This blog post contains spoilers for Life is Strange 1, Before the Storm, and True Colors. Be warned if you haven't played the games yet.

Last month, I sat down to play Life is Strange 1 again for the first time in nearly 2 years. The timing couldn't have been better: the game starts on a Monday, October 7th and ended on a Friday, October 11th. This perfectly lined up with the days of the week this year. It's like fate itself called upon me to play the game again.

I had been meaning to for a while, but just couldn't really push myself to do it. Executive dysfunction, stopping me from doing the things I wanna do. Tale as old as time. But I was able to justify sitting down and playing the game to celebrate this incredible cosmic timing. And though I failed to beat the series exactly on October 11th, being off by a day, I am so glad I did. I think it truly cemented my love for the game. However, this wasn't always the case.

How to Love Life is Strange Without Replaying It

When I initially got into Life is Strange, I had played True Colors first, fell in love with its setting and its characters, then played the first game and enjoyed myself but felt more mixed on it. Then I had a blast with about 2/3rds of Before the Storm. The experience left me very much feeling like True Colors was the best part of the series. But something strange (hah) happened: as I began interacting with the fandom, and participated in discussions criticizing a lot of the flaws in the first game's narrative, themes, and whatnot, Life is Strange 1 slowly but surely began taking up more space in my head. It became this tale of great characters stuck in a mediocre story. Characters that deserved to be in a story that wasn't so keen on their suffering for its own sake.

Through 2023 and 2024, Life is Strange 1 was the game that took up the most real estate in my brain. Even the long-awaited Pikmin 4's release wasn't able to dethrone its grasp on me. I couldn't stop thinking about Max Caulfield, Chloe Price, and Rachel Amber. I read countless stories about them; silly romances and traumatic trials alike. I gushed about basically any piece of art that featured them. Especially if it was of the three of them interacting and being happy with each other. Even though I went back and replayed True Colors many times, taking in the beauty of its environment and enjoying the interactions between Alex Chen, Steph Gingrich and Ryan Lucan, I just couldn't get enough of the Amberpricefield trio. I think the fact that their story was more tragic, rougher around the edges, made them stick in my mind more.

Alex Chen, through the events of True Colors, finds a sense of belonging and peace after working through her grief. It's a story wrapped up in a nice happy bow, which doesn't quite merit a lot of further thought. Sure, the stories about Alex and Steph's life after the game are extremely sweet and rot-inducing, but it feels more like catching up with a friend. Meanwhile, Life is Strange 1 almost demands your attention. It's a grim story, full of fucked up people, undeserved suffering and open ends that don't ever truly get resolved. The supernatural aspects are never fully set in stone; characters make educated guesses which could just as well end up being wrong. Is the storm Max's fault, or is it the wrath of Rachel Amber? Does Rachel have powers actually? It's kind of difficult to turn away from, isn't it? It definitely gives you more food for thought, that's for sure.

But then... how do I justify not having gone back to the game for so long if I was so obsessed with it? Well, ignoring the elephant in the room that is executive dysfunction, I do think that this initial impression of the story being flawed hurt it in my eyes. I wanna delve a bit more into my complicated thoughts on the game, starting with its main characters.

Just This Once, Everybody Lives

Rachel Amber is doomed by the narrative, in a manner very much similar to the tragedy of Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer. She haunts the narrative: her missing posters are all over the school, everyone you talk seems to have some strong opinions on who she was, whether they loved her, admired her from afar, or were jealous of her. The main plot of the game has the protagonists Max and Chloe look for her. They reminisce about her, hope to see her again, and imagine what it will be like once the three of them finally meet. It is very strongly implied Chloe and Rachel had a relationship that was stronger than just friendship. But in Episode 4, we find out that she was drugged by Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson after being kidnapped by them, and overdosed. She was then buried in the junkyard that was her and Chloe's refuge from the hardships of their life. Until Before the Storm was released, Rachel would never be seen alive. Only as a ghost, only as the apparition of a ghostly doe following Max and Chloe around. And if you subscribe to that theory, as the storm that threatens to destroys Arcadia Bay. And even in Before the Storm, we don't even get to linger on her life. The game ends its final 3rd episode with a grim reminder of her fate: to be kidnapped, bound and photographed, and ultimately to die at the hands of two fucked up men. Rachel never gets to live, even in the game ostensibly about her.

