Life is Stranger

Valediction

Max led Chloe to the bed before turning and locking the door behind them.

"Is your phone turned off?"

Chloe merely nodded in response. Max joined the blue-haired girl on the bed and lay down facing her, gently caressing the blue tresses as she gazed into her fiancée's azure eyes.

"There we go. That's the world got rid of for a bit. It's just you, me, Lisa and Captain. How do you feel now? Any better?"

"Not really, Max. I'm glad she's gone, but...she hasn't really, has she? She's never going to leave us alone. Why is she tormenting us like this? What did we ever do to her?"

"Nothing. Some people are just wicked, cruel and nasty, and like to hurt other people. And she's one of them."

"None of what she said is true, Max. I swear. I don't want her. Not ever. I just want you. You're the only person for me. It's always been you. Just you. I love you so much. I always have."

"Don't you think I already know that? I've always loved you too. I realise that now."

"I just...wanted you to hear it from me. I've seen you both side-by-side for the first time, and Max...next to you she's nothing. Nothing at all. I never loved her. Not for a second. I was so stupid for even thinking that I did."

"Shhhh. It's okay. You weren't stupid. You just needed love, and you so deserved to have it. And you thought you'd found it. You just looked in the wrong place, that's all. But what choice did you have? There's nothing stupid about that. She's the stupid one, not you. She's lost you. It's her loss, not yours. And you have nothing to prove to me. You don't have to tell me. I know, Chloe. I can feel it. I can feel you. I can feel your love for me."

"I can feel yours too, Max."

"I should certainly hope so."

"It still hurts though, Max. I still have the memories. I can't shut those out. I wish I could. I'll always have them...and I don't want them. They're haunting me. I just want memories of you. Memories of us. I just want to...wipe them all out, the boys, her, everything. I just want there to be only you. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do. But now there is only me. All of that doesn't matter any more. Does it? Chloe?"

"Max, I want to...to go back."

"Go back? What do you mean?"

"I want to go back to the day I first met her, and just...never speak to her. I'll just walk straight past her. I want to erase Ju...my first time and...the other boy too. Then I'll be free, once and for all. Then I'll be just yours. Forever and ever."

"Chloe..."

"Listen Max, it'll be okay. I want this. I need this."

"But...I need you, Chloe. Please don't leave me. Pleeeeease. Not now. Not ever. I can't live without you."

"I'm not leaving you, Max. I'll never do that. I promise. I'll sort everything out. Wherever we end up after this, in whatever reality, we'll be together. Just me and you. I'll do everything I can to make sure that we are. I promise."

"No Chloe. Please don't. I'm begging you. I can't lose you again."

"Max, you won't be losing me. Trust me. I can't live without you, either. I'll find a way...Max, when she whispered in your ear, what did she say?"

"Don't try and change the subject. You can't know what will happen. Anything could happen. You could change the course of everything. You're risking destroying all that we have. And for what? Memories? Chloe, even if you do manage to stop those things from ever happening, it won't change the fact that they've still happened for you. You will still have the memories. You can never erase those. But you can erase us."

"Yeah, but at least you won't have the memories, will you? I can give you my virginity as a gift, just like you gave me yours. I want to do that Max. I want to give myself to you. And only you."

"No. I'm not living a lie. I want total honesty between us."

"How will you be living a lie? I'm the only one that will know any different."

"Exactly! Don't you get it? Sure, you'll be a virgin in the biological sense, but emotionally nothing will have changed, will it? You'll still know. But I won't. That's like lying to me. And I don't want that. We've already been over this, haven't we? My first time was your first time too. It was special for both of us. I don't care about her, or the others. I only care about you. Now is all that matters. Just let it go Chloe. Please."

"I would Max, but...that's not the only reason why I want to go back and get rid of her. I'm scared, Max. I'm scared for you."

"Me? Why?"

"Max, I think...she's going to hurt you. To get to me. You don't deserve that."

"And neither do you. Let her goddamn try. I'm not scared of her, Chloe."

"I...am, Max. I'm terrified. You know how horrible she is. It frightens me to think what she's capable of. And I won't let her do anything to you."

"She won't."

"But she will, Max. She'll do something terrible to you. She knows that will hurt me more than anything else. I know she's going to, Max. Please believe me."

"Okay, let's say she does. If the worst does happen, then that will be the time to go back and change things. You don't have to do it now, do you? You can just do it after."

"Like you said yourself, Max – I'll still have the memories. The memory of you being...I can't even say it. Max, it will destroy me."

"I...I hadn't thought of it that way...oh Chloe..." Two pairs of blue eyes glistened with the onset of tears.

"Now you understand. I don't want it to be this way, Max. But it is."

"Yeah, but..."

"Tell me Max. Tell me what she said to you."

Max bit her lip before speaking. "I...I don't know. I didn't hear properly..."

"Max, I saw your face. I saw how you reacted. Now you're lying to me. Tell me what she said. No secrets. I need to know, Max."

"I don't want to say...Chloe, please don't make me...you'll just worry, and...I probably actually didn't hear properly. I mean, there's no way she could know anything about that..."

"Anything about what? Max, what did she say? Tell me. Please."

"She said...she asked me if I wanted to go back to...to the dark room. But...Chloe...maybe she said something else, and I just..."

"No. You heard her right. I knew it. God I hate her."

"Chloe, isn't there any other way?"

"I wish there was, Max, I really do. I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to do this...but I have to."

Max's voice broke up as she spoke. "Oh Chloe, I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'll always love you. I'll always be with you. No matter what. Nothing's going to keep us apart."

"I can't stand this any more. You're breaking my heart. Do it. Do it before I freak. And Chloe Elizabeth Price, don't you forget about me."

Chloe lovingly kissed Max's tearful eyes. "Never. I love you Max. I always will."