Life Is Strange: My Final Days (Rachel Amber)

Broken

Nathan's P.O.V:

I barely slept at all last night. How could I after what I've done? My mind can't stop wondering about what Mark was doing to Rachel and it worries me that I don't know what state she's in now. I should really go back to the dark room to check on her before school starts. I frown and get out of my bed even though my anxiety is begging me to stay in bed all day. The anxiety is even worse now that I have all of this guilt in my head. Grabbing my medication from my desk, I swallow two pills and wash them down with some water. Fuck these pills, they never work anyway. I sigh as I get dressed and then run a hand through my hair to fix it. After making myself look fairly presentable, I walk out of my dorm room and then walk to the exit of the dorm, walking straight out onto campus. It's only six o'clock in the morning so there's barely anyone awake at this hour. This is the only time that Blackwell is ever really peaceful, there's always some type of drama going on when everyone is awake whether it be some sort of fight or somebody spreading rumours about somebody else.

After looking around to make sure that I'm truly alone, I pull a cigarette out from my pocket along with my lighter to light it, taking a long drag from the cigarette once it's lit. I sigh peacefully as I lean against a tree, feeling some of the stress melt away from my body as I zone out and look around campus. My mind starts to wonder and I start to ask myself 'What if things were different?' What if I had a family who loved me? Would I still be this fucked up in the head? If I wasn't a Prescott would people still hate me? What if I was normal and didn't have all of these problems? Would Mark still be able to take advantage of me like he does now if I wasn't so weak? Is there anyone out there who truly even cares about my existence? There's so many questions spinning around in my head but I can't seem to ever find the answers to them. Sometimes I feel so lost in my own head to even be able to determine what's real and what's not.

I snap out of my thoughts when I see Chloe walk onto campus in the distance, heading towards the girl's dorms. I can tell it's her from miles away because of her bright blue hair which is covered by a navy beanie and her stupid punk ass style of clothing. I scoff and glare slightly, shaking my head to myself. Chloe isn't even supposed to be on campus, she was expelled a few years ago but she always comes here every morning just to wait outside for Rachel. She's such an idiot, she really believes that Rachel cares about her but the truth is that Rachel just sees Chloe as her own personal puppet. Shit, little does Chloe know that Rachel isn't in her dorm though. I frown and look down, feeling the guilt and worry from earlier creep back into my head as I throw my cigarette onto the ground and stomp it out before walking as quick as I can towards my car. I have to get to the dark room before Mark has a chance to do something truly terrible to Rachel. If there's still a chance to save her life, I'll do my best even though I'm the one who got her into this situation in the first place..

After grabbing my car keys from my pocket and walking to the car park, I start my drive towards the dark room. It seems like it takes me hours to get there even though it only took me about twenty minutes in reality. I have knots in my stomach because I really don't know what to expect when I walk in there. Will Rachel still even be alive? Surely Mark wouldn't of killed her, he promised me that he'd let her go once he was finished with her. I quickly dismiss the thoughts from my head and slowly get out of my car before locking it up and walking into the old barn. After finding the trapped door which was covered by some hay, I open it and walk down the stairs that lead to the dark room and punch in the code to the door at the bottom. I take a few deep breaths to steady myself, before slowly pushing the door open and taking a few hesitant steps into the room, looking around as I do so. My eyes widen in horror at what I see though.

Rachel is on the floor with her wrists and ankles taped together, her face covered in blood and bruises. One half of her face is swollen and she has a black eye which is really noticeable because her skin is a sickly pale colour. Her lip is busted and her nose seems to be bleeding quite a lot so I'm guessing it's probably broken. I've never seen her like this before, she's normally so flawless. As I look away from her, I notice some photographs placed on the desk of Rachel while she's completely out of it and drugged up.  I'm completely frozen in shock and a wave of sadness and anger washes through my body. How the fuck could Mark do something like this to her!? I'm not even sure if she's alive or not until I see her shiver for a second and her shoulders rise and fall slowly to show that she's still breathing. Her breaths are slow though and her neck is covered in little bruises from where Mark had been injecting her with more drugs. She looks so broken just laying there on the floor.. I can't bare to see her like this. I grab a pair of scissors from one of the shelves and just as I'm about to rush over to cut the tape from her wrists, I'm stopped by someone putting their hand on my shoulder.

"Nathan, what do you think you're doing?" Mark asks in a low tone of voice as he squeezes my shoulder just enough for it to hurt. I immediately tense up and drop the scissors, starting to shake a little in fear. I hate the sound of his voice, it literally keeps me up at night and it's all I ever hear in my nightmares. "Wh-What did you do to her!? You told me that you wasn't going to hurt her, this wasn't part of the plan!" I yell at him as I harshly shrug his hand off my shoulder, turning to face him as I do so. Maybe if I try to be brave he'll listen to me for once. Mark just glares at me though and takes a threatening step closer. "She wasn't listening to me and you know that disobedience makes me mad.. Keep that in mind the next time you think about using that fucking tone of voice with me." He whispers to me and I feel my heart race with fear. "S-Sorry.." I mumble quietly, looking away from him to avoid eye contact. I don't want to be hurt by him again, he's already beaten me up once before and I'm still scarred psychically and mentally from it.

Mark just scoffs and walks past me, bumping my shoulder with his own as he does so. "I'm going to have to go, I have a lesson to teach. I need you to stay here and watch over Rachel for a while until I get back. If she wakes up just leave her on the floor and there's water on one of the shelves if she needs it." He tells me as he picks up his bag from near his desk and puts his camera into it before putting the bag strap over his shoulder. Mark then walks over to me and places one of his hands on my shoulder, using his other hand to grab my chin and force me to look into his eyes. "Don't do anything stupid. If you let her go, I'll kill you. I'm the only person who cares about you, Nathan, so don't fuck this up.." He tells me as he pats my shoulder and then let's go of me. "I'll see you soon." He says as he leaves the room quickly to go to Blackwell. I frown and tear up as I walk over to Rachel and sit beside her on the floor, starting to gently caress her hair in an attempt to comfort her and myself.