The Girl Who Rewinds Time [Life is Strange]

Chapter 43: The Madsen Reconciliation

"Oh Lord, Max... are you okay? Are you all right? Can you move?" David questioned her as he freed her from the chair. "Yes... Thank you, David... thank you..." Max said. "Don't thank me... You brought me here." David said.

Mark groaned and moved ever so slightly. David glanced at him over his shoulder. "Let's wrap up this son of a bitch first." David walked over to his gun and grabbed it. Placing it in his holster. Mark lifted his head from the floor. David's left fist connected to his jaw.

Mark went black again.

"He won't be going anywhere when he wakes up." David said as he rolled the unconscious Mark onto his stomach. He placed his wrists on his back and handcuffed him. Max twisted her sore wrists in circles. David stood up.

"Except you are going to prison forever. Or worse." David said.

Max glared down at the teacher. "Mr. Jefferson? Now it's your turn to be captured in a moment..." She said. An immediate thought came over Max. One that needed to be done asap.

"Save Chloe..."

Max looked at her burned diary and pictures on the trolley.

He burned everything... including all of my photos...

Max remembered something that happened the other night.

Warren! Yes! I can use that picture he took of us!

After getting dressed into her grey hoodie and wrapping her bag over her shoulder, she took out her phone to contact Warren.

"Shit! No signal!"

Her phone was useless at that point so she put it away. She saw Mark's keys sitting on the glass table. She grabbed them and said, "Thanks, Mr. Jefferson, but... you won't need this anymore." As she was leaving, she looked over at David. Max didn't want to leave him alone down here with that monster.

"David?" He stood up from Mark and looked at Max. "Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Look at this place... it feels like Hell." He said. "Jefferson was going to kill me..." Max told him. "You got here just in time." David nodded. "I'm glad... I always suspected that son of a bitch." He said. "You kind of suspected everybody..." Max said to him. "Yes, and this is what I get for wasting all those hours on the Prescotts... I set my sights too wide, lack of focus." David said, his solider talk coming out of him.

"I know the feeling." Max said back.

"I guess I looked just as suspicious when you told Principal Wells that I was... harassing Kate Marsh... and I don't blame you." David sighed. "And Max... I treated Kate like shit... I know she's a good person, but I'm not. I hope I get to tell her that soon." He admitted.

Max nodded. "Me too. I think that would make her very happy." She said.

"I knew Nathan Prescott was a threat. I just waited too long to neutralize him."

"Jefferson already did." Max told him. "They had some weird father-son thing going on. But... Nathan killed Rachel, and Jefferson had to use him as a scapegoat."

"That pervert was pulling all this shit right under my nose, too... I could have stopped him and Nathan if only..." David paused. "I wasn't so stupid." He finished. "No... I told Principal Wells Nathan had a gun and... almost used it. But he didn't want to believe me. I should have been more loud." Max said. "We all make decisions we regret." David told Max.

"But I have to admit I'm impressed by you... and Chloe, and your investigation." David said. "I had all the high-tech toys, while you had each other."

Max shrugged. "Maybe she learned from you." She said.

"I think she only learned how to hate my guts." David said. "You both had a tough start. I know it wasn't easy." Max said. But David shrugged. "I'm not going to make any excuses for my behaviour. I tried to be a good soldier, but... I wasn't so great. I tried to be a good father, too. But... when Joyce kicked me out..." David closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"I had nothing." He said.

"I'm so sorry about that... I didn't want that to happen..." Max told him. "I should never have set up those surveillance cams. Or kept all those files..." David said. "I'm going to tell Joyce I was wrong about you. She does love you. It's pretty obvious." Max said. "I try not to use my service as an excuse, but... It's hard to come home after war." David said. "Most people don't know or care what it's like... except Joyce. She gave me hope. A new life."

"And you saved mine." Max told him. "Chloe, she... she would be proud of you."

"I just want to see her safe with her mother." David told Max. "I promised Joyce I would go see a family counselor... and I'll start by apologizing to Chloe." Max's face fell heavy. Knowing the reason why David couldn't.

"I don't expect her to call me dad, but maybe she'll stop calling me "step-douche"." David narrowed his eyes. Curious as to why Chloe wasn't with Max since they were inseparable. "So, where is Chloe?" He asked.

"David... Chloe is... Is dead..." Max told him.

David's heart sunk. "This isn't happening... It can't... No, God... Not Chloe..." David's eyes started watering. "Max, are you sure? Are you..."

"Yes, I... I saw her... I saw... Jefferson kill her and Daniel in the junkyard... last night..." Max told him.

David looked at Mark. "Last night? When I was feeling sorry for myself in my hotel room...?" David took a deep breath. "I promised Joyce that I would protect her and Chloe..." Max looked sadly at him. "How can I face her and explain this..." David said as the tears started rolling down his face. "I never even told Chloe that I... I... Goddammit!" Anger suddenly started building inside of David.

That anger from war.

"You killed my wife's child, you sick fucker? You took away my stepdaughter?!" David said. He gripped the gun and pulled it out. "David... wait!" Max said, but David pulled the trigger. The bullet flew into Mark's skull. David slowly lowered the gun to his side. Blood leaked out of Mark's head. David put the gun away. Regretting his doings.

Because it wouldn't bring Chloe back.

"Max... I'm sorry... I'm sorry you had to see that." David stared down at Mark. "What a mess... What have I done? All that time I wasted with surveillance... I... Chloe... I'm sorry... Joyce... I failed you... my family..."

Max pressed her hand to David's shoulder. "You didn't fail... You did your best." She told him. David turned to her. "Max... you better get outside. You've seen enough of this room." He said. "David... thank you, for saving me." Max said. She turned her back to David and walked away to find Warren.

David looked at the ground. Tears forming in his eyes. The war made him this way.

A killer.

David lowered himself onto the ground and sat down. With Mark's dead body behind him.