Life is Strange: Time Seizure

Chapter 6 - Limbo

It feels like I've been trapped here for months... or maybe even years... I have no idea.

Her perception of time had also been messed with, apparently, as it became harder to remember how long it had been since that... attack... cast her from the world she knew and breathed in. She was taken from Arcadia Bay, torn away from her loved ones, but most importantly, forced out of Chloe's arms and thrown into this limbo like a garbage disposal.

This is definitely no heaven, but it doesn't feel like hell either. I must be in some sort of purgatory that they call Limbo... but I can't be dead!

In her heart, Max could feel herself, or at least a part of it, lingering on, if barely, clinging for dear life on its nails.

A shrill hoot wound her attention upwards where, on a low brittle branch, she spotted an owl perched there that was either studying or leering at her; its luminous round irises could hypnotize her if she stared back long enough.

This feathered creature, normally harmless, sent a cold trickle down the spine of her neck as she unwillingly called back to the last situation where she heard that same sound, which was when she returned with Chloe to the junkyard to guard-watch Rachel's body and trap Nathan, only to instead have the rugged pulled under them by...

No... not him! Don't think of him! Not here!

When the rush of air picked up once more, Max dropped to her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, and blocked her ears with her sweaty palms to try and banish that horrid memory.

"There's no escape, my dear Max." Spoke his voice, oozing with venom. "The darkness here is very much my dark room." It passed through her hands like mesh and wormed its way inward, prompting her to scream internally.

Leave me alone! Please!

That disgusting voice of Jefferson's... it breathed on her from all around at once, yet she could find no trace of that monster when she spindled in her spot to piece him out through the shadows.

Right then, she stopped dead when a small but noticeable orb hooked her interest up ahead. A predator's lure or a guide? She wasn't sure whether it would lead her to freedom or her doom.

"There's nowhere to run!"

Chancing one of her two guesses, Max made a blind dash for it, daring not to look back or anywhere else.

*****

"Wait... what the hell? Her powers... are from you?"

Chloe stood before this manifestation of Rachel, dumbfounded by her statement.

All ears were on them as the entity continued. "I was like Max. Or to put it better, she was like me. Unlike her, I never used my powers to change fate or help others. Rather, I used them for my own benefit, such as to become popular."

"All this time?" Chloe glowered into her eyes, feeling of betrayal swelling up again. "You never told me, after all that time?"

"I tried to." Rachel's voice began to show fragility. "I tried to tell you, like how I tried telling you about Frank."

Hearing his name, Frank cautiously meandered from around the counter to listen closer; even Pompidou had gone silent.

Chloe worked out the rest of what Rachel was going to explain. "You actually told me a few times before, didn't you?"

Rachel nodded and looked down shamefully.

"I'm guessing I didn't react well, so then you rewinded and decided to instead cover your ass and lie to my fucking face."