Wayward Town

He looked out the window and listened as the rain tapped on the pane, then watched as the droplets slowly streak their way down the glass. He blinked at the red and blue lights flash outside and he strained to hear the muffled voice of a strange man speaking to his parents.
An orange cat leaped onto the window sill and pushed it's soft head against the boys face. He lifted his tired, heavy hand up and rubbed the cats head, then he was the lights slowly make their way out of the neighborhood. He heard the front door shut downstairs, then he stood from kneeling at the window, and drudged his way to the hall.

The boy stood at the banister at the top of the stairs. He watched his dad shake off the rain riddled umbrella and heard his mother sniffle.
"Mom." he spoke weakly.
His parents turned and looked up at him. He felt like he turned to stone with their stare, but finally forced the words on his mind to come out.
"I'm sorry mom...I'm sorry..." his voice shook and choked.
His mother sighed, "It's not your fault Max." she said and opened her mouth as if to say more, but she lost the words and stayed silent.

Nothing was said for a long time,the silence lagged and felt as to stab deeper for every second that passed. Soon, Max watched his parents disappear into their bedroom, as he did a moment after the door had shut.

Max laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling with his headphones jammed in his ears and the volume on high. He lay there for a long time, awake, and trying to keep from crying. He couldn't even pull himself to play video games till he got tired as he often did.
'Why did you choose her?' he thought over and over till, finally the quilt and regret lulled him to a short sorrowful sleep, preparing him for a bad day to come.

The alarm didn't ring like it should have, Max guessed he just forgot to turn it on again, still he woke to gray light leaking into his room. His body ached and felt stiff, he didn't want to go to school but he had no excuse to miss school. Max slowly got dressed in is usual dark blue jeans, whatever black shirt he pulled out, and his black and neon blue striped hoodie.

He scooped up his messenger bag and dumped his school junk inside, then slid his laptop in, and shrugged his bag strap onto his shoulder. He then slipped on his larger headphones and threw the hood of his jacket over his jet black hair and pulled it over his blue eyes. He didn't want to be seen today.

Max stepped out of his gloomy bedroom and into the hall. He looked to his left and stared at a door at the other end, and felt himself go pale. He tore his eyes away and made his way down the stairs and out the front door. He knew his parents already left for work, so he didn't bother going to their room to say goodbye.

Outside,the air was thick and moist from last nights rain. There was no sun, the gray clouds blocked it's way. Max stepped off his porch and began to walk to make his way to school. He saw a few police cars parked along the road, he also noticed the police man from the night before at a neighbors house asking questions. Then they both fixed their eyes on Max. Max stared back from a second then turned his face down and walked away.

Max set foot onto the campus grounds and immediately eyes where on him and the cliques because to whisper. 'Nosy bastards.' Max thought to himself.

Each step he took seemed to fall with heavy feet and it felt as though it was taking longer to get to the door. He kept his eyes forward and did not dare to look anyone in the eye, then suddenly, he heard an almost drowned out voice and felt a hand on his shoulder.

Max blinked away from his trance and turned to his left to see a familiar face. Her name was Audrey, she was in his homeroom class. He stared at her slender body standing there before him with her long wavy, light brown hair, her pink sweater over her dance uniform, and her long lashed, honey colored eyes staring with gentleness and sympathy. It was like looking at an angel.

Audrey's soft blush pink lips kept moving but Max only heard music,suddenly her lips stopped and Max removed his headphones.
"I'm sorry, what?" he apologized.
Audrey shook the dumbfounded look from her face and began to speak.
"I heard what happened, and I-"
"Save it Audrey. First, who hasn't heard whats happened? Second you finally have the nerve to talk to me after so long and this is what you have to say? And third, don't use me and my situation to win all these blind mother fuckers over and fool them into thinking that you're a kind, caring person." Mas said lowly and angry. He shrugged Audrey's hand away,and shoved his headphones over his ears once more.

Frustrated, Max walked away and submerged himself in a building to make his way to his first period class. The halls weren't empty but they weren't pull either, still, all eyes where set on him. He kept his face low and listened to the sad punk song fill his ears. It reminded him of the video for the song, which made him think that's probably what he looked like right now.He passed several friends along the way, they didn't stop him. He knew they knew what happened and they knew that approaching him would only make him feel worse, so he knew they knew to give him space.

Max finally made it to his period class,it was ten minutes till the bell rand, he pulled open the door and flung himself inside and sat at his desk, and stared at a blank monitor. Behind him he heard a creek of a chair and a voice spoke.
"Good morning, Max." the voice said loudly so as to be heard over the teens music.

