* Monday Morning, Fifteen Minutes Before First Period, After the Funeral *

I have no idea if I did my homework. Or if I even had any. Max streatches her shoulders, settles the comfortable weight of her tote bag. A yawn cracks her jaw.

Blerg. Why did I want classes again?

Victoria chats with Taylor directly in front of her. Once every few minutes she tries to draw Max into the conversation but single syllable words and noncommittal grunts forestall any deep distractions. Awake two-ish hours and Max is still getting her thoughts in order. Not that order is helping.

Is Warren avoiding me?Three texts have gone unanswered.

This isn't like him.A little bit of irony playing out.

I guess I might deserve a bit of payback for all the times I've done the same.

But it is no easier to endure the silence.

If us Scoobies are going to figure out anything, Buffy needs her Giles.

It takes Max a few moments to realize Victoria is talking directly to her.

'What, Vicky?'

'We have to get to class. What is up with you today?'

'Just the usual end-of-world stuff.'

They set off. 'I'm guessing Warren is still a no-show.'

'Yeah. I mean, he was so gung ho last night. And he was texting me every day since we met day one of the school year.' Max stares at her phone, willing it to activate.

Tongue clicking. 'Max, you have a lot to learn about men.'

'I know. What specifically?'

'He's hurt. Maybe not baddly but Warren had this huge crush on you. Now he needs some space to get over it.'

'That's- that's fine. That's even thoughtful. But we kind of need him to save the world right now.'

They stop just outside the World History classroom. 'Max, don't push this one. You'll just drive him away.' She opens the door but pauses before entry. 'Maybe I'll tell him to just ask Brooke out.'

'You see that too?'

'Hard to miss how head over heals that girl is.'

History class is as interesting and boring as usual. Who would guess something as facinating as the Roman Empire could be distilled to such dry facts. Max does her best to take notes and remain focused.

By the time algebra rolled in, though, her concentration is gone. Covertly covering up her lap, she grabs her phone to bother Warren again. The fact he responds instantly, much to Max's surprise, causes a dropped phone and a disapproving stare from the teacher.

Warren: in library. come to @ lunch.

Did he really skip morning periods?

Post-algebra Max always has difficulty focussing. The numbers are just too cold The library is sits just above the cafeteria, allowing her to grab a soda. Yay, caffeine.

She chugs the drink standing outside the library doors. No food, no drink. No yelling, laughing, screaming, playing, fun. Walking through the doors greets Max with the one thing every library shares: peace. The thickness of silence and calm actions, the smell of so many printed pages. There is one reason to make this place your destination. It is the only public space designed for privacy. Private thought. It welcomes silence and stillness.

A three dimentional photograph. A living photo.

Warren set up shop in one of the corners, window side. Half a dozen books lay open in front of him, with several more betting shuffled aside by a irate Victoria.

'Warren, I'm hungry and cranky. You could have at least made room for me to sit.'

Bloodshot but alert eyes stared at Victoria, processing for a moment. 'I did. But I ran out of room.' He bends back to his notebook, scribbling again.

I'll just stand right now. 'Uh, hey guys. What's cracking?'

Once again worn eyes look up. This time, though, excitement washes out the weariness. 'Max! I know the secret to your universe!' The shushing that assaults Warren causes his addendum to be whispered. 'At least theoretically.'

Victoria quietly drags over a chair and motions for Max to sit. 'Okay Warren. Explain.'

'First off, Max doesn't have time travel power. She has two distinct different powers which follow separate sets of rules. The rewind power allows her to change about, what, a minute or two at most?' Confirmation. 'It also allows you to change location. And, since you don't cause explosions or sonic bombs constantly, you must also protect a field of some sort that displaces the air properly into any place you travel through.' He looks up at his of students. 'Following so far?'

Nods.

'Okay. Now this power works in any multiverse theory. Heck, you don't need any theory. It works because you aren't traveling to a different point in time.'

Victoria interrupts. 'No. That's exactly what Max does.'

Warren smiles. 'That's how I saw it. But it isn't. Max, you're traveling through time. Not like we are, right now, but you are experiencing existence in a lineral way.' He tries to draw something but several moments of pen to paper leaves him dissatisfied. 'Look at it this way. Timbre is the alphabet.' More writting. 'Us normies just follow the normal flow, A to Z. Your rewind lets you travel along the alphabet in reverse direction. Or to even stop on a letter.' Arrows and underlines compliment the statements.

Realization hits Max right between the eyes. 'But my photo power skips the alphabet.'

