Young Writers Society

Sofia

"Guns, eh kinda. I've shot a few, but I prefer to not hurt people. I like being protected" I mumble. "And as for physical, no, I kinda shut down under a lot of physical pain, sorry if that makes me not what you want." No matter as tough as I act when it comes down to it I'm just weak. I'm just good at putting on a face.
I look at his face closely, something I haven't done yet,and damn he's hot. He has dark skin and green eyes. I can tell he's had it hard, but I find that makes people stronger. Except for me. I'm weak...

Sierra

I smirked, my act being bought as I stood in the back. You think I'm innocent. "I have my own demons." I spoke softly, lacing my words with a soft but deadly lilt. "You'll find I qualify."

Memories flashed through my head: my next door neighbor Jake and my dad arguing, Jake breaking into our house when I was home alone, me choking, his battered and bloodied body laying on my bedroom floor.

I shook them out of my head. "You missed my name, by the way. I go by Rose. Rose Mirage," I informed the pair, sliding into my seat. "I'm handy with a gun, but I prefer my bare hands. I've got a bit more experience with them."

I remembered the guy at the Amtrak stop that tried kidnapping me while I was leaving. He'd left blinded and deafened, and I learned that he'd shot himself a week later. I hadn't known him, but something about it had made me feel relieved. It was one less person to turn me in.

I raised my eyebrow at Math. "And as long as you won't turn me over to the police, we won't have a problem. You do, and you'll be another reason they want me."

Sofia

Damn I don't know what's gotten into me to be quite honest. I'm jealous of someone I don't know over someone I don't even know, fuck I'm stupid. I mean to laugh to myself in my head but a slight laugh comes out loud. Great. Now they'll think I'm crazy. Not saying I'm not, but hey. I really need to get better control of my mouth and it's filter.
I have my demons too but I'd never open up about mine. I shoved them down as far into myself as I could. I never got help or anything, the only help I got was an old man asking me about my sexual trists to cure me of my sins, and especially of my "possession" making me lust after woman. He then tried to fix me himself, if I had more balls back then I would've attacked him, but that was when I was still under my parents grip. If I ever saw him again...
I shutter and instinctively hug myself. I don't care how I look right now, if I don't I'll feel venerable and in this scenario that feels dangerous. I try to stop the memories but a single tear still comes out before I can wipe it away.
Even through all that by parents did to me that fucking old man is what hurts me the most. The fact my parents knew and my mom even saw him do it and they didn't do a single thing... That's when I stopped having any semblance of care for my family and fell hard into drugs, well I found a boyfriend who was really into drugs and he got me into it. As a big time dealer in my area I was pretty well known and was the target of a lot of bullying because of it. It made my tongue sharp and made me learn how to act confident even when I'm anything but.
I try to covertly rub my eye to clear out the tears and sit up straight. I'm not going to let anyone know I'm hurt. Ever. I can't be weak because weakness is bad.

Sierra

I looked over at the girl next to me. Appearances only, we were opposites. She had purple hair, bright, mine was a soft blonde. My eyes were grey, hers were bright green. Everything about me was designed to be soft, innocent, unnoticeable. It hid the truth. Everything about her was loud, bright, it screamed at you. I took one look at her and knew she'd had it rough.

She was curled into herself, and it occurred to me that we might be opposites in personality as well. I hid my demons, but exposed them just enough that people knew not to mess with me. No need for them to know about what happened back home. She seemed to wear hers on her sleeve, even if she didn't talk about them. Whereas I had a strong sense of inner strength and self-confidence, I read this girl as thinking she was weak. Oh, honey, I thought. Nobody that makes it this far in life is weak.

"Hey. You okay?" I asked, leaning over to her. "You look kinda rough."

Sofia

"I'm completely fine." I try to cover everything up with a bitchy attitude. It's what I always do. When I'm doubt be a bitch. Seems to make people dislike me and that's exactly what I want. It's that or get hopelessly attached. I look at Math pretending like I can make my small meltdown disappear like it never happened.
I like trying to poke at people and find an insecurity in them. With her I first decided to try to see how'd she'd react to trying to bring up childhood.
"Bet little miss princess had it so bad, poor thing" the mocking tone in my voice trying to make her feel belittled.
I always feel terrible about it being harsh to someone but it covers up everything else and ruins all potential friendships. Perfect.
I mean a lot of people would say it's lonely to do that, but it's fine. People just bring more hurt. And hurt brings weakness. I'm not weak. I will keep repeating that to myself until it's true... Which in my case may be never...

