Chapter 4 ~ Limbo

It feels like I've been trapped here for months... or maybe even years... I have no idea.

Her perception of time had also been messed with, apparently, as it became harder to remember how long it had been since that... attack ... cast her from the world she knew and breathed in. She was taken from Arcadia Bay, torn away from her loved ones, but most importantly, forced out of Chloe's arms and thrown into this limbo like a garbage disposal.

This is definitely no heaven, but it doesn't feel like hell either. I must be in some sort purgatory that they call Limbo... but I can't be dead!

In her heart, Max could feel herself, or at least a part of it, lingering on, if barely, clinging for dear life on its nails .

A shrill hoot wound her attention upwards where, on a low brittle branch, she spotted an owl perched there that was either studying or leering at her; its luminous round irises could hypnotize her if she stared back long enough.

This feathered creature, normally harmless, sent a cold trickle down the spine of her neck as she unwillingly called back to the last situation where she heard that same sound, which was when she returned with Chloe to the junkyard to guard-watch Rachel's body and trap Nathan, only to instead have the rugged pulled under them by...

No... not him! Don't think of him! Not here!

When the rush of air picked up once more, Max dropped to her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, and blocked her ears with her sweaty palms to try and banish that horrid memory.

"There's no escape, my dear Max." Spoke his voice, oozing with venom. "The darkness here is very much my dark room." It passed through her hands like mesh and wormed its way inward, prompting her to scream internally.

Leave me alone! Please!

That disgusting voice of Jefferson's... it breathed on her from all around at once, yet she could find no trace of that monster when she spindled in her spot to piece him out through the shadows.

Right then, she stops dead when a small but noticeable orb hooks her interest up ahead. A predator's lure or a guide? She wasn't sure whether it would lead her to freedom or her doom.

"There's nowhere to run!"

Chancing one of her two guesses, Max made a blind dash for it, daring not to look back or anywhere else.

"Wait… what the hell? Her powers… are from you?"

Chloe stood before this manifestation of Rachel, dumbfounded by her statement.

All ears were on them as the entity continued. "I was like Max. Or to put it better, she was like me . Unlike her, I never used my powers to change fate or help others. Rather, I used them for my own benefit, such as to become popular."

"All this time?" Chloe glowered into her eyes, feeling of betrayal swelling up again. "You never told me, after all that time?"

"I tried to." Rachel's voice began to show fragility. "I tried to tell you, like how I tried telling you about Frank."

Hearing his name, Frank cautiously meandered from around the counter to listen closer; even Pompidou had gone silent.

Chloe worked out the rest of what Rachel was going to explain. "You actually told me a few times before, didn't you?"

Rachel nodded, and looked down shamefully.

"I'm hella guessing I didn't react well, so then you rewinded and decided instead to lie to my fucking face."

Rachel said nothing, afraid to look her friend in the eyes again.

"You fucking bitch!"

Everyone flew back when Chloe then struck the entity across the cheek.

"Chloe!" Joyce shrieked.

Chloe, as well as the whole diner, flew back and froze, fearing that she provoked this powerful entity.

Rachel had hardly flinched from the slap, like it didn't affect her. She just returned her a straight-faced look that displayed no hint of retaliation. "Feel better?"

Chloe let out a deep breath, somewhat relieved that Rachel didn't react .

"I would advise you, Dear Price, not to do that again, though."

Chloe swallowed down the bile trapped in her throat and wiped her nose to compose herself. "I—I'm sorry, Rachel ."

"I figured that'd be your reaction, anyway."

Rachel then turned around to notice Frank standing across the floor from them. For whatever reason, he kept a bay, deciding it would be better not to approach them, at least for the time being.

Rachel turned back to Chloe, and then leaned over her shoulder to see Joyce standing behind David, holding Max away from her protectively.

"So you're the Max Caulfield that Chloe had told me so much about. The other brunette."

Reluctantly, Chloe let Rachel brush past her as she moved on towards them.

Almost out of breath, Max was on her fours, facing a deathly quiet river. She had no idea how far she ran until she reached here, but that didn't matter so long as she got away from that violating voice at last.

She was now thirsty, but as she stooped over the calm passing water, she thought for a second whether she should really drink a mouthful from this current before she took her first scoop, and then another, and another one after that.

She moaned with each gulp; the water was delicious, yet her thirst wasn't being quenched like it should.

"Oh… right …"

Max heaved a sigh, and then rubbed her temples. For as long as she had been like this, it's like she'd been walking around with shards of glass inside her head.

Suddenly, the same golden orb returned to her at the opposite side of the river, expanding to a greater size.

Max rose to her feet to face this glowing source that now took the form of yet another doe.

There was something familiar about it…

Chloe had Max's head cushioned in her laps while Rachel floated her hand over the girl's face, scanning her; the former had managed to convince her parents, after a hard-fought argument, to back off and give the entity a chance to help their friend.

Everyone else moved closer to observe the scene silently once they had adjusted to this presence. Most, including Kate and Victoria, were now invested with whatever was going to unfold next.

