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mazecraft · 6 years

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Rachel in the Dark Room Ep 7

Warning:

Spoilers for Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

Trigger Warning:

This fanfic will have disturbing images, including scenes of kidnapping, date rape, drug use, violence, sexual content and adult language. Recommended for mature audiences and viewer discretion is advised.

Previously: Upon the revelation of her death, Rachel has found herself in the presence of three women that are strange, exotic, and sometimes a little frightening. The women seem to be the animas of a raven, a doe, and a butterfly. As for Rachel, she is still in the clothes that she was wearing when she died, and she still feels like she has a body, though she doesn’t seem to feel physical needs like sleep, water or food. The three women have been guiding Rachel to understand what happened to her since she died with her consciousness in such a confused and chaotic state. But they have just now finished showing her what has become of some of the people that were a part of her life since her death. In so doing, Rachel has also begun to see energy fields of light around living things. The last thing she saw was some sort of disease in the energy of Nathan Prescott, and the total absence of any light around Mark Jefferson, the men that were responsible for her torture and death…

Raven stood suddenly and wrapped her feathered cloak about her. “You draw her too close to the enemy!” she scolded. She circled the hourglass placed between them with its eerie golden light moving toward Doe and Rachel. She had begun to think of them in her head as “the witches” in homage to Macbeth. But they were otherworldly and strange even beyond anything she could have imagined. Raven’s wild black hair and piercing yellow eyes were wraith-like. But she could see a sphere of light around each of them now that she knew what to look for. Raven’s light was almost white, tinged around the edges with blue. The fibers of light glistened around her and seemed to move with her, or maybe, the fibers are what moved her? Raven pointed at Doe and Butterfly in turn but spoke directly to Rachel. “Do not let the parasite see you. Your attention will draw it to you! It is a predator that devours. It hunts in dreams and moments of shock and vulnerability.”

“I am not a novice, sister,” Doe said politely. “We were cloaked by a reality mirror.” The light around her seemed to flow quickly like fiber optics in a way that Rachel thought looked like mild annoyance or irritation. She looked to Rachel. Somehow Rachel understood the meaning in the look she was getting from Doe. Her big black eyes with rich brown irises full of compassion seemed to be searching Rachel’s face for her reaction to what she had seen so far. Rachel found herself reflecting on the various people that had been part of her life and thought she could see what the witches meant by trajectory now.

“Raven told me that our inner truth is in what we feel, not what we think. I find myself feeling…acceptance? I can’t say I am happy about my parents, or how other people are reacting to my disappearance. But I think I understand it. I only wish that someone would find out about what happened to me so that no one else will get hurt,” Rachel paused. “What did you mean when you said ‘the enemy?’ What is Jefferson, really?”

“Jefferson has allowed himself to become an avatar of darkness,” Doe said. “In a way, he is the willing victim of it. What we call ‘the enemy’ is a parasite that feeds off of light and life. It is an ancient and destructive force. Wherever there is immense pain and grief, a fissure is created in all beings of light that allows lifeforce to seep from them like water from a cracked gourd. The greater the pain, the greater the loss. The parasite uses acolytes of those it has wounded and fed from to go into your world and cause more horror. Jefferson is one such creature. The parasite has latched itself to his mind and become his surrogate thoughts, until Jefferson believes the imposter’s voice is his own.”

“So…how do we stop it?” Rachel asked.

Raven cackled and sat back down next to Rachel and surprisingly, gave her a hug. Her thin arms and talon like fingers felt weightless across Rachel’s shoulders. Doe just looked down at the ground with a sad expression on her face. Butterfly stared at the glowing hourglass with the spiral embossed in the top just in front of her and spoke in her resonant voice. “The parasite is ingrained in the fabric of the universe. As well ask how you stop galaxies from spinning and stars from burning. We call the parasite our enemy, but it is also a necessary evil. It creates the backdrop upon which goodness and love can be set apart. Really, it is only a parasite when it is allowed to run amok unchecked, as has happened many times in your world’s history. Then it becomes a true threat.”

“Dreamers are most at risk from the abuses of the parasite, and will suffer the most,” said Raven matter-of-factly. “And are most at risk of becoming monsters under its tutelage.”

