Monday - 10/19/14

"Warned that the place where she came from isn't there anymore, and where she had in mind to go is cancelled out, which you can read along on page 52, Connie comes to realization that her future has been inexplicably shaped by her past." Sounds of scribbling and dotting on pages of recycled and eco-friendly paper followed the professor's words. As he continued on with the lecture, heads began to droop over or rest on sturdy hands, the lengthy discussion of their assignment drawing away any and all excitement from their would-be busy college lives.

The professor's monotonous tone and adenoidal voice sent no provoking thoughts or engaging vibes to his students, only instead bringing out the automated nodding of their heads and occasional reply from one of them to assure they were still in the room. When he wasn't reading verbatim from his notes that were aged as old as his career, he was instead jotting down phrases or words on the whiteboard behind him with a squeaky purple-colored dry erase marker. And if wasn't doing either two options, he was instead seated in his creaky blue stool, chips of it having abandoned long ago to reveal the original wooden color beneath.

"Connie, frightened and alone, finds herself drawn by the crazed Arnold Friend into the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him, where, though it is not dramatized, she will surely be raped, murdered, and buried."

Eyes wearily glanced over as one student set ahead and began questioning the professor, only to have dismissive remarks shut them up. Blinking several times, those weary eyes moved over to observe the red and green paper cup sitting inches away from a binder filled with nothing but doodles and drawings, steam still billowing out from the lip of the cup's top. A hand reached out and grabbed the red and green cup, bringing it closer to enjoy the warm aroma and flavor of the vanilla coffee beverage.

The sound of a bell began piercing into each student, and their dull minds instantly changed to excitement as their professor sent out a lengthy sigh between his breaths. As each seat became lifted from the weight of a body and footsteps began stomping towards the exit of the room, some of the students glanced over as they saw one of their peers hastily lifting a red and green cup off of its side, the surprise shock of the alarm causing that peer to spill the vanilla-flavored beverage all over those doodles and drawings.

"Please remain calm and exit the room on the appropriate end," the professor said aloud, yet again reading from a set of words on a clipboard instead of reciting from memory. "Leave your belongings here, we will return shortly after the drill has ended." His eyes wandered around the room as he sighed again, spotting a brown-haired girl still seated in her desk. He cleared his throat and continued to stare at the girl, who in return looked up at him with tired eyes, accepting defeat and following after the rest of the class.

"Yo, this is like the fifth time this week this shit's happened!"

"Is the school actually going to burn down this time?"

"Anything to get out of Mr. Monogahn's lecture..."

She listened to various voices as she dragged her feet along the tiled floor of the hallway, her eyes lazily watching the red-blinking exit sign come closer and closer. She wrapped her arms around her pine-green wool sweater as she exited into the cold chilling winds of the morning's breeze blow by her, her cheeks and nose reddening as the blood in her face worked to keep it warm. She stepped away from the rest of the class, her eyes moving up as she chose to instead watch the slow drifting of the clouds in the blue sky, her breath sending smaller white clouds into the air.

Her mind was far from being occupied on her studies or discussion about Mr. Monogahn's discussion on a short story, but instead on day dreams of a time long ago, the clouds reminding her of exciting adventures far from here, back in a small town she had once called home. While she didn't admit it, she day dreamed more often now than ever before, her life coming to a cycle of repeating actions, following the same steps day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, and day dreaming was the only way to keep her sanity in check from the dull lifestyle.

College was suppose to be different from high school, she thought to herself, her head still titled up towards the sky. I guess, to be fair, it is less bullshit to deal with than high school. But it's still as boring and... lonely. She blinked, adjusting her eyes to wander over another set of clouds floating by, unknowingly ignoring a pestering call for her name, eventually turning her head quickly as she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"Maxine, stop ignoring me and return to the classroom now," the professor said, his voice nearly booming as Max came back to reality. Her eyes looked around as she saw several faces staring at her, her cheeks now reddening from not only the cold but also from embarrassment. She nodded her head and shuffled her feet quickly back into the building, her head lowered to avoid eye contact with anyone else, purposely ignoring the snide remarks and comments as she passed by her peers.

Okay, maybe there is as much bullshit to deal with.

Max sat alone in her dorm room, plucking out coffee-soaked pages from her binder. She tossed them away into the trash bin next to her desk, unaffected by the loss of her obviously astounding artwork. It's fine, I'll be writing on you guys again soon, after you've been recycled and re-factory'd into more paper... that's a word, right? She bounced her foot along in beat with the song playing on her hi-fi, adding to her enjoyment of the solace of solitude in her room locked away from the rest of society. The only noise she wanted to hear was that of her music, not of unwelcome voices or company.

