"Hey, give me that!"- screams Chloe taking the photo from my hands.
What the hell is wrong with this girl?
Maybe I shouldn't look in her things but the CD was right in this box.
And it's just a photo.
I know she is in pain by her missing.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be noisey. Obviously she was a good friend..."- I excuse myself.
Chloe sits back on her bed and puts her head down.

"That's putting it mildly."
Max places next to Chloe.
"That's Rachel Amber... Her 'Missing Person' posters are all over Blackwell."
"Yeah, I put them up... She was my angel. After my dad died and you moved, I felt abandoned. Rachel saved my life."
Now I understand. She cares so much about her. And Chloe's dad passed away... that's so sad.
"Man, I had no idea."- says Max.
"I'm so sorry Chloe..." - is everything I can tell.
"Well you never made much effort to find out. I was 14, we were best friends."
"I never forgot. Even if I was an asshole and didn't keep in touch. But you had Racel..."
"Rachel had my back. We were gonna kick the world's ass. You would laugh at how different we were... She wanted to be a star."
"She looks like a model."
"That was her plan. Our plan. Get the hell out of Bigfootville, and into Los Angeles."
"So, what happened? Did your folks, your mom, try to step you?"
Max and Chloe haven't talked for so much, so now they are full of questions. Well, Max is full of questions.
"My mom was too busy hooked up with Sergeant Shithead."
Her step dad.
"I feel the love... Now, when did Rachel actually disappear?"
"Six months ago. She just... left Arcadia. Without a word. Without... me."
"How do you know she disappeared? Maybe she wanted to start a totally new life..."
"Unlike you, she would have told me,okay? Something happened to her."
"I believe you. I'm just trying to get all deductive..."
"Before Rachel left, she said she met somebody who changed her life... Then poof."
"Or this someone hurt her or she left Arcadia with him... or her."- I say.
" It can be..."- agrees Chloe.
"And you haven't heard anything from her silence?- asks Max.
"Like everybody in my life. My dad, you... and Rachel. Gone... Maybe one day I will tell you my and her adventures...But not now...Can you put on some music,_____?"
I think she wants to cry.
I put the CD in the Hi-Fi. The first song starts to play.
Chloe lies in her bed and starts to smoke again, with her red ashtray on her stomach.

"Anyway... You can find tools to fix your camera in the garage..."
"Chloe, are you okay?"- asks worried Max.
"Sure, I'm awesome. I just want to blaze and be alone for a moment..."
I watch Max, don't know what to do.
"C'mon ______, let's repair my Polaroid."
I follow Max in the corridor.

There are two rooms and then the stairs to go down.
I like this house.  There is something nostalgic here.
"Chloe is really upset..."
"I'm not surprised,______. She have a lot to deal with. Like her step dad."
"Do you know him?"
"No, I don't. I only knew her father before he... passed away in a car accident. Then I moved in Seattle... Fortunately Rachel taked my place... But now she is gone like her dad..."
"Now I understand why she is so sad."
"Yeah, but now I want to do something good for her, to excuse myself. Rachel couldn't just disappear...Right?"
"I don't know... For now we don't have many clues."
"I know, but together, me, you and Chloe can solve this mystery."- Max seems really excited.
"I hope so. I don't know Chloe very well but she doesn't deserve this."
"She is a good person,_____, even she starts smoke and everything... But now I need to fix my camera or Mr.Jefferson will be very mad."
"Chloe said you can fix it in the garage... Do you know where is it?"
"I don't remember well after these years but I suppose it's downstairs."
Suddenly my stomach starts to hurt so bad so I put two hand on it.
"_______! What's happening?"
Oh Jusus, I think my period is coming.
"I think... I think it's my period..."
Max starts laughing:" Girl, you scared me! Here, take this. The bathroom is right there."
Max takes a pad from her bag and gives it to me.
"Thanks Max."
I go straight to the bathroom, wich is right in front of me.
I close the door and swith on the light.
There is a shower, a sink, some make-up products under a mirror, a tube of blue hair dye and a toilet.