“This is a lot to take in,” said Rachel feeling confused. “But you still haven’t answered my question. Where is Chloe in all of this?” Doe looked up worried and Raven shook her head in warning against the other two. Raven stood up and moved away from the circle, signaling she would have nothing to do with their decision. Butterfly’s lips tightened at the vacillation of her sisters. She stood and floated up into the air transforming into a vibrant blue butterfly and floated toward Rachel floating about her head.

“Enough coddling and dragging of feet,” Butterfly’s voice seemed like it was inside Rachel’s head, reverberating tightly like a swarm of bees inside a tin can. Butterfly landed on Rachel’s forehead and she could feel it moving in a spiral much faster than Doe had gone. Images and emotions flooded Rachel’s mind in a torrent, like standing under a waterfall, causing her to gasp. Her back arched and her arms stiffened behind her as her head tilted up toward the sky. Rachel’s eyes filled with light as the barrage of events swarmed through her.

∞

Chloe stood in the driveway watching her mom and step-douche drive away. Her mother, Joyce, had rushed by her with barely a hello while the step-dildo ordered her to move her truck out of the driveway so they could get his car out of the garage. Joyce had come down the stairs still slipping her pumps on with her purse dragging her arm down at the crook of her elbow, while Chloe was trying to explain that she had printed some missing person posters for the Two Whales Diner. She may as well have been telling her she was going to get knocked up and do cocaine with the principal of Blackwell at the next assembly. Joyce just said “Alright Chloe that’s fine. We’re running late. You need to move your truck out of the driveway and once we’re gone you can go back to sleep if you want.” Joyce had rushed out the door without even looking at the posters Chloe was trying to hand to her. Even her mom didn’t have time or a shit to give about her anymore. Not since her dad died and Max moved away had she felt like she needed her mom more, and never had she felt as blown off by her.

Chloe did go back up to her room and sat on the edge of her bed. She held one of Rachel’s shirts and pulled it up to her face, breathing in the faint scent of jasmine, and a fragrance that was uniquely Rachel. How long until that fragrance would fade completely? Tears welled up in her eyes, and her throat felt tight. She had the sinking feeling that when the fragrance was gone, her chances of ever finding Rachel would be gone too. Where was she? She had streamed a documentary on her computer the other day about sex-trafficking in America and had been horrified at the possibility that Rachel could have been kidnapped by some gangsters and sold into slavery somewhere. Somebody in this shithole knew something and she was not going to give up until she found her.

She reached down to the worn-out hardwood floor and pulled a half-smoked joint out of the ash tray, relighting it. She used her remote to turn on the stereo and started looking through her pictures of Rachel. She had another box with pictures of her Dad and Max, but she refused to put Rachel in that box. Dad was gone forever, and clearly Max was too. Her dad was gone because he was dead and Max had just ghosted on her for the last five years. Rachel wasn’t either of those things. She couldn’t be dead, and she wouldn’t have just left without her. It wasn’t possible because Rach was the only person Chloe really had, and she loved her. Rachel was somewhere out there, Chloe could feel it. And she needed Chloe to find her. If she was certain of nothing else, she was certain of that. Not even a Balrog or Cthulu would stop her. For some reason, the thought felt like a déjà vu.

∞

“‘Don’t miss out on the fun! Join the Vortex Club at the AMBER ALERT Party! Don’t GO MISSING the last party of the school year!’ Thursday, June 13th at the Blackwell Gym!”

Chloe stared at the poster outside the Blackwell Gymnasium with loathing and disgust. The fuckers had put the AMBER ALERT over the Vortex Club logo and added a hand-drawn blue feather along the side. Chloe’s heart hurt and a lump formed in her throat. Her blood boiled with anger and her mind reeled at the absolute fuckery it would take to come up with such a shitty and callous theme for a party! Chloe had already learned firsthand how foul these Blackwell elites were toward the scholarship kids or anyone that didn’t have trust fund parachutes strapped to their backs. But Rachel had been one of their kind, had been someone that they called a friend. Chloe never really understood why Rachel dug being around them. Rachel had never been anything but awesome to them. and now they turned her disappearance into a party! If she could see what they were doing now in her name she would probably burn the whole fucking town down! Chloe wanted to do it for her. The plexiglass covering the bulletin board in front of her cracked as Chloe split her knuckles punching it over and over again. “You motherfuckers!” she sobbed. She didn’t stop punching until her blood was visible in the cracks in front of the poster and her hand was swollen.