Then we have Chloe Price, whose life is a never-ending tragedy. Her father died when she was a teenager, and her best friend left her the same year. Her mother seemed to quickly move on and brought fascist douche-nozzle David Madsen to their home, who tries to wrangle her instead of give her the support she needs. Then when she finds Rachel, her angel saving her from the hell of existence, she sees that support beam disappear as well. She understandably developped intense abandonment issues from all this, which manifest in how loyal she is to Max, but also in the barbs she throws to those she feels have wronged her (even Max, who kinda deserves it for not contacting her for 5 years). Then the first game opens with her being shot by Nathan, only to be saved by Max's time rewinding powers manifesting. Through the game, she has to be repeatedly saved by Max, brushing with death frequently. Then, Max realizes that the storm may be tied to her powers, to Chloe being ripped from the jaws of death over and over again. She has to decide between going back to the start of the game to let Chloe die, or to let the storm destroy the entire town of Arcadia Bay. If you choose to save Arcadia Bay, then you accept that this is the fate she is doomed to meet. Like Rachel, she becomes doomed to die. She never gets to rekindle her friendship with Max. The joy that she feels through the week of the game gets erased, leaving only Max to pick up the pieces of herself that she willingly shattered.

Me, and many others, don't find that prospect super appealing. It just feels like Chloe is thrown under the rug by the narrative to fulfill a story of 'letting go of the past', of 'not changing fate'. "Bury your gays" is a trope that has plagued queer representation for a long time, and has left queer folks aching for a story where their people can actually achieve the "happily ever after" that seemed mostly reserved for heterosexual couples. And to sacrifice Chloe is to lump her in that pile, discarding her to torture Max. I'm not saying you're a monster if that's the ending you chose (though if you did so solely because you hated Chloe for being "toxic", which is a whole other topic I don't have time to get into now, then maybe you should re-evaluate some things about yourself). But in a meta-narrative sense, it just feels like tragedy for tragedy's sake.

This is why me and many others were so fond of the option to save Chloe. To reject the idea that Chloe had to die for the greater good. To reject playing into the idea that the only fate that awaits queer folks is death and suffering. To look at the world, how unfair it is, and choose love. Though this freedom comes at the cost of Arcadia Bay, and the lives of so many people that you've come to grow attached to, it always feels like the right option to me.

The game is very much about Max and Chloe's relationship. How it seems to remain unshakeable even in the face of half a decade of no-contact. How Max would bend time itself to keep Chloe alive and by her side. How Chloe seems to forgive Max very quickly even though she has all the reasons to be angry at her. So to me, it just feels in-character for Max to once again tell the universe to fuck off. She's done it the entire game, why would she now? Obviously, the consequences will weigh heavily on her, but she'll have someone with her who will understand her. This unbreakable bond is what makes Pricefield such an important relationship for many queer folks out there.

(Now, I remember a Tumblr post saying that Max can only be held morally responsible for the death of Chloe, since it's the one she actively sets into motion. Whereas she does not have the ethical responsibility over letting the tornado continue, since this is an outcome that she didn't have knowledge of happening. Of course, someone could say she still had the moral responsibility to minimize the amount of death that happens (Spock's "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" line comes to mind). But the trolley problem debate isn't fully relevant to my point.)

But then, if Max is able to wrestle Chloe away from death... why not Rachel too?

Some of my favorite stories told by fans in the Life is Strange fandom involve Max deciding at some point to return back in time, in a bid to save Rachel from the events that lead to her demise. The premises vary wildly: sometimes Max breaks herself by rewinding all the way back to before Rachel's disappearance. Sometimes Max using her ability to travel back to a moment captured in polaroid photos to warn Chloe of what will happen to Rachel. Sometimes it's an unexplained or mystical circumstance that straight-up sends her back in time. However it happens, Max is back in the past. And Rachel is saved from her fate at the hands of Nathan and Jefferson. Then, through the course of the story, Max gets to finally meet Rachel and get to see what Chloe saw in her. Max, Rachel & Chloe navigate personal conflicts, the consequences of Max's meddling, or actively scheme on the best way to bring the two criminals to justice and find proof of their actions.

