Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
◾️◾️◾️◾️◾️◾️◾️
SUMMER DANIELS had always hated her hometown. There was something about Derry, Maine, that didn't sit right.
It was as if a permanent fog hung above the town, no matter how clear and bright the sky was.
No one was quite... normal. Kids disappeared far too often to be normal. And people went on. They ignored what was broken and bruised and pretended like time could heal all wounds.
Jesse Lopez, Summer's only real friend, had gone missing five months before, while snow still sprinkled the ground and frost crunched underneath people's feet.
No one really remembered him. He was just like Betty Ripsom and Georgie Denbrough and all the other missing kids. Even Summer couldn't quite remember all of their names, no matter how much she fought the haze attempting to settle over her mind.
She was pretty sure this town was cursed.
⇝
"Here I am, rock you like a hurricane,"
Summer stalked out of class, music playing in her ears. There was a rare feeling of peace, despite the bell ringing shrilly overhead.
She headed for her locker, to grab her worn skateboard that had been a birthday present from her family, before it fell apart that is.
Summer's father had been caught in her parent's bed with another woman just three months before. Mrs. Daniels had chased them out of the house in their underwear, screaming and crying. It was a public scandal, and Mr Daniels cut town a week after that, only giving a short goodbye to Summer.
She hadn't cried.
Shaking her head to rid herself of thinking about it, she grabbed her board and slammed her locker shut aggressively.
Turning around, she nearly bumped into four boys walking in a line. "Sorry," she murmured, but only one boy heard her, the one beside her, and he turned around and looked at her, big brown eyes wide, before quickly turning back to his friends.
She was pretty sure he was in her science class, but she'd never made eye contact with him, much less spoken. She didn't even know his name.
Not that she knew many people's names. Summer escaped society unclassified, because no one noticed her. She was the brooding kid in the back of the class. People's eyes ghosted over her. She was as forgettable as the town. She might as well be missing.
Sometimes it felt like she had her own personal curse.
It came as an advantage sometimes- Greta Keene never even looked at her. Other girls weren't so lucky, in fact, Summer was pretty sure she'd seen a fellow redhead fall victim to a nasty trip to the ground just a few days before.