Suddenly, one last question Chloe almost forgot to ask slipped back into her head. "How did you do it? How did Max get your powers anyway?"

"You'll hear me explaining to Max once I find her." Rachel answered without looking at her.

"Find her? So what, is she lost in her head?"

"Yes." Rachel seethed, annoyance at Chloe's endless questions surfacing. "Now let me concentrate ."

With that, Chloe buttoned up.

After a moment, Rachel spoke up two words that filled Chloe's heart with hope again. "Found her."

"Who are you?" Max asked the doe. "Why am I here?"

The doe answered by revealing its humanoid form.

Max was almost knocked back by shock and disbelief. " Rachel ?"

"Yes. It's me, Max."

"How are you here?"

"I'm here for the same reason you are." With a wave of her hand, the manifestation of Rachel froze the river, as well as the environment around her.

Max held in a deep breath and held it with her mouth. "You have powers too? Or am I just imagining this?"

Chloe listened intensely as Rachel answered responses from Max that only she could hear.

"No, Max. I'm real. I'm here, and so is Chloe."

"Is she okay?" Chloe whispered.

Rachel nodded.

Slight relief came over Max after she heard that Chloe and many others were fine, but then continued their conversation straightforwardly. "You're dead. Chloe and I saw your body." Max froze up right then, a daunting realization hitting her. "Am I…?"

"No, only me."

Rachel then walked over across the frozen water to Max, the latter proceeding to circle her. "All this is happening because of your powers. Apparently, you had altered destiny so much that they're finally blowing back in your face."

"How do know about this? About me?"

"Because your powers used to belong to me. Most of what I gave you at least."

"But how ?"

Rachel sucked in a deep breath of her own; even for the entity, this was going to be harder explaining, as well as go back to. "As I died… after Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson drugged me…"

The whole diner hollered in shock when Rachel revealed her fate and the names of those responsible; Kate and Victoria especially couldn't believe it, their own photography teacher, but even worse for Victoria, her own friend.

"Those bastards." David grimaced, tightening his fists. "I knew there was something wrong with that high-nosed prick of a teacher." Guilt tightened around David's neck, knowing he could have done something sooner.

"I was stupid enough to agree to Jefferson's plan to model in his dark room." Rachel shook her head; just remembering what happened in there made her ill. She continued regardless. "I kept trying again and again to rewind out of that place, but the drugs did something to me. I couldn't use my powers, but I kept trying to fight; I didn't know then that you could travel back through photos."

Tears ran down from Rachel's face as she darted her eyes away. Max put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Rachel."

Once Rachel looked back over to Max, she was encouraged with a nod to continue. She felt comfort in this girl's touch. "When Nathan gave me that final dose, that was it. My powers just… fizzed out of control. It's like my powers desperately wanted to escape me before my mind fried completely. Apparently, it worked and latched onto you."

Max thought back to how Chloe described her lost friend as a mystery, a puzzle, stating how she always seemed to know what to say and what to do; it all made so much sense now. "How did you get your powers then?"

"That's a question for another time." Rachel shot back. "This is about you now."

"Is there a way to fix this? Can you help me get out of here?"

"Yes." Her hesitant answer worried Max. "But it's going to be harder now."

"What is it?"

"This is going to be hard to hear, but you have to know."

Rachel proceeded to explain Max's condition in front of everyone. "I was just too late, but don't panic. When your powers malfunctioned, it caused your brain to short-circuit, which resulted in your seizure. It's… worse … than I thought it would be."

Chloe's breaths went shallow while Joyce held onto David, no one liking what they were going to hear next.

"It's amazing that you're still even conscious in here."

Rachel paused again, as the Max inside asked her another uneasy question.

"I think you may have… less than a few hours… until your powers become even more unstable and dangerous to everyone here and beyond." Rachel swallowed before dropping the last bomb. "You could be clinically dead after that."

Chloe shook in horror. "No…" A new wave of tears threatened to flood the diner at second now.

"But there's still a chance." Rachel said right after, easing everyone again momentarily.

Max could swear that she gave up breathing after hearing the true depth of her state; it's the same feeling one would get if a doctor came back to deliver a terminal result.

"There's still hope." Rachel repeated, hoisting Max out of her spiraling emotions. "But I need you to help me."

Max nodded. "Anything."

"I have to take back my powers from you, but in order to do that, you'll need to confront your demons and may have to endure excruciating psychological pain."

Max gulped. "How bad?"

"Even I can't tell." Rachel looked away uncertainly, and then back to her again. "I'll have to literally force it out of you like it's an exorcism. Your powers are gonna put up a fight, so be ready for that."

"I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes you can. You're braver and stronger that you think, more so than anyone I've known. Your bluenette girlfriend knows this too. You've done so much for so many lives here in Arcadia Bay." Rachel took Max's face and brought their heads together. "They owe you their lives."

"No, they don't."

Rachel nodded, amused by her answer. "Then let me return the favour."

Back in the outside world, Max took the whole diner, including Rachel herself, by surprise when her hand unconsciously shot up to grasp the entity's wrist suddenly; she was swift as an alligator's jaws.