𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 05 | 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗔 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲

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It was nine at night.

The air was chilling.

My feet rested on the pedals of my bicycle, lifting myself from the seat as I turned the wheels.

My paws were clenched to the handlebars as I watched the road ahead of me disappear underneath the wheels of my bike, only headlights and lampposts lighting my way.

I howled into the wind as I pedaled down the empty street of my hometown.

Behind me, I could hear the continued howling from five other canines. I turned my head to see Eden, Harley, Rian, Torrence, and Levi, all on their bikes, muzzles up to the sky as they cried into the night.

We all laughed and screamed nonsensically, the breeze flowing through our fur and our thin sweaters as we seemingly flew through the streets, levitating off of the ground.

Rian swerved and rode in front of me, cutting me off. I pedaled faster, challenging him to a race of sorts. Harley joined in on the action as we all worked our legs and feet, trying to pass each other, yet stumbling to get by.

"Hey, boys!" Eden called. We all looked to the right to see Eden, passing by us. She had somehow steered her bicycle onto the sidewalk and was now passing through a clearing between two cars, entering the road before us. She cackled as she rode ahead, winning the race. We all groaned as she cheered, continuing to drive her bike, fast as lightning.

Behind us, Torrence was riding beside his brother at the same speed. Torrence was still trying to teach Levi how to ride his bike. Levi knew the basics, yet, he was a little off-balance and failed to pedal faster, in fear of falling over. Torrence kept uttering words of support and encouragement as Levi got the hang of it. We all stopped in the street and looked back at them, cheering for Levi as he got ahold of his bike and grew faster in speed.

He whizzed past us, laughing as we continued to scream at the top of our lungs for him. That was when he tripped over a rock and fell onto a patch of grass by the local park. We all winced and raced to his aid, helping him get back up.

We continued to ride the streets of our town, heading to the far parts of it. We reached a less populated area of Cloverland, finding an abandoned warehouse in the backlands. It used to be an office complex, but was torn down in the eighties. It was several stories tall and had various shattered windows and graffiti displays. Since no one ever returned to it, we decided to make it our little hideout a while ago.

We biked through the opening—a large rip—in the tall, patterned fence that surrounded and guarded the cement building. We dropped our bikes on the flat, earthy plane that adorned patches of dying grass and dirt. We ran over to the large, metal door with a partly scratched-off sticker that read "caution". The door usually wouldn't budge whenever we collected here, so Harley immediately shoved his foot against it, kicking the hefty door open with a loud, screeching slam. We all jokingly applauded his strength and entered the building.

Every floor was extensively spacious and completely empty, apart from some litter and dirt. The six of us sprinted towards the stairwell that led to higher floors. Levi was always cautious around these steps since they creaked uncomfortably and had many holes burned through the material. We journeyed up through the warehouse, skipping floor after floor until we reached the roof.

We opened the door with a missing knob, exiting onto the top surface of the warehouse. You could see the entire town from up here. Torrence reached into his backpack and pulled out a large blanket, throwing it into the air and lying it flat down on the roof, right by the ledge.

We all took a seat on the blanket and relaxed, catching our breath. We sat in a circle in the clockwise order of me, Rian, Levi, Torrence, Harley, and Eden. I looked out at the view, admiring the tiny specks of lights that represented lampposts, passing cars, lightbulbs through the windows of various homes, and et cetera. I breathed in the atmosphere, the sound of the other canines laughing and chatting fading into a blur. I felt the calm breeze against my face, taking in the tranquility of the moment.