Life Can Be Strange

Chapter 11: Who To Trust?

The next morning, at the break of dawn, Rhett takes Katherine to the river in a very secluded area so that way they could be alone. "Are you ready?" Rhett questioned while walking behind her. "Yes, I am." Katherine answers. Rhett takes off his gloves. "Take off your boots and raise your pants up to your knee," Rhett commands. Both of them take off their shoes and raise up their pants to their knees.

Rhett steps into the water and holds his hand out for Katherine to grab. She looks at him weirdly. "Trust me, okay," Rhett says, still holding his hand out. Katherine takes it and steps into the water. The water reaches her calf. Rhett stands close behind her, enough for her to feel his body heat, but also enough space to work. "The first trick to mastering your power is to concentrate on what you want it to. The water also responds to your emotions." Rhett explains. "Concentrate, Create, Control." Rhett says. Katherine goes over what Rhett said in her head and her eyes glow an icy blue color. "That's it. You're concentrating. Now, clear your mind and listen to nothing but my voice and the water below you." Rhett commands. "Now, create the ice." Rhett says. The water starts getting colder, until the water turns to ice, except for the small portion around them. "You're almost there. Do not lose your focus or be scared. It won't work if you're scared or if you're not focused, because the water won't trust you. Finally, control it. Unfreeze and freeze the water." Katherine does what she's told and unfreezes and freezes the water. "Break your concentration." Rhett finishes. Katherine breaks her concentration and lets out a sigh. "How about we go out for some coffee?" Rhett suggested. "I'd love that." Katherine smiles. "Let's go." Rhett says, as both of them get out of the lake. They put on their shoes and Rhett puts back on his gloves. Rhett takes out another pair of white gloves and hands them to Katherine. She puts the gloves on and examines them.

"The gloves will make sure your powers don't act up when you don't want them to. Now let's go get coffee." Rhett says as the two of them walk out of the forest.

Once they arrive at Coffee House (the coffee shop) they order their coffee and sit down and talk.

"So, have you decided whether or not you're comfortable here?" Rhett questioned, drinking his coffee. "Yeah, I could say I'm comfortable here." Katherine responds. The two of them chat for the next few hours in the cafe.

The Revivers and the Squad try to figure out what to do about Ellie. "We could try talking to Chloe about letting us use her phone that connects from this world to ours." Lily suggests. "Yeah, because Chloe of all people is going to let us use her phone." Cliff says. Colin starts walking towards the window, when a folded-up paper gets stuck between the wall and the window. Colin grabs the note from the open window and opens the paper. Once he looked at the paper, he could tell that it was written in a language that no one was aware of except for his son. "Scott, come here for a second." Colin states. Scott walks over to his father.

"Yes, Dad?" Scott asks.

"Do you think that you could translate this?" Colin questions. Scott looks at the paper and the unknown language. "It's going to take a lot of research and time, but I'm pretty sure I can have it translated by soon." Scott says. "Translate it and tell me when you've got it and Scott..." Colin trails off. "Hm?" Scott looks at him with concern. "Never mind...just translate the note." Scott nods and takes the paper and goes upstairs.