∞

A few desperate weeks later, Chloe drove her old beat up truck through the parking lot outside The Mook, a local dive bar that was putting on an all-ages show behind the building. There was a full-on tailgate party going on in the lot, and Chloe could hear one of the opening bands shredding already. Multi-colored lights lit up the back of the building enclosed by a tall wooden fence. The lot was full even after she circled it twice! Chloe ended up parking down the street in an abandoned lot. There were a few other concert goers that had the same idea walking back toward the bar with her. She knew she should have gotten there earlier. Now she was going to have to carry her box of posters the whole way! Damn it! Why can’t The Mook get a bigger parking lot or something! Hoisting the box on to her slender shoulder, Chloe pulled out a cigarette and lit it with one hand, balancing the box with the other, and started walking back toward the venue. Some of the metal kids walking in pace with her looked curiously at her but no one said anything.

It took her about twenty minutes to drop posters on all the windshields in the parking lot and then she carried the box up to the gate at the side of the bar where the underage kids were lined up to get into the show. She showed her ID and let the security guards search her box before letting her wander into the venue. Some band she didn’t know was butchering The Beautiful People on the stage through speakers that distorted everything and sounded like shit. There were merch tables set up along the side of the fence selling shirts and CDs. The second table had a Pisshead banner behind it and their front man Skip Matthews was there selling his shit. Chloe walked up to the table and set her box down on the edge. Skip looked over and his face lit up when he recognized her. He was wearing a loose neon green tank top exposing his tattooed arms, and black ripped up jeans. His face was covered in sweat and his messy mop of hair was matted and sticking to his head. Even his short uneven beard was soaked.

“Chloe!” Skip said coming around the table to give her a hug. He smelled of hard alcohol and sweat, mixed with patchouli. “I’m glad you made it! Did you get to see us play?”

“Fuck I totally missed it man. I just got here! My step-douche had me tied up with another one of his lectures and then parking was hella lame!” Chloe had to yell to be heard over the band.

“Aw man that sucks! We just finished up a few minutes ago. Well I hope you are sticking around for a while. Agalloch is headlining. I’m stoked we got on the same bill with them! Do you want a shirt or a CD? It’s on me, sistah!”

“Hell yes!” Chloe said. “But I need to ask a favor!”

“You want to star in my first music video? You got it!” Skip teased.

“No I…wait…um, that would be cool…” Chloe paused. “But no. I was wondering if I could leave these posters on your merch table?” She handed him one so he could see it. Skip’s face sobered up as he looked at the Missing Person poster and he nodded.

“Fuck, Chloe I’m sorry I didn’t even know about this.” He shook his head sadly. “Seriously, what the fuck man? Its always the good ones!” He pulled the remaining posters out of the box and set them at the front of his table and put the box underneath. “Hey if there is anything else I can do promise to let me know, Ok?”

“You got it Skip!” Chloe said.

∞

Chloe was in a 24 hr copy and print shop. The harsh fluorescent light made her blue hair shine vibrantly under her dark navy beanie. She was sitting on a counter with her boots resting on the plastic chair in front of her. She was wearing ripped up jeans and small black denim jacket. She was looking through her phone at pictures of her and Rachel waiting for her print order to finish. The asswipe clerk with the pockmarked face had charged her almost double because she said she would wait. Well, fuck him. What was he going to do if not work on her order? He probably gets paid to watch porn most nights anyway. One night of actual work wouldn’t kill the bastard.

Rachel probably would have told her to just go home and pick them up in the morning. Well she wasn’t here right now, which is why Chloe was. She stared at the pictures on her phone of Rachel taken last year. Rachel was sitting at Chloe’s desk half-turned to look at the camera, at Chloe. Her chin rested on her fingers curled over the back of the chair. Her hazel eyes giving Chloe a sultry thoughtful look.

