Chapter Text
The first thing Max was aware of was the feel of dirt against her face and hands, wet and clinging to her skin when she shifted on the ground.
The next was the howling of wind and the stinging lash of rain against her skin. It took a moment for her to gather her scattered thoughts. Where was she? How had she gotten here?
When she finally managed to lift her head up, she was just as lost as when she’d been face-down.
Trees surrounded her, their branches snapping in the winds of a raging storm. A forest? No, she should be in her dorm or class! She hadn’t come out here, wherever here was!
A beam of light swung through the air and Max locked onto it immediately. The lighthouse! It had a door at the bottom that lock on had been busted for years. If she could get there, she could shelter from this hurricane inside of it, at least until help came.
Fighting her way up the pathway, Max raised a hand to protect her eyes.
Debris flew past her, some odd branches and leaves hit her and stuck to her soaked hoodie. Max pulled it tighter, but it did nothing for the cold of the rain against her.
Making it up the bench beside the lighthouse, Max froze in shock. A massive tornado, swirling lazily, loomed in front of the town of Arcadia Bay.
Ocean water, boats, houses, everything that made Arcadia Bay was being ripped apart and up into the hungry maw of the storm.
Max could only watch, stunned, as the hurricane edged closer and closer to the beach.
It made Arcadia look like a toy model of a town and she had no doubt that the whole of the town would be leveled once it touched shore.
Before she could do anything, even shake herself from the horror she felt, a boat was flung from the vortex and slammed into the Lighthouse above her.
Max jerked, her mouth falling open in a faint No! as a chunk of the building hurtled towards her before everything went black.
Leaning back in her chair, Max took a deep calming breath. The sight of her photography class was a welcomed familiarity, one she clung to as she shook off the remainders of her dream.
That was so surreal! The feel of rain and the crash of thunder had been so real. She didn’t even remember falling asleep, it was almost like she’d been teleported into that storm and then back again.
Mr. Jefferson’s lecture droned in her ears, muffled while she collected herself.
I’m in class…. I’m okay. She reassured herself, watching her classmates.
Taylor crumbled up a paper ball, throwing it at Kate’s face when Mr. Jefferson’s back was turned and Victoria’s phone buzzed across her desk.
I swear I didn’t fall asleep and that sure as hell didn’t feel like a dream. Max’s dreams had never been so vivid that she could smell the rain in the air or feel mud on her hands.
They had always been flashes of random events, colors-things that didn’t even make sense. Dreams had never been so clear before.
Maybe it was something she had eaten at lunch that made her dreams weird. Her mom had that problem, she sleepwalked when she ate dairy, maybe weird vivid hurricane dreams were what Max got whenever she ate pizza.
Shaking the left-over fright from her mind, Max checked over her desk to make sure that she didn’t knock anything off in her apparent nap.
Her cheeks heated up as she looked over the mess that her desk was. Dog, she couldn’t ever keep tidy, could she? Everywhere she went, she took over with scattered possessions.
Her dorm room was a prime example, cluttered over with everything she’d dragged up from Seattle two months ago.
She really needed to get it sorted, so much clutter made her nervous and being nervous made it hard to focus on studying which is exactly why she was so hunched in her desk now.
Thankfully passing her over, Mr. Jefferson had apparently asked a question that Victoria readily had the answer to, something Max tried her best to ignore.
A prickle of jealousy ran up her spine but she squished it down. It wasn’t Victoria’s fault that her study habits were less than desirable and she had already fallen behind in her readings.
Victoria could have all the questions she wanted if it meant that Max didn’t have to answer and embarrass herself in front of her classmates. Her heart thumped at the thought alone.
A polaroid, forgotten on the side of her desk, caught her eye and painfully reminded her just how far behind her classmates she really was.
How could she show this crap to Mr. Jefferson? It was so amateur. Even Daniel, who’s craft was really drawing, took better photos than this.
Max let out a sigh, caressing a finger on the glossy photo. It hadn’t felt so lackluster when she’d taken it in her dorm.
She’d felt so inspired after finishing her photo wall, before her room was cluttered up and before she’d been overwhelmed by Blackwell’s accelerated coursework.
She’d felt like such an adult, with her own space and a new responsibility for herself.
The photo wall had been the first decoration in her new home, right after the fairy lights that she’d hung up above it. The lights had cast a glow on the photos, illuminating all the pieces of time she’d frozen and lovingly preserved.
