He was in freefall. The metal had torn with a squelch and he had fallen off the side of the building. Why did things have to end like this? He could only ask himself that question as he fell, the eager growls of the creature below him grew ever louder as he neared its bloodthirsty claws. He had tried so hard to live but it seemed this was the end…

***

Maxwell took a deep breath and clasped the door handle. It was nothing he hadn’t done before. He was just overthinking things. Despite those thoughts Maxwell couldn’t help but feel a pit in his stomach. He turned the metal handle, his hand now slightly sweaty and opened the door to the classroom.

Maxwell's eyes widened and he immediately moved away from the door. A humanoid shape flew out of the classroom. Maxwell got a glimpse of a scared face, tumbling hair and a bloody nose.

“Was that a person?” said Maxwell

Laughter emanated from the room. He could clearly hear scuffling chairs, screams, the sound of things hitting the floor, the sound of fabric ripping?

He gingerly walked in.

Maxwell stared in confusion. He swept aside his dark bangs for a moment as if the sight was due to something blocking his vision. That wasn’t how he imagined his first day at a new school would be. Who knew he would transfer to a weirder school than the one he had gone to before.

In the front of the classroom. A boy with light blonde hair was fighting off three guys. He wore a white shirt and black sweater.

“Beat him to a pulp!” shouted someone. Maxwell looked to see where the voice had come from. In the back of the class students had built a small island of desk and on top of that a boy was laughing his ass off. He wore a red plaid jacket and whenever he laughed he would rear his head back causing his gold-chain earrings to rattle with each breath.

One of the boys threw a punch at the blonde haired boy but it was swiftly dodged. The momentum from the punch was used to flip the boy over the blonde haired boy’s shoulder. He punched the second guy square in the jaw and used the same arm to elbow the third guy in the throat in one fluid motion.

“I warned you,” said the boy calmly to the collapsed people.

Maxwell spotted an open seat right near the entrance. He walked over to it.

“Is this seat free?” he asked the boy sitting next to it. The boy jerked his head up to meet Maxwell’s eyes before looking back down at his desk and nodding shakily. He hadn’t said anything but Maxwell took the gesture as a no. Maxwell sat down quietly. He suspected the boy was another victim of the blonde haired boy. The boy’s eyes had been wide open in fear when he looked at Maxwell. It was then Maxwell had gotten a good look at the boy’s face. He had a split lip, swollen eye and a smattering of bruises on his face. How did things get this bad? This shouldn’t be happening at a school. Someone should have stopped this long ago. Where was the teacher?

“Jack, I told you to stop already!” shouted the blonde boy at the laughing boy. “This isn’t a game,” shouted the blonde boy.

“Why are you getting all violent, we were just having fun,” said Jack.

The blonde boy rushed him jumping onto the desks. He punched Jack on top of the desks. Repeatedly.

The girls screamed when they saw his fists come away red.

Excuse me,” heard Maxwell from behind him. He turned facing a man in a dress shirt holding a cup of coffee. He had a Maxweller behind his ear. Maxwell saw his eyes look over Maxwell's shoulder.

The teacher’s eyes widened in horror. He ran forward.

“What the hell are you doing Colin!” he shouted, grabbing Colin by the shoulders. He pulled him off of Jack.

“Go straight to the principal’s office right now!” he shouted.

“But teacher, he was the one who-”

“No buts!” said the teacher. His face a deep red. “This serves as proper rights for expulsion!”

“Just because he’s the principal’s grandson-”

“I said go!” shouted the teacher pointing at the door.

Colin stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

“Is he finally going to get expelled,” whispered some students.

“Somebody please call the nurse, it’s better we don’t move them, god knows what damage has been done to them,”

“I can do it, Mr Thompson” said a girl. She wore a light blue skirt, had auburn hair that flowed to her waist.

“Thank you Mary,” said Mr Thompson.” I’m glad I can rely on you.”

Maxwell raised his hand slowly.

“Um, Mr Thompson,” he said awkwardly. . The teacher stared blankly back at him before his mouth opened in an oh-shape.The teacher straightened up.