“You know if you get your GED you could go to college in LA.” Rachel had said to her. The memory echoed in Rachel’s and Chloe’s minds together. “There have to be dozens of great art schools there. And I think I know someone that would be a fantastic model for your brand.”

Chloe swiped to the next picture. A selfie of her and Rachel in the truck outside the junkyard. That was the day they had driven half way to Newport taking pictures at the beach on Rachel’s phone. Fuck, Chloe wished she had those pictures too. She had given Rachel a piggy-back ride from the beach back to the truck and they had made out with the sound of breaking waves and the occasional car passing on the highway. Chloe’s eyes got heavy as she sat looking at the pictures and reminiscing.

Rachel became aware of herself watching Chloe, which hadn’t happened in the visions she had with the others she had been shown. Before she had just been an observer without any awareness of herself or any thoughts until after the fact. Another difference she saw right away was the light around Chloe was brighter and more vivid than any of the other people she had observed, even under the fluorescent lighting. She watched Chloe dozing and catch herself before scooting down to the chair so she could rest her head on the formica counter. All around Chloe though, Rachel became aware of a darkness that pushed against the light boundary around her. It writhed and teased at the boundary, looking for a place that it could seep in and touch her. She wasn’t sure how but Rachel knew if that darkness ever touched Chloe’s skin she would be lost forever.

Chloe’s breathing was measured and deep and the light aura around her expanded and then returned to normal with every inhale and exhale. In the pause of Chloe’s exhale before she drew breath again the darkness pushed the hardest, a frenzied panicked movement of darkened spikes that tried to break the light barrier. Rachel was glad the light held it back but also felt anxiety watching the battle rage on while Chloe slept completely oblivious. Rachel felt herself moving toward Chloe trying to reach her…somehow. She found that she could look as close as she wanted, seeing Chloe’s face as close as if she were sleeping right next to her. She could see the soft curve of her lips, her closed eyelids slightly smudged by eyeliner, the only makeup she could ever get Chloe to wear consistently. Her blue hair sticking out from under her beanie resting against her temples. But when she tried to touch her face, she felt her hand touch an invisible wall.

Chloe sat up abruptly, her eyes opening. “Rach?” she said looking around quickly. But the shop was empty and quiet. Chloe was so sure she had felt Rachel there with her, like something seen out of the corner of your eye or a word on the tip of the tongue. Fuck, she was tired. It had already been a long day and she just wanted to get high and go to sleep. Fortunately, the pockmarked clerk was emerging from the back room with another box of posters for her. About damn time! She had another long day ahead of her tomorrow. She wondered if it would be weird to have Frank distribute them among his customers? Chloe still owed him a shitload of money, but dude had a heart even if he tried to hide it behind a wall of silence and growls. He knew Rachel so maybe that would make a difference? She decided she would text him in the morning as she drove home.

∞

Chloe parked next to Frank’s RV in the beach parking lot. She found Frank sitting on the other side in a fold out lawn chair under his extended awning drinking a beer. Pompidou laid curled up at his feet. As she rounded the corner she heard an old Morphine song on his stereo competing with the sound of the waves. He saw her approaching and put his hands up as if he were seeing a miracle in a Renaissance painting.

“Well look who it fucking is!” Frank exclaimed. He was wearing a simple t-shirt and filthy worn out jeans. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”

“How could I avoid Frank Bowers in a town this small?” Chloe said. “Half the people I know are buying weed off you, and the other half work for you.” Chloe reached down to pet Pompidou, but the dog growled and looked for Frank’s nod before letting her. Damn, he had the beast trained well! “So, are you gonna offer me a beer or watch me die of thirst over here?”

“Don’t push your luck, Price,” Frank leaned forward and pointed at her. “The only reason my dog isn’t ripping your fucking throat out right now is because I am hoping you have a payment for me.”

“I wish I had any luck left to push, Frank. Listen I know I still owe you, and I am working on it. But I gotta ask you for a favor,” Chloe tried to keep her face from cringing cause she knew he was going to get pissed. He always did but he usually came around eventually. She just had to walk eggshells for a few minutes.

