CHAPTER 1
Maximum Underwood walked her bike home, tired and hungry, gripping her bag closer to her, and making sure her extra skated board was still attached to the back, as she pedalled her way faster across the street. Max steered her bike swiftly among the cars and busses, her handles just inches away from scratching their sides. Every day’s the same when you’re a messenger, you wake up early in a zombie mode, grab breakfast on the way to work, then once you get to the office your boss sends you on a $50 pay job, then you gamble your life on the road against cars and pedestrians, then once you finally get the package to the customer, you repeat everything you did, because time is everything, time is money. Some people might think, ‘oh, yeah, biking is easy, c’mon’; they just don’t know how hard it actually is though, some people judge because they haven’t experienced it before. Max made her way to her small apartment at the corner of carnation and Briar Street, she skidded her way onto the sidewalk, hopping her bike to the stairs and backing it up again, Max used to go out and practice unusual and lethal tricks on bikes, she stopped just after her parents died. She casually unlocked the chain she wore as a belt and locked her bike unto a nearby tree, untying the skateboard from the back in the process. “Miles, I'm home!” she called out as she walked inside the cosy apartment. Millenium Underwood, or Miles, is her little brother…well not so little, miles is 18 and max is 23, a five year difference. Max and Miles live alone with each other, their parents died when max was 18 and miles was 13, so max had to work for her brothers future. Miles was in the living room; he was upside down on the couch reading from an old black and tattered up pocket book their grandpa gave him before he died, max slumped her black body bag unto the couch next to her brother, “hey” miles greeted simply, she ran up the stairs to her room to change, “how was your day?” she hollered rushing down from the stair case,
“Meh” miles said, his eyes fixed on the book, max quickly prepared their dinner and gave a plate to her brother. “So…nothing happened?” max asked as they ate, “uhm…I met a new girl…” he retorted playing with his food, “ooh a girl, do tell”,
“Uh, she’s nice…I guess…”. Max smiled, it had always been a struggle for her brother to find friends, the other kids would usually just tease and make fun of him, miles was tagged as their school outcast, he was treated like a seat filler, someone who just took up space. Max knew that her brother was somewhat weird, when miles was 13 he kept talking to nothing, when max asked who he was talking to, miles would always say, “its mom and dad, they’re back”, but max thought miles just missed their parents and thought it was just a faze and it would pass, but it didn’t , miles would always talk to imaginary people and go off to the cemetery offering flowers to the dead he didn’t even know, naturally as a sister, max was worried and asked miles why he would give the dead people who weren’t related to them flowers, but miles would just say, “I don’t know…they said they just needed it…” max would just shake it off her mind and go with whatever her brother’s got, but that didn’t change the fact that miles was still named as his school’s misfit outsider. Max thought she shouldn’t try to help him, kids might just make more fun of him, anyways miles wouldn’t let her either, Miles was a nice kid if they actually got to know him, he was quiet and kept to himself, sure he was a little weird…gauche in other terms, but he was a little normal too.
The rest of the week passed in a blur, everything was pretty much the same, max went to work and miles went to school, it was hectic for both of them since everything and everyone was busy. This day was particularly a Friday, max biked of her way to a street just five blocks away from her apartment, she was thanking God that it was the last package she needed to deliver, and she had delivered it earlier than usual, ‘okay, 5701, oak street’ she repeated the address to herself. She stopped at an old looking apartment-building like structure, knocked on the door twice and waited a few minutes for someone to come out or call out ‘coming!’, a few minutes later, a tall guy with messy cream hair and light brown eyes answered the door like his life depended on it, he was wearing an old fashioned vest and old fashioned black leather shoes