(And then, because I am a sucker for romance, the three end up in a love triangle situation, where each party feels like they don't deserve the other two and think they're better off without them. Then they realize that they all actually like each other, and can just in fact form a throuple about it. Don't you love it when contrived story elements have such an elegant solution to them?)

I think the reason I love these stories is because they actually give us a semblance of hope that Life is Strange 1 doesn't 100% give us. Perhaps it's because I played True Colors first, which is a much more optimistic game overall. Maybe it's because Chloe Price deserves to have two girlfriends for all the shit she's been put through. Although I adore Pricefield and am glad the game lets us choose an ending where they can live happily ever after (DeckNine do not interact), there's always something that feels sad about Rachel being left to rot in Arcadia Bay. I like to imagine Max would want to try and save Rachel at some point. Sure, her one experiment with changing time didn't go super well, but a more stubborn version of Max might end up thinking there's a way to make it work.

How I Learned To Love Max Caulfield

When thinking about the main characters of both LiS1 and True Colors, Max used to be a bit of a black sheep for me. A friend of mine thought she wasn't quite as interesting as Chloe Price or Alex Chen. And I used to feel the same way. Alex was just such an interesting character to follow; her story was heartbreaking but also inspiring. Her inner monologue was so soothing, and I loved her interactions with the other characters in True Colors. Also she just seemed so cool, like someone I'd love to be friends with. In fact, the main trio of True Colors is like that. They're all people I'd love to just hang out with and shoot the shit with, and have fun discussing shared interests with. Shoutout to Ryan Lucan for being the best male romantic interest in the series by the way, even if Steph wins everytime for me. As for Chloe... she's Chloe fucking Price. She's a fan favorite for a reason; she's got hella personality, she's memorable, and just like Alex Chen she has a very heartbreaking history that makes you root for her and want to see her find some happiness. That, and her friendship with Max is genuinely one of the best aspects of the series. She's angry, but also fiercely loyal. Even though she puts on a tough exterior, she's just as much of a dork as Max is. And she's a real softie too; after spending most of the game parading around a gun for protection and saying she wants to kill Nathan, she breaks when she actually has to kill someone. She's super captivating, and an icon of the series for a good reason.

Now sure, Max does have things going for her as a character. She's a dork, she's a wallflower that learns to become more confident. She also gets thrown around into countless traumatic situations: seeing Chloe get hurt over and over and saving her from death, having to talk down Kate from the rooftop, being kidnapped by Jefferson... even if she and Chloe leave Arcadia Bay together, that's a lot of baggage for her to work through. But I think that's maybe what makes Max not quite stand out as much at first glance: a lot of what makes her most interesting happens to her throughout the game, whereas Chloe and Alex both already have had their shitty deal happen to them beforehand. We also see them wrestle with their trauma through the story, whereas Max doesn't fully get that chance in Life is Strange 1.

So how did she win me over, exactly? Well I think reading fics delving into that trauma more has really helped me get a better sense of who she is. Though interpretations can vary wildly, some common traits emerged. She is very stubborn about keeping Chloe alive. She's constantly sacrificing herself to help others around her. She has nightmares about everything she's gone through, whether it's the people of Arcadia Bay being sacrificed or Chloe's death. In spite of how she isolates herself or tries to hide how much she's suffering, there's a part of her that wishes for someone to comfort her. In the canon endings, Chloe's presence would likely determine whether she ends up being able to mostly cope with it, or whether she crumbles. In fanon, it could lead her to try and find a way to save everyone, possibly including Rachel.

But I think another, more personal part of it was that I began seeing parts of myself in her. The dorky hipster who is a bit of a wallflower, the wish fulfillment of having the ability to rewind time to figure out the right thing to say in stressful social situations, as well as being able to find how to connect with people that seem otherwise inscrutable... even down to her very plain-Jane aesthetic, it's been surprising to see how much I relate to her. I think that kinship I feel with her has helped her become one of my favorite characters in the series.

However, I do think that the key to getting the appeal of Max is to get that she's not really a stand-alone character. Life is Strange 1 is just as much Chloe's story as it is Max's. They are so deeply intertwined with one another that I can't really separate them in a meaningful way. The story is mainly focused on their friendship/romance. If one of them isn't around, their absence is felt greatly. Chloe gives Max the support and encouragement she needs to break out of her shell, and Max gives Chloe stability in a life that feels like it's just looking to kick her down again and again. They lift each other up, and it's just so heartwarming to see play out in the story. And I think this aspect of the game was what truly clicked with me in my most recent playthrough.

