Another September. 

Another school year. 

Welcome back, you are a junior now, which means that you are halfway through it. And, taking into account the fact that you’ve managed to survive fairly well so far, it should be a pretty easy ride until the finish line from now on. 

There was something to be happy about in the new school year, though. Max had an amazing idea over the summer, and now he just needed a way to bring it to life. And preferably soon. For once, he was eager to «actually do something» as his father would say. 

Well, okay, to be fair, it wasn’t just his idea. Max was the first one to think about it, but one person doesn’t make a team, so he needed others. Aaron was the right person for the job. That lucky bastard graduated last year and was still living in Derry, which was probably a disappointment for this family but was a perfect chance for Max to get him into his plan. 

And that plan was simple. Max wanted to start a band. 

Yeah, okay, maybe it wasn’t the best idea he’s ever had, but it was definitely worth a try. Aaron is a great singer. Max has been playing the guitar since he was little. He knows that he probably couldn’t make it on his own, which is why he needed others. And two people - that’s not a band and also not a recipe for success. 

Although The Carpenters probably would not agree. 

Aaron was enthusiastic about this new thing and even brought Max some lyrics at the beginning of the summer. Another reason they can work well together - lyrics were never his strong part, while Keat was great at it. And, on the other hand, his friend had issues coming up with melodies and writing music, which was Kepler’s strong suit. 

And so it was decided. They needed just one more thing - one more person. And Max was lucky enough to have the perfect candidate in mind. 

He’s been texting Ethan nonstop for the past three days. No replay. With any other person, Max would have gotten extremely agitated by now, but Ethan was different. His asshole stepfather probably smashed his phone once again. 

So the only option left for Max was waiting. Wood is going to reappear soon enough, he was sure of that. 

His first two periods were very boring - US History and Stats. Both AP, but unlike lately everybody else in his class, Max wasn’t there to get extra credit for college. If it wasn’t for his parents, he wouldn’t even be in any of the advanced classes. And it wasn’t like he was a star student anyway. 

He had some friends in those classes, which made things easier. Max spent the break catching up with Annie, who spend her whole summer with her grandparents on a ranch in Wyoming. Jake and Steve - his two neighbors whom Max had known since they were five - were in his Starts class too. 

- Hey, - Jake tapped him on the shoulder in the middle of the class, reaching forward and speaking quietly so that Mr. Marrow wouldn’t hear him. - You wanna go out for lunch? - one of the perks of being a junior now - they were allowed to have lunch off-campus. Provided that they were back in time for class. 

- Nah, - shrugged Max. - I want to pick up some books from the library. 

- Books? From the library? - he heard a stifled laugh from his friend. - Who are you and what have you done to the real Max? 

- Oh, shut up, - hissed Max at Jake, somewhat trying to focus on what Mr. Marrow was saying about their final exam. - Miss Fleming said we need some old textbooks for our history essay this term. I want to get one that doesn’t have literal blood, spear, tears and who knows what else on it. 

Max wasn’t the one who tried hard but also didn’t want to fail a class and have to retake it next semester. If his plan about a band were a become a reality, he needed all the free time he could get. 

Making his way down to the library, he managed to catch up with a few other people. One nice thing about being back in school - he had an opportunity to talk to people he actually liked. 

Managing to beat the crowd to the library, he got the textbook Miss Fleming specified and headed to the caf to grab some lunch. The food here wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. One more reason to have lunch off-campus. 

Another friend waved at him from the side of the cafeteria, becoming him closer. Another benefit of being friendly with almost everyone - Max always had company for lunch. 

- Hey Sara, - smile Max, sitting down next to the blonde girl and setting his tray down. - Wow, Em, you look great, - he nodded at a girl across the table from him, who now had bright pink hair.

- That’s Jacob, - Sara nodded at the last member of their lunch group. - He’s new. 

- Hey, - he smiled again, - I’m Max. Well, technically William, but nobody calls me that. 

It was at this very moment that he felt something change. 

