OOM: Impossible things before breakfast

[little_pieces_of_time]

From here.

Max shook herself as she left her room. The graffiti threat was gone and the mess cleaned up, but some of her photos from her collage were still missing, and the idea of Nathan or Victoria deliberately taking them made her sick to her stomach.

Her thoughts elsewhere, she almost didn't hear Dana calling her as she passed by Dana's room. Though Max wasn't always the best with social cues, she could tell Dana just wanted to make sure things were still okay between them, after the reveal of Dana's curtailed pregnancy yesterday.

"By the way," Dana added, looking excited. "The best and biggest news of the day is that Trevor asked me to the Halloween shindig."

Max smiled, "That's awesome, Dana." The skater boy was far better than would-be deadbeat-dad jock Logan, anyway.

"So you absolutely should go with us. Borrow one of my outfits and come as a cute geek couple with your bitch Warren..."

Max laughed, not sure. "I... don't know. I'm not that big into cosplay."

"Don't let life pass you by, Max," Dana insisted, clasping Max's hands hopefully.

Well, what's the harm? If she didn't like it, Max could always rewind and change her mind. So... "Why the fuck not? If I hate it, I can always go back to my room."

Dana cheered. "That's the spirit, Max! After this, you'll be ready for a rave..."

"Suuuuure," Max laughed, glad to see Dana in better spirits. "Now I have to go, and contemplate my future as a party animal..."

"Damn right, girl!"

Outside, the morning was already warm, despite the delicious oranges and reds of the leaves. Some of the jocks whose names Max could never remember were tossing a football around, Victoria's crony-slash-friend Taylor was on her phone sitting beside a tree, and Samuel the groundskeeper was enjoying his morning ritual of feeding the local squirrels.

"Hey, Samuel, you're up early."

Samuel looked up at her. "Oh--hello, young Max," he replied, mildly. "I do love the early morning. Everything is so calm and quiet...and I can feel the animals waking up with me."

Max smiled, nodding. "That's one thing I truly love about Arcadia Bay. It's a town full of people, but you can still see all those cool animals in the forest."

Samuel often seemed to be in his own world, but Max had been on the receiving end of his perceptiveness before. She knew he could tell she had a specific encounter in mind. "What animals do you see in the forest?"

"Don't laugh," as though he would, "but...I saw a doe that seemed to be looking right at me...like it was trying to communicate."

Not to mention the ghostly doe that had led her through the dangers of the storm in her second vision. But she wasn't about to open that can of worms.

Anyway, there was no way it could be the same deer.

Samuel seemed to take that in stride, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Oh, that's your spirit animal! Nothing weird there, except you saw yours. Could be a sign about your destiny... But what do I know? My spirit animal is a squirrel."

Max... had vague, uneasy thoughts on the idea of claiming to have a spirit animal, but she knew she wasn't up for that conversation either, right at the moment.

"So," she cast about for other topics, "what did you think about that freak snow shower yesterday?"

Samuel shook his head. "Another message from the Earth to get our shit together. Or else."

Max's smile faded somewhat. "Too true. I don't want to get in the way of your morning ritual. See you later, Samuel."

"Of course."

Max eyed Taylor as she stepped away from Samuel and his ritual, and found herself thinking of Victoria, and paint cans, and sympathy after misfortune.

"Hi, Taylor," Max offered, lightly testing the waters.

Taylor looked up from her phone, unimpressed. "'Hi, Taylor,'" she mocked. "Just because you were nice to Victoria doesn't mean I have to be nice to you."

Max held up her hands. "I don't want to fight with you or Victoria. Instead of smack talk... maybe we could just talk. For once."

"You're funny," Taylor replied, dry and suspicious of Max's motives. "Well, I'm not doing anything at the moment...so talk."

"You know that Kate is really upset about that video... All this gossip is cruel."

Taylor scoffed. "Oh boohoo. That's what happens when you preach to everybody about sex. She'll live."

"She never preached to me," Max murmured, thinking of what Kate had told her of her memories that night. "And running the school's abstinence club doesn't justify everything she's being put through. Though, speaking of going through awfulness, why do you hang out with Victoria? She's pretty mean to you and Courtney."

Taylor shook her head, defensive. "Yeah? And she's bossy, too! Look, you don't know her. I do. And she's one of the best friends you could have."

Max had to admit that was... possible. She would say the same about Chloe if someone tried to talk badly about her, even knowing Chloe's admittedly many faults. "I guess I've had mean, bossy best friends too. Better than having mean, bossy parents." She couldn't help but think of the condemnation in Kate's letter from her mother.

"I would love it if my mom could be mean or bossy instead of sick," Taylor muttered, done. "But whatever. We've had our talk. Go away, Max."