Unlike her dorm back at Blackwell Academy, Max chose not to line her walls with her works in photography, instead most of her side remaining blank, bar from pictures of her family and faces of celebrities she had grown to adore, including Pierce Brosnan and Joaquin Phoenix. She had a standard furniture set consisting of a bed, short-end dresser, the desk she sat at, and a small fridge compartment that sat tucked between her desk and bed. Max closed her eyes briefly as she inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the outside air as it breezed into her room through her window, replacing the vacancy of her confiscated scented candles.

Her hands moved up to her face and rubbed her eyes, her mind drifting as the clouds she watched earlier. She tossed away the remaining stained pages and closed her binder, her fingers wrapping around the top edge of it. I need to ask Warren for help later on Mr. Monogahn's lecture today... all the 'notes' I took are ruined. And I don't think I'm going to keep getting away with not having the short story anthology for much longer. She slid her phone from out of her pocket and pressed it to life, watching the glowing screen for any updates or messages. As much as she had expected, it remained blank. She glanced over at the time on her desk clock, noting that it was already half past noon.

Warren is usually blowing my phone up around now to go get lunch. Maybe he's staying after in some lab, totally getting his 'science on'... groovy. Max unlocked her phone and began pressing away at the buttons, sending an inquiring message to said person.

-
12:32 PM

Max: Lunch?
Max: ...
Max: Or r u busy with class still?
Max: We can grab something from that granola place. Or not. Just lemme kno when ur out. Ive got class in an hour
-

Max turned her hi-fi off and packed her belongings back into her charcoal-grey satchel, wrapping it back around her shoulder as she prepared to leave. Her eyes shot up towards her door handle as she heard it rustle, and she averted her gaze slightly as a short, blonde-haired girl walked in now, her face grinning wide and her blue eyes staring towards Max, the sound of the door shutting behind her as she stepped into the room.

"Oh, Max, you're back early from your scheduled lunch date," the girl teased, giggling slightly after her words.

"Yeah, Warren's still in class I guess. I was gonna go and grab a muffin from the cafe." Max rubbed her neck awkwardly, still averting her gaze from the other girl as she now began unpacking her belonging. She began by removing the large bubbled jacket from her body, exposing a light snow-colored tee, matching along with a pair of yoga pants and those.. Fur boots.. I can't even remember what she calls them... She brushed back her long blonde hair and shook her head, dropping down onto her bed and sighing.

"Neat. Well, I'm going to have some friends over for a bit, so don't be too surprised if there's a couple of strangers in here later," the girl replied, sounds of clicking and buzzing coming from her own device between her hands. "Actually, one of them is a really cute guy, so if you do come back, don't be stupid-shy around him. I can talk you up to him if you want."

"Uhh, nah, don't worry," Max replied, now headed towards the door, her hand on the handle. "I'll probably just hang at Warren's."

"Suit yourself-" Max left the room and shut the door quickly, her feet brushing along the carpet as she headed towards the stairwell now. As her feet descended the steps, she pulled her phone back out and her earbuds, swiping through her playlists of songs and choosing one that suited her mood at the moment. Majical Cloudz.. hopefully it'll be awhile before you guys turn mainstream too.

Max sat on top of a high stool, the ones with the plastic seats and metal ring to rest people's feet on near the bottom, so they didn't have to just hang their feet off the edge. She sat next to a window and watched the busy life of people walking by, faces of hundreds of people she would never know, probably. She continued to munch away on the chocolate muffin, warmth still emitting from the pastry, having endured a session in the microwave just minutes ago. While she did feel tired, and it would still be hours until she could actually rest on her bed, she didn't want to buy another coffee and end up spilling it again embarrassingly.

She didn't pay much attention to the music playing on the cafe shop's speakers, even rolling her eyes at some of the songs that had come up. Another Coldplay song, yikes.. Her eyes lit up as she felt a buzzing come from her phone, her hands brushing crumbs and chocolate stains off on the side of her jeans, reaching for her pocket afterwards. She plucked it out and her eyes scanned across the screen, acknowledging the reply from her geek counterpart.

-
1:09 PM

Warren: My bad Mad Max, was busting some moves and showing kids how to properly play scientist.

Max: No biggie. I went ahead and grabbed some food
Max: Ive got trig soon tho

Warren: Well what are you doing afterwards? We can probably hang out in the library, I've got a report to write up.