The Flaws of Life is Strange, and Why They Don't Really Matter Anymore

Now that I've actually sat down and played the game again, I have a much deeper understanding of what the game does right, but I also have a better understanding of the parts I wasn't as fond of back in my initial playthrough. I've also since been able to form a better understanding of why some of these elements were included, even if I don't think they work well. After all, the most important part of understanding art is to understand its intent.

One of my first criticisms seems to be the way in which the game devs attempt and fail to give some of the shittier male characters unearned redemption moments. This seems to happen especially with David and Frank, but also with Nathan. David Madsen is a frustrating character because he seems to fluctuate between being actively antagonistic, and being framed as a well-meaning guy. We're meant to feel bad for him when he gets kicked out for hiding cameras in Chloe's home. We're supposed to believe he truly loves Chloe like his own child when he comes to save Max in Episode 5, when he spends any screentime with her shouting at her, making zero effort to actually understand her. His paranoia and stalking also gets justified by the narrative in a sense, as it helps Max and Chloe's investigation, and it allows him to save Max when she is kidnapped by Jefferson. Given how abusive he is towards Chloe and others, I find it very hard to sympathize with this character and the attempts by the story to humanize him, as he talks a big game of loving Chloe but doesn't show it in his actions. This feels like an abuser trying to justify their actions through love. Or, in his case, pointing to his trauma from service as justification.

Frank Bowers is meant to be seen as a scumbag with a heart of gold, first coming across as a dangerous and violent drug dealer, only to then reveal he does care when he helps Max and Chloe's investigation, and saying he loved Rachel if told about her death. Rachel, who was around that time somewhere in the ballpark of 17-19, while he very much was in his 30s. The game tries to use his love for Rachel as a way to humanize him, but paradoxically it only makes him look worse. The man was crushing after a teenager... like, that's messed up, right? It feels like the game doesn't really acknowledge how fucked up that is, save for a moment where he admits she was "too young" which... oh god that just makes it worse that he still pursued her. Even if you want to argue that Rachel was instigating it, the fact he let himself get feelings for her and pined for her is... not a good look. I don't quite know how that plot point could be salvaged to make Frank into an even remotely sympathetic individual. I don't mind a shitbag being portrayed, but downplaying how scummy he was for pursuing a teenager is not it.

And then there's Nathan Prescott, the character that seems to be the main antagonist for most of the game, being the target of Max and Chloe's investigations on Rachel. It's revealed he was drugging and photographing women, with Mark Jefferson mentoring him. I feel like a lot of people will defend Nathan by pointing to Jefferson manipulating him, to his father's shitty treatment, and to his mental health to excuse his behavior. Frankly, he's probably the one I'm most torn on. A lot of the criticism that could be levied at him echoes the criticisms that Victoria Chase might get, who is herself far from a saint and could be argued to be even less justified. However, I think that he has far less potential for self-reflection than Victoria gets throughout the game, which doesn't help to paint him in a sympathetic light. The one moment of redemption from him comes when he sends a message to Max apologizing for everything, supposedly moments before Jefferson kills him, which after an entire game of antagonism just feels like a footnote.

Overall, I'm very torn on those characters. I don't know if I can fully say they're badly written, but I get the impression the game wants me to feel bad for them without really earning it, or addressing the harm that they've caused. Their writing also feels a bit forced in the way they attempt to make them misogynistic to make them seem edgier too, something that is just thrown out and left to sit there. It especially hurts David, who goes on a tirade about women ganging up on him if you take Chloe's side in an argument, only to try and guilt-trip Max when he leaves later on. It just makes the attempt to redeem him in Episode 5 land kind of flatly to me.

One of the most common criticisms I've seen levied at the game is in some of the character writing. I guess that's what you get when you ask French people to write American Teenagers (by Ethel Cain). But even so, the usage of odd outdated Internet catchphrases was a weird inclusion. These are teens in 2013, and yet they're blurting out catchphrases like epic win and awesomesauce which feel 5 years removed from when they were even remotely cool to say. I feel like Victoria Chase was probably the hardest hit in this department, from saying "Sadface" to the so-bad-it's-hilarious "Go fuck your selfie", which is treated as such a devastating blow when it actively makes her seem less cool. I think there's a case to argue that it isn't actually cool, and that people around her pretend it is because she's the Queen Bee of Blackwell. But I'm split on whether this was intentional or not. It was a minor irritant for sure, and far from the bigger sins this game commits, but I feel like it had to be addressed since it was an element that even I, as an ardent defender of this game, felt was off.