I put on the pad and sit down, waiting the pain go away.
This day never ends. And everything happened so fast.
I remember this morning I was searching Mr.Jefferson's class and puff... Here me with a new friend, in her best friend's house.
Maybe this is destiny.
The pain is still here but not that much so I decide to get up.
I put a hand on something and this drops on the floor.
It seems like...Some Flouxetine Tablets?!

My god... I suppose Chloe takes them...
I look myself on the mirror before leave the bathroom: my skirt and T-shirt are pretty but by hair are always a mess.
I swith off the light and get out.

"Max?"
No answer.
Where did she go this time? I don't see her in the corridor.
"Max? Where are you?" - I call again.
"I'm right here, ______!"
The voice is coming from the other room.
I open the door and see a bedroom, much different than Chloe's.
The wall, the floor and the curtains are blue, without punk posters.

"How do you feel?" - asks Max.
She is looking through the window.
"Much better." - I say coming near to her.
"Good. I'm happy to help a friend sometimes."
We both look outside without a word.
I suppose Max is thinking about her good times with Chloe.
"Man, I'm so noisey today..." She says laughing." This must be Chloe's parents room."
"I'm surprised to don't see some graffiti here."
We both starts to laugh.
"I found something about her step dad."- says Max.
She shows me a photo.
This face... I already seen it... But where?
"Chloe seems not happy here."- I say.
Her face is really mad and she isn't looking at the camera.
"Well, she call him before fürer or something like that... But look here."
Max opens a closet full of clothes.
"Joyce, the Chloe's mother, still work at the diner but her new dad is a cop!"
These jacket... I already seen it too...
"Doesn't he seems familiar to you too?" - I ask.
"Well, I don't know. All the cops wear this uniform..."
Yeah, maybe she is right. I'm just overthinking.
We turn around and I see two dog tags with a name: David Madson.

Where I heared that?
While I'm thinking Max opens the window and a blue bird fly inside.
She takes a shoot.
I don't think it's the right moment but she need to know.
"Max, I found something in the bathroom..."
"What?" - she asks shaking the polaroid.
"Flouxetine Tablets..."
"Are you serious? I mean, I know Chloe very well."
"Chloe is changed in this five years. I think we should help her to get out of her depression. It's a good start that you came back again."
"Maybe you're right... It's been a long time ago... Now I will never let her alone."
After ten minute of silence Max says:-"Let's go,______. We need to find the garage."
I follow her outside the room.

We go downstairs.
Near the principal door there is a security cap.
I'm going crazy or I really saw it somewhere.
I follow Max trough the corridor.
On a wall there are some photos of a girl with long and brown hair.
I suppose it's Chloe but she's changed so much.
Here she is with a skateboard... On a swing...Running to scare some pigeons...
Damn, she was so happy... And now not anymore...
Going on I see the kitchen. It's small but comfortable.  A jar is placed on a forniture with some money inside. I hope one day they could fullfill their wishes, especially Chloe.
On the fridge there is a photo of a blonde woman. Probably the Chloe's mother. Behind her there is a diner. There is also a shopping list.
Now we're in the living room. It has a big door made of glass; I can see the garden trough of it.
Max open the door and I follow her outside.
It's a little cold here, because of the autumn.

Even if after autumn there is winter, I really love this season. When the trees are red, orange and yellow and you can stay all day watching the falling leaves.
I really want to do some shoots when I will go outside in my own. Maybe with some leaves in my hair...
A flock of birds is flying in the sky.
This atmosphere is the best ever.
"Me and Chloe had so much fun here... We were playing pirates all the time, when we were little..."
Max shows my a stone.
"We made this grave for Chloe's kitty. Poor Bongo. He never saw that car coming..."
Now she shows me a big draw: there are two girls, Max and Chloe, who are running on a seaside full of animals and a big rainbow at the end.