It had shown so many moments of life, flashes of people every day who got up and became the heroes of their own story, that she’d felt that they all deserved to be captured as such.
While she’d stood there behind the camera, trying to find a good angle, she’d been struck by the urge to join them and immortalize herself.
Max usually showed her own face in her selfies, but that time, she had been compelled to see herself as everyone around her did.
Someone who caught all the moments, who paled in comparison to what they could capture. This picture, she’d been so proud of it when she’d taken it.
The longer that passed with her dancing around Mr. Jefferson and his insistence that she join in the Everyday heroes contest, the less she became sure of her picture and of her own talent.
Max was really good at that, she thought bitterly. Give her enough time and she could talk herself out of anything, even her lifelong craft.
Tucking the photo back into her bag, Max decided to clean up her desk a bit before class ended so she could zip out before Mr. Jefferson hassled her for her entry again.
Grabbing her camera, she carefully pushed down the urge to take a selfie and moved to put it away.
Mr. Jefferson was directly in front of her, lecturing, and she had done well to avoid his attentions all last week so that he wouldn’t get on her back about the contest again.
If she took a picture now, he’d zero in on her in an instant and, as much as she admired his work, Max was perfectly content to avoid the spotlight for now. At least until she could take a picture worthy of turning in!
Max had thought she was being discreet but Mr. Jefferson’s brown eyes snapped to her as soon as she moved and he smirked.
“Shh, I believe Max was about to take what you kids call a ‘Selfie’…A dumb word for a wonderful photographic tradition,” He grinned at her and she thought for a moment that he looked smug, “And Max has a gift.”
Max wishes she had the gift of invisibility! She thought in horror, ducking her head low, “I wasn’t-!” she cut off the whisper as quickly as she’d said it. Mr. Jefferson raised an eyebrow and Victoria snickered from her seat.
“Of course, as you all know, the photo portrait has been popular since the early 1800s.” Mr. Jefferson continued, “Your generation was not the first to use images for selfie-expression. Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Now Max, since you’ve captured my interest and clearly want to join the conversation, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?”
“You’re asking me? Um, Let me think…” Max scrambled through her thoughts, trying to remember if she had ever read through this chapter.
Fuck, self-portraits were in the next one, weren’t they? Max shrank in her seat; well aware that she was supposed to have the answer by now.
“You either know this or not, Max!” To her surprise, an undertone of genuine anger was in Mr. Jefferson’s voice as he smacked an open palmed hand on the table. Max jumped at the sound, hunching forward to hide her red face, “Is there anyone here who knows their stuff?”
Victoria chimed in with the answer while Max tried to convince the ground to open up underneath her.
Mr. Jefferson continued with the lesson for a few more moments before the bell interrupted him with a shrill screech, one Max had never been more thrilled to hear.
Finally! This class had felt like it had dragged on forever.
“And guys, don’t forget the deadline to submit a photo in the Everyday Heroes contest,” Mr. Jefferson did a lap around the room as he talked, “I’ll fly out with the winner to San Francisco where you’ll be feted by the art world!”
Max tuned him out as she gathered the rest of her things and listened to the others shuffling around class.
She just needed to get out of here and get back to her dorm where she could curl up and nurse the wounds of public embarrassment with a blanket cocoon and some movies courtesy of Warren.
Using her desk as a shield, she tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible.
“And yes Max, I see you pretending not to see me.” Mr. Jefferson pointed at her as he passed, swiping a hand towards his desk to tell her to hang back and talk.
No, damn it! So close. Max sighed in defeat, slinging her bag’s strap over her shoulder. Why couldn’t he just leave her be?
Any picture she took would never compete against her classmates. Making her way towards her doom, Max stopped at Kate’s desk.
The poor thing looked so sad, like she had for the last week.
Kate had been one of the first people to break through Max’s fortress of social anxiety, a week or two after they had both arrived at the dorms.
Max had been a recluse since she got here if she was not watching others or chasing down photo opts.
Lingering in the hallway was not an activity she liked, and Kate had picked up on it quickly.
It hadn’t taken Max long to realize that the quiet blonde was tracking her every time she rushed from the door to her room and slammed the door behind her.
After about a week, Kate had gathered the courage to speak to Max in the bathroom while they had been brushing their teeth.
Max had thought maybe she was getting at some prank but no, after about one minute of talking to Kate Marsh, she knew the blonde wasn’t capable of such malicious thoughts.
