The Orb —
The gang, Max, Mark, Randall, and Jamie loved summer and the pond at the old mill. The summer break, before entering high school, was like every other year. Until it changed.
On the day when Jamie stopped swimming in cutoff jeans and put on a bikini, Max found the crystalline Orb at the bottom of the old mill pond.
To the guys, Jamie was a “bookworm” until her iridescent blue bikini changed how they thought about Jamie. No longer “one of the guys”, Jamie was beautiful in the eyes of her best friends.
Wanting out of the dying mill town, Jamie planned to leave the day after graduation. She ignored her mother’s guidance and did not “dress to impress”. Leaving was the only option, else she would end up alone, and lonely, like her mother. Jamie did not care which one of “her” boys took her away, she loved them all.
Jamie wanted to be noticed. The bikini was just the start.
On the day Max found the crystalline Orb, his other geo specimens got boxed up and put in storage. The Orb became Max’s obsession. Why was the Orb warm when he pulled it from the cold pond water? Max wanted to know why he was having frequent daydreams about the future. He was sure the Orb was causing the vivid daydreams. Max began to think he was being manipulated by the Orb.
The day on the frozen pond was Max’s turning point. Saving the boy from falling through the ice was the spark. Max knew the Orb was showing him important things in the visions. It was a vision that he used to help the boy on the ice. The trigger was in the realization he could use the visions to help his friends.
The headache from saving the boy on the ice was the first clue there was more to the visions and the Orb.
The gang always knew Max was special, and more so after he found the Orb. Jamie was the first to notice the effects Max was suffering from the Orb. She made Max confess and she vowed to never let her friend suffer alone.
Jamie was afraid of the future.
Max had seen the future and knew what he needed to do to protect his friends.