Max: I was contemplating the thought of hanging with my roomie and her 'attractive' guy friend... as she put it
Max: But a party in the library sounds equally bomb

Warren: You choose wisely once again, wizard-queen. Let's meet up after your class then, I'll wait outside.

Max: Sounds good
-

"There she is," a familiar voice called out, Max looking over and replying with a shy smile. She cut away from the crowd of students leaving the building all at once, moving towards the shaggy brown-hair headed science-geek friend of hers since high school. "You didn't sneak out afterwards, huh?"

"Now why would I do something dumb like that?" Max replied, her right hand clutched to the strap of her satchel.

"You did say your roommate had some beefcake right?" Warren said, smirking all the while. "I was thinking you might have planned to ditch your class to go engage some one-on-one time with him."

"Stop it, jeez." Max smacked her hand against Warren's arm, her face slightly annoyed and red. "I've had to deal with enough teasing today already."

"What're you talking about? Who would even dare tease the Mighty Max?"

"In my literature class earlier, I ended up spilling my coffee all over my notes like an idiot." Max started rubbing her own arm now, frowning slightly, to Warren's dismay. "And then we had another fire alarm in the building again. We all left and I was too busy daydreaming to notice Mr. Monogahn calling out for me, so he approached me like some disappointed dad. So uncool."

"That's a bummer. On the flipside, did I mention yet about how I was schooling those kids?" Warren grinned playfully. The two of them began heading away from the building, following the stone paved pathway towards the alleyways between the various campus buildings. Warren continued to chirp and chat away as Max simply nodded her head and listened, albeit not fully attentive, much like the rest of the day has gone for her.

Still think it's weird Warren decided to follow after me to this school when he could have easily gone to any big-name university he wanted.. Max thought to herself, still vacantly listening to her friend. I know he's been crushing on me for the longest time, but-

"Yo Max, you still there?" Warren poked Max's arm, to which the latter finally broke her trance-like state and looked over to him, her face a bit jumbled. "I was asking how did things with Kelsey go? You know, after that awkward sitch we got into this weekend.."

Right, Kelsey, my roommate... and his girlfriend. Max shook her head, turning back to look ahead of her. "I haven't mentioned it to her yet. I dunno how to even bring it up... it was kinda embarrassing. Did you smooth things out between you two at least?"

"Not hard at all with a master wordsmith like your's truly," Warren replied cheerfully. "So she should be ready for your apology whenever you're-"

"My apology? Warren, I didn't do anything wrong," Max cut in, her voice slightly agitated now. She stopped in place and turned to face him once more, her arms crossed. "What happened last weekend was a stupid mistake, but it wasn't my fault. I don't need to apologize for anything. I'll confront her about it, but I'm not going to apologize for-"

"Whoa whoa Max, sorry, sorry." Warren said, brushing the back of his head slowly. "I didn't mean to flair you up like that, sorry. You're right, you don't need to apologize to her." Max sighed and looked away for a moment, with Warren speaking up once more. "But I mean you can always like, I dunno, fake-apologize like most girls do. It'd be super cool if you did, for me anyways."

Max shook her head and started to walk away from him, her eyes once again averting him. She ignored him as he called out after her, leaving him back at the small intersection as he stood there, kicking his foot across the ground.

So much for that... Max said to herself, seated in now a mostly abandoned room, save for except a few other bodies seated far from her corner she claimed. She pressed her back against the red cushion of the seat, seeping deeper into the chair as she tilted her head up, her eyes staring at the solid white ceiling above her, a large shadow coated over as the dim lights gave way to a small illumination. Her ears did enjoy the smooth jazzy tunes that came from the intercoms of the room, and the heated interior made her feel cozier than at her own room.

Is he for real about asking me to apologize to Kelsey? I totally did nothing wrong there... Max thought to herself, her eyes still set on the ceiling, but slowly succumbing to a feeling of relaxation. Of all the people I met at Blackwell, Warren was the only friend that came with me to this school, but now it's almost feeling like we're getting further apart from one another. And Kelsey is definitely not helping at all with that... Her pocket buzzed every so often, but she chose to ignore it, knowing who it was that was buzzing her.

Today's just been shit, ever since that dream from last night. I was hoping to get to talk to Warren about it, but he's got his mind on other things... The warmth of the room began to add weight to the green sweater Max wore, almost tempting her to remove it on the spot. But she quickly dismissed the idea, refusing to keep embarrassing herself as she had been. That dream made me think back to... back to last year. I mean, everything makes me think back to last year... that week.