Max huffed a sigh and paused his music then removed his headphones. He turned to see his teacher, she stared at Mr. Aguilar. He too in the mans dark eyes, square face, and stern presence. They stared at each other for a long while and said nothing till Max began to cry and sob. The teacher stared as his star pupil broke down in front of him till finally made his way to the boy and patted him on his back.
"You can stay here for today. I'll call your teachers and tell hem your in the nurses office."

Max just sniffled and forced a small nod. Mr. Aguilar was the only teacher and adult that Max ever trusted, ever went to when he needed help. Max went to him when people picked on him, humiliated, scared, or troubled him. To Max, Mr. Aguilar wasn't just his favorite teacher but his friend, and brother.

For most of the time Max just stared at the monitor screens and whatever else his eyes caught in the class room. For a long time Max stared at a sign Mr. Aguilar made a few months ago. It had a picture of a doll with a creepy stitched smile.

"Lost: Dahlia Rag Doll. Please return if stolen." the sign said. Mr. Aguilar loved that doll. His first daughter made it for him. She died a few years ago. max couldn't imagine who would have taken it, but them, there are a lot of sick people in the world.

At last the final bell rang and released the imprisoned teenagers. Max waited till most of the crowds left, he didn't want to walk through their eyes again, he didn't want that sickening pain again. Once the mass of people where long gone Max walked home with the music in his ears and his eyes to the ground.

As he walked and stared, he noticed a paper submerged in a puddle of rain water. It was a lost cat sign, a black cat named Merlin. Max tore his eyes away and kept on his retreat home.

Max unlocked his front door and forced himself into silence. He shut the door, filling the house with a hallow sound. The sound of cartoon reruns didn't fill those spaces, not today. He trudged up the steps and up to the upstairs hallway. There he was greeted by a sound, the only sound, of his cat Dexter's meow. Max leaned over and pet the cat for a moment then looked down he hall and at a door there. A chill ran down his back and spread over his body, slowly he made his way to the door.

Max painstakingly raeched out his hand, and wrapped it around the cold metal nob. He took in a shallow breath and turned the nob. Slowly he began to open the door. As soon as it was open a crack Dexter rushed in, Max eased the door open and looked inside.

Pink. Pink walks with white wash furnishings. Toys and books lay about. Stuffed animals stare back at Mas with black beady eyes, as they stared at him from the pink ruffled bed dress. Max stepped inside and onto the soft pink rug. He looked at the posters of flowers and that pre-teen pop star he hated. He walked slowly around the room, and stopped at the night stand next to the bed.

He picked up a picture frame crafted with stickers, macaroni noodles and glitter, and looked at the picture inside. He stared at the smiling face draped on his shoulder, the cute multicolored painted nails on arms wrapped around his neck. His eyes locked on the strawberry blond hair tangled in his raven head, and the bright brown eyes that stared at him.

"Max, I love you. Do you love me too?" he recalled the girlish voice in his head.
"...do your homework Megan." replied his own cold voice.

Max's eyes began to sting and water seeped in from the corner of his eyes. His hands shook as he stared at the picture. He gasped of a breath of hair, turned the frame around and ripped out the back. He clawed out the painful memory and clutched the photo to his chest and cried. he began to think it was true. That you never know what you have till it's gone, and Megan was gone.
"She just wanted an answer!" he yelled at himself. Then Dexter began to meow.
"What, Dexter?" Max sniffled and gasped. "What?"

Max whipped his eyes and saw his orange cat disappear behind the bed.
"Dexter, no...get out from there." Max pushed the photo into a book in his messenger bag and pursued the cat. "Dexter, come here." Max called weakly and tried to peer behind the girly bed.

Dexter meowed again, but this time it sounded strange. It had echoed. Max heard the difference. "...Dexter?" the boy began to tug and pull the bed away from the wall. Finally he pulled far enough to see a gaping hole cut into the wall. Max stared confused and disturbed till he heard his cat call to him again.
"Dexter!" Max snapped from his trance and looked inside the hole to see his cat sitting in the tunnel. "Dexter! Get back here!" Max motioned to get the cat to come. Dexter swished his tail and turned to lick his thigh.
"Fucking cat." Max cursed behind clenched teeth and crawled into the hole. "Dexter, come here!" Max said and reached for the cat.

Then Max heard a sickening sound, dirt breaking apart and crumpling. He felt the earth crack beneath his hands and knees. he looked to see the soil breaking free. The last sound he heard was his cat hiss and his own screaming as he plummeted into an abyss, making him gone too.