It was so rare to meet someone so genuinely kind, who wanted the best even for those who had been cruel to her.
Max had instantly warmed to Kate and tentatively allowed her into the hovel she slept in for tea. In return, Kate let her into her room to play with her bunny and alternate their tea dates.
Max loved her company, much more than she was capable of saying. There was just something warm and good in Kate, something that drew people in.
That spark that had been in Kate the first few weeks they’d met was dull and nearly gone now.
For the last week, Max had noticed that everyone but especially Victoria’s gaggle had been picking on Kate relentlessly.
It had something to do with a video, but Max had been determined not to invade her friend’s privacy by watching it.
She wished that she was braver, that she was someone confident enough to tell Victoria to go fuck herself and leave Kate alone.
“Hey Kate,” Max tried to force a tone of joy into her voice, hoping to lend her own peace to Kate even just for a moment, “Are you okay? You seem a little quiet today.”
“Hey Max,” Kate’s voice was as wilted as she seemed to be, “I’m okay, I’m just thinking too much I guess. My mind’s been busy lately.”
“Anything that I can help with?” Yes, good job, Max! She was handling this well, wasn’t she? Maybe Kate would be more comfortable talking in a private place though, “Maybe over a cup of tea? My treat, I’ve got some new packets we can try!”
Kate didn’t perk up in the slightest, “Thanks, but no.” She attempted a smile but it looked more like a grimace, “I’m swamped in Homework.” A sigh escaped her, “I’ve been slacking lately, I need to get caught up.”
“No worries.” Max gave her hand a gentle squeeze, “Come knocking if you need any help, or if you just need to bitch about life.”
“Sure.” Kate had already hunched back over, her hand covering the side of her face like she wanted to hide tears.
Max’s heart clenched painfully in her chest and she tried to find any more words to comfort her tentative friend but they escaped her.
There really were no words for what Max suspected the bullying was for. She wished there was more that she could do for Kate, but an open invitation and the protection of her dorm was all she could offer.
“Victoria, please excuse us, one of photography’s future stars here needs to turn in her entry.” Mr. Jefferson waved her over and Max shuffled towards him.
He gave her a warm smile, resting a hand on her shoulder to gently pull her closer to his desk like she was a skittish animal that would bolt if he didn’t have a hand on her.
Well, he was probably right. The door was looking really fucking tempting compared to yet another prodding conversation.
“Do I have to?” Max scratched the back of her neck, avoiding Victoria’s gleeful sneer at her uncomfortableness, “I just don’t think it’s that big a deal. I know I can’t compete with the more expensive cameras so there’s not really a point to entering when I’m going to lose.”
“Max, you’re a better photographer than a liar.” Mr. Jefferson’s eyes twinkled with amusement, “I know it’s a drag to hear some old dude lecturing you, but it’s important for you to get your work out there as much as you can. Even if you didn’t win, your entry may speak to someone who can jumpstart your career, someone who see things like you do. You have a gift to frame the world as you envision it, but the world is only going to appreciate it if you have the courage to show it to them. That’s what separates the artist from the amateur.”
Max stared at his shoes instead of meeting his gaze, trying to ignore the burn of shame that felt oddly like it came from a polaroid in her bag.
She’d take something better than that picture, she still had days left to find something inspiring. That one, her original, would never see the light of day if she could help it.
“I’ll work on it. I promise.” Max nodded to Mr. Jefferson, weaving around Victoria when the blonde stepped into her path and tried to shoulder check her.
’Bitch! Ugh, why does she have to be so mean?’ It always felt like Victoria was trash-talking about her whenever she saw her but maybe that was what her whole image was supposed to be.
That way, anyone not worth being on her radar would be too frightened to challenge her. Taking any of Mr. Jefferson’s time was a surefire way to set Victoria off, though, and Max had become a blip on her radar with all the hounding.
Escaping out into the hallway, Max was immediately assaulted by the noise of the other students.
Welcome back to the real world, Max. She thought with a wince. Quickly pulling out her headphones, Max slipped them in to drown out the loud chatter in the halls.
It always overwhelmed her, with her hearing latching onto the conversations happening and passing her by.
It was an unpleasant sensation that felt like her mind was being pulled in many different directions at once as she tried to follow the sounds.
Her headphones helped her cope with crowds or the cafeteria. She could focus on the music, and all the distinct words of her classmates would fade into a loud hum of background noise.
