When the Cold Cries[ON HOLD]

01~graffiti

graffiti: unauthorized drawing on a public surface, generally seen as a form of rebelling against authority

usually used by the craft Power Artificer

It had taken me exactly 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 17 seconds to realize that agreeing with my friends was the stupidest, most idiotic decision I'd ever made.

I've had my share of stupid decisions, and I'll admit, the majority of those slots were taken up by reckless "adventures" my friends had bullied me into joining. But this time, even they couldn't foresee what would happen.

Which is why we were currently in a very sticky situation. A situation involving three cans of spray paint; my friends, Abby Hamill and Will Colsen; and me; the three of us sprinting away from the local Powers Building, each clutching a can of paint. The bright floodlights revealed our presence to anyone who happened to glance out the window at 12:38 in the morning. And we were desperately hoping that no one was still awake like us, the foolish bunch we were; Abby and Will for coming up with the idea, and me for agreeing with them. Jail wasn't exactly my favorite place to be on a Friday night.

We subtly crashed into the safety of the trees--or at least we tried; it's not easy to crash subtly--and immediately collapsed on the ground, panting. I rolled over to get a glimpse of our work through the trees. Even though it was bathed in a shadow--which was what let us work without being seen--it was hard to miss. We had covered almost an entire side in swaths of blue, white, and silver, the words THE CRYOLS WILL RISE painted on in a piercing ice blue.

I admired our work for a second, then immediately whacked Abby and Will on their heads. Or at least where I thought their heads were; it was too hard to see through the darkness.

"I can't believe you guys made me do this!" I hissed, my heart still pounding with adrenaline.

"Hey, don't blame me, this was all Abby's idea," Will protested. "As usual," he muttered under his breath. I turned to glare at the culprit.

"Abby, when did you ever think this was a good idea? If my parents find out, they're going to kill me!" I paced back and forth, wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea to join them. Abby and Will never told me what we were doing, but from my experience, nothing ever good comes out of these "adventures".

"Exactly," Abby replied with a smirk. "If they find out. Which they won't."

"Abby--" I started, turning to face her with a scowl.

"Christy, relax," she cut in. "You're such a goody-two shoes, your parents would never suspect you," she stated in her usual blunt way. I glared at her.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Take it as a good thing," Will said, patting my back. "You can basically do whatever you want and not get caught. Us on the other hand..." He trailed off, a wistful look on his face.

"I still don't see why you guys made me do this. Just because I might not get caught--which I highly doubt will happen--doesn't mean you guys won't either." I resumed my pacing, fidgeting with the can of spray paint in my hands.

"Oh my god, Christy, you're such a boring person," Abby exclaimed, exasperated. "You need to learn how to live a little--something you can't do with your nose in a fucking book all day." I opened my mouth to scold her for her language, but she beat me to it. "And doing that," she continued, motioning to my still-opened mouth, "just tells people that you're even more of a..a killjoy. A party pooper. A lame--"