I laughed. If she wanted to play that game, I could play it right back. "You'd be surprised, actually," I replied with the same mocking tone. "House in the mountains, small Christian town, everybody knew everybody else in a five mile radius. Top of my class, Daddy's little princess." My smirk grew until it couldn't anymore. "And yet there are still two dead men and a 'missing' girl, babydoll. Everything is perfect in Little Miss Princess's life."

I wanted to sigh, to let people know how much I missed my childhood, but I couldn't. That would get me sent home. No. Sierra Luciano might be weak, but Rose Mirage was strong. She wouldn't be broken by anyone's words like Sierra had been. People wouldn't attack her like they'd attacked Sierra. She wouldn't be underestimated the same way people had underestimated her old self. No. Rose Mirage was going to be everything Sierra Luciano ever wanted to be and more.

Strangling my sigh, I leaned back in the chair, playing with my fingers. Everything is perfect in Little Miss Princess's life, I repeated to myself, and I was trying to convince myself as much as anybody else.

Sofia

I needed to actually admit to myself if I wanted to do anything here other than get people pissed at me I had to not try to start things. These people are a lot more intimidating than me. Only time I hurt someone seriously was when he was trying to rob us and I had to shoot him, he didn't die, I would've been a lot more shaken by it if he had. Of course my boyfriend was upset he didn't die. I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty. It's just the constant conflicting thoughts in my head about everything.
what if all your struggles were insignificant because others have had it worse the voice in my head tells me. My anxiety lights up like a gas covered piece of wood. Damnit how could I be so selfish!
I stare at the ground so caught up in my own thoughts I don't even recognize anything going on around me.
I'm trying to pull myself out but it's like an anchor is tied to my leg and I'm just sinking deeper and deeper...

Math

The girls were having an argument while Math jotted down their sob stories and abilities, generally uninterested. The purple-haired girl was having a small breakdown, if he read her body language correctly, and he tried on a soft smile--it was all he could do, really, because he couldn't give a shit otherwise.

"Right, no arguing, either of you," he said, "We wouldn't want any conflict on the job."

"What job?" Sofia snapped at Math.

Math thought to himself, then looked around the room. "Oh, I don't know if either of you are ready for one now," he said, nudging the two of them. "Still working out the kinks, obviously. Though it's a shame, I think going out would do both of you some good--"

"Stop talking in circles, jerk," Sofia said. "What job are you talking about?"

He smirked. "You really want to know?" he crossed his arms. "I don't think it's up your alley. You'll probably wet yourself mid-way--"

"I can do any odd job you can do, punk," Sofia yelled. "What is it?"

"Rail in that tongue of yours and then I'll consider it." he set down the deal.

Sofia considered it. "What's in it for me?"

Math looked to Sierra--or Rose. "Are you in?"

Rose shrugged.

"Well, don't be coy," Sofia snapped again, "What is it?"

Math could only grin.

Sofia

Damn he's getting on my nerves. Ugh I'd ki-hit that face if i could. Ughhh.
"Yes I'll do it, what she does is up to her. I'm not a pussy." I put on a strong face. I'm sure there's a small blush on my face because of my thinking but I'm hoping it goes unnoticed.
"Me too," the girl next to me says.
"Alright let's go." Math says standing up. Wow he's tall my petite 5 inches exactly body wouldn't stand a chance if I had to fight someone like him. Especially where I have no physical training. I only know how to take getting beat and tending to wounds. That should be a plus. I know how to deal with injuries.
We walk out of the church and out to a warehouse a few streets down.
"Any backing out?" He says to the two of us
I let out a sharp nope and he grabs his keys to unlock the door.
I stand in suspense as he opens it. Once we step inside there's a few people here. On the wall there's a small variety of weapons, and scattered around the floor are large amounts of different kinds of drugs.
Nothing too special. Kinda bland honestly. The only mildly shocking part is the puddle of blood a few guys are trying to cover up. I instinctively grab one of my arms, digging my nails into them. Damn I hate the way blood makes me feel. I bite my lip and turn to Math.
"Hey, so what do you do in this place?" I let go of my arm and grab his, squeezing it slightly in a playful way.
"A lot of gang related stuff to be quite honest with you. We also help those like the homeless or abused. Hence the therapy group. We're not completely bad." He shrugs non-chalantly and I gently dig my nails in his arm.
The image of him without his shirt on comes in my head and I quickly drop my arm. Damnit. To be fair it's not my fault he's hot.
I look around the room again taking it all in. Welp, I guess I'm back in this life.