“You’re kidding me,” Frank said standing up. “You’re goddamned right you’re out of luck. I fronted you over three grand months ago which was supposed to come back with interest. I don’t owe you any favors. Shit I’ve done more favors for you than my own family. You owe me, bitch! Now get the fuck out of here and find my money.”

“Frank, you’ll get your money. But what I need to find is Rachel. She’s missing and the pigs are giving up. I know something happened to her.” Chloe pulled out a folded-up poster out of the back of her pocket and handed it to him. He took it and looked at it carefully. All his anger seemed to fade as he concentrated on it, with Rachel’s picture, and descriptions of her tattoos. Chloe was almost about to ask him if he needed help reading it when he finally folded it up and handed it back to her. He wasn’t saying anything and he was quiet. Chloe could never tell if that was a good or a bad thing with him. “The only favor is that you pass these around your other customers and friends…if you have any? Please. I think she’s in trouble, Frank! You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t hella important!”

“You’re wasting your time,” Frank’s voice cracked. “She probably got sick of your bullshit and got the fuck out of this hellhole. I know I’m sick of your shit. You need to stop coming to me with your fucking problems and trying to make them mine. I’m not your friend, Chloe! And I don’t want to see you here again unless you have a thick wad of cash in your hand. Now get the fuck out of my sight!” Frank opened up his RV door and followed his dog inside before slamming the door behind him.

Chloe stood there in muted shock for a few moments before stalking back to her truck and pulling the door shut angrily. She couldn’t believe that just happened. Frank was always a dick, but he had never been that mean to her before. After everything they had been through together? Yes, she owed him money but why would he refuse to help her find a missing friend? What was so hard about passing around pieces of paper? He knew Rachel too! Maybe not as well as he knew Chloe, but they had hung out a few times. How could he be so fucking heartless? She started up the truck and revved the engine loudly. “Fuck you, Frank!” she shouted at his RV before peeling out and driving off.

Rachel felt herself crying in anger and grief. Oh Chloe! It was Rachel’s fault that she owed Frank in the first place, and it was her fault that Frank was being an asshole to her, even if she didn’t understand why. Rachel felt the full weight of her mistakes weighing heavily upon her heart. Rachel’s tears seemed to slide down the invisible barrier between them like rain upon a window. Chloe’s feelings of betrayal and frustration as she drove home echoed Rachel’s own feelings as she watched the darkness around Chloe swarm in agitation trying to reach her.

∞

Chloe knew she didn’t belong in this room. The past several hours had been spent way outside of her comfort zone. But it was gonna be hella worth it if she could put up with it a little longer. The posh black leather couch and queen size bed crowded the space and made it even more claustrophobic than the closed blinds and oppressive artwork. Black and white bondage pictures adorned the walls and an overhead projector cast a slideshow of photographs on the wall behind her head. Chloe wasn’t about to crane her neck to stare at boring black and white photos of buildings, close ups of grass, or whatever else Nathan thought looked edgy and artistic. It was a strange turn of events that brought her to this somber room.

The summer had passed with no luck or leads until Skip Matthews had sent her a message telling her a Pisshead fan saw her poster and said he’d seen Rachel at some bar near the waterfront on the southside of town last spring, opposite the train tracks from The Mook. Said he would remember her face anywhere cause she was so hot, and clearly sharking the bastard playing pool with her. Rachel, Chloe thought, what were you getting yourself into? Chloe had gone down there with more posters to see if anyone else would recognize her and the bouncers didn’t even card her. So, she walked right in and put up a few posters near the restrooms and then made her way to the bar. She’d figured she might as well have a few drinks while she was at it since they had let her in. Plus, she could ask the bartender about Rachel.

It was after she turned away from the bar with a bottle of local brew that she had seen Nathan sitting over at a table with a bunch of Vortex Club alumni. He was totally wasted and kept pulling wads of cash out to pay for drinks and tip the cocktail waitress with the plastic smile and booty shorts. All that cash going to waste seemed like such a shame when Chloe could use it to pay off Frank or even better, get the hell out of town once she found Rachel! Luckily Chloe had gotten good at practicing improv games with Rachel and it hadn’t taken long to crash Nathan’s party and convince him to let her take him back to his dorm room at Blackwell.