“Listen up everyone!” he said in a loud voice. “ We have a transfer student, joining us today his name is …” the teacher trailed off.

“Maxwell,” chimed Maxwell in.

“...Maxwell!” finished the teacher. “ Give him a warm welcome, he’s arriving in the middle of the year but I’m sure he’ll catch up just fine, fun fact about Maxwell everyone, he got in due to his top notch grades!”

The classroom was dead silent except for the groans of the laboured breathing of Jack.

“A round of applause for Maxwell!” encouraged Mr Thompson

A slow wave of claps echoed in the room. It reminded Maxwell of those times in kindergarten when everyone would have show-and-tell and bring an object from home. He never had anything interesting to bring and when he was done there would be an awkward pause before the teacher urged everyone to clap.

Surprisingly the rest of the lesson was peaceful and fairly normal. He’d never been one much interested in school but just did the work his teachers told him to do. Classmates often complained of not having enough time, but that was something Maxwell had never understood. It was simply a matter of time management, if one was consistent enough and did a couple hours a day of work it’s practically impossible to be behind. That’s how he had maintained excellent grades. Although to be fair, Maxwell didn’t exactly have a lot of friends to spend his time on otherwise.

After the lesson was over he went off to the bathroom. He first checked the floor plan by the stairs for were the bathrooms were located.

He was currently on the third floor. As soon as class had ended the students had flooded out of the classroom heading for the bathroom on the same floor. He looked closer at the floorplan. There was a small bathroom on the fourth floor. The sign Maxwelling it was faded, practically non-existent but it was there. .

He hurried up the stairs to the hidden bathroom so as no one else were to take it. If the scale was accurate it would be about half the size of the bathroom on the third floor. To his surprise when he opened the door, Colin the blonde haired floor was dabbing away at his face with a wet hand. Colin glanced at Maxwell.

“Oh, it’s you, the transfer student,” said Colin.

“yea, “ said Maxwell, “How do you even know that you weren’t in class?”

Colin shrugged. “You’re the only new face in a while, not many people transfer to this dump, my name’s Colin by the way.”

“That makes sense, said Maxwell, nodding. This person seemed so different from the violent angry person he was introduced to. It seemed like the person in front of him was an entirely different person from the one that had beaten up four people, practically reconstructing that Jack guy’s face. The only thing that gave it away were the bruises on his face and his scratched knuckles where the skin had come off due to his punching. That doesn’t seem like someone that would beat up people for no reason. Maxwell thought back to the beaten up boy he had sat next to. The pieces clicked in his head.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“You weren’t the bully, you were standing up for someone,” said Maxwell.

“Huh,” said Colin.

“You were beating up those guys because they were bullying someone else,” said Maxwell. “Why would you do that, you’re not doing yourself any favours,” said Maxwell.

“I mean look at how beat up you are,” said Maxwell gesturing to his face.

“I don’t like bullying,” said Colin simply

“That’s it, you just don’t like bullying?” Maxwell said, confused. Did he not understand how things worked, nothing good will come from involving yourself with others.

Colin remained silent.

Maxwell sighed. “But even though you were trying to do right, you went to far, you didn’t have to beat them up that badly, “

“I know,” he said. “I’m going to apologise to them afterwards, I tend to go overboard sometimes,”

Maxwell scanned Colin’s face but couldn’t find any signs of insincerity.

Narj smiled bittersweetly in defeat before extending a hand.

“My name’s Maxwell,” He said. Colin shook it with his wet hand. “Pleasure to meet you Maxwell.”

Maxwell winced as the water coated his hand.

“Did you have to use your watery hand,” said Maxwell.

“Oh, I didn’t think about that,” said Colin sheepishly.

“I swear to god,” muttered Maxwell under his breath. Whether it was selflessness or stupidity Maxwell wasn’t entirely sure. He couldn’t bear to be suspicious of someone so earnestly trying to do good.

Colin turned back to the mirror, touching a cut on his face. Maxwell watched him for a moment before walking over and grabbing paper towels.