I wish to have a friend like that, but all the time they turn out to be fake.
I sigh.
"That took Chloe and me the whole day to draw. It's almost invisible now."
"You were so close..."- I say looking at if.
"Yeah... I need to remedy."
"And this is the swing William, the Chloe's father, made just for me and her."
She sits on it.

"When we were little we always talk about our future... I asked her what do she truly wants to do when she grows up and she told me she is already grown up. Then Chloe asked about me.
I said that I want to travel, explore the world, go far from here... She asked 'Far for me? Thanks a lot, dude.' And I told her she would totally come with me, because I need a bodyguard for our adventures and I will be like Lara Croft. She founded that cool.
Then we planned an instant escape with cars and boats an planes...She asked me what I will do when she will be my bodyguard and I said that I take pictures of our adventures because I love to be a photographer, as if I ever could be... Chloe immediately told me I'm already a photographer and my pictures could be in a museum, someday they will. She believed in me... "
"Max, even if I knew you this morning, I promise you everything will be alright... You founded each other and that's matter. "
I hug her.
"Thanks... I think the door to the garage is inside."
Max gets up from the swing on back into the house.
"Hey, I remember that stain!" Says Max looking on the carpet. "Chloe and I knocked over Joyce's wine bottle, and we scrubbed forever but it never came out. We got so busted!"
"So you're not that innocent how you seem!"- I smile.
Max smile too and goes in to the room in front of us: the door is open. It's certainly the garage.

Max takes her phone and read a message for me. "Kate say me to thank you again about saving her from the school security. You don't mind if I give her your number?"
"Sure, no problem."
Max texts back to Kate and put her phone on the bag.
"I should be able to find the tools I need here.______, give me a hand. Search something useful."
Max starts looking around and I do the same.
A gun rack catches my attention. One gun is missing.

What the hell?
Oh, of course. Chloe's dad is a cop. Stop overthinking, ______.
"These are way too big! I need tiny tools for that camera."- Max is observing the desk.
"I check here, Max."
I open a drawer to see if there are some tools...
There is no tools but a photo of...

"No way!"
"What's happening,_____?"
"Look at this picture! Or Chloe is secretly in love with the Blackwell security or...he is her dad!"
Max comes near to me-:" Chloe's dad is... head security of Blackwell! The man we saw this morning!"
"And look here! He's a veteran and a security guard? He must really hate Chloe."- she says opening another drawer. She shows me his ID card.
"This is too much for me... All this in one day!"- I say.
"And it's only the start. I told you: here, at Arcadia Bay, life is strange."
"We need to find some clues about him. Don't you remember how suspected he was with Kate? Maybe he know something about Rachel!" - I say to her.
"Yes but we need to be careful. Remember, he's Chloe's step dad."
Max open a cupboard. "Wowser, a map of Blackwell Academy. I wonder why?"
"Max, there is a screen. Should we swith it on?"
"Of course, we need to find what's happened to Rachel."
I swith on the screen and the Chloe's parents bedroom appears. Then the stairs, the garage,the living room, the garden...

"What the-? Chloe's stepdad actually installed cameras in the rooms? For reals? " - says Max.
Then she switch it off and I open another cupboard, after close the other.
There are some files and I'm they have something inside.
I try to take them but I'm too short.
"Max, give me a hand."
She places under the cupboard and I step on her knee.
I take the files down and places them on the desk. "Let's see..."
Photos of... Kate Marh?

