Dreamcatcher

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Pool Party

Loss was an old friend of Clark's.

He'd welcomed it many years ago when he first lost his father, and now loss had returned to sweep Clark with misery and flaunt guilt at him knowing now that his sister was dead too. 

In his hand, Clark gripped his sister's necklace and stood in silence over her makeshift grave. A grave that felt completely disrespectful to her remains. Max kept him company for the whole hour they were at the junkyard, mourning Chloe. She knew he needed time to process this but there was very little time left for Victoria Chase with her life at risk. 

Once Clark's emotions had settled and his tears stopped leaking from his eyes, he drove himself and Max back to Blackwell in dead silence. 

Neither said a thing on the drive back. They were both deep in thought, thinking about the people in danger: Max stressed about reaching Victoria in time, hoping she would heed her warnings. All the while Clark thought heavily about the danger he intended to put Nathan Prescott in. 

They reached Blackwell at sunset where many students wandered towards the natatorium where the party was being held. Clark did not waste a second getting out of his truck the same way he did when they arrived at the junkyard. Max found herself walking a lot faster than normal since Clark was on a warpath, impatient and not thinking straight. People taking their time walking towards the natatorium barely took notice of Clark and Max rushing past them. Music blasted from the natatorium, getting louder and louder as they got closer. 

"Clark, look at the sky!" Max exclaimed in shock of the phenomenon occurring in the sky. 

Clark stole a quick glance at the sky and grumbled something under his breath as he wasted no time in continuing to make his way towards the natatorium. Out of nowhere, Warren Graham appeared, clearly drunk on account of the drink in his hand. 

"Welcome to the end of the world." Warren slurred. "I'm glad you decided to escort me." 

Max smiled comfortingly at the science geek and voiced her concern for his drunkenness. 

"Hey, bro, can you do us a mad favour? Sit down and stop drinking. You look like you've had too much already." Clark piped up, expressing his clear lack of patience and growing aggravation. 

"Have you seen Nathan?" Max asked politely. 

Warren's expression tightened, his mind struggling to run properly on account of the alcohol interfering with his ability to think straight. 

"I didn't see him at the dorm at all today. I was holed up in my room doing some guy stuff..." 

Clark scoffed and rolled his eyes, his foot bounced rapidly off the concrete. 

Max ignored her best friend's attitude as she continued to treat Warren with gleefulness and concern for his wellbeing on account of how much he'd drunk. 

"Hey, hey... I know this is a bad time, but can I get one picture? I've been feeling like this might be actually the end of the world, so... I wanted to have something for prosperity." Warren asked drunkenly. 

Unable to deny his simple request, Max took out her camera and smiled at her Polaroid camera as she held it up and waited to take a photo once Warren had his arm around her back. 

"I don't blame you, Warren." Max muttered under her breath. 

"I know, I know. I'm a pain in the booty." 

The flash went off and the image printed out of the camera. Max extracted the photo, pinching it between her thumb and index finger and lightly fanned it before stowing both the photograph and her camera in her bag.