Almost like a lightbulb turning on in a dark room, something inside him changed completely. A cold wave traveled up his back, causing him to stir uncomfortably in his seat. Sara was saying something about the tryouts, but Max couldn’t quite focus on her voice, as if there was something else blocking it, going directly to his head. 

He needed to look around. 

Wait… Why? 

This thought, even though it was rather local, felt almost foreign inside his head. Not really knowing what we were looking for, Max started to look around, trying to find the source of this weird feeling. Nothing - all around him were just familiar faces of his classmates. Upperclassmen occupied most of the tables in the middle, laughing and eating their lunches. Farther behind, Max saw a few unfamiliar faces. They looked younger, so they were probably just freshmen. The first day of High School must be exciting for them.

And that’s when he saw him.

Another unfamiliar guy sitting pretty far away and looking directly at him. Max tried to remember if he knew him - no recollection. For some reason, when he looked directly at this stranger, it was almost like something inside him shifted. Like they were one and the same, while everybody else was different. 

- Max?.. - Sara snapped her fingers in front of his face, causing him to focus and come back to reality. - What’s wrong? 

- I… - just as fast as it appeared, the feeling was now gone. - Yeah, sorry, I got distracted. Thought I saw someone I knew there, - he nodded towards the part of the cafeteria, where we saw the guy.

- Looks like a bunch of freshmen, - shrugged Em. - Maybe we can get some of them into the audition for the play. Mister Newman really wants to get some of the new kids involved, cause so many of us are graduating this year.

And so everything went back to normal as if nothing ever happened. Max glanced at the table where he saw that kid, but he was gone. 

[nick]Max Kepler[/nick][status]shut up and dance[/status][icon]https://i.imgur.com/xYCFceJ.png[/icon][lzname]<lzname><a href="http://nevah.ru/viewtopic.php?id=345#p24262">Макс Кеплер</a>, 18</lzname> <plashka>сияющий, iv</plashka>[/lzname][]Дерри: пока что очередной старшеклассник, но через пару лет будет смотреть с постера на стене какой-нибудь симпатичной девчонки[/]

And so everything went back to normal as if nothing ever happened.

It was just a flash, an inkling of a feeling, nothing more than a light touch, almost accidental.

Max was great at compartmentalizing things he couldn’t understand. Actually, if you think about it, it’s not really that hard, just takes some practice to master. Kepler was unlucky enough to have had enough of that over the last few years with his parents' ugly divorce and even uglier fallout after it. Being able to shove things he couldn’t understand to the deep, dark part of this brain hidden from even Max himself was the only thing that kept him sane over that weird and confusing time.

Sometimes though, during those moments when his mind would wander off to distant places, he would come across some of the thoughts that he decided to hide away. One of them would come up more often than others. A short memory from a long time ago, it was something from his childhood and Max wasn’t one hundred percent sure if it was true or something he once saw in a dream.

His grandmother.

He didn’t know her well at all. She died when Max was six and even before that when his family still lived in Boston, he would only see her once or twice a year and mostly during the holidays. As far as Kepler knew, his dad had a big falling out with his mother a few years before Max was born. His older sisters would sometimes talk about her, but father didn’t like that and would always get annoyed by that.

There was one day that Max remembered well though. It was Christmas Eve, he was probably around five years old. For some reason, his grandmother was invited over for family dinner. Maybe his dad had a short period of a good relationship with his mother. Max didn’t care then and couldn’t really care less now.

She was strange. Everything about her was odd, different from everybody else as if she was a piece of a puzzle from a different box that accidentally got into the wrong set. Max remembered being in their living room, playing with a new toy guitar that his parents got him for Christmas. He was sitting down on the floor close by their Christmas tree playing with his gift and wondering why his father couldn’t give him one of those guitars that he had in his office. They sounded so much better than this plastic parody of a musical instrument.

She entered the room and everything changed. Max looked up at her and his grandmother smiled warmly and then suddenly looked at him with a curious expression on her face. She came closer and pulled up a chair from a table to sit down next to the boy.

- I thought I was the only one in this family, - her voice was warm and soft like honey.

