Event 4# - Remember...

[Maxine Evans]

Max and Jamie's footsteps crunched in the hallway. The ceiling lights continued to flicker around them, their shadows dancing on the lockers. Max squinted. There had to be a way out... she beamed a light ahead of her from her phone. The beam hit a mass of concrete and wood. She came up to it, touching the gravel with her fingers. The barrier was thick - like a blood-clot within the veins of the school. With a sigh, she hit record on her phone and took a few steps back to take a wideshot of the scene. 'Day two of the earthquake - or is it day three? Still stuck - and well, as you can see - this bugger's blocking the way out. Who knows how many of these are out there...' she panned the camera to the brunette. 'My mate Jamie's here with me - real trooper this one. Guess we're going to the teacher's lounge? See if anything's there...' 

She kept her head high, bare elbow bent to keep the phone steady - it wasn't the most ideal of cameras, but it would have to do in a pinch. She continued to narrate. This, this was her domain. Just another dilapidated tunnel to explore, another run-down place to uncover. They turned to the teacher's lounge. She paused at the side of the doorway, giving a slow pan of the mess. Debris covered the space, coating the kitchen and the brown couch to the side in dust. A coffee machine sat on the counter. Some of the drawers were half-open - from the earthquake she assumed. 'Cushy... well, maybe we'll find some food - nothing too spoiled I hope...' she stepped towards the fridge, but as she moved forward her foot snagged against something that felt like... Max tilted her camera down. Towels. Soaked, browned towels, long strands of raven hair - and was that.... Max zoomed. Coppery stains smeared against the floor. It couldn't be - there couldn't be another incident...the frame wavered on her mobile screen.

Max hesitated. 'Is that... paint?'

[Jamie Lewis]

The brunette wasn’t sure  about leaving Misha all alone in the classroom, but since she said she’d join them later, she decided not to worry about it too much. As they made their way to the corridor however the girl couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Like this whole time she was missing something. But before she could dwell more on it Maxine started commentaring their situation which surprised Jamie a bit. She almost forgot the dark-brown haired was a youtuber. The girl was never in a youtube video before, so this made her a bit nervous. She hadn’t thought about people judging her since the earthquake but it creeped back into her mind. She started worrying about how she must have look with her puffy eyes and bruised lips, but as Maxine turned the camera on her she managed a smile. “Hi!” she waved at the phone. Max suggested they go to the teacher’s lounge and Jamie nodded. “Yep, and water would be good as well” she added. She then listened to the other girl as she continued to narrate. She didn’t want to bother her or ruin the video so she just followed her quietly.

They entered the room which was just like all of the other places. It was in ruins. But there could still be some useful things they could find.
Then Max paused and looked down. Jamie slowly looked to the place Max was staring at.
“Is that...paint?” the brunette’s eyes widened. No.. not paint. Blood. Blood on the floor. Where has she seen that before? It was like someone turned on a switch inside the girl’s mind. All of the memories came back before the times switch. The girl’s mind was racing. The blood...The door... Jamie fell to her knees her eyes fixated on the floor. She started shaking. It was like she was in a trance. She had no idea what was going on around her at that moment. She only saw the two bodies... laying on top of each other in the refrigerator room.

[Maxine Evans]

Jamie collapsed. Max turned in a flash, the screen changing from the splotches to Jamie's shaking figure. Max couldn't see her face, but it was evident something was wrong. Max clicked the recording off. This was too personal to record. She bent by Jamie, placing a hand on her shoulder. She tried to find her face. 'Hey, hey, what's wrong?' She couldn't help but think of her own freakout in the classroom - was Jamie hearing something? A voice? Like Amanda... 'You're okay... breathe. Focus on my voice.' She glanced at the splotches by Jamie's frame. She couldn't lie to herself. Blood. The stains - they were blood. Recent too from the looks of it.

'Here, let me get you some water.' Max stood, heading towards the sink. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, trying to ignore the fact there were more stains... 'Like a butcher shop. What happened?' Questions, riddles - and no means to figure it out. Yet. No, her priority was making sure the brunette was okay. She filled the glass near the brim with cold water, and headed back to her. She crouched down, handing it to her. 'Let's move to the couch, hm? More comfortable than the floor in any case.' Whatever had happened to her - it was clear the blood had triggered something. Some memory or panic attack... the sooner they got away from it the better. 

[Jamie Lewis]

The blonde cut in half, Elizabeth’s neck sliced open. She couldn’t get rid of the images. It was replaying in her head like it was on a loop. Someone murdered them… could it be..the texter? She started shaking at the thought even more. She didn’t know who she was playing with. She refused to break the red phone and she only got a small injury, but she could die. All of them could die if the texter wants that. Their lives are at the hands of a maniac. The brunette has never felt so scared in her life. If she doesn’t do what the texter says.. she’ll end up on top of Elizabeth in the refrigerator room.