If we wanna talk about sins though, then we have to address the Alternate Timeline segment of Episode 4. It's easily my least favorite aspect of the game, and the segment makes me deeply uncomfortable. To sum up, after Max tries to save Chloe's father from dying by jumping into a photo of her and Chloe as teens and changing how things play out, Max jumps back to the present in the new timeline, and finds out Chloe was handicapped in a car crash. This part of the game then drags on as Max goes through the house, every little piece seeming to make her feel pity for Chloe, or showing how bad the Prices' finances are, trying to keep Chloe alive. It just feels like the intent here was to make Chloe's disability into an instrument of pity, something truly horrible and unenviable that causes a massive strain on everyone around her. The main narrative purpose of this segment is to imprint on Max that changing the past has terrible consequences. So it seems very clear that the disability is meant to be portrayed as a negative consequence, as a bad thing, a horrible thing that must be avoided.

Now, I'm not physically disabled, so I can't fully speak to the experience, but this irritates me in the same way as a show like Atypical making one of its notable plot points how an autistic character's neurodivergence hurts the family. Isn't that so sad? :((( Gag. It's a disgusting trope that decenters the struggles the disabled person goes through, and instead spotlights how the disability hurts those around them. It's a horrible message to put out to disabled people. Plus, this part of the game ends with a microcosm of the final choice the player has to make later in the game. Chloe begs Max to let her die for her family's sake. The one bit of agency that Chloe seems to have in this entire section is to beg for someone to end her life. Given how much of a bad hand disabled people get on an institutional level, even here in Canada where we have bills being passed to facilitate access to Medical Assistance in Dying to disabled people while refusing to give them proper societal support, having a story where the message is "your life is a burden on everyone around you and you should die" feels profoundly disgusting to me on a core level. To say that this is my least favorite part of the game would be an understatement, and I feel like the dread of having to drag myself through it played a part in my reluctance to revisit the game again for some time.

That being said, even with all that clouding over my playthrough of the game, I can't say these aspects heavily soured my enjoyment of the game on my second go around. These factors, as well as other minor criticisms, loomed much larger when I had just played True Colors and felt the game wasn't quite clicking the same way. However, after a year of letting the game stew in my brain, even if primarily through fanart and fanfics, returning to the game ended up being a far more enriching experience than I thought. The moment we got to the scene where Max and Chloe finally reunited for the first time, and that warm instrumental played as they drove back to Chloe's house... I knew how deeply this damn game and its characters had sunk their roots into me.

But I think most importantly, there were a bunch of things that stood out to me more this time around. The painted art style which evokes images captured in time. The little instrumental riff on Max & Chloe's theme that plays in some of the rest segments, most notably the junkyard hill in Episode 2. How the entire game builds on the concept of nostalgia and photographs. How nostalgia is essentially a snapshot of the past. How Chloe and Max's friendship remained almost frozen in time even across the 5 years without any contact. How the present Arcadia Bay seems to be dying, with businesses going away, fishermen struggling to catch fish, and the like. It almost feels like Arcadia Bay is a dream in the midst of fading away. The suburban dream of a quiet life, slowly crumbling at the seams. The gorgeous orange-y color palettes and lighting in some of the scenes that make otherwise mundane settings feel vibrant and picturesque. These, and so many more details, visual or thematic, that make the game stand out so much more now than it did back in 2022.

Needless to say, the moment I wrapped up the playthrough of the first episode on Monday October 7th, it seemed all but clear to me that Life is Strange had cemented itself as one of my favorite games ever. Which, for someone whose favorite games before that were all extremely gameplay-centric experiences beforehand, is quite a big deal. I also knew at that moment that I was very likely going to be making a yearly tradition of returning to Arcadia Bay.

Life is... Weird

I do however believe that there's more to this equation than just a game being great. Life is Strange is extremely not a perfect game, and there is somewhat of a charm in that. But I think that there's something kind of universal about the game, something that just spoke to me, as I am now in 2024.

