Life is Strange: The Storm Within

Chapter 1

Fear. That's the only thing I could feel in that moment. I was always used to getting the upper hand. If I didn't have it going in, I got it before it was said and done. But with a flash of silver, Nathan Prescott took the upper hand…and I was powerless.

I backed up against the wall with my hands up. "Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!" I said with my voice shaking. I never showed my emotion in confrontations, but I couldn't even begin to hide it.

Nathan puts his hand on the wall and slaps it, leveling the gun with my stomach. "Don't ever tell me what to do! I'm so sick of people trying to control me!" he growled.

"You are going to get in hella more trouble for this than drugs," I said shakily, my eyes darting between him and the gun almost touching my stomach now. I could feel the color draining from my face.

"Nobody would ever even miss your punk ass, would they?" Nathan growled. I felt my heart drop. He's going to kill me, I thought, my heart racing even faster.

Before I could react, I heard someone yell, "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I couldn't even register the voice before Nathan spun around with the gun and fired. I looked past him to see a girl crumple to the ground, a red wound blossoming on her stomach. Nathan yelled and darted past me and out the door. I walked over to the girl on the floor and kneeled down to see her. Her blue eyes fluttered open and my heart stopped.

"Max?" I said, almost too speechless to acknowledge her name.

"Chloe…I'm so sorry," she breathed out, clearly struggling to force air in and out of her lungs.

"Oh God no, Max please stay with me," I cradled her head in my lap. "What the hell are you doing here?" I looked down at her wound, blood spilling from it and pooling under her. I took my beanie off my head and put pressure on the wound and grabbed her hand with my other one. I could feel her pulse in her stomach beginning to slow and each breath she struggled to take. "SOMEONE CALL 911!" I yelled before looking back at Max.

"I should have gotten in contact with you sooner," Max breathed, her voice shaking. "I'm so, so sorry, Chloe. I didn't want it to end like this."

I shook my head, releasing tears I didn't even realize had formed. "Nothing is ending, I don't give a crap about the past five years right now. You're here now, just stay alive. I can't lose someone else." I cried, desperation filling my voice.

The door opened as I turn my head to see David walk in, immediately seeing his eyes grow wide. "Chloe…Max…what happened?"

"David, help her please," I cried, feeling myself crumbling. "Nathan shot her."

David walked over and knelt down next to Max for a moment before putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'm getting help," he said as he pulls out his phone and dialed 911. "I'm getting first aid too. Hang on, Max."

"You hear that, Super Max?" I said, taking my hand from hers and stroking her cheek. "Help is coming. Stay with me, please."

"Chloe…" Max whispered. I noticed her deathly pale face and her eyes began to look distant. "Promise me you'll stay strong, no matter what happens."

"Don't say crap like that, Max," I said sniffling. "You're going to get better and we'll take over Arcadia Bay like we always said we would and we'll be together and that's all that will matter." Max reached for my hand and shakily takes it. She gave it a weak squeeze and looks up at me. I could see it in her eyes, she had accepted her fate. My heart began racing. I squeezed her hand harder, "Please, Max, don't leave me."

"Chloe…" Max started as she struggled to take a breath in to finish. "I love you."

"I love you, Maximus," I answered. I leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Stay with me." She gave me a sad smile as I felt a tired breath escape from her lungs and her eyes closed. I didn't feel her struggle to take another one and seconds later, the slow pulsing against my hand had come to a halt. I pulled my hand away, dropping my blood-soaked beanie to the floor. "Please no," I whispered as I placed my fingers on her neck to confirm what I feared. Max…my Super Max…was dead.

"No, no, NO!" I yelled as I pulled her body close and hugged her. I allowed myself to sob, not giving a care about who may hear me. David opened the door a minute later and I heard him rush over to grab Max's wrist. He whispered something before I felt him hug me but I didn't acknowledge him. I had completely crumbled.

Thirty minutes later, doctors confirmed what I had already known. A nurse noticed me sitting in the waiting room and brings me scrubs to change into. That's when I realized…I was covered in blood, her blood. I couldn't do anything but scream until I finally passed out on the floor of the hospital.

Three days later, Mark Jefferson was arrested after Nathan ratted him out about some project they had done together. A complete police investigation had opened up, resulting in Rachel's investigation reopening. My stomach flipped at the news.

Five days later, we buried my best friend. I don't remember most of that day. I was so numb. Everyone tried comforting me but I couldn't take any of it. I dug my fingernails into my palms until they bled. Because what they didn't know is that I was the reason Max was dead. She got shot trying to save me. I vowed to never forgive myself for it.

Finally, the next day, my last strand of hope was cut. The police dug up my first love. Mark Jefferson's investigation discovered what happened to her six months prior. Nathan had kidnapped her and drugged her to take pictures like Jefferson had done so many times before. But inexperience lead Nathan to overdose Rachel and he buried her in the junkyard…what was my safe haven. Given the news of the influence he was under, Nathan was then released from jail to spend three years in intensive therapy in a psychiatric hospital to hopefully return to society. Three days after that, her parents gave her a proper burial. Again, people told me time and time again how sorry they were for me and I couldn't take it in. I was beyond broken.

Now, just over four years later…my life is in shambles. I don't leave my bed most days and my mom and David don't bother me. Sometimes it's a struggle to will myself to breathe. I dream about them frequently…the plans with Rachel that were cut short and the adventures with Max that never got to happen. I can sometimes see my dad in them, watching over with a sad face as if he knows that they're with him and I have no one. With Nathan being released from the hospital a little over a year ago, they have only gotten worse; reliving their deaths over and over and over and over again. On this particular night, I woke up from an especially tormenting dream and look over at the night stand and reach for the anti-depressants Mom forced me to get. I put them in my pocket before quietly walking downstairs to grab a couple beer bottles and a gun from David's safe before heading to the junkyard. The three most important people in my life are dead…and I am praying that I'm not far behind.


This chapter is a prologue of sorts for a story I am planning on writing. It will include and OC and another super power. But this is the starting point. Tell me what you think!

Also, I will be posting covers for each chapter on my dA, check it out here! avizara77/art/Life-is-Strange-The-Storm-Within-859194963