Was.. was letting her go the right choice? This question she asked herself had bothered her nearly every day of her life, for the entire year since the incident at Blackwell. After that week of getting to reconcile with her best friend, of getting to become popular and adored by everybody on campus, of becoming a real everyday hero... After taking it all back, just to save her hometown. Max was filled with memories of that week, of becoming closer to everybody around her, but in reality, to each of them, none of it happened, and they all parted ways after graduating, all except for Warren.

Her heart heaved and felt heavy from her mind exploring these thoughts again, and Max brushed them away in response, her eyes feeling the desire to rest more and more. With the smooth melody still playing above her, she eventually curled up on the chair and gave way to her exhaustion, the worries of the world escaping from her mind once again, drifting... drifting just like the clouds from earlier.

"I can't believe you just let me die, Max. After everything we've been through, you went and abandoned me for this shit-hole! Everything you told me was a lie!"

No.. not again! Max said, her eyes wandering around in the darkness, nothing but black showing to her. She swatted her hands in the air to try and find anything to reach to, even squinting her eyes to pierce through the darkness, but nothing came to her. Stop... it isn't my fault... She turned around instantly as she heard the voice again, her face now filled with despair.

"I bet life is pretty kick-ass right now, with college and boys and everything revolving around you. Guess what though? I don't get to experience any of it because you let that punk-ass shoot me in the freaking bathroom! You let my body bleed out and you just sat there and did nothing!"

I promise, I wanted to do something-

"But you didn't! You let my dad die, and then you let me die. When was the last time you talked to my mother? Are you going to never speak to her again and let her die as well? I'm sure that's the Caulfield way."

"Don't worry, Price. I know Max is a problem child, but I'll take care of her."

Max froze as she heard the second voice, the haunting chill of the words sending her fleeing immediately. Her feet slowly dragged across the darkness and felt as if bags of sand held her down as she started screaming for help. Her mind shouted words but none of them escaped her lips, her head turning back only to see a face approaching closer and closer. She tried harder to run but her legs eventually stopped moving altogether, and she only stared in horror as the body was now inches away from her.

"Just as I had framed my other subjects... no, Max, you won't just be another subject. You'll be my masterpiece..."

"Please, NO!" Max shouted, panting, looking around as she realized she had only been dreaming. Sweat beaded off her forehead, and she immediately grabbed her satchel and headed outside, ignoring the stares she was being given as she ran past them. She stepped outside into the cold night sky, her chest still rising up and down. She rubbed her hand against her forehead and began walking away from the lobby, back towards the direction of her dorm. She pulled her phone out and checked the screen, surprised at how long she had been sleeping for.

Her fingers swiped her phone open and she began scanning over her messages, noticing several from Warren, a few from Kelsey, and two from an unknown number. Ignoring the unknown contact, she opened up Warren's messages and began reading them, her mind still in a blur from the nightmare.

-
2:46 PM

Warren: Max I'm sorry.
Warren: Look I know it wasn't cool to bring up that issue anyways, and it was even lamer on my part to harass you about it.
Warren: I just want things to stay like how they've been going between us and Kelsey. She's as important to me now as you are.
Warren: I mean, you're my best friend, and you probably always will be.
Warren: But I've got to side with her and back her up now that we're dating.
Warren: Just reply back please and let me know where you are.

3:20 PM

Warren: I wasn't kidding when I said I was sorry! I know I screwed up.
Warren: Just answer back, please.

4:17 PM

Warren: I told Kelsey to not bug you about what happened, so don't worry about having to talk to her about it.
Warren: Is that okay? I was hoping it'd cool things between us.
Warren: Where are you anyways? Answer please?

6:32 PM

Warren: Max?

7:01 PM

Warren: Max, come on, stop ignoring me!
Warren: I'm sorry.
-

Max pulled out from Warren's conversations and pulled up Kelsey's now, reading over the few lines sent from her roommate.

-
4:38 PM

Kelsey: Why did Warren tell me to "leave you alone?" Is everything cool between us?
Kelsey: Let's talk when you get back, we can bust out that new caramel blend I bought. I know you love your coffee, Maxine!
Kelsey: Plus, I kicked everybody out so it can just be us. Reply soon!
Kelsey: xoxo
-

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Great... now I can't even go back to my room. As she pulled out of Kelsey's messages, she glanced at the unknown number, noticing two messages from them. Curious, she pulled them up. As she read through them, she immediately regretted doing so, her eyes widening and her face growing pale, the same feeling of terror from her nightmare once again overcoming her body as it began trembling as imagines of those dead eyes behind thick-framed glasses pierced into her head.

-
7:43 PM

1(541)7328551: I'm coming for you, Max.
1(541)7328551: I'm coming.
-