Just a few months ago, I finally moved out of my family home after nearly 30 years of living with my parents. About time, honestly. Through that move, I got to reconnect with an old friend from college, whom I had only spoken to here and there throughout the years. Through her, I also finally got to see more of my old friends, whom I hadn't seen for a long time. It felt like no time had passed, even after so long of not having heard from them. I think you can see the parallel at play here.

Playing through Life is Strange again this October, as someone who is becoming more in tune with their sense of self, and as someone whose life just drastically shifted, has helped ground me a bit. It's a dose of something familiar, but that at the same time allows me to look at my life in a new lens. The feeling I get from taking in the sights of Life is Strange has seeped into my everyday life. And I think that's because of how the game is able to make the most mundane scenes, from a typical high school to dinky dorm halls to suburban homes feel special. And it's shifted how I see the routine, the mundane, in my own life. It makes everything seem a little more magical.

But also, I think it gives me that little piece of escapism. To imagine, just for a moment, that I did get to have the *queer experience* that everyone else seemed to have in their younger days. To have these little escapades, the rush of going somewhere you aren't supposed to be with someone who you consider a partner in crime. Stolen moments with someone who sees you, who gets you. Enjoying life, enjoying being young and reckless, making friends and finding love. Things that I never really got to do as a closeted shut-in.

Of course, it also makes me excited for the future. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking your glory days are over, especially as you get older. But as long as you're alive and kicking, you can always make new memories. Seeing all the stuff that Max and Chloe, or even Alex and Steph get up to, it gives me hope. That I might yet have my own special encounters down the road. That maybe there's someone who, like Chloe did for Max, will bring out the best in me. Until then, I can rest safe knowing that everything is gonna be alright. That even if it seems like things are tough, I've always got people in my corner, who will be there for me if I need them. And if life gets hard, there's always these stories to welcome me back, like an old friend.

So Now What?

Honestly, I think that this ramble, which I swear to god I spent a WHOLE DAY WRITING, was important to make. I wanted to get my feelings out on this game that has irrevocably changed my life. At first, I was very quick to write it off as just the flavor of the day, so sure that it would eventually become little more than a memory. With time though, it's become something so deeply encoded into my DNA. I don't think there's ever been a game that's done this to me, honestly. At least, not in a long time. The only thing that comes close is Deadly Rooms of Death, a game whose community singlehandedly kicked my love for designing puzzles and games into overdrive. But Life is Strange is different. It's a mundane story made special. Not only through the powers and supernatural elements, but through its presentation and its characters. Maybe it's because this is one of the first narrative driven games I've played, but it really caught me off-guard. I'm having a hard time stopping myself from thinking about it, and I'm not sure I really want to. It made me want to try more games in that lane. To experience more games that use game elements to amplify a story. I'll probably get around to that someday! When my executive dysfunction lets me, that is.

But I think more than anything, it's sparked in me a desire to play with this universe, to imagine my own spin on a continuation, an AU, a crossover, anything really. To give back something to the community that's given me so much. So many great stories that I've genuinely found myself reading more than once. I think I want to try my hand at an Amberpricefield story, something not too big. Something to celebrate the characters that I've come to love so much. I've already thought about weird crossovers with Pikmin and Paper Mario of all things, but those esoteric projects will be left for some other time. I wanna do something simple. We'll see how that pans out, I guess!

Oh yeah, and I'm definitely going to make a shrine for Life is Strange. If there's a game that deserves it, it's that one. I'm also absolutely going to make some fic recs in there, because HOT DAMN are some of these really good and worth your time. Mostly Amberpricefield, but not all surprisingly enough! But uh until then, here's some of my faves right off the bat to tide you over:

I could go on, but I've got little time right now. More will come later when I make my proper shrine. But until then... yeah Life is Strange rules. I think you should try it if you haven't; the writing may not gel with you and maybe you won't like it like I do. But if you do like it, then you might find something truly special in there. :)

-Billie

Feeling: Contemplative
Listening: Jonathan Morali - Max & Chloe
Watching: CITY M Productions' Life is Strange Fan Movies (What If?, Dawn)
Playing: Paper Mario: Tower of Trials
Reading: Old In Visions by FreshCutTrees (Life is Strange fic)