They stood on the cliff overlooking the bay, rain lashed across them.
“Max. It’s time.”
Why? Why did Chloe have to pay for her mistakes? She reached out and grabbed Chloe’s hand.
“Max. What are you..?”
“Saving everyone.” Max concentrated, grinding her teeth. Suddenly, she felt a rush of energy. She felt as if she could do anything, turning back time was so easy.
As she looked around, she saw a white energy flowing from Chloe to her, through their connected hands.
“C..Chloe.. hang onto me.” She concentrated harder, thinking about going back, stopping the shooting, saving the one she cared about more than anyone else.
As white light filled her vision, she heard Chloe call her name, as if from a great distance.
As the light faded, that damned bathroom came into being around them.
“Max! Max, you did it, your took me back with you!”
Max looked around. Rather than the posters and graffiti she remembered, there were new ones.
There was a poster about a gathering in remembrance for those lost in the Vietnam War.
Where the graffiti about Rachel had been, there was a “BLACKWELL SUX!”. On the paper towel dispenser, “KEEP ON TRUCKIN’” was scrawled.
“..Chloe..”, Max said, eyes wide.
“What, Max? You did it!”
“I.. I think I over did it. Look around.”
Glancing around, Chloe noticed the strange art and posters, too.
“This has.. has got to be some kind of trick. Right, Max?”
Saying nothing, Max led them out of the bathroom.
Both of them goggled at what was outside.
Everyone was dressed in bellbottoms, and short shorts!
“it’s like that old TV show, Charlie’s Angels”, Max said.
A newspaper was crumpled on the floor.
The banner read THE OREGONIAN
The date was March 3, 1976.
As Chloe’s mouth dropped open, Max pointed to a calendar on the wall.
March 11th had “GAME WITH SUNNYDALE RAZORBACKS STOMP ‘EM
A guy with a blonde afro, wearing a paisley shirt and orange bellbottoms walked past, with a black haired girl wearing pink short shorts and a checkered blue shirt. A small radio nearby blared “S A T U R D A Y NIGHT! S A T U R D A Y NIGHT!”
Max was surprised that they hadn’t gotten noticed.
“man, that game with the Razorbacks tonight is gonna be great!”, the girl said.
As the couple walked away, Chloe stared at Max, as if she was seeing a miracle.
“um… ..Happy negative 18th birthday..?”, Max said, a very nervous smile across her face.