Just a few days ago, I seem to have had a very vivid dream in which The One and Only Crew was part of a gang.
I know. It gets weirder.
Now comes the part where I warn you all that this is, in fact, a dream that I had, so I will try and relay every detail as closely as I possibly can. There are facts that are incorrect and details that are different in real life--I know that. I also apologize in advance for the questionable thoughts of my subconscious and hope you bear with me through my queer imagination. I'm sorry if I offend any of you--That is not the intention.
Again, I'm very aware that my dream interpretation of a gang is very, very off, so no snarky comments about that -_-
Onwards, my friends.
..........
Fonts. 23. Designated Leader.
Tom. 22. Second in Command.
Tom. 22. Second in Command.
Tiernan. 22. Mission Tactics.
Brandt. 22. Paper Boss.
Maeve. 22. Master in Combat.
Maeve. 22. Master in Combat.
Max. 21. Secret Weapon.
Caellum. 21. Spy.
Gibb. 22. Hit Man.
Claire. 21. Master Long Shots.
Sawyer. 20. Master Close Cuts.
Emma. 21. Master Manipulator.
Emma. 21. Master Manipulator.
Zoe. 21. Poison Master.
Maya. 15. Weapon Efficiency.
I'm pretty sure none of these terms make sense at the moment. I'm hoping they will in time. No clue why the age gap turned out the way it did. But nonetheless, here we go.
..........
There was a knock on my window.
Who the hell is up at four in the morning?
There it was again. This time, louder.
And again. It was urgent.
Okay, this is getting weird. Don't you move, Maya. Don't be stupid. Don't go and look.
Thinking it was some asshole prankster from school, I got up to go and flip them off, only to have my heart stop at the two, very large figures perched on my windowsill.
Jesus Christ, Maya--This is it. You're gonna die.
"Dude, stop pushing me off," whined the silhouette on the right.
"Goddammit, Maya, just open the window," came a deeper, muffled voice I recognized almost immediately.
I did a double take.
"Fonts?"
"Yeah, genius, now open the damn window before O' Rourke here falls on his ass," he said.
I immediately took to unlatching the lock, watching them both swing one leg over at a time.
Before I knew it, the one and only Fonts and Tom were towering a good foot and a half above me. Some things never change.
However, something was different about their eyes, or maybe the way they stood, or their clothes, or their hair, or their beards, or God why does something seem so off?
"Long time, no see, kiddo," Tom's bearded face smiled down at me.
If I were actually conscious, I'd probably go hug the life outta them, but seeing as it was 4am, I had only one thing on my mind.
"What the hell are you two doing here so early?" I grumbled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"Hey, now, that's not the way to greet your best buds after three years, is it?" Fonts teased, lips curled up in a smirk.
It hadn't really hit me that the last time I saw these guys was at my seventh grade graduation.
I smiled a bit as I regained my senses and started to notice the peculiar alertness behind their eyes and their calloused fingers and their stained, dark wash jeans and the foreign scars littering their hands and faces.
They seemed to recognize my new discoveries and Tom looked to Fonts with a sigh before walking towards my bedroom door, leaning against it with a stony expression.
"You might wanna sit down for this, kid," he added in unfamiliar monotone.
Giving each a questioning look, I flopped back down on my bed, pulling my flannel-clad self into a ball while asking what was going on.
"Maya, we uh... We actually came here to tell you that we're in a gang,"
Well that's something you don't hear every day.
Fonts searched my eyes as it took me a second to register.
Waiting for the punchline, I remained silent.
After a few more awkwardly exchanged glances from Fonts to Tom and back, I presumed they were serious.
"Wait, you're in a fucking what?!" I probably shrieked, jumping up on my feet.
It took Tom less than two seconds to fly across the room, slapping a hand over my mouth in case I exploded again.
I gave him a glare to back off, which he did, this time lowering my voice but not my urgency.
"Why are you in a gang? Who the heck--? Why did you--? How are you in a gang?" I whisper-yelled, staring them down with a fiery gaze.
"Hey, now, that's not the way to greet your best buds after three years, is it?" Fonts teased, lips curled up in a smirk.
It hadn't really hit me that the last time I saw these guys was at my seventh grade graduation.
I smiled a bit as I regained my senses and started to notice the peculiar alertness behind their eyes and their calloused fingers and their stained, dark wash jeans and the foreign scars littering their hands and faces.
