she asked, when she recognized the punk.

"Apparently the same thing you are, Kate," Chloe answered and raised her gun.

"Don't come any closer!" the blonde exclaimed. "I will jump if you do."

"Hey, don't let me stop you," Chloe spread her arms. "I'll just see you on your way and then I'm gonna put a bullet in my head."

Kate hesitated for a moment, before she opened her mouth. "May I ask you why you're going to put a bullet in your head?"

"My childhood friend was killed and another friend was found dead today," Chloe said. "Both were killed by the same person. What about you?"

"I made the biggest mistake of my life by going to a Vortex club party and now my life is in ruins," Kate answered.

"Hella partying on that video!" Chloe's expression brightened up. "Change of clothes and you'd be ready for the mosh pit!"

"Oh that darned video!" the smaller girl said. "I wish I could turn back time so that I'd never gone to that party!"

That remark made Chloe sigh. "Yeah, kinda wish I could turn it back too. Maybe my friends would still be alive then."

"I lost a friend too, today," Kate said.

Chloe lifted your eyebrow. "You mean Max was your friend?"

"Yes, does that surprise you?"

"No, not at all," Chloe said and grinned.

"I saw you today in the restroom," Kate said. "You two must've been close."

"Yeah, we were, back when we were kids," Chloe said. "We lost touch, when Max moved to Seattle. You know, today was the first time I saw her after that. I saw her, when she-, when she..." The punk's voice fade away and she burst into tears.

Kate stepped down from the roof edge and took the crying bluenette into her embrace. Chloe was first taken aback about the sudden expression of sympathy, but for some reason the warmth offered by the smaller girl was so soothing that she accepted it and wrapped her own arms around her in return.

They stood there, holding each other for a while. Finally Chloe eased up on her grip and slowly stepped back. "Sorry 'bout that. I don't usually get this mushy."

"I think we both needed it," Kate said.

"So, about that video, I take that you weren't quite yourself on it?"

"Actually I can't remember anything of it," Kate said. "I can vaguely remember that Nathan Prescott promised to take me to a hospital but after that it's all dark until I woke up outside my dorm room and I felt gross."

"Nathan Prescott?" Chloe lifted her eyebrows again.

"Yes, why so?"

"That bastard drugged me and I bet he drugged you too," Chloe explained. "Dude, whatever happened on that video, you didn't do it voluntarily. I'd go and talked to the cops about it, rather than jump from the roof."

"Y-you think so?"

"Hella yeah!" Chloe said. "If you want, we can talk to my step-pr-, stepfather tomorrow. He can take it forward."

"So, does this mean that you won't be putting a bullet in your head tonight?" Kate asked.

Chloe looked at the revolver in her hand. She carefully un-cocked the hammer and pushed the gun back into the waist of her jeans. "No, I guess not. Unless you're still gonna jump off this roof."

"I guess I'll pass it too," Kate said. "You want to join me for a cup of tea in my room?"

Chloe contemplated the offer. Kate was after all from a religious family and her values were pretty much at the opposite end of the spectrum from where she stood, but for some reason she felt some kind of protectiveness over the bun-haired girl.

"Sure, why not."

To be continued...

A/N: With this story, I wanted to take different aspect to the 'Sacrifice Max' option. Many of the published stories tell it from Max's point of view but I wanted to tell it from Chloe's point of view and so that Chloe is completely oblivious of the bigger story behind the tragic event. How do you handle a situation, where you see your childhood friend for the first time in five years, lying dead on the floor? The story will be told from Chloe's and Kate's POV in turns. I'm planning to cover the week one day per chapter and after that, more like one-shot excerpts of random moments until I reach a certain point. The focus will be on how Chloe and Kate will deal with the loss of their friend and how their relationship will evolve.

I hope you enjoy this story and please do review! I'm currently between beta readers, so this chapter comes only through my own critical eye.

EDITORIAL NOTE: I've updated the ending of this chapter from the original publish. One of my observant readers was kind enough to point that in the game canon, Chloe already knew Kate. I contemplated for some time how to deal with this and finally decided to revise the first chapter according to canon.