Selfish Machines (A Pierce the Veil Fan Fiction!)

Chapter 1

I lay face down in the dirty streets of San Diego. Somebody would have seen me by now if I weren't in a secluded alleyway on one of the most dangerous places in the entire city... at night. What was I doing here again? Oh right... That's a long story. My grandmother used to tell me that right before you die, your entire life flashes right before your eyes. So was it true? I was just about to find out.

I feel my own warm blood trickling down my spine. So is this really how it's going to end? My eyes start to slip close and all of these memories start floating through my mind. But it's not my entire life that's flashing in front of me. Just the key points. Mainly the reason I was lying here in the first place.

To be more specific, July 4th of just this year.

~

I stretch my arms over my head and arch my back. The firework festival wouldn't start for another hour. So why'd my family bring me here so early? Because Dad wanted to get 'good seats.' Which in his defense, was a pretty reasonable explanation. Fourth of July Festival in San Diego's, Imperial Beach could get really crowded at times. With an expected two-thousand or some people at tonight's big event, I guess it was understandable to be here at such an early time.

But as the sky grows darker, the crowd grows bigger. My family's stuff has all been set up in the very front of the beach so we would have probably the best seats. I hear the announcers voice boom over the many speakers set up by the docks. "Alright ladies and gents!" He says enthusiastically. "Are you all ready for tonight's fireworks!" Cheers burst through the sea of people in an uproar. Shit. I needed to get back to my parents before the fireworks started. Otherwise, they'd be on my case again. "Dad I'm almost nineteen. I can do whatever I want with my life now." I reminded him a few days ago as I was headed out to a party with my best friends Jaime, Tony, and my brother, Mike.

I slip past the people on the moonlit beach trying to make my way through the swarming ocean of not even half the citizens living in San Diego. There are at least two thousand people here, and every other person is just a stranger to me. It was practically impossible to remember any one face that you'd seen in a crowded space of individuals. But as soon as our eyes meet, I feel an instant connection. A single pulse in my heart that was capable of throwing me completely off balance.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and thin. Her skin was illuminated by the burst of lights above us; skin like porcelain. She couldn't have been more perfect. And maybe it was the timing that made everything seem like the ideal moment. The first fireworks blow up, lighting the entire sky with a loud boom within a single second. Every noise surrounding me is completely drowned out, and despite every moving arm or body of the people around us, the both of us stand no more than a few feet apart, still and adamant.

Finally, she pulls her icy orbs away from mine and disappears into the mix of people before I have a chance to say anything to her. All I have was her appearance in my mind. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and thin. But like I've said before, there are two-thousand people here. And out of every single one, it seemed more than impossible to ever find her again.

When I reach the front, I see my large family altogether along with a few of my friends creating a smaller circle of people in between everybody else. I tap Jaime on the shoulder. He turns around, smiling at me. "Hey Vic! Where've 'ya been?" He asks me in his usually casual voice.

"Nowhere," I respond to him, casting my eyes toward the sand. I didn't exactly like talking to anybody about my 'love life' if that's an actual thing. Ever since my parents indirect anger towards each other, I stopped believing in fairy tales like that. Every good thing comes to an end. Which is the exact reason I never wanted to be in a serious relationship, or even be in a relationship at all.

Jaime inspects me with his curious brown eyes glowing by the sparks flying in every direction around us. "Hm," His eyes dig into me, acknowledging that I'd been up to something. But knowing that I wasn't willing to cooperate with him, he shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever."

I stand next to Tony and Mike who don't even bother to glance at me. In fact, they probably didn't know that I was standing beside them considering that they'd always been taller than me. That used to bother me a lot. Not exactly as much with Tony, but the fact that Mike was taller than me, people always assumed that he was the older brother when I was the older one and would jump to conclusions that he was the good kid and I was the bad one. But I had always been more responsible and polite. Mike was the one who would drink and go out to party's, hooking up with random girls he met there. And who always took cover? Me. Because we were brothers and only being a year apart, pretty damn close. I did care about Mike and he cared about me. But when people mistook him as the supposedly older and more respectful one, it drove me crazy.

My two younger cousins, Marrissa and Vannessa chase each other in a brutal game of tag. "You're never gonna get me!" Marrissa shouts, who was two years older than her five year old sister. I watch Vannessa struggling to chase her fast sister around, trying her hardest to catch up to her with her short and weary legs. I start to feel pitiful that she was never going to not be the tagger. As Marrissa comes running toward me for shelter, I grab her by the waist and lift her off the ground as she squeals, trying to rip away from my grip. I lay her on the sand and tickle her stomach as she laughs, trying to push me away. "Stop it!" she shouts with a smile. "Vic, you're gonna get me 'it!'" 

Vannessa comes running in our direction with a grin surfacing on her tired face. "Got you!" She yells triumphantly as she slaps her sister on the leg with her tiny hand. Marissa glares at me as I finally let go of her.

"What was that for?!" she scowls at me as she folds her thin, tanned arms over her yellow sundress. I only laugh in response thinking that she looked funny when she was mad which only angered her even more. But just as I start to turn away from her, I feel her jump onto my back and I almost fall forward from the unexpected surprise. "I'm not gonna let go until you apologize!" She warns. I lift her higher up on my shoulders and hold her legs in place while she grips her small arms around my neck.

"That's alright," I say as I stand up. "You're not heavy. I can carry you all night and I won't get tired." I smile as I point my head up so we're face to face.

Vanessa giggles as she touches my nose ring. "What's this?" She asks me curiously, obviously never having seen one before.

"Something that you should never get or else your mommy will get mad at you." I respond looking back at the fireworks that were still going off.

"Did your mommy get mad at you?" She questions. 

I shudder from the thought of how my mom reacted when I'd come home with it. "What the heck do you think you're doing Victor Vincent Fuentes?!" She didn't talk to me for three days. If you think that was bad, you should have seen the reaction she had when Mike came home with his first tattoo. I let out a weary sigh. Why couldn't she just understand that legally, I could do anything I wanted without her permission? Which is why I planned very soon, with the money I earned from the local gas station I worked at, to rent my own apartment.

"Very." I respond to Vannessa.

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My very first chapter of Selfish Machines! So did you like it? Please let me know what you thought in the comments and if I should continue this or not. The Girl With No Name's picture is in the sidebar! I'm going to be writing in probably only Vic's point of view unlike my other story where the POV would constantly switch off. Sorry about that :( but after all, this is his story that he's telling (more like remembering, I guess?) Vote, comment, and I'll get back to you later c:

~Allison