Graffiti Boy

Chapter 1 - The Avocado Incident

Now, I didn't want to have Died for Avocado Toast written on my gravestone.

But there I was, clutching a bag of avocados and bruising my knees on the cold concrete floor as I hid behind a couple of garbage bins. I silently prayed that they wouldn't see me.

The night had started off like any other. Dad was out, working. I was home alone, watching Supernatural on Netflix when I really should have been working on the essay that was due the next morning. Then I got the sudden urge to eat some avocado toast. 

Unfortunately, we were all out of avocados. So I called Dad and asked him if I could go out and buy some food because there was nothing at home, at least nothing that I wanted at that moment. After a lot of convincing Dad reluctantly allowed me to go out, making me promise to text him the minute I got home.

I set out just after sunset. I would have driven to the store but naturally, living in my city, my car had been broken into and I assumed hot-wired. I hadn't seen it in weeks. So I was stuck with walking.

Walking alone didn't terrify me, but walking through the violent streets of Victoria at night? 

Alone? 

Yeah, that terrified me.

It wasn't even that late, but I had already stumbled upon a gang of men beating up another man. He was bloody and bruised. I had taken the normal route home, but violence could easily find its way in the most crowded of places when you're living in Victoria.

The men seemed to be nearly done beating up the guy so I decided it would be better for me to sit tight and avoid getting abducted through testing my ability to run.

I crouched behind a couple of garbage bins, which thankfully didn't smell all too bad. Another great thing about Victoria, no one bothered to throw stuff into bins, the city was polluted.

I tried my best not to watch the men, but the man's yelps of protest kept on making me turn my head back to face them.

Hurry up already!

After what felt like forever, the men finally stopped beating up the man and headed down the side of the street, towards an alleyway. The man who was injured, limped away heading in the opposite direction. My direction.

I froze. The man limped by. If he had seen me he gave no indication that he had.

When the man was out of sight, I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding.

"Wow, you're stupid."

I snapped my head towards the voice in fear. It took everything in me not to let out a scream. One sound could bring the gang of men running back.

Crouched no more than an inch away from me was a boy wearing a hood. At least I assumed he was a boy and not a man. It was too dark for me to make out any features in detail, but I could make out dark hair and bright eyes. The boy smelled oddly pungent, like paint. He looked weirdly familiar too.

He had somehow managed to creep up beside me without me realizing.

I mentally scolded myself for not being more observant of my surroundings.

The boy must've gotten the vibe that I was frightened, "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you."

Yeah, sure you're not.

I stood up and reluctantly dropped my precious bag of avocados besides me. I needed both hands free if I was to fight.

The boy stood up too and nodded his head towards the avocados, "What's in the bag?"