They seemed to recognize my new discoveries and Tom looked to Fonts with a sigh before walking towards my bedroom door, leaning against it with a stony expression.
"You might wanna sit down for this, kid," he added in unfamiliar monotone.
Giving each a questioning look, I flopped back down on my bed, pulling my flannel-clad self into a ball while asking what was going on.
"Maya, we uh... We actually came here to tell you that we're in a gang,"
Well that's something you don't hear every day.
Fonts searched my eyes as it took me a second to register.
Waiting for the punchline, I remained silent.
After a few more awkwardly exchanged glances from Fonts to Tom and back, I presumed they were serious.
"Wait, you're in a fucking what?!" I probably shrieked, jumping up on my feet.
It took Tom less than two seconds to fly across the room, slapping a hand over my mouth in case I exploded again.
I gave him a glare to back off, which he did, this time lowering my voice but not my urgency.
"Why are you in a gang? Who the heck--? Why did you--? How are you in a gang?" I whisper-yelled, staring them down with a fiery gaze.
"Maya, first off, you better be quiet before the entire neighborhood hears you, " Fonts's stern glare remained threatening for the rest of his spiel, "Second of all, I formed it two years ago to get back at some assholes who didn't know their place. Because of that, I needed some help, so I got Tom to join and Tom got Gibb, T and C to join, and they got Maeve, Max, Claire, Sawyer, and the Butlers to join, and they got Brandt to join and now here we are with you,"
I blinked so as not to explode in aggressive accusation again.
I blinked so as not to explode in aggressive accusation again.
"Why are you telling me this?" I let the words tumble out of my mouth before I said something worse.
"We're asking you to join," Fonts said flat out.
Tom gave him a look of annoyance and looked ready to slap him upside the head for not having phrased it more persuasively.
Again, some things never change.
Whatever words I planned to say next got caught in my throat.
Oh dear.
"We're asking you to join," Fonts said flat out.
Tom gave him a look of annoyance and looked ready to slap him upside the head for not having phrased it more persuasively.
Again, some things never change.
Whatever words I planned to say next got caught in my throat.
Oh dear.
..........
I still can't remember how they got me to say yes, but it was 4am, and they seemed desperate, and I missed them. So it happened.
They explained how they first had to test if I was "gang worthy", whatever that means... Which involved running away from home, and being able to time it out perfectly with jumping onto their "gang train".
Yes. Gang train. They owned a flipping gang train.
(Think train from Divergent. Never stops. Except this one had no walls, but three levels plus a secret compartment at the bottom, and it was freaking dangerous as all heck. But hey, that's part of the thrill, apparently.)
Yes. Gang train. They owned a flipping gang train.
(Think train from Divergent. Never stops. Except this one had no walls, but three levels plus a secret compartment at the bottom, and it was freaking dangerous as all heck. But hey, that's part of the thrill, apparently.)
*excuse the plot holes in this story, but what can I say--this is a dream. things change pretty darn quickly and apparently I had never noticed their gang train before, despite the fact that it ran through my entire neighborhood*
Either way, it was a Saturday night--the night they'd designated for me to run away--and I was near pissing my pants from anxiety.
Fonts explained that if I went through with this, there was no turning back.
The gang was a lifestyle, not a game.
He also happened to mention that if I failed test A (the running away), that I would have to face test B: being thrown in front of the never-stopping gang train and being clever enough to find a way out before it dragged me to my untimely death.
How welcoming.
Nonetheless, I sat nervously on my windowsill, wringing my hands over and over, regretting my decision more and more every second.
Maya, what are you doing? You can't be in a gang! What the hell are you thinking?
I wasn't even going to be able to say goodbye to my parents--No. They were a part of my old life. Not this one. Not the new one. Not whatever pertained to this "gang" life.
I was having second thoughts--possibly third, fourth and fifth thoughts, too--when I heard the distant chugging of wheels and manic laughter.
Oh no. You're really doing this, huh?
Everyone in my neighborhood knew to book it back to their house whenever they heard the gang train approaching. These guys, yeah--they were dangerous. These guys also happen to be my best friends. Why? I have no clue why. Maybe 'cause they'd known me since I was nine years old, but hey, people change.
I could've sworn I heard a gunshot and a scream followed by laughter mingle with the constant turning of rusty wheels.