Max watched Taylor go back to her phone, her sour mood reflected on her face. The decision to rewind came naturally, with little thought or hesitation. Almost dreamlike, Max lifted her hand and concentrated. She watched Taylor's facial expressions, heard her voice be just as sour in reverse, feel the ghosts of her own movements undoing themselves, her own words being unsaid as she pulled herself back through time. The sensation was heady, especially as she felt herself settle back into the flow of time, mid-sentence.

"..doesn't justify everything she's being put through. Though, speaking of going through awfulness, I heard that your mother has been really sick. I'm so sorry. If I can ask, what - what happened to her?"

Taylor blinked at Max, surprised. "Well, if you do care... My mom had to have some major back surgery. Victoria's been offering me rides nearly every day so I can go visit her in the hospital."

"Ouch, that's a lot to go through. I'm glad you're not going through it alone. Sometimes bossy best friends are the best kind."

Taylor actually smiled at her, albeit only slightly. "Victoria has always been there for me. I guess kinda like you are for Kate. I'm... not about tearing people down, Max."

"I know you aren't," Max said with a smile, though her thoughts were on the wad of paper Taylor had thrown at Kate's face in class yesterday, the one that said how much Taylor loved Kate's 'porn video,' and the glee on Taylor's face when Victoria wrote the link to the video on the bathroom mirror so everyone could see it. "That's why I wanted to talk."

"I'm...glad we did," Taylor admitted. Max waved slightly as she walked off, feeling gross.

Her mood wasn't helped by the feeling that Warren was waiting for her - despite his protests to the contrary - on the walkway towards the main building. He had a black eye and was looking rather rough from his fight with Nathan the previous day. Max made sure he knew she appreciated him stepping in against the bully. That he was a real everyday hero, and that she definitely owed him one.

The timing might have been a coincidence, and his invitation to the movies might have been completely innocuous, but it absolutely felt to Max like he expected her to say yes as a thank-you. Because she owed him one. She had said as much, true. But Max really wasn't up for her another thing to be anxious about. Driving an hour each way with Warren and his awkwardly transparent interest in her, even to see Planet of the Apes at the drive-in, just felt like too much. Especially with everything else going on.

Warren didn't seem to take the rejection hard, at least, which she appreciated. Maybe he would think to invite Brooke. She would be all over that.


As she got onto the school bus, Max spotted David Madsen arguing with Nathan Prescott nearby. It was frustrating - she couldn't hear what they were arguing about without being spotted or missing the bus. But it didn't look like a friendly conversation. Max would bet it had something to do with Kate. Or Rachel.

The ride into downtown Arcadia Bay was a whirlwind of nostalgia. Max would swear the place hadn't changed a bit. The houses looked the same, the shops looked the same, the ancient stoplight at the main intersection still swayed slightly in the breeze, and the far-off lighthouse was still visible from everywhere in town. She got off the bus at the Two Whales diner and couldn't help but smile. Still the same neon sign, still the same old-timey vibe. Prices were a bit higher, but that was to be expected.

Her reverie was broken by an anxious woman at the bus stop, who asked if the regular bus was coming soon. It turned out she had a job interview over in Newport and was anxious not to miss it. Apparently she couldn't find work in Arcadia Bay. Max assured her the buses ran regularly and reliably, which made the woman feel better. Max was surprised to hear things were so dire, though the feeling only strengthened upon seeing the fisherman who had set up a table of protest pamphlets alongside the diner.

"Good morning," Max greeted him with a slight smile. "Looks like you're ready to catch some serious fish."

The fisherman's voice was as salty as his expression. "I wish, young gal. Arcadia Bay just isn't the same fishing town I grew up in."

"Has the town changed much?"

"By Neptune's beard, it has! Seems like a lifetime ago when I was king of the harbor. My boat, I call her the 'Bali Hai.' I've kept ahold of her in these lean days...might be all the time we got left..."

Max hesitated, unsure. "I thought one of Arcadia Bay's main exports was fish..."

Fisherman pshaw'd and shook his head. "Oh, the fish used to jump onto my boat. Until the Prescotts and their finance fiends snapped up all the harbor rights. Want 'em for the rich potentials in that 'development' they're making."

"...Do you know them?"

"Nah. Too good for my working kind. I know them through their bad deeds... they're trying to rename the place Prescott Bay, if that tells you anything."

Max could commiserate. "They practically own my school."

"Wouldn't be the first time crooks gained respect by putting their names on schools and libraries. But let's not get downcast. I hear the fish calling for Bali Hai... Never forget that old fishermen never die, we just smell that way!"