Max, being a five-year-old child, couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

- Daddy plays the guitar too, - he said thinking that this warm woman was talking about his new toy. - But his are better. I don’t like this one, - Max frowned and then looked up at the woman.

This was the moment. The exact moment something happened, something odd and unexplainable, and even as a small child Max understood that he needed to keep quiet about it. He looked into the eyes of his grandmother - they were the same shade of light blue just like his, this sheer colour which was almost transparent - and felt as if she was holding his hand even though he was not touching him.

Max had to words to describe it then. He still didn’t have the words to do so now. Up to this point, he thought that it was just a fragment of his imagination. Kids always imagine things. It’s normal. Their free and endless imagination is probably the best part of being a kid. With it, you can turn a boring backyard of your parents' house into a fantastical landscape filled with mythical creatures.

It was probably just a coincidence.

Yeah, sure, nothing more.

Just an odd coincidence…

Right?

Max went on with his life. Everything was normal. Ethan texted him a few days later from his sister's phone saying that his was broken. Classic. Max called him an asshole for making him worried and then pitched his idea about the band. Ethan agreed. Of course, he agreed.

And so the life went on. Nothing else strange to report, thank you very much.

Until it happened again. Again. In the same place. Again. Just like the last time. Again. Even stronger this time. Again. Cutting right into him like a blade. Again. Separating him from everybody else around.

Again.

- Thoughts are like arrows, - his lips moved as if by themselves. - Once released, they hit their target.

He had no idea where this came from. No freaking clue.

- What? - asked Jacob, raising one eyebrow. He was just talking about this new bar in downtown Derry suggesting it as a possible spot to perform. - Are you okay?

Max didn’t hear that. He couldn’t hear that. It was as if the whole world was suddenly filled with static and the only thing that could make it thorough was that thought.

- Thoughts are like arrows, - he whispered with just his lips, barely audible. - Like arrows.

What was that saying?

Once is happenstance.
Twice is a coincidence.
Three times is enemy action.

Will there be a third time?

Max jumped up from his seat looking around the cafeteria. What was he looking for? He had no clue. He was just looking for something. Something odd, something out of place, something different.

Like his grandmother. Like her eyes. Like her warmth. Like her voice that sounded inside his head when he was a child playing with a new toy. Like her presence which made everybody look at her in awe. Like her soft touch on top of his head when she was trying to tame his hair.

Something. There had to be something!

- Well, I guess we lost Max, - said Jake laughing. - I was wondering when this one is gonna lose this mind.

Max didn’t want to wait for the third time. He tried to avoid the cafeteria as much as possible, using his benefit of being a junior to have lunch off-campus. Jake had a car which his parents got him just at the end of summer, so they had no problem getting places. Max kept saying something about the fact that the food they served them at school sucked, which was partly true but not the only reason he didn’t want to spend time in the cafeteria.

During class, he kept looking around trying to find the source of his distress. Nothing. Another try. Still nothing. One more. Nothing.

September come and went and it was October now. Leaves started to turn yellow, but the weather was still pretty good outside. Slowly, things went back to normal. Not being able to find any more evidence, Max did what he does best. He shoved it to the back of his mind and moved on.

October meant homecoming. It wasn’t a big deal here, but they still had to attend a school-wide assembly. The dance was scheduled for later that week. Max, of course, was going. Not because he had a date he wanted to impress but because his friends were going.

Assembly was first though. In other schools, they had proper pep rallies, which were actually fun, but at Derry High they had to stuff themselves into a gym with no proper ventilation and listen to the principal talk about the same bullshit every year.

- Do not wake me up if I fall asleep, - he said to Sara, who was sitting next to him, leaning back to the wall. They were sitting at the very back of one of the sections. - Another year with an hour of the most boring shit you can ever imagine. Yay, - he imitated being excited and, while leaning back, closed his eyes.

And here was the third time.

Once again.

[nick]Max Kepler[/nick][status]shut up and dance[/status][icon]https://i.imgur.com/xYCFceJ.png[/icon][lzname]<lzname><a href="http://nevah.ru/viewtopic.php?id=345#p24262">Макс Кеплер</a>, 18</lzname> <plashka>сияющий, iv</plashka>[/lzname][]Дерри: пока что очередной старшеклассник, но через пару лет будет смотреть с постера на стене какой-нибудь симпатичной девчонки[/]

And here was the third time.