“Try using paper towels, you’ll be able to soak your skin more,” he began. “ You’re also probably better off using soap instead of hand sanitizer, it’s too harsh for your skin…”

That was Maxwell’s fateful first interaction with Colin and the start of a blooming friendship.

***

A figure walked down the riverbank. To the side of him past the grass flowed the Rion river. It’s water lapped at the sides of the canal as it flowed lazily beside the boy. The boy seemed lost in thought, his eyes were downcast and unblinking. His school bag was slung over his shoulder using one hand to keep it in place.

Unaware to the boy, someone was creeping up behind him. familiar blonde hair waved in the wind. The boy walking behind grinned before pouncing.

“Boo!” he said, tackling him to the ground. They rolled down the hill and landed in a heap by the riverside,

Maxwell laughed. “I swear to god Colin!” he said grinning. They both got to their feet.

Maxwell dropped his bag to the ground. “I’ll get you this time,” he said.

“Alright, show me somethin!” said Colin, raising his hands.

“You sure about that, I’ve been working on that kick you showed me,” said Maxwell. He dashed forward a couple steps before pivoting on his rear foot and striking at Colin’s outstretched hand. His foot landed in Colin’s palm with a solid thud.

“Not bad, but you have a long way to go,” said Colin. Maxwell felt the grip tighten around his foot.

“Hey, let go!” said Maxwell.

“For example, that balance…” Colin swiped Maxwell's foot from under him.

“Just be glad i’m not putting you in a headlock again,” said Colin

Ever since that first incident two years ago Maxwell and Colin had become close friends. Colin had a poor reputation but as Maxwell got to know him he was amazed at how ridiculously kind of a person Colin was. The issue was he wasn’t good at expressing himself and tended to use his fists twice as much as he talked. There had been an incident one time where Colin had greeted Maxwell with a Tibetan Mastiff. Maxwell found out later from Ms Turner that Colin had spent hours looking for it just because he had found a missing poster.

“Ok, you win,” said Maxwell ”Can you please help me up,” he said raising his hand to Colin. Colin bent down and took it. Maxwell started to rise.

“Did that take your mind-” Before Colin could finish Maxwell leaned back taking both him and Colin back to the ground.

“I win!” exclaimed Maxwell.

“As if,” said Colin. “What idiot takes themselves down along with the enemy,”

“A win’s a win,” said Maxwell. “Don’t sweat the details, I got you to the ground, that's all that matters.”

“Whatever, you’re awfully competitive for someone who always loses” said Colin putting his hands behind his head and lying down. “The strong don’t have to try and convince the weak of how strong they are,” he said.

“THe strong don’t have to conviNce the Weak of hoW strong they Are,” said Maxwell mockingly. “ Did you watch that in a tv show?”

“Maybe,” said Colin, “It sounds cool, you have to admit that.”

“Right.”

Maxwell got up and helped Colin to his feet. “Let’s get out of here before our clothes become even more wet.”

“You can wash up at my place,” said Colin.

“Appreciate it,” said Maxwell. “And not just for being able to wash up at your place, you took my mind off worrying about finals, I’ve been stressing about them for more than I meant too, you know how I am about these things,” said Maxwell.

Even though Maxwell’s mind hadn’t forgotten his stresses but for a moment, it was more than welcome relief.

“Anytime,” said Colin, “ I’m just looking out for you, my grades aren’t good enough to help you study, so I’m just doing what I can, although this is also fun for me.”

Maxwell found himself once more admiring how good of a person and friend Colin was.

After walking back to Colin’s place, Maxwell took a quick shower before beginning to head back. He stopped at the door to tie his shoelaces, wiping a droplet of water from his face. He got to his feet with a groan that made it seem he was a fifty year old man with a family of four and 30 years of coal-mining experience.

“See you tomorrow,” he shouted behind him.

“See you then!” he heard Colin cry out, his voice muffled through several layers of walls

”You’re not staying for dinner?” said a woman wearing an apron and wearing a worried smile. The same light blonde hair of Colin’s flowed down her head.

He smiled sadly “Thank you for the offer Ms Turner but it’s getting late and my dad will worry.”

