Life is Strange 2

5. Transcendence Part 1

I walked to the doe but I refused to touch it. I had my reasons and obviously I didn't want to go through another intense episode like the one hours before. 

I felt like it already understood me and my grief. The doe walked on its fours at a steady but natural pace to where it didn't feel like I had to keep up or slow down for it. 

"Where are you taking me?" I asked the doe like a dumbass.

As if the doe would stop to take the time to explain our destination to me. Honestly though, it doesn't feel that far from reality, considering the ability to rewind time, predict misfortune, etc etc. 

The more I live this life, the less I seem to know what words like "reality", "supernatural", and "natural" are supposed to mean. The animal had been guiding me for a few minutes but I still didn't know where we were.

Night time in Arcadia Bay is the equivalent to being a tourist across the world without a map. The doe took me to the forest. 

There were zero leaves on the trees as expected and it was pretty much a white forest now since the snow started to fall more in bigger chunks than smaller flakes. 

"Seriously, where are we going? I'm not too familiar with this part of Arcadia Bay."

We walked for about 5 more minutes until we hit this wide area within the forest. It was the Arcadia Bay Park. 

It's been so long, I actually forgot that this was here, and nobody even bothers to talk about it. Childhood memories began to come back to me. Memories that were long forgotten. 

I looked around me but the doe had disappeared. I sighed, seeing the cold air come from my mouth.

I walked around for a while, thinking back on the things I used to do here with Chloe, especially at times like these where the snow covered the area. 

You'd think we were boys with the type of hyperactive fun we had in the snow. Our parents always telling us to be careful...then we'd just go back to doing even more hyperactive stunts that eventually led to a timeout before we ended up hurting ourselves.

I rubbed my glove covered hand on a tree bark. Snow was steadily sticking to it, but I rubbed a good portion off. It's always been a habit of Chloe and I to leave our mark on the world, literally. 

There was a carving on the bark that I wanted to uncover. It was weathered down a bit, but it was still readable. "Chloe and Max...Pirates of the Bay..." I read it somberly. 

I smiled, but it felt more mournful than cheerful. There were so many things here that reminded me of her.

Again, for about the 4th time today, I saw the blue butterfly from the corner of my eye, but it seemed brighter, as if it were a firefly in the night. This time, it wasn't flying toward me. 

I hesitated for a second to go to it, but after that second, I found myself steadily walking and then I started running toward it. I cut the corner where another tree was, but I had already lost sight of it.

I looked all around but I saw nothing. It was obvious to me at this point that these were spirit animals. What I didn't understand was what they wanted to tell me. 

Everything was all over the place. I got visions about more catastrophe, followed by a doe leading me to this area, only to see the blue butterfly again who seems to be playing with me now. 

It's obvious they're trying to tell me something, but I don't see the connection at all. I sat down by a tree and brought my knees close to my chest, curled up on the cold grass.

I felt my phone vibrate so I took it out. Victoria texted me for the first time in a while.

Seriously Max, Thanx for tonight. You didn't do anything much, but you lent me an ear when I needed one. Um...we should do this more often. 1:43 AM

I was happy I did something for her at the very least. I responded to her. Anytime Victoria. You're right. Maybe we can talk over some tea sometime soon. I have to go right now, but maybe we can talk later? - 1:44

I pressed send and held the phone close to me, looking around. A short minute later, she responded. That sounds...good. Au Revoir - 1:45 

Clearly she wasn't used to talking to me, since I'm pretty much the farthest thing I could be from her comfort zone. I actually half expected her to text me saying, "Thanx, but we're still not friends!" But I'm glad I was wrong.

I held out my hands and watched the snow fall to my gloves. The snow stayed there, collecting in my palms, unable to melt away. 

I didn't know what I was doing anymore and I sure as hell didn't know what I was doing it for. I was just doing something to pass the time by. 

I stared blankly at the snow beginning to pile up in my palms, and then clapped my hands together, watching the snow fly.

I looked up to the sky to see the waning gibbous moon behind some thin clouds, framed beautifully by the tall trees. I took my camera and focused into the perfect position for the photo op. 

I took the picture but the blue butterfly came right into the view of the moon. It wasn't my intention to capture it along with the moon, but something about it made it even more beautiful.

I pulled the camera from my face to see the butterfly flapping in front of me. I started to giggle. It was a bit funnier than it should've been. When I look back, Chloe always, always wanted to be in the shot. 

I smiled and I could feel another wave of tears coming, because I knew what I was seeing in front of me. Something I kinda always knew, even at her funeral. Chloe was right here, and she was truly "shining bright like a diamond".

"Photo hog..." I responded to her 'photo-bombing' action. The butterfly landed on my shoulder. I could feel her smiling for the camera. 

I pulled it up in front of us and snapped the picture. She began to flap her wings again. This time, she hovered in front of me. The feeling was different this time. 

I knew what she wanted to do. That was the beautiful thing between Chloe and I. We knew what we wanted from each other. We didn't need words to express ourselves. 

I closed my eyes and she landed gently on my forehead.

Everything turned white. I felt whole for the first time in a while. I felt so at peace that I wouldn't even have a problem dying where I sat. 

I fell asleep, but I saw the world through a different perspective, literally. I was looking at the world through her eyes, hearing her thoughts. I saw her life. I heard her life. I felt her life. I listened...

To Be Continued...

Author Note:

Sorry for the big delay guys. I wanted to get this chapter out like 2 weeks ago, but the thing was, the chapter was already becoming very very long (exceeding 4,000 words, which is a BIG read) I want to stay away from long chapters because those might be turn offs for people who don't have a lot of time on their hands.

So I decided to split the chapter into 2 and release them at the same time as a double chapter, but now, even the second part is about to exceed 3,000 words, so I have to see if I can do something about that, which is why this took forever. But I decided to just get it out because I know some people who have been waiting eagerly. Again, sorry for the wait. DX