"So, we agree that Colin and Juliet will talk to Chloe since well he's charming and she's persuasive." Daniel says. "We'll search around town for Katherine and see if we can get any information." Cassandra says as the Squad leaves the apartment. "Be back in 2 hours." Melody commands. "We will, Melody." Peter reassures. The Squad leaves as well as Juliet and Colin. As the two of them walk the quiet streets, the two of them talk about what they're going to say. "So, I'll start, and you join in." Colin starts. "Yeah...sounds good." Juliet hesitates. "Is there something that you want to talk about?" Colin questions. "We can talk about it after we finish this." Juliet says and Colin decides to go along with it. The two of them walk into Town Hall and they see Chloe on her computer. "Hello, Chloe." Colin and Juliet greet. "Hello, how can I help you?" Chloe asks, looking away from her computer. "Um, well we were actually wondering if we could use your phone that connects from this world to ours." Colin starts. "Just so we can get an adult to watch Ellie Claire." Juliet says as the 2 of them sit down. Chloe takes it into consideration for a moment. "Yes. I may hate my brothers, but the child needs a guardian." Chloe says knowing that the child didn't need what was coming to her. "Speaking of kids, do you know how mine are?" Colin asked with curiosity. "I was just checking on them. They're fine with Laura and your nieces." Chloe answers. Colin feels a sense of relief and Chloe hands Colin a phone. "I'll give you a minute to talk about who you're going to call and make the call." Chloe states, as she gets up and goes upstairs. "Okay, who do you want to call?" Juliet asked. "I honestly didn't think we'd get this far." Colin replies, honestly. Juliet laughs at the comment and looks down. "I think we should call David, Daniel's brother, Melody's ex-husband." Juliet says a slightly scared tone and Colin notices it. "Are you scared of Melody?" Colin smirks. "No... I'm not scared of anything!" Juliet says, defensively. "I know you're not." Colin says while he dials David's number. The phone rings twice before someone picks up. "Hello?" says a woman from the other line. "Hi, this is Colin. Is David there?" Colin asked. "He is not. This is his attorney, but any message that you have for him I can forward to him." David's attorney states. "Can you ask him to pick up his daughter, Ellie Claire, from his ex-wife's house?" Colin questions. "She's with us right now, while her father is at work." The attorney confirms. "Wait, how did you know that she needed to be picked up?" Colin questions, concerned. "A guy named Rhett called and said she needed to be picked up." His attorney answers. "Can I speak to Ellie Claire for a moment?" Colin asked, leaning back in his chair. "Sure." His attorney answers while handing the phone to Ellie Claire. "Hey, Colin." Ellie Claire says while coloring a sunset. "Hey Trail Mix, how are you?" Colin asked. "Good, how are you?" Ellie Claire asked. "I'm good. I just wanted to check up on you. Tell your dad I said 'Hey'." Colin answers. "I will...I miss you, Colin." Colin could hear his voice breaking as she told him that. "I miss you too, Trail Mix." Colin confesses. They hang up and Colin and Juliet wait for Chloe. Once she comes back downstairs, she sits back down at her desk. "I see you 2 are finally done." Chloe states. "We are." Juliet states. "Alright." Chloe goes back to working on her computer. "Chloe..." Colin starts. Chloe turns her attention to him. "I know you hate us, and I also know that you have absolutely nothing against Katherine's friends or Scott. So, whatever hate you have for us, don't rope them into it." Colin states. "Okay, for 1: I'd never in a million years would intentionally hurt a kid who isn't even out of college yet without a good reason and that includes Scott and for another: You guys roped them into your unfinished battle...not me. So, no harm shall come to Katherine's friends or your son. You have my word." Chloe states, convincingly. "Okay, then I guess we'll be on our way." Juliet grabs Colin's arm and brings him outside. "Jules, what is up with you?" Colin questions. "Um..." Juliet hesitates.

At 11PM, Rhett and Phoenix are watching a movie while Melissa is sleeping on Phoenix and Katherine is sleeping on one side of the couch. "So, I heard that you and Katherine had a date." Phoenix starts while turning off the TV. "Well, I wouldn't call it a date. It was more of a friendly hang out." Rhett says. "Whatever you say." Phoenix teases. "What about you and Melissa?" Rhett asked, teasingly. "We're fine. Nothing happened while you were on your date." Phoenix smirks. Rhett rolls his eyes and looks at the 2 controllers to their PS4."Do you want to play a quick game?" Rhett asks. "You're on." Phoenix smirks. Rhett tosses a controller to Phoenix, and he catches it, and they turn on the TV. "No...not going to happen." Melissa grabs Phoenix's controller and throws it into the kitchen. "This is our time." Katherine grabs Rhett's controller and tosses it to Melissa who throws it into the kitchen along with the other one. "Well, alright then." Rhett laughs. "I can't leave her in this position." Rhett says, weighing his opinions. "Pick her up, move her into a comfortable position, then, go to sleep." Phoenix replies. "I don't want to move her and wake her up." Rhett runs his hand up and down her arm. "Fine, do what you want." Phoenix says, going to sleep. Rhett thinks it over and decides to do what Phoenix suggested. Once he gets comfortable, Katherine looks up at Rhett and smiles. "What?" Rhett says, quietly. "You just remind me of someone I used to know." Katherine says. "Oh yeah, who?" Rhett questions. Katherine looks down. "Come on you've got to tell me who this mysterious guy is who I remind you of." Rhett laughs. "Not now." Katherine says. "Tomorrow?" Rhett asks.

"Sure, tomorrow." Katherine states, as she closes her eyes. 

Once Rhett finally went to sleep, Katherine got up, walked over to the bathroom, and turned on the faucet. She takes off her gloves and tries to wash her hands, but the water moves with her movement. Katherine turns off the faucet and starts getting a little annoyed and frustrated. Then water that was left in the sink, starts to boil. She takes a while to remember what Rhett said. (The water also responds to your emotions). Katherine gathers herself together, puts her gloves back on, and goes back to Rhett. She looks at Rhett, smiles, and sits next to him. "I want to trust you, but I don't know if I can. Can I trust you?" Katherine asks, not expecting an answer. "Well of course you can trust me." Rhett opens his eyes and looks at Katherine. "I hate that you don't trust me." Rhett says, with the slightest bit of hurt in his voice. "Well, I don't know who to trust." Katherine explains.