Why the hell he have pictures of her? Okay this is getting totally weird.
Kate in the school, in the parking lot...
"Okay, I don't understand this. Why he acting like that?"
"I have no idea, Max. But I'm sure he know more than us."
"Right. It's better to keep an eye on him. Anyway, you have found some tiny tools?"
I say no with my head.
"Uh, keep searching."
After a few minutes I notice a box on a washing machine.
"Max, I think inside of it you can find some tools for your Polaroid."
"How do you know it?"
"A tiny box for tiny tools."
"Ohh, right. But it's too high. Here, take me on your shoulders."
I let Max climb on me.
"Go to the right... A little on the left and... Gotcha!"
She exults, a little too much, and I lost the balance, falling on the floor.
We both start laughing. I give her a hand to get up.
"Anything broken?" - I joke.
"I'm fine. Except my Polaroid."
"Alright, we need to come back to Chloe or she will think we planned an instant escape with cars and boats and planes-"
"Or that you escape because you miss so much Mr.Jefferson." - she smiles.

We enter in the Chloe's bedroom.
She is still here, smoking and laying on her bed.
"Have you found the tools? Sweet. You can sit at my desk and fix your camera."
She seems angry as before.
Max sits at the desk and tries to fix the Polaroid with some tools from the box.

"So?" - asks Chloe, getting up.
"I can't fix this thing."- says Max, leaving all the things.
"Are these your new photos?"
"Yeah... I just took them today."
"Let me see..."
She tooks the photo of Victoria, but from my bag. "Boo yah, you stank! Karma is a bitch!"
"Honestly _____ taked this photo. Mine are in the other bag."
"I like you girl. Nice framing too." - Chloe winks at me.
Then Chloe takes out all our photo to examines them.
In one picture there is her father screaming at Kate. I suppose Max did it before I was going to talk with him.
"Are you shitting me? That asshole is everywhere."
Then Chloe watches a mine photo, with a blue butterfly.
"Wait... I've never seen this before. No way! When did you take this?"
"It's again _______'s picture."
"YOU took this photo, you brat! You set off the alarm! That's why Nathan raged after you...It totally makes sense."
"Max set off the alarm."- I correct her with a smile.
"You hella saved my life... Now tell me the truth, girls."
"We were there... Hiding in the corner."- confirms Max.
"Damn. You're a ninja."
"A ninja would have cut Nathan's head off. I just took a butterly photo..." - I reply.
"That is so badass."- Chloe puts a hand on her front.
"Oh yeah, I almost wet myself when I saw the gun..." - says Max.
"So, did you recognize me?" - asks curious Chloe.
"Not at all."
"I know I look a lot different..."
"I was scared, too. I couldn't see straight."
"I don't blame you, Max. Like you said, it's been that kind of day. So you must overheard our conversation..."
"Just a bit..."
"There is no way you didn't hear every single vowel."
"Okay, we only heard something about money... drugs... but that's it."
"Now for the big question: Did you tell anybody?"
"No. The Principal Wells asked if something was happened but we just stayed quite."
"Right decision. That drunk jackass wonky cares about cash for Blackwell Academy... Don't trust him. I will tell you more someday, and I seriously owe you, girls."
Then she takes something from her shelf.
"I, er, know it was your birthday last month...This is my real father's camera... I want you to have it."
She gives it to Max.
"That's so cool you remembered my birthday. But I can't take this."
Max tries to return the Polaroid to Chloe but she pushes it in her hands again.