Warren beams. 'Exactly. You start at J and skip back to E. You make that E lower case. Or erase it all together. When you bounce back to J, all of a sudden the letrers in between are different. No more FGHI. Even J is different.'

Victoria looks mildly pissed. 'We know all this. What did you figure out?'

Warren, stricken, audibly gulps. 'Well, there's a few different views about what the multiverse might be. And the only way the photo power works is by accounting for these theories. Two similar views agree that the universe acts like a wave function.' He pauses. 'What do you know about quantum mechanics?'

A shared glare.

'Okay, layman's terms. A quantum computer, which is what everyone wants to build, uses a quantum gate. Instead of the binary bits being ones and zeroes, yes or no, they are both and neither and either-or. Until you view them, they have no definition. No reality.'

'Schrodinger's cat.'

What about kitties?

'Exactly.' He looks to the brunette. 'We've lost Max. Okay, the simple version. A cat in a box with poison. A radioactive material will randomly cause a door to drop, potentially saving the cat. Is it alive or dead?'

'Um, how should I know?'

Excitement charges Warren's face. 'Exactly! Without consciouse observation, you can't know. Which is why the answer is both. He's alive and dead. Until we open the box both realities exist.' He scribbles a Sin wave. 'Both outcomes exist until we collapse the wave and make one the true reality.'

Poor kitty.'Okay, I get all this. I mean, I knew all this from movies but nevet had it explained before.'

'Okay, then let me throw another metaphor at you. If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?' He's getting really exited. Even cheeky. 'In this case, same reasoning. Without anyone observing it, the tree, the forest, doesn't actually exist. Consciousness creates reality.'

Warren runs back a few pages in his notes. 'Here's where multiverse steps in. Without life to see it, there is no reality. The universe was created, for simplicity, the first time a living thing was able to make a choice. And a new one is made at every collapse of the wave.'

'Six billion people a day, every minute, make different universes by deciding to get the soup instead of the salad.' Victoria frowns. 'That's a hell of a lot of parallel worlds.'

'But that's one theory. Another states that only big choices cause a split. Start walking on one foot instead of another. Maybe you trip on the left. Maybe you arrive late on the right. But you won't get a spinoff unless it alters the future in any way.'

Max is starting to suspect where all this is going. A sick feeling churns with the carbonation in her stomach. 'But there would only be a parallel world if there was a destined world or future already. Unless the future was already set...'

Warren's face spuns off in it's own parallel of Max's mood. 'Yeah.' He reaches across the table. His palm feels as cold and sweaty as the one it holds. 'Every time you went back, you started a parallel path. But, there's more.'

Max sours further. 'Great. How about we don't right now.'

Victoria's confusion finds a voice. 'So, what? Every time Max photo jumped, we got a new world? But, what about this one?' A hand on Max's shoulder squeezes. 'Maxine, what's wrong?'

'There is no-one else time traveling.'

'W-what?'

Warren rubs his eyes, his voice almost a whisper. 'Victoria, there has never, before now, been multiple universes. My ideas are really armchair-philosophy, true, but for this theory to make sense with what we know... We only get this collapsing-parallel worlds if there was a way for the future to exist in the present. Hey, we're all just people, present company included, and the way humans understand time some day can prove my idea wrong. But...'

He pauses, not wanting to say what Max already realized.

'Come on Warren, spell it out.'

A puffed exhale deflates Warren like a balloon. 'The alphabet. Before Max, there only was one. Now we have a few. Or a dozen, or dozens. We can't know. But our reality only wants one.'

And the point strikes Victoria. 'The other worlds. They are falling apart.' Apprehension, even fear, pales her. 'Our... our world.'

'I don't think so. We had one universe. I think it wants to be one again. They are all... merging.'

'...that's what she meant...'

'Max?'

The chair nearly topples as she bursts upright. 'I need air. I just- Let me get some air.'

Her retreat is hasty, her steps stuttered. Emotion blinds Max. No tears, no tears. Not now. A stumble against... something. Yellow cement. A parking divider. She's standing in the middle of the school lot, looking for something.

What am I trying to find?You know what.Tell me. Tell me now!No. You know what you're looking for. Who you're looking for.

As if by magic there, right there next to Max, a rusted pickup pulls up, parking crooked. She didn't quite see the driver, hoodie drawn up over her face. Definitely a woman though.

Who else could it be?

The woman-maybe a girl-exits the vehicle, far corner from Max. A flick and an inhalation preceeds the appearance of smoke above the cab.