Sierra

I look around the room and smile, drinking it in, before heading over to the weapons wall. "Wow," I mutter, slightly shocked at the vast array. "This place is amazing."

Math came up behind me. "Yeah, well, get used to it. And don't touch the weapons, you haven't earned that yet." His tone was somewhere between smug and uncaring. It was like he was glad I liked the place, but he also wanted to clean his hands of me as soon as humanly possible.

I shrugged and stepped away from the wall, and started analyzing the people. There were only a few lights in the room, which lent itself to the mood and to hiding the identities of those involved. From what I could tell, though, they were a mix of male and female, tending ever so slightly towards being male-heavy. They were all dressed similarly to Math, which to me looked somewhere in between hip-hop dancer and gang member.

"Look, Miss Princess, you can ogle all you want later," Sofia snapped at me. "He still has to show us around." I looked over at her. She was glaring at me, and also looking after our guide like a lost puppy. If she was hoping to get in his pants, I was pretty sure she was in for a rude awakening.

"He can show us around if he cares to," I answered her. "And if you're going to keep calling me that, I'm going to get a tiara."

Sofia

"I take back what I said. You're not a princess. You're the hag." I let out a small laugh and get a sharp look from Math. Now that shut me up pretty quickly.
"I told you two before no more fighting." His voice was lower, and most people would say scarier, but damn did it just make me more wanting him. And honestly it's not even just sexually. I would happily date him. Not that I would ever tell him. He's just some idiot boy. And plus I bet he's gonna be all over Sierra.
" hhmph"
"What are you upset he just told you off? Poor thing."
The urge to yell at her to shut up is very strong. But I don't want to a) draw attention to ourselves, b) make Math more mad.
"I'm not upset, I'm perfectly fine!" I force a smile and hug her tightly.
"Fucking whore" I whisper in her ear.

Sierra

I faked a smile back at her. "Touch me again without my permission and you'll be sorry," I growled in her ear.

She shrugged, still faking being happy, and I pulled out my sketchbook and started back to work on my project. This place was giving me all sorts of inspiration.

I started sketching a figure with sharp features, softened by the hoodie he was wearing. His hand was occupied with a knife, and there were gun handles poking out of the pockets of his black cargo pants.

He was standing in an alley, parts of him draped in shadows and the others exposed to the light. The tattoos on his neck and hands were barely visible, but they were there. I felt like the man could walk into the room I was standing in right now, and he'd fit right in.

I signed the drawing and wrote "Shadow Warrior" on the top of the page before stashing my pencil behind my ear and closing my book. "Are we doing anything, or are we just going to stand here?" I asked.

Sofia

I laugh to myself slightly after her comment, and stand slightly behind her trying to look as friendly as I can as she pulls out her sketchbook, watching her sketch something, and label it "shadow warrior". Damn, she's good at that.
"It's really nice!" I say with a smile. Her response is a small mmhm as she keeps focusing on it.
I get fed up of trying to be friends and move closer to Math.
"Hey its warm in here don't you think?" I use it trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah it tends to be" he doesn't even look at me when I take off my hoodie, leaving myself in a small tank top.
I sigh and look around the room. A guy is pretty close by, and he walks over by me when I moved off by myself a bit.
"Hey what's your name? I've never seen you around here before." He asks,
"Sofia. And yeah I'm new" I let out a little flirtatious giggle, touching his arm, and slyly looking for at Math to see if he's looking, and he is.
Sierra is too. She must be jealous I can get guys attention

I look over at Sofia and she's flirting with some random guy. Sad and desperate. Doesn't she know that the most attractive quality is independence?

I pull out my sketchbook again and start sketching, this time having no idea in mind of what I'm drawing. I just let the lines fall onto the paper the way I always had. Art was and would continue to be my preferred method of expression. All of a sudden, a melody came into my head, dark and minor to match the ominous feel of this new place, and I started humming as I drew.