Courtney and Taylor caught her eye, pointing at her and sharing a few giggles that were silent compared to Max’s music. Hunching her shoulders, Max made her way to the Bathroom.
She needed a serious time out and some water on her face to reset after Mr. Jefferson's shakedown for her entry.
Then she could finally go back to her dorm and really recharge from this never-ending day.
The bathroom was dim compared to the hallway, but thankfully it was empty. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to see her mini freakout or worse, try to talk to her about pointless things.
Max pulled out her headphones, leaning against one of the sinks to take a breath and giving a rueful smile at her reflection when she noticed the graffitied crown and glasses on it.
At least someone was having fun today.
It hadn’t really been that bad. She’d gotten to hang out at lunch with Warren and most of her other classes were uneventful. Even Mr. Jefferson had not been as insistent about her entry as he had last week.
She'd even managed to wrangle a 'B+' out of a science quiz from last week! That had been a big, but pleasant, surprise to both her and Warren.
They had both admitted that Max was probably a lost cause in any class except photography.
Still, Max’s anxiety didn’t care that it hadn’t really been a bad day. Her nerves said that it had been a bad day, and her tired mind had no choice but to listen.
Sometimes, Max thought bitterly, her brain could be a real asshole.
That dream in Photography really hadn’t helped her nerves either-now she had a foreboding feeling stuck in her gut.
“It’s okay, Max, you just gotta finish the day.” She told her reflection, splashing her face with some water and trying to force a note of confidence that she didn’t feel, “Maybe try for another entry later.”
Maybe Samuel would lure some squirrels for her to snap some pictures of.
Her picture found its way into her hands and she stared at it. It was good, wasn’t it? Maybe Mr. Jefferson was right, maybe her lack of confidence was really just tripping her up and she did have a gift to share.
It wasn't that hard to imagine that she was really just overthinking it.
Too often, Max had lost in on opportunities or good shots just because she couldn't convince herself that she and her work was good enough, or that the shot was perfect.
The picture blurred in her vision, its colors shifting, and Max scoffed at her own thoughts.
“Fuck it.” She growled, ripping it in half before she could change her mind.
Talking herself out of things was a bad habit but she couldn't let it turn into a habit of talking herself into things that could embarrass her. The halves of the picture drifted out of hands and to the ground.
Max left them there. They were trash, Samuel would come and sweep them up then throw them in the garbage where they belonged.
Looking away and swiping a hand across her cheeks, a flash of blue caught her eye. Max watched a blue butterfly flutter through the cracked bathroom window and behind the last stall.
Her hands twitched toward her Polaroid and she grabbed it with a sigh. When one door closes and all that.
She paused to quickly rip down a poster that had something nasty written about Kate before getting down to frame the shot.
The butterfly propped itself on the edge of a rusty bucket. This lighting is so dark, but it works.
The butterfly’s blue wings were practically glowing in a shaft of sunlight, making it a beacon in the dark corner.
It was a rare opportunity where editing wouldn’t be needed to show the focus of a photo. These were the moments that Max thrived on! Quickly, she snapped a photo, pulling it from her camera to shake it.
Just as she finished and put the picture away, the sound of the door opening and shutting made her freeze.
Fuck, someone else was in here already? She had been hoping to get out of here without any awkward glances or small talk conversations.
Please don’t be Victoria, please don’t be Victoria. God, that would suck! The last thing she needed was a barbed insult that dug itself into her brain all the way back to her dorm before she could drown it out in music or movies.
It wasn’t the Queen Bee of Blackwell, but Max wasn’t sure if Nathan Prescott was really any better. “It’s cool, Nathan. Don’t stress, bro, just count to three.” He paced around the bathroom in front of the stalls, swinging his head wildly.
He tensed suddenly; his head snapped towards the floor and then towards the stalls. His shoulders drew back in a deep, angry, breath before he let out a loud yell.
“Is someone in here?!” He turned and slammed one of the stall doors open, then another and another, “Come out, now!”
Max flinched away from the noise, clattering her feet against the bucket that butterfly had been on.
Fuck! There wasn’t anywhere to go, she was cornered in this stupid nook!
The light from the window was still shining and Max had the sudden thought to try and climb out of it to the freedom of the courtyard.
Nathan rounded the corner before she could even start to move, his face twisted with an unsteady fury, “You! What the fuck are you doing in here?! Are you spying on me?!” He closed in on her quicker than Max could try to dodge around him.