Once again.

Even though it felt very different this time, Max was absolutely sure that it had been just a continuation of whatever weirdness had been happening to him before. For a few long seconds, he chocked up as if all oxygen was suddenly sucked out from the room. It came on as a massive wave - crashing everything in its path, so sudden and intense, but also fast, letting him go, leaving behind a nasty aftertaste on his lips and a single thought in his head.

Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they hit their target.

Wasn’t it the same phrase as before?

There was something else new this time - Max was sure he was not the only one who felt this sudden apparition. He felt someone else in it too, he was sure he was not alone in it. Someone, another person experienced the same and maybe even stronger. Kepler felt as if there was a rope stretched in between him and this stranger and the other person was pulling on it much stronger than Max himself.

Running out of the assembly hall, Max was struggling to calm down his mind. It is this place, this building, this land that was doing it to him? How was it possible that it had waited until his senior year to present itself to him? And the other person, that other guy at the other end of the rope… Why was he affected as well? Did he do something to get himself into it or was he just like Max - an innocent bystander who just so happened to get dragged into whatever this was?

There were so many questions and absolutely zero answers.

For a few days after that eventful assembly, Max wrestled with a desire to tell someone, one of his friends perhaps, just someone, anyone really, but he was faced with another realization. This could only go two ways. The first option - someone can actually believe him and get dragged into it as well, another helpless victim. Second - he could end up being labelled a lunatic. Kepler wasn’t sure which option he liked less. He really didn’t want to find himself in the middle of something much bigger than him. He’d seen enough movies to know that it was a bad idea, which can only lead him down a path of even more bad ideas.

And so he kept quiet. Avoided crowds as much as possible and tried to persuade his friends to hand out more outside of school saying that he just couldn’t wait to get out of this place. In mid-November, he came down with a nasty case of the flu and had to stay home for almost two weeks until his doctor gave him an all-clear to go back to classes. It was a much-needed break.

Days went on as he did his best to avoid spending too much time in crowds and before they all knew it, the winter break arrived.

Only when he was at home, Kepler managed to get rid of this feeling of someone staring at him, breathing down his neck, invading his personal space and just being around all the time. How he was certain - whatever this was, it was connected to the school. Was this place cursed and he was the only person who could feel it? Was it because something terrible happened there once and the echoes of a tragedy now lingered, stayed behind to influence him? Or was it all just inside his head?

With no clear course of action in front of him, Max just kept going. What else was there to do? After all, he only had a few months of his senior year left and there was no point starting something he knew he would not be able to finish.

Winter break was done soon enough. Max had spent most of it with Aaron and Ethan, mostly trying to make sure these two didn’t kill each other while he had his back turned. It was getting clearer and clearer that his bandmates were not the best match. Max automatically took up an all too well-known role of a mediator and since it was now occupying most of his mental capacity, any thought about previously experienced weirdness went away.

Until the end of their break of course.

«It» didn’t make him wait for too long. «It» was back as soon as he walked through the front door. «It» had been waiting for him to return with an unnatural amount of patience.

«It» went right through him as soon as he felt it. Like an arrow.

Now Max was certain. He was losing his mind.

He was lost in a crowd in the hallway after the end of his classes, trying to make way to the door, trying to escape «it» when he bumped into someone.

- Oh, sorry, - he said automatically and then looked at the person standing next to him.

It took him a couple of seconds to realize that it was the same kid again. Another victim of this place, a hint of recognition flashed across his pale eyes. Max couldn’t explain how, but he knew that they were thinking about the same thing. He felt it with his skin. The same rope was now again stretched between them, pulling them closer.

- Do you?.. - he started quietly before quickly shutting his mouth. No. He shouldn’t invite even more of it now. - Never mind, sorry, - he said again quickly and continued to make his way to the exit, desperately trying to ignore an all too familiar feeling of a burning hole through the back of his head.

It was particularly strong right now.