The sound of her ringtone knocked Chloe out of her weed induced haziness, with a groan she reached down beside her bed to grab her phone to answer it
“Hello?” Chloe said as she answered the phone
“Whoa, someone sounds high” Chloe smiled when she heard the voice of Max on
the other end of the phone
“Hey Max, what’s up?” Chloe asked
“Nothing much, I just need a favour” Max replied
“Alright, shoot” Chloe said
“Well Warren has bailed on me with my experiment and I need someone to get the
best results out of the tests so I was wondering if you could come help me with my experiment?” Max asked
“I guess, why did Warren bail on you?” Chloe questioned
“I don’t know he just called and bailed, anyway if you could get here as soon as possible it’d be great” Max continued
“Yeah no problem, let me get ready and I’ll be around in about 15 minutes” Chloe replied
“Alright I’ll see you soon” Max said hanging up the phone
~Time skip~
The halls of the science facility where cold and plain, everything was white or a darker shade of white, it made Chloe think how anyone who worked here would be able to walk down these halls and not go crazy from the lack of colour. Ignoring that thought Chloe noticed she was outside of Max’s lab, 456
“Max? It’s me” Chloe announced knocking on the door with a closed fist
“Come in!” Max replied from the other side, Chloe pushed the door open to see Max setting something up
“Wow, quite a set up you have here Max” Chloe exclaimed looking around the high-tech lab
“Thanks, you ready for the experiment?” Max asked turning away from what she was doing
“Depends, you’re not going to be turning me into a frog are you?” Chloe questioned
crossing her arms across her chest
“Chloe, I’m a scientist not a witch so get your cute butt over here” Max rolled her eyes making Chloe laugh. Chloe walked across the room and over to where Max was standing, there was a chair and quite a lot of wires and machines behind Max
“Sit down right here” Max said pointing to the chair, Chloe sat down and Max began hooking her up to the many machines. She placed a few wires against her chest and placed some type of wire ‘helmet’ on her head, finally, Max had set everything up and went over to a table that was opposite Chloe
“Is there any chance you can tell me what you’re doing?” Chloe questioned
“Well I’m studying neurological science and I’ve been doing an experiment with Warren where we go deeper into the mind, a lot deeper” Max replied picking up a needle
“So this is going to allow you to become conscious in your own mind” Max explained wiping Chloe’s wrist so she could slide the needle under her skin and into her vein
“At any time I can pull you out, I’ll know if you need to be pulled out by your brainwaves and heartbeat” Max continued as she began injecting the light blue serum into Chloe’s vein
“What will I see?” Chloe questioned
“It’s different for everyone but you have to remember that nothing you see is real and it’s all just memories and figments of your imagination” Max said, Chloe began to feel the room sway a bit and her limbs felt like they were slowly turning into led. As her vision began to fade she saw Max walk over to the table opposite her and sit down behind the table just as she passed out completely
It was cold, silent and there was nothing around her. When Chloe had opened her eyes she saw she was standing in what looked like a never-ending room
“Hello?” Chloe called out, surprised when her voice echoed through the room but there was no reply. She began to slowly walk not really feeling as if she was getting anywhere
“Come on Max!” Chloe heard someone say, she made a sharp turn and saw two young girls running around in pirate outfits… it was her and Max as kids
“Slow down I’m not as fast as you!” Max protested, Chloe smiled seeing the two kids running around without a care in the world.
“Bongo give that back!” Chloe looked to her left and saw her child self playing her cat, Bongo who died in 2008. Bongo has stolen Chloe’s sock and she ended up running around the house to get it back
“Chloe dinners ready!” Chloe froze up hearing a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time, slowly turning around she saw her dad and mother standing in the kitchen making dinner together. But instead of calling to another memory the two of them were looking straight at her, she felt tears pricking at her eyes and her throat closing up at the memory of her deceased father
“I-It’s not real Chloe… not real” She mumbled to herself scrubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms
“What are you talking about? Are you feeling alright?” Joyce questioned giving her daughter a concerned look
“I-I… I have to go” Chloe mumbled before she turned around and began running, running away from the memory. Tears streamed down her face as she ran not wanting to remember, she ran as fast as she could not caring where she was going
she just wanted to get away from that memory
“Max! Get me out of here please!” Chloe shouted, there was no response
“Max! Can you hear me?” Chloe continued
“Chloe” Her father's voice whispered
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Chloe screamed shouted putting her hands over her ears
“Chloe!”
Chloe gasped as she opened her eyes
“Chloe it’s alright you’re out, you’re out!” She heard Max exclaim
“W-What happened?” Chloe asked wiping her eyes, still feeling tears there
“You were going fine but all of a sudden your heart picked up and I knew something was wrong” Max replied. She took a few seconds to regain her senses before she began unhooking the wires from herself, there was an awkward silence between the two as Chloe stood up
“What did you see?” Max asked
“Lots of things, I saw us as kids, Bongo running away with my sock and then… and then I saw my dad” Chloe mumbled hugging herself
“Oh, Chloe…” Max whispered pulling Chloe into a hug
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that” Max apologised
“It’s fine, I should be over it by now” Chloe sniffled
“No it’s okay, everything you feel is completely normal” Max said with a sad smile, there was another small silence
“Well I’m in the mood for fries, what do you think?” Chloe questioned making Max smile at her friend's resilience
“I’m right behind you” Max smiled and put her arm around Chloe’s shoulders