She heard Maxine’s voice. Jamie without answering her questions hugged her like she was holding on for dear life. Tears started falling from her eyes. “Dead.. they are dead” she said miserably. She couldn’t say anything more. She just knelt on the floor hugging this girl she didn’t even know that well, but she needed it now more than ever. The embrace calmed her. It made her feel warm, she closed her eyes and for a few minutes it felt like there were no problems in the world. After a few minutes she was able to calm down a bit, so she let go of the girl and took the water from her hand and drank. Tears were still streaming down her face, her eyes as puffy as ever. “You- you know Elizabeth?” she asked “She was in the drama club…” she held the glass in her hand, and waited for the girl’s response.

[Maxine Evans]

Before Max had time to think, Jamie's arms tangled around her. Max stiffened. She didn't know how to react, she needed space, she couldn't breathe... Max tried to squirm back. She felt something wet on her shoulder. Tears. 'Dead... they are dead,' Jamie murmured. Max bowed her head. She wasn't the right person for this. Max wished she knew the right words to say, some grand speech that would bring meaning to all of this.  'It'll be all right' felt like anathema on her tongue. The dark before the dawn. No. The dead as they knew them were never coming back. This wasn't okay. Dark splotches glimmered beside them. This was not okay. Jamie sobbed on her shoulder. There was nothing that could be said. They were like two survivors in the aftermath of a wreck, clinging on to the other lest they drowned. Max held her close. Minutes passed.

Jamie let go. She grabbed the water glass, and brought it to her lips.  Jamie placed the glass down, focused on the remaining drops. Max placed her arms on her knees. She waited. The brunette gave a shaky breath.  'You - you know Elizabeth? She was in the drama club...' Jamie stopped. Silence said more than the words could. Death. More death. Max was never friends with any of the 'lovelies' save perhaps Emery - but, yes, she remembered Elizabeth. She recalled the fluid way Elizabeth moved across the stage, her voice ringing across the auditorium. Max had tried to capture Elizabeth's protean expressions in her camera - the glimmer of her eyes, the shift of her mouth, a magician bringing her character to life... Max hesitated. 'I remember her - yeah. I admired how she seemed to give it her all.'  Scenes and impressions - that was all they had left of the dead.

[Jamie Lewis]

The brunette could tell Max was surprised by her clinging to her, but she slowly returned the hug and held her close. She didn’t say anything, which Jamie was glad about. After they let go of each other the girl felt a bit better,but this situation they were in was really getting to her. “I remember her - yeah. I admired how she seemed to give it her all.” Jamie let out a quiet sob. “I..I found her in the refrigerator room in the cafeteria..” she wiped her eyes “Laying on top of a blonde girl… I’m not sure who she was, but… she was cut in half.” the girl tried not to throw up as the image flashed into her mind again. It was very difficult for her to talk about this, but she knew she had to get it out of her system. “Elizabeth’s neck was sliced open...who.. who would do this?” she continued sobbing. They were the first people she saw dead. She knew she will never get rid of their image.. she’ll have nightmares of them staring at her at night. This was too much.. it was all too muc

[Maxine Evans]

'I...I found her in the refrigerator room in the cafeteria... laying on top of a blonde girl... I'm not sure who she was but - she was cut in half...' Jamie shuddered, obviously nauseated as she bent over from the memory. 'Elizabeth's neck was sliced open... who... who would do this?'  Max's mind became a flood. Kiari's death appeared an accident, Andrei's death appeared an accident... but there was no accident with Elizabeth here, throat cut like a lamb to the slaughter. Max couldn't look away from the wreck in front of her, the sobbing survivor, the debris. She cast her mind back on the documentary series Seconds from Disaster and a single line that had always stood out to her: 

'Disasters don't just happen. They're a chain of critical events...'

Max furrowed her brow. Misha's words came back to her, 'I don't think you should try to make sense of it... just that whatever it hurts is good...' Disasters always had a reason behind them. Always. A dam didn't just break out of nowhere, a building didn't just fall because God willed it, people didn't die just because of nothing. She clenched her fist. She wasn't going to die here. She wasn't going to be helpless here. She couldn't let her mind betray her. Not now, not ever again. ''Think - put that brain to use.' The earthquake, the disappearances, the teleportation, the texts, the voices - there had to be some sort of domino trail that lead up to all of it. Some chain link of fateful decisions that lead them to where they are now. Caught in the crossfire of some bigger conspiracy. 

She hesitated. Yes, logic was good - but Jamie. To give her some brand of 'never-say-die' optimism seemed tempting - but it didn't make sense here. Not in the heart of a butcher's shop. So, truth it was. 'I don't know - some monster. Monsters.  But I know one thing - we can't stay here. We need to figure out what's happening and they must be scared because it's clear they're trying to break us.  And it's working. Jamie - we have to make it through this. We have to, yeah? Because if we can't...' 

She stood up with shaky legs. Max held her hand out to Jamie. 'We can't let them win.'