So here she was, sitting on his couch listening to his crude jokes and deftly avoiding his drunken attempts to seduce her. Her ripped up jeans and black denim jacket felt like armor against the expensive and cold mood of the room. She held her beer in both hands in her lap, with her legs crossed in front of her at the ankles as Nathan showed off his expensive camera and talked about how he was going to be famous like his photography teacher one day. She eyed his coat which he had tossed on the edge of the bed. The rolled-up wad of cash stuck out of his coat pocket and she was just waiting for him to pass out. The way he was stumbling around and slurring, she thought it was only a matter of time now. She hoped so, anyway. She wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to last herself. She’d only had 2 beers at the party and was nursing the one Nathan had given her, but she was feeling woozy and a little nauseous from listening to his crap.

“NO!” Rachel cried out. She moved closer to Chloe and tried to reach her again. She felt herself push up against the invisible wall and slammed her fists against it desperately. Chloe’s light was flickering weakly and the darkness was swarming around her pushing against it every bit as hard as Rachel was clawing at the invisible wall. Distantly she could hear the witches arguing but she couldn’t focus on what they were saying. Somehow, she had to stop this. She couldn’t let Chloe end up in the Dark Room!

Chloe slumped down off the couch, barely feeling herself fall to the floor. Nathan was slurring, but still on his feet and pacing the room. He stood over her and took a picture of her curled up on the floor. “You think I didn’t see the contempt in your face, whore? I grew up staring contempt in the face every day!” Nathan spat at her. He opened a prescription bottle and swallowed a pill with a swig of beer. “I’ll show your punk ass contempt. Do you really think I don’t know who you are, bitch? Your just another skank ho!” Nathan pulled her body over to the space next to his bed and tried a few different poses before deciding on one that he liked. He pulled one of her legs straight and bent the other one at the knee, letting it fall sideways exposing her crotch. He draped her right arm across her face, so that the crook of her elbow rested across the bridge of her nose. He got down on the floor trying to get an angle that maximized the depth of field and highlighted her helplessness.

Rachel was crying and screaming as she punched at the invisible barrier. She could see Chloe’s light was on the brink of collapse. Chloe’s light. She needed to protect her light more than anything. Her scream faded away as an idea crossed her mind. Tears still streaming down her face, Rachel saw her own light spring to life all around her. The fibers of light within the aura around her were vibrant and pulsing with some kind of power. She could still hear the witches arguing and something Raven said caught her attention. “To not touch the world of the living is what it means to die.” Fuck that, thought Rachel. She put her hand up to the barrier and focused on the strands of pulsating light all around her and pushed with her willpower against the barrier, intending that her light reach Chloe.

The barrier changed from feeling like a solid wall to something like a wall of sound. One that she couldn’t hear, but could feel, like an itch in the palm of her hand. Rachel wasn’t sure how, but she matched the vibration of the barrier, becoming the same sound, and slipped through the vibration. It felt like she was moving through water; and was herself water. She felt like she was moving with agonizing slowness as she struggled to extend her filaments of light toward Chloe with an outstretched hand. Nathan was crawling toward her grinning darkly as Rachel’s lines of light touched Chloe’s and…intertwined with them. Chloe’s eyes shot open and Rachel felt Chloe’s energy, so familiar, so warm and full of love! Chloe’s own light suddenly burst to life filling the room brightly in Rachel’s vision sending the darkness into retreat.

Chloe saw Nathan with a look of shock on his face as she scrambled to get away from him. He grabbed at her legs and reached for her jacket and she kicked at him, but kicked his nightstand instead knocking over his bedside lamp in the process. The lamp hit Nathan in the head as it fell and he stopped grabbing her to hold his head, screaming at her and calling her a fucking bitch. She felt so weak, but she was able to stand and grab at the door handle as Nathan got to his feet. But it was too late. She was out the door and running down the hall toward the dormitory exit.

(To be continued…)

#life is strange #life is strange before the storm #rachel amber #chloe price #frank bowers #nathan prescott #pisshead #mysticism #dreams

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