Night and Day

In the town of Lucksnoire, just off the West shore, the stars would come out at night protecting its nocturnal children, and by day the sun would provide warmth and light for those who searched it. However the people of Lucksnoire were forced to takes sides of the two dominating gangs who ruled the streets- one by day and the other by night.

The Day Trotters and the Night Creepers were two total opposite gangs. The Trotters were known for their iconic blue and yellow Letterman jackets. They roamed the streets with baseball bats in hand and roller skates on their feet. Whereas the Night Trotters wore black leather jackets arming themselves with knives and skateboards.

You see, during the day the rules would change from one extreme to another as the day transitioned into the night and vice versa. There was no such thing as an inbetween except during the sunsets and the sunrise. The girls and boys would have to date within the community, and any hassle between the two gangs would have to be dealt with fight. There was no way out.

Lexi was only 11 when she left school and joined the Night Creepers. She did it to get rid of the knee deep hole that her drunk father had dug due to a huge debt and to avenge a deed that could never be undone. The Creepers promised to pay for it in return for his first born to be a member. The more they had, the stronger they were.

Now she was 16 and already was promised to the gang leader's younger brother, Axl. She didn't mind. She had her green eyes following him since she peeked out of her window for the first time. He was tall, dark and had the bluest eyes she had ever seen.  He was only 17 and was already being groomed to be the next leader after his brother. She was proud to be his.

Though she never saw a lot of him, the little things showed that he still loved no matter what: the kisses on her forehead  reassuring that he would be okay when he went to fight the Trotters; the tucking of the strands of hair when they talked; and the random smiles he gave her.

While he ransacked Trotters' HQs, Lexi's job was to guard the streets to make sure there weren't any Trotters lurking around during the night. She missed Axl but they always reunited after the night retreated and day began, and so would go into hiding for the Trotters to come out.

During those moments of transition, Lexi would sit on the roof of the abandoned house on the edge of the East side of Town washing the sunrise and sunset, alone. She enjoyed these moments, being able to reflect on the past events. She would think of the happy days: before the gang, before her father’s alcohol addiction, before her mother’s death. She sometimes thought of what it would be like if Lucksnoire wasn’t split up but there was no way out. Police couldn’t do anything about it; these gangs were the only protection the town had.

It was on the first day of spring when she started to feel a harsh wind of change of her set routine. It was the same day she first met him.

Lexi held onto the ends of her leather jacket and nibbled on her jacket zip. It was a habit of hers. She sat on the low wall of the terrace facing the town’s small buildings below, with her legs folded upto her chest. She always felt like a child when she breathed out when it was cold because she felt like hot-headed dragon keeping in her anger breathing out smoke instead of fire.

Although the sunsets and sunrises only take 4 minutes, it would take at least an hour for the violent transitions to pass by. Lexi hated herself to be on the streets during this time because she despised the division deep inside. And so, she would watch over to the scattered settlement part of town where it joined the vast and beautiful countryside. Oh, how she longed pack everything and run away in to the hills but she couldn’t leave her younger sister behind to face the wrath of their father. Everyday she reminded herself how much she loved Axl and how one day care for their children and never ever let them out of her sight. She would be a better parent than her own.