Totally normal town of Conifer

First Day

Thursday, September 4th 2036

I opened my groggy eyes, my body felt heavy. I stared at the ceiling for a good couple of minutes before I had to force myself up and get prepared for the school day. After doing my usual morning routine of taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed, I hoisted my backpack over my back and slowly exited the room.

I walked through the hallway and spotted a framed picture taken 5 years ago from a fishing trip at the nearby lake of Lake Resin. In the photo I was holding a fishing rod with my dad right next to me, hand over my shoulder. We were both drenched in water as a result of me accidentally being pulled into the water and my dad had to come rescue me. Lilly and my mom were on the right side of the photo, smiling and huddled together, though a bit of space was between us since they didn't want to touch our wet bodies.

I wasn't very close with my dad, him always being busy at work. But he still made time for me and Lilly. I remembered when he called off work just to have a whole day with me for my 11th birthday, he later told us that he got in some trouble because of that the following day.

A feeling of emptiness grips my heart, a hole that remains unfilled. I let out a heavy sigh, my eyes watering yet no tears flowed. I faced away from the picture and walked down the stairs and towards the front door.

I turned the metal handle and pushed the door open and was met with a cool breeze. A contrast to the blistering heat of the summer. I closed the door behind me once I stepped out and began walking the path to the high school.

The neighborhood was a small suburban community surrounded by trees that spread endlessly. For the past month I stayed home to avoid my old friends, I still didn't know how to confront them.

The school's building came into view, a relatively large two story tall building. Once I reached the front door, I let out a deep sigh, mentally preparing myself, before pushing the cold metal handle. I slowly opened the door and entered inside. I took out my schedule from my backpack and searched for my first period class.

"John?" I heard a voice coming from behind me. I turned to see a boy roughly my age. He had messy brown hair that curled upwards, a red shirt with a bold white collar, and some basic navy blue jeans. His eyes widened, he had dark bags under his eyes most likely caused by a lack of sleep.

"John! We haven't seen each other since middle school!" Max ran up and spun me around in a tight hug, I felt like my body was about to be crushed like a soda can.

"Y-yeah n-nice to see you too, Max," I coughed out. Max quickly released me from his vice grip, I quickly tried to catch my breath.

"Sorry about that," Max scratched the back of his head with a mix of guilt and amusement in his face. He has grown quite a lot since I last saw him, I always knew him to be a bit tall growing up but now he is half a foot taller than me. He is way thinner than I last saw him, not saying that he was fat of course. I would've imagined him with a body type more familiar to a jock than the lanky form I see before me. "We can catch up later after school,"

"I-Right...uhh", My mind struggles to process what happened in the last 39 seconds. I honestly had no idea what to say, too many things ran through my mind.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry I just got excited," Max nervously chuckled, I could tell from his face that this is as awkward for him as it was for me. "It's just that I have been overwhelmed a lot lately..."

The awkward silence that befell us went on for what felt like an eternity. I tried to search for a way out of this situation and quickly remembered about my schedule. "Room 112?" Max asked, he had the same idea.

I looked through my schedule and nodded in confirmation. "Yeah," I slowly stammered out.

"Well it looks like we have the same homeroom and first period class, what are the odds?" Max chuckled as he walked down the hallway. I followed him since he was most likely familiar with the building layout.