"Of course you can. My dad would be passed if I never used it. And now I know it will be used awesomely."
Max is so happy now.
"And I'll snag this picture as a symbol of our reunion. Cool?"- Chloe asks to me, taking the photo with the blue butterfly.
"Cool." - I say smiling.
"Yes, of course it's cool! Thank you... This camera is so sweet."
"Now that we got the mushy shit out of the way, I feel like stage diving! Let's trash this place!" - saying this, Chloe turn the music more lauder.
A rock track is in the air.
"You're crazy." - laugh Max.
"Yep yep, I'm fucking insane in the brain! Let's dance! Shake that boney white ass! Or take my picrure with your new camera!"
Chloe starts to dance all over the room and climbes on the bed, always dancing.
Max is laughing so much now.
It's so lovely to watch two best friends found each other. Going at the Blackwell is my best decision ever.
Make tooks a photo of a dancing Chloe.
"This song fucking rules! Can't dance, hippie? Come on! Rawk out, girls!"
Me and Max start to dance.
Chloe seems so happy now. I'm glad to be part of this.
"Yes! Break it down!" - she screams.
After a while we hear a man voice-:" Chloe, are you up there?"
It was to beautiful to be forever.
Her step dad is in the house and I hear his steps coming up.
"Yo, turn it off, turn it off!"- whispers Chloe.
Max immediately switch off the Hi-Fi.
"How many times I told you to stop blasting that punk shit?"- his voice is more closer.
"Dude, the music's not even on! Asshole."
"I'm coming up, we need to talk!"
Now we're in trouble.
"No fucking way! You need to hide. Now! My stepdad will kill me if he finds you here!"- she whispers to us, putting the cigarette on the desk.
"Chloe, what's going on? Open this door, please."
Chloe blocks the door.
"Chill I'm changing, is that okay?"- she screams at him.
"Girls, find a place to hide, NOW!"
"Chloe...what are you doing?"
"I'm coming!"
A place to hide, a place to hide... Under the bed it's too tight...
"Chloe, you are stalling."
"I'm changing! Gimme a minute!"
And if we hide trough the window? No, too dangerous.
"Don't get smart, just let me in. Now. Please."
"One second... my bra is stuck."
Think______, think...
In the closet!
"I'm not screwing around, soldier. Chloe. Open this door.
I take Max's hand and we boh hide.
"I'm giving you exactly three seconds to open the door. One...Two...Three..."
"Shit."- says Chloe.
"What's going on in here?" - he comes in to the room.
It's strange to see him without his uniform.
Chloe sits on her bed.
"Jesus, I'm just trying on clothes. You're so friggin' paranoid."- Chloe crosses her arms.
"Yeah, combat will do that to you. One of my guns is missing. Did you take it?"
His voice is so angry and serious.
"Oh Gawd, I didn't take your stupid gun. You do know I believe in gun control?"
"Wait, is that grass? You're been toking up again in here!"- he says taking the Chloe's joint from the desk.

"Oh yeah, guns. weed... You are trippin' balls!"- says sarcastically Chloe.
"I'm sick of your disrespect! Tell me the truth, that's an order! Whose is it?"
Max wants to intervene but I stop her. I don't want my scholarship to go down, neither Max's.
"Stop treating me and my mom like we're your family platoon."
"Hey, leave Joyce out of this."
"I wish you'd leave Joyce. Like now."- she yells at him.
A loud sound comes from David. He slaps her!
Chloe put immediately a hand on her cheek.

She don't speak now, but her eyes are screaming.
"Chloe, I'm sorry. I care about your mother and... You just keep pushing me."
"Don't touch me again, asshole. That's the last time Or I'll bring the cops in here so fast..." - her voice is shaking.
"Chloe... Someday you'll grow up."- saying this David leaves the room.
Finally me and Max come out from the closet.
Chloe is sitting on her bed with the head down.

"Hey, you okay?" - asks Max.
"Welcome to 'The Real Step-douches of Arcadia Bay'..."
"I'm sorry..."- is everything I can say. I'm too shocked.
"For what? He would've been a bigger dick if he caught you in here."
"That's hard to believe."
"At least I have my toy...- she says taking something from her bag and hiding it behind her.
"I'm Chloe... Chloe Price! Bang!"- she screams and puts the gun on Max's head.
I almost drop on the floor.
"Jesus! Put that thing down!"
"Chillax, sista. It's not even loaded... yet."
"I thought you believe in gun control."
"Yes, I believe I should control the gun. It's the men who need to be checked. You trust Nathan or David? Anyway. Let's sneak out the window... There is one cool place we can go to in this hickhole..."-Chloe climbs out of the window. Max follow her so and I.

This day never ends... like someone is rewind the time...