Cold stone met her back and sweat beaded on Max's forehead. He had her blocked in by Samuel's spare cart and the stall wall.
“N-No!” Max curled in on herself, looking around for anything she could use to escape or use to defend herself from him, “This is the girl's bathroom, I was-!”
“You’re with that bitch, aren’t you?!” He slapped her camera from her hands, kicking it against the wall. Max’s stomach dropped when it shattered against the stone with a loud clash. That was her first camera! “You think you were gonna get more on me, huh! Get a few pictures to spread around?!”
“Just calm down,” Max held her hands up in surrender, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I'm not with anyone!” Nathan shook his head at her like he didn’t even hear her words.
Max's heart stuttered in her chest when he grabbed at his hair, tugging the strands and slapping a trembling hand against his temple.
Mental instability wasn't close to something she knew much about but Nathan was sweating and yelling and he seemed even more scared of her than she was of him.
She recognized the look of stressed anxiety from her own mirror, but he was lashing out from it where she would fold in with it. "I don't know what you're talking about!" She repeated desperately.
Nathan looked back at her with more malice than she’d ever seen on anyone, “Don’t lie to me!” Max’s eyes widened with terror when his shakey hand pulled a gun from the inside of his jacket, shoving it against her abdomen.
The metal of it was cold even through her thin shirt and she could feel her stomach tense at its touch.
“You don’t know who I am or who the fuck you and your little friend are messing around with!”
Max’s tongue dried in her mouth in an instant. This had escalated much faster than she could even begin to adjust to, and to something she had no capability to handle.
This was out of her league and she found herself almost in tears. All she had wanted was to splash water on her face, what on earth had happened?!
A small whimper managed to squeak out of her throat, “Please, put that away, I’ll leave! I’ll leave!” Vaguely, she heard the sound of the door opening and then footsteps.
Max never thought that she’d hope David Madsen would come to find her but Dear God, she hoped it was David Madsen. He was always where no one needed him to be, maybe this would be the one time that he was where she needed him to be.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Nathan’s teeth audibility gritted together and his nostrils flared in a harsh breath, “Don’t ever tell me what to do, I’m so sick of people trying to control me!”
His eyes were blown wide and she had the horrible thought that he was high.
She didn’t know much about drugs but she knew with enough of anything, people became unable to be reasoned with and this was really, really, a situation that needed reason.
His hand, the one that had been trembling, flexed. To her horror, he had put his finger on the trigger and it twitched threateningly.
He pushed the gun harder into her stomach and Max’s mind blanked out with panic.
Only one thought was left rattling around in her mind; she needed him and that gun far from her.
Before she could think of how close he was, how dangerous it was with his unsteady hands, her arms were thrust out. “Get away from me!”
She shoved against his chest and froze at the sound of a gunshot echoing around the small bathroom.
Her spine stiffened but it did nothing to stop her body jerking from the force of the shot, thudding loudly against the wall.
For just a second, she and Nathan stared at each other in disbelief. Like neither could believe that he had actually pulled the trigger.
A burning sensation ripped through her stomach as the bullet burrowed in deep and the ooze of blood was immediately soaking her shirt. Too much blood, far too much, he’d killed her! She was going to die!
Clutching at her stomach, Max tried to stem the flow of blood.
Nathan did too, his hands slamming against the wound with a frenzied terror that she'd only seen rivaled by rage.
His gun clattered to the ground at his side, forgotten much too late to make a difference. It sounded like he was saying something to her, but Max couldn’t hear what. Her ears were still ringing loudly from the gunshot.
The shock was so strong that she barely felt herself falling; she didn’t even realize her knees had given out.
As she slumped towards the ground, her gaze met the horrified hazel of a blonde girl who was peeking around the corner of the last stall.
Desperately, Max lifted her bloody hand towards the girl. For what she didn’t know, it wasn’t like anyone was going to be able to help her. Not with a wound like this.
Mostly, she just wanted to take it all back, to go back to her dorm and never have stepped foot in this bathroom.
In a rush of color, the two people in front of her froze so completely that they looked more like the statue outside than actual humans.
Max felt the world start to turn around her until it all blurred together in a mix of blue and red.
I’m dying, this is what dying is. She slammed her eyes shut, waiting for her mind to blank out and for her heart to stop. At least it was quick, and not as painful as she’d thought it would be.
Instead of an angel chorus, pearly gates, or even flames, Max opened her eyes to the familiar classroom she had been in just a few minutes ago.
What the fuck?