Just as I started to get lost in the melody and my art, a girl came up to me. "Hey newbie," she spoke with a commanding, self assured-tone. "Come show me what you've got."

I dropped my sketchbook and pencil and stood, following her over to an open area. "Hand-to-hand or armed?"

She smirked. "There'll be no hiding behind a weapon today."

I smiled and took my starting stance as she took hers. "Just the way I like it."

She threw a punch, but I grabbed her arm, and when she tried to twist me onto the floor, I flipped backwards out of her grasp.

"Ah, newbie's got some style," she offered with a small laugh. "I like it."

I smiled and nodded, and we continued to spar, the two of us complimenting each other's styles of fighting as we both pulled out our full arsenals to match levels of skill.

When we finished, I was grinning ear to ear despite having a few new bruises. Maybe, for the first time in my life, I'd found somewhere I belonged - at least, outside of the art studio.

Math

He grew weary of the girl's squabbling with each other, and took some time off to address the head of their Weapons and Defense Division, Thomas. Sofia had briefly caught his attention when a guy Math was sure he made out with once approached Sofia, quickly receiving her eager advances. He wished he had his phone camera with him, before he finally found Thomas snapping at another man in front of the AR-47's.

"Tom," he called out from a distance.

The red-haired man glared at him, before realizing who was addressing him. Then, Thomas grinned from ear-to-ear. "Math! Good to see you," he said, swiping the other man away to approach Math. "Samuel told me you were showing some younglings the ropes."

Math looked over his shoulders. Sofia was still cozying up with the boy from earlier (Math was now certain he got to third base with the dude, but maybe the amphetamines had blurred his memory), and Rose was...sketching. He found sketching (or any hobby that had to do with paper) a waste of time and money, so he didn't concern himself with what she was drawing.

"Yeah," Math admitted, turning back to Thomas, "They're already at each other's necks, so I give them five days before they shoot their own foot."

Thomas looked disappointed. He made a 'tsk' sound, crossing his arms. "A shame," the weapon's expert sighed, "I was looking for more intelligent workers, too. They at least look like they had good heads on their shoulders."

Math smirked at him, as if he wanted to say Really?. "I was hoping you had some menial task you needed a newbie to fill," Math said, instead, pulling out a stick of bubblegum and offering it to Thomas. Thomas took one, and Math began chewing some himself. "I might as well try to scare them off first. The purple one's obviously a nympho, and the blond acts tough, but I doubt she could carry anything heavier than a shopping bag."

Thomas considered the request, looking at the weapons on the walls. "I wouldn't trust them with any of the coke, obviously," he said, "But there's a job I've been meaning to do for a while, but never got to it. It's a bit...well, silly."

"Shoot," Math chewed on his gum.

The weapon's expert paused. Then, he glanced around, before bringing Math closer. "See, one of our dealers in Brooklyn has been dating this hen, right? And the hen's pops', he doesn't like that as much. That would be fine and all, of course, if her pops' wasn't the right-hand man to a Nuestra general."

"Ay caramba," Math hissed between bubblegum-chews.

"Right, you get what I mean. We've told the dealer to bugger off, but he doesn't seem to be getting the picture. He's fallen head over heels for the lass," Thomas admitted. "Now, I don't know how you'll do it, but I need you to either knock some sense into him or find another solution--maybe you could have the general and the dealer to meet, I don't know. But we don't want trouble with any of the Nuestra Familia, petty or not, so we need you to resolve this quickly." Thomas smiled. "Sounds simple enough?"

Math considered the deal. "Well, it probably won't scare them off," he confessed, "But it's easy enough. Maybe the Nuestras will end up killing the poor guy, and I'll finally get these two off my back," he mused. "But fine. It's a deal."

"Fantastic," Thomas took out a notepad. "I'll write you the details of the bloke. Try not to rough him up too hard, yea? He's been with us for a long while."

"Can do," Math yawned.

Thomas continued jotting down notes, before he stopped, looking up and over Math's shoulders. Math arched a brow. "Uh, so, lad," Thomas said, grinning to himself, "You say the blond one isn't much of a threat, yea?"

There was a familiar grunting sound behind him, and Math looked back, watching as Rose grabbed the arm of one of their senior enforcers, countering the other woman's moveset.

"Well," Thomas remarked, obviously amused, "looks like she's got a lot more under that sleeve of hers."

Math smirked.