“Thank you for being friends with Colin,” she said abruptly. “I know he doesn’t have many friends at school.”

“What do you mean Ms Turner?” said Maxwell, confused. “I’m friends with him because I want to, if anything I’m grateful to have him as my friend.”

With those final words he left, closing the door shut behind him.

He walked down the street toward the train station. Crickets chirped in the bushes. The sky rumbled like the low growl of a lion. Maxwell looked up. Dark swirling clouds were forming and blocking out the already grey evening sky. A cold breeze washed over Maxwell’s body sending a chill through him that made him shiver.

He made it to the train station and rode three stops as he always did. At this time it was past rush hour which meant he had a clear view of the rain starting to pour down against the windows.

Maxwell yawned. He still had an english assignment due tomorrow, he had about 30 pages of “The Historian” left to read. The rain was really starting to pour now, fat beads of water hit against the thick glass windows like pellets from an airsoft gun.

Once arriving at his stop he headed straight for his home. The buildings were much more tightly packed here compared to where Colin lived and were several times taller than a regular house. They had been built several decades ago for cheap housing, and had stayed that way ever since. Maxwell walked fast facing the ground to avoid being battered with water droplets the size of marbles.

A high-pitched bone-chilling scream penetrated the air. Despite the noise of the rain the raw scream rang out clearly. The sound echoed through the tightly packed apartments. Before disappearing just as fast as it had appeared fading into the backdrop. Leaving him once more with the overbearing sound of rain. A shiver ran down his spine this time unrelated to the cold rain that soaked his body.

What the hell was that? Was someone just watching a horror movie a bit too loud? Perhaps it was the mating call of an exotic bird? A million and one thoughts ran through Maxwell’s mind. What was he supposed to do?

He knew what Colin would do.

“Help me, please!” shouted the voice.

“In that split millisecond Maxwell made a decision. Crap crap crap!” Swore Maxwell to himself. He nearly tripped over his own feet before turning and running full pelt in the direction of the cry.

He wasn’t some sort of hero, why was he doing this? He could just turn around and run back. His thoughts rattled around in his brain. They were as numerous as the rain droplets that pelted him with each passing second. He didn’t know if what he was doing was right or safe but he didn’t have time to think.

Maxwell followed the frantic cries. He ran down the street turning in sharply at the building corner, heading in between more apartment complexes. He rounded the corner, coming face to face with two people. In the far edge backed into a corner was a frightened woman, clutching her purse. Her eyes darted in Maxwell’s direction at the sight of him, her eyes were wide and full of distress. Tears ran down her face, mingling with the rain. Towering over her was a large figure with a beige hooded cloak that obscured their body.

He frantically reached into his pocket, scrambling around until his fingers wrapped around the familiar object of his phone. Who do I call? His breathing was fast and shallow. What do I do!?

…

The rain was starting to soak into Maxwell’s hair. He peeked over the edge of the brick wall at the monster. When is he going to get here? The adrenaline was making him so nervous his knees wouldn’t stop shaking.

The figure walked closer to the woman. She shrieked and held up her arms to protect her face. The person leaped forward rearing its head back and its jaws wide open. Maxwell got a glimpse of teeth way longer than a human’s should be.

Those verocious jaws wrapped around her pale arm. Blood ran down her arms and a terrible scream escaped her mouth. With a violent twist the arm came off at the elbow. Maxwell’s blood ran cold. He felt nauseous to his core. His knees threatened to buckle under him. What the hell was happening! Mustering the last of his courage he stepped forward. He took a deep breath.

“Get a-”

“Get away from her!” shouted a voice. Maxwell’s head snapped to the side. Colin! He was standing next to Maxwell. He was breathing heavily but he had a fierce look in his eyes.

The defined muscles of the hulking figure rippled through its clothes. The figure turned around and snarled. Teeth jutted out from its furry face. Its red eyes burned with fury.

A deep primal fear coursed through Maxwell’s body. It shook him so violently his knees nearly buckled from under him. His body was screaming at him to run away, begging him to retreat. This creature whatever the heck it was, sure as hell wasn’t human.