Author's Note: this episode contains underage drinking, more info in description

 After school ends on Friday, Max steers us all towards the park. It’s already dark and chilly so we all protest, but he tuts in response.

‘I’ve come prepared,’ he pulls out a torchlight from his backpack and grins. ‘Come on, let’s go, we haven’t been there in ages.’

We groan and grumble but we go. After a quick detour to the corner shop for snacks, we venture into the wilderness of the park.

Max’s torch casts eerie shadows through the trees, twisting their branches into creatures with countless arms. But there are no monsters on this familiar path tonight. Soon, the light focuses on the walls of the dilapidated shack, droplets of colour reflecting off the little drawings Richie’s done on some of the bricks. Despite not visiting for almost two months now, nothing has changed – even the random chairs we salvaged from the estate dumpsters are still in their usual spots.

‘What’s the plan now, genius?’ Jessica asks, teeth chattering. ‘Freeze to death?’

‘Aha!’ Max replies, and fishes a bottle of whiskey from the depths of his school bag.

‘So get drunk and freeze to death, gotcha.’

Naddie, Zach, and Richie, after lagging behind engrossed in a discussion about some book, finally catch up to us. When he sees the bottle in Max’s hand, Zach grins.

‘I was hoping that’d be the prize for coming here.’

‘It’s been over a week since we hung out properly outside of school,’ Max says, taking a swig. ‘Not since Corey’s birthday over a week ago, actually.’ He passes me the bottle.

‘Oh yeah, what’s it like being an adult?’ Naddie asks me.

I raise the bottle in mock toast. ‘It’s led me to drink,’ I say, making us all laugh. The liquid burns the back of my throat and I pass it to Richie. Zach puts on his favourite playlist as Jess starts complaining about her ongoing feud with the English teacher.

The music notes wrap lazily around the silent trees as we chat and joke in the circular light. The darkness around us deepens, the cold creeping in. Jess starts dancing in the stark spotlight and mesmerises us all as her body merges with the melody, her every move weaving the story of the sombre song. Then she pulls Zach to his feet and the two perform together, the years of dance practice evident in each step of their seamless synchronicity.

Later, when the bottle is more empty than not and icy needles sting our skin, we know we should head home. But we're hesitant to leave the park’s enchanted embrace.

Max stands up and walks to the empty door-frame of the shack. He runs his hand along the rotted wood, then turns to us, his eyes bright.

‘In the quiet of the night, the portal to the other world opens,’ he whispers, all eyes fixed on him. ‘And after so many years spent away, the six heroes decide once more to enter the world of Erehwon.’