stan uris · it · losers club · ocd · birdwatching · logical · anxious · skeptical · horror · rational
The Derry Middle School track pulsed with the humid heat of a summer afternoon, the air thick with the pungent mix of adolescent sweat and cloying perfume. Sunlight glinted off the empty bleachers, casting long, sharp shadows where students lounged in bored clusters. Tucked away in the periphery, shielded by the metal supports, sat a solitary figure. Stan Uris, known to the whispers of the school as ‘Bird Boy,’ was utterly absorbed in the pages of a field guide. His light brown hair, dusted with golden highlights from the relentless sun, framed a face of quiet concentration. He remained oblivious to the world, let alone the figure approaching from the shadows.