A Silver Summer

Chapter 1

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A Silver Summer

 Chapter one

"Well that was quick." Greg barely spared a glance over to his partner in crime, literally. It had been a year or so when Anika had joined the 'gang' and whenever they were feeling exceptionally rowdy, she'd tag along with them to their next target area. 

 "I might even say she's better than you." Another male voice joined in. 

 "Shut it, Nick." Greg bit back teasingly, this time pulling his eyes away from his art and gave each Anika and Nick a playful glare. 

 "I'm done here anyway." Greg gave the spray can in his hand one last shake just to hear the ball inside tink around the empty space in the cylinder. 

 "Looks good. Now let's go check how Lex is doin'." Anika slipped her own spray paint cans into her side satchel after she was done admiring her leader's work giving the side of the once grey building some color. 

 "Ready to pack up yet?" Greg asked once the three of them rounded the corner. 

 "Almost... Hand me the black would you?" Lex bit the inside of her cheek in concentration. Nick, after fishing the desired can out of Anika's bag, plopped it down in Lex's awaiting hand. 

 "And done." Lex pulled her finger off of the can's trigger and took a step back to assess her art. The large graffiti popped out from the two-dimensional surface of the abandoned building. 

 "Nice work everybody." Greg said, thoroughly pleased with his friend's work. "Let's head out." They pulled their hoods back up to hide their faces in the shadows and walked in the middle of the deserted street together. 

 "Let's see them try to cover up that." Lex threw her head back in a mock evil laugh, which had the rest following behind with their chuckles. 

 "Quit being so loud. You'll have the cops on us if you don't shut it." Nick lightly shoved his friend by her shoulder to make her stop. 

 "Right, right. Remind me when the last time was when we were caught?" Lex blinked her eyes innocently to the boys so that Anika had to stifle her snickers with a thin hand. 

 "We've never been caught, but we've had some close calls so just quiet down." Greg tried to sound stern but his facade was ruined by the amused smirk that played on his lips.  

It was true, there were some nights when Anika thought she was definitely doomed but somehow, they always managed to escape by the hair on their necks.  

"You're damn right we've never been caught." Lex skipped ahead, singing to herself. A wide smile pulled at Anika's lips as she watched her family joke around with each other in the middle of the silent June night. And a family was what Anika truly thought of them as for the past year. They took her under their care knowing full well that she had some complications in her life but they didn't pry about them. She loved them for that and knew she would do anything for them. Their junior year had just ended last week, and the gang wanted to continue their tradition of meeting at the corner store in the dead of night. By the end of summer, they hoped that half the town would be painted with their work. 

 "Look at this." Nick's disgusted voice pulled Anika out from her thoughts. "This is why people don't appreciate what we do. Because this ruins the term 'graffiti'." he shook his head forcing his slightly long brown hair to come out from behind his ear. The group stopped next to the postage mailbox that was covered with curse words and slimy sayings in bold bubbly letters.  

"Ew." Lex scrunched her nose at a particularly disturbing one and motioned for Anika to bring her bag forth.  

"We need to fix this."  

"Alright, pick a side and finish it quickly. I don't like being out in the open like this." Greg said gazing around the intersection they were stopped at and stretched his hand out to receive a can from Anika.  

About half way through decorating the town's property, the four of them froze as a set of headlights flashed their way.  

"Stop where you are and put the cans down!" a loud voice crackled over the cop car's intercom system.  

Yeah right, no way in hell, Anika thought as they took of sprinting in the opposite direction of the cop. He ordered them to stop again, and then to drop on the ground.  

A crazed filled laugh erupted from Anika's lips as she enjoyed the chase with the night's breeze blowing her black curls over her shoulder when her hood fell down.  

"See you guys tomorrow." Nick grabbed Lex's hand, and disappeared with her down an alley way but not without a smirk back at Greg and Anika. By now the cop must have called for back up as the sounds of multiple sirens carried in the distance. Like the other pair, Greg and Anika abruptly turned down a back alley and jumped over a garbage can. Red and blue lights flashed by in a blur as the two emerged from the alleyway in time to run the opposite way the cop had driven. The vehicle's tires screeched as the smell of warm rubber carried on the breeze as the cop hastily turned around and sped after them.  

"In here." Anika pulled Greg's hand trying to get him to follow her down another alley at the same time he attempted to pull her in another direction. Between the tug of war, Anika's hand slipped from Greg's. A small wave of panic surged through Anika as the cop drove closer as she stood in the middle of the road.  

"Run! Call me when it's safe!" Greg shouted over his shoulder as he continued running away from Anika. He turned out of sight leaving her to snap back into reality with the echo of his feet hitting the pavement.  

"Stop!" the crackly intercom voice ordered again but Anika ignored it and fled into the darkness. Her mind worked overtime as she tried to remember all the turns she took and where she might be in the city so when she heard the sound of squealing tires, it was too late. Her momentum carried her into the street just as the white front bumper of the cop car clipped her legs out from under her. A terrified scream tore through her lips as her head came in contact with the bottom corner of the windshield. Pain shocked her body and seemed to radiate in every bone and muscle as she skidded across the pavement.  

"Stay down!" the sound of a slamming car door and the cop calling for an ambulance filtered through the ringing in her ears as she tried and failed to get back up to her feet. Anika whimpered as she clutched her head and awaited her fate. It was a race between the cop and the sudden darkness that threatened to blacken her vision. In the end, she sank deeper into the abyss as she fell away from the sirens, the shouting and her own quiet cries.