A name plays across Max's tongue, but lips remain firmly closed. A barked laugh strikes out from the truck. Max's knees bend and impact pavement.

noYou wanted this.

Directly away from Max, combat boots strike cement as the tall woman walks to the far end of the parking lot.

noGo to her.

The steps trail off. Max squeezes her eyes shut, forcing the tears out of them.

Go ahead, finish breaking the world.

noEveryone's dead. Nothing is going to exist. Get a few minutes alone with her before the end.noWhy not?stopWHY NOT? You fucked up. Really, really big time. You have at least, what, six worlds about to crash togethet at once? If it's anything like the Storm... Who's going to make it? Who's going to survive? Not a little hiccup in the Bay. Worlds are going to merge. Face it.i killed us allYup. And you might as well go out with this goddamn bitch you broke everything for in the first place....okayBut there is no truck in front of Max anymore.

NO!

She walks straight through the space where a moment ago the dilapidated truck rested. She runs to the far end of the lot, back to the dorms, a single word being repeated under her breath.

Too late! But there is still a way.Straight upstairs, past classmates headed back to class. Past a startled Kate.

Just gotta get in her room.

Three slams against the door. 'Victoria, are you here! Vicky! Open up!'

'Max!'

Kate walks briskly towards Max, concern infused in every muscle.

'Max, what's going on?'

Near-feral eyes peer back at Kate. 'I need Victoria. She has something I need.'

Kate grabs an arm. 'Oh. Okay Max, just. Just come sit down. I'll get Victoria on the phone. Just come inside.'

One girls leads another into a dorm. I can trust Kate. She owes me. No, wait. Another Kate owes another Max. A water bottle is placed in her hands. Max empties it greedily. My throat burns. My eyes burn. Ringing is heard from Kate's hand. Everything burns. Burns burns burns. Words are said, audible and not, but Max doesn't comprehend. Burns or drowns. Burns or drowns.

Eyes open, unseeing. Ears wide, no sound. The automatic action lifting bottle to face, the water doing nothing to quench.

The tthird repetition of her name finally breaks Max's world.

'What, Katie?'

'Max, tell me what's wrong.'

'Nothing.' A giggle escapes. This is no laughing matter. 'There's nothing wrong! I don't have to play by the rules anymore.'

'Max...'

'I can change everything. Everything! It's all going to shit anyway. I can do whatever I hella want now!'

Another giggle.

'Max, you're scaring me.'

Only the half of it. 'Me too! I'm hella scared and worried and hopeful and I'm going to see her again. And here, now, I'll see her. I CAN BRING HER BACK.'

No more rules. No more responsibility. No more pencils, no more books! Can't wait to see-

The door to Kate's room open. Looking up, a stricken Kate stands beside a furious Victoria.

Why aren't they smiling? Let's put a smile on that face.

More giggles. 'Hey Vicky. Why so serious?'

'Max. Calm. The hell. Down.'

'Can't do that Vicky. Place to go, bridges to burn.' Max grips her sides, trying to contain the mania within her. 'Damn, I am most flippant and verbose when held in a jovial mood.'

'Max, you have to calm down and-'

'Where's the photo, Vicky? I need it, I want it. Wasting time not fixing things.'

'No, Max. I-'

Being denided switches gears instantly. 'Don't you dare deny me. Don't you even think you can stop me. You know you-'

Slap

'Max! Calm. The. Fuck. Down!'

Fury the way old gods felt it washes over Max. 'That's twice! Do it again and-'

SlapThe other cheek burns, though not as much. A smaller hand deliveres it, with much less force.

Kate nurses her hand but hasn't stopped staring at her friend. 'What the hell is wrong with you!'

Katie said hell? And hit me?'Victoria, I- I'm broken.'

Stop

Everything is still.

Motes of dust hang suspended.

Gotta leave. Gotta- ngh!Pain in the shape of a solid steel pipe drives through, temple to temple.

got. to. leave.Max walks doubled over to the door, barely closing it behind her. A white-orange glow suffuses the hall. Dana stands by Juliet's door. Both peer at Kate's room.

got. to. leave.CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM THISget. into. room.CAN'T HIDE EITHERbe. safe.COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE

A feeble kick, as Max collapses on her rug, releasing time, to lock herself in.

The door almost latches.

no

But she is too tired. Max stares down along the length of her body. The door sits six inches from her toes. May as well be miles.

Ten seconds.

Thirty.

A minute and Kate bursts in.

And unconsciousness follows.