Here I go.
No one else was out at this time of night--especially not if they heard the gang train coming--meaning there's no way I'd be caught running away with them.
They were scary. They were dangerous. But they were my friends. And I could see more and more of their unrecognizable features as the train drew nearer and nearer.
A leather jacket. A bandana.
A purple streak. A tattoo.
A machete. A gun.
A piercing. A trench coat.
A hoodie. A scar.
A dagger. A ring.
Closer and closer and closer until I could see the faces of friends I hadn't seen in over three years and then I jumped.
I did it. I jumped from my window sill to the roof of the train with no walls.
Heart leaping and adrenaline pumping, I shut my eyes closed and clung to the roof of the car as if my life depended on it--which it did.
Below, I could hear the wolf-whistling and cheers and clapping of my friends, who knew me all too well and figured I'd pissed my pants by this point. I hadn't, just FYI.
"Need a hand?" chuckled a voice I hadn't heard in quite some time.
I peeped one eye open to look at whoever was perched on the metal pole just beneath me.
"Yes please," I squeaked, offering Tiernan a forced smile as he pried my fingers off the edges of the roof, swiftly grabbing my waist before setting me down.
"You okay, kid?" he laughed, also looking down at me.
He'd gotten taller.
I grabbed onto the pole he was previously perched on as the train gave a lurch, holding my breath and giving a slight nod.
Several seconds passed and I still hadn't exhaled.
"You can breathe, now. It's not against the rules," quipped a female voice this time.
I turned around only to be faced by the legendary Maximiliana. Blue hair and all.
"Max?!" I finally breathed, letting go of the pole for a split second in order to attack her in a hug.
"Whoa! Hey, this isn't the afterlife, Maya; you can relax," she stated, hesitantly hugging me back, although I knew she wasn't entirely reluctant--the sparkle in her eyes gave it away.
"Right. Sorry--" I muttered, baring a small smile as I pulled away.
She looked different. So did T. In fact, they looked fantastic.
Well... I guess that's one way you could put it.
T had a full beard (as did Tom and Fonts since I last saw them), a jagged scar that trailed from his jawbone down to perhaps his clavicle, and he sported an assortment of layers all underneath a hoodie and a Snapback--not too different from what I remember seeing him wear a couple years before. Except this time, I caught subtle glimmers of black handles and shiny metal laced with his pockets and belt buckles.
He was definitely armed.
Oh dear.
Max, on the other hand, had her bright blue hair pulled back in a braid, showing two new piercings on her right ear; wore tightly fitted leather pants, tall black boots (which I'm sure were filled with all sorts of surprises), a black tank top underneath a dark flannel, and displayed an eye-catching dragon tattoo that intertwined itself all the way down her forearm.
I'm pretty sure she was armed, too.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite little hobbit,"
I swerved on the spot to be face to face, or should I say face-to-stomach, with none other than Caellum. Of course.
"Oh. Hey, C," I replied, not quite able to find my voice yet.
I was beginning to sway from the quick pace of the train and the uneasiness that weapons brought to my stomach. Possibly, also, the smell of booze and dried blood.
"Whoa, you sure you're okay?" T grabbed a hold of my shoulder in attempts to steady me, looking at me under worried eyes.
"Yeah," I breathed, "Peachy," I lied.
"Let's get you downstairs so the rest can congratulate you," Max winked, turning around and making her way down to the second level of the train, bright blue braid trailing after her.
"Good job, kid. You're gonna have fun, I promise," C assured me with a smile before following after Max.
T gave me a knowing look that almost said Well? What are you waiting for?
I gulped as quietly as I possibly could before taking a tentative step forward, not yet used to the speeding train beneath me.
I'm pretty sure Tiernan sensed my uneasiness at pretty much everything going on, so he sighed before taking my hand and promising there'd be ice cream later.
..........
And there you have it friends. Part One of Because #ThugLyfe (thank you Sawyer for that title inspiration XD)
I'm planning to make this a sort of mini series because there's no way I could fit it all in one post... Please don't hate me.
But yeah, if you're wondering roughly, and I mean roughly what the characters style is sorta like in this story, think Greasers from The Outsiders.
Other than that, I hope you enjoyed :)
Can't wait to write the next bit.
Hasta la próxima,
Much love xoxo
Maya
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