Max smiled, giving a hopeful little wave as she stepped towards the diner. "Happy fishing out there!"

It was heartening, somewhat, to know that her feelings about the Prescott's were shared by other people in the community. Dispiriting, though, to hear of the effect the Prescotts have had on the town. Max supposed that the overt negative effects were muted at Blackwell, since Nathan Prescott's father was such a big donor.

She couldn't help but notice something else she hadn't seen in Arcadia before, alongside the diner. Though the old woman sitting on a flattened bit of cardboard next to a sign had a lined, weathered face, her eyes looked kind. Tired, not expecting much attention from those passing by, but kind.

"Hello," Max said, offering a smile.

The lined face crinkled as the woman smiled back. Her voice was as creaky as an old door hinge. "Aw, look at you. A fine example of youth. I bet you're a senior student."

"Yes, ma'am," Max replied. "I go to Blackwell Academy."

"A wise young woman, I could tell. Though I know all about Blackwell. And this town."

"Then you must know Joyce Price from the Two Whales Diner..."

The woman smiled, pressing a gnarled hand to her heart briefly. "She's fed me, looked out for me more than even my own family. Has a daughter your age who's always in trouble, I hear... and married to a real prick."

Max couldn't argue there. "His name is David Madsen."

The woman shook her head, bitterly. "He told me to 'get a job' once. Asshole. Not sure what Joyce sees in him, but he'd better treat her right."

Max didn't think Joyce would put up with abuse, but she was prepared to be wrong. She still wasn't sure Joyce knew about David hitting Chloe.

"Have you met Joyce's daughter?"

The woman chuckled. "Cute girl, but usually pissed off. I used to see her and her pretty friend, er... Rachel, around a lot."

Max bit her lip, feeling her attention sharpen. "Do you know anything about Rachel Amber, that missing girl?"

"I know she's missing," the woman replied, considering. "And I know she hung out here a bit. Sometimes I'd see her walking, all by herself, deep in thought. Too damn young and pretty to look so worried..." the old woman sighed. "Once or twice, she'd talk to me...about trouble in school, wanting to be a model in California...she was always distant. But nice. I pray the poor thing is alright."

"Was she alone a lot or usually with friends?" Max asked, thinking of the enigma painted by all of the remarks from the others she had asked about Rachel.

"Like I said, she seemed tight with Joyce's daughter. I thought I saw her with an older gent one time, maybe her dad. That's such a terrible thing for a parent to deal with."

That was a thought. Where have Rachel's parents been all this time? Why was Chloe the only one still looking? Max resolved to ask Chloe, later.

"Have you lived in Arcadia Bay a long time?"

The woman's wrinkled face split into a grin missing more than a few teeth. "Oh, a thousand years. I've gone through the same change as the town."

"What kind of changes?" Max asked, the moment before realizing that might be too personal a question. But the woman didn't seem to take it as such.

"Oh, the kinds it takes a lifetime to see. There's a lot of beauty here, but a lot of darkness too. Greedy bastards have ruined this town, put people out of work...out of home. Like me."

"What happened?" Max asked, then added, "if I can ask."

The woman shook her head, waving away Max's concern. "What didn't happen to me? Sometimes you start out in life turned around the wrong way. I left a good home too early, I married dumb, made mistakes, got cheated out of my savings, lost what home I had, and now I hang out here. I've been asked if I would prefer to move, but where the hell would I go? I hate the sun and love the mist. I might be homeless, but Arcadia Bay is still my home."

"Even with the Prescotts getting their dirty hands on everything?"

"That whole family is dirty. They once done good things for Arcadia Bay, but those days are dead. Like anything in their way... If you know someone who stands to lose to them, you be their guardian angel, because nothing gets in the way of that family, especially not the law. Hell, they own your school, Blackwell. Almost."

"Almost," Max agrees, thinking of Nathan's gun pressed to Chloe' chest, his promise to take Kate to the hospital, his father's threatening text message. "But not completely. I'm... glad to have met you. I have to go, though."

"Take care, young lady. And look out for your people."

Max had a lot to think about as she stepped into the diner, but stepping through the gently chiming door into the sounds and smells of the diner overwhelmed her musings on the unsolved problem of the Prescotts. The place hadn't changed at all. The smells and sounds of bacon frying, silverware clanging, the ancient jukebox playing some unknown song from before Max was born... and Joyce Price - rather, Joyce Madsen, Max supposed - making coffee behind the counter. Even with all the other worries jumbling around in her head, Max couldn't help but feel thirteen again. Max found the booth where she and Chloe always had spent their time unchanged (her hand instinctively found the spot under the table where she and Chloe had carved their names when they were eleven), and sat down to wait for Chloe.