Angel's Reapers

Chapter 1

The ringing in my ears took over my entire existence as I swiftly searched for my boys. My eyes landed on him, he was kneeling on the cement with his hands clutching his stomach as the warm crimson liquid spilled over his hands. He looked at me, a look of fear in his eyes as he realized what was happening. I tried to run over to him, but I was being held back. I had to get to him, he needed me. I managed to break free and sprinted past everyone. I caught a few of my boy's gazes as they realized what was going on. When I got there he was laying down on his back trying to breathe. I sank my knees into the sticky liquid surrounding him. I didn't know what to do, he had already lost so much blood. We couldn't fix him up like all the other times before, and there isn't enough time to get him to a hospital. Then it hit me, we were going to lose him. I felt him move, he was looking at me and I saw in his eyes just how terrified he was, he's too young to leave us. He's not ready, I prayed to whoever was up there not to do this, it's not fair, he doesn't deserve any of this. I clutched one of his blood-soaked hands and held it to my chest.

"You're going to be alright, I promise hun. Just keep breathing." I could feel his hand shaking in mine and I looked down at our hands and I realized I was the one shaking. I held back my tears and started yelling for the boys to come over. He needed them, they would know what to do.

"Zach! Anthony! Anyone, please!" I could feel my tears start to slide down my cheeks. One of his hands reached up and his thumb wiped them away across my cheek.

"Please don't cry, you know none of us can handle watching an angel cry," he said to me. I could see his little smile and his eyes starting to close.

"No no no, please hold on, we can't lose you, we need you!" I begged and pleaded for him to stay conscious.

"You're the strongest out of all of us, Angel. Take care of them," I felt his hand begin to lose its grip in mine. Just like that... he was gone.

One year earlier

I woke up in a hot and scared, I looked to my left to my clock on the wall and waited for my eyes to focus on the glowing red numbers. It was four in the morning, which is bogus. Since the summer started I had a bad feeling about this school year and I kept waking up super early in the morning for the past week. I decided to just get up now and get ready for the first day of my senior year at NCHS.

I was walking down a street in Brooklyn, New York, on my way towards my trash school. I walked past a spot covered in flowers and notes, the summer just ended so everyone is already in a bad mood but to make it worse two brothers in Grade 8 and 10 were shot while riding their bikes down the street. There are little memorials everywhere recently, this summer was hard for a lot of families. I was one of the lucky ones to stay safe, it's hard to stay safe unless you're part of a gang. There are many gangs in Brooklyn and almost everyone has a family member in a gang. I have a cousin in a gang but, my mother and I don't talk to her siblings and their kids. I see him around town sometimes but I'm not supposed to speak with him. We do wave and exchange pleasantries but, never more than a few minutes or else someone will notice and our families will find out. Walking to school in the mornings can even be dangerous so I walk quickly and try not to make direct eye contact with anyone. It is a short walk to my school which is lucky and I always cut through this one alleyway right beside where I live.

As soon as I entered the school doors I noticed the posters hanging everywhere and the new lockers that we were promised still haven't come in, even though it's been three years since we were supposed to get them. A lot of them have graffiti on them and have been banged into. The disgusting murky gray colour only made the dents and divots less appealing.

Everyone has a reason for joining a gang and most kids in this bunk school are a part of one, and most gangs deal drugs in the city. My mama doesn't want me anywhere near that stuff especially sleet. Sleet makes kids do nutso things, like shoot other kids. I see it in the hallways at school little slides of hands to "discreetly" pass along some cocaine. It's not discreet at all, everyone knows what's going on and it's ridiculous because everyone is bugg'n about it.

I know how to stay invisible to the gangs, they roam the halls in packs like wild dogs. They snarl like them too sometimes, their bark is worse than their bite usually. I haven't had any problems with them so far but eventually, I probably will though. Everyone has a run-in with a gang at some point. I just need to graduate, that's all I care about. Graduating and getting into a good university so I can get out of this dead beat town. I just need to focus on getting from class to class, it's not that hard. The teachers love me here because, I'm polite, I pay attention in class and I'm not murkin'.

I am almost to my first class when I see them walking down the hall, greasy hair and a lack of any etiquette. I begin to walk faster, lengthening my strides. I watched as the other students in the hallway would freeze and move to the side. I watch as I see my friend Mateo walk with them, over the summer he joined the gang. I even helped him prepare for the initiation.

"Hey Mari, wait up!" I heard him yell. He knows I don't like it when he's around them. I barely get to hang out with him this summer considering those stupid Grim Reapers were around. I noticed the leader of their stupidity scowl at me. Mateo walks ahead of them and stops in front of me.

"Hey Mateo, it's been a while," I say still glancing at the rest of the gang waiting behind him, I'm not scared of them they just make me feel uneasy. 

"Yeah, it has, what have you been up to? You haven't been available to hang out so what's been keeping you so busy?" He is completely unaware of the fact that nothing is keeping me busy and that I just don't want to hand around with the Reapers. 

"Oh you know family stuff and my schedule at work was pretty crazy this summer." I heard a scoff behind Mateo and glanced to see that stupid dark-haired boy roll his eyes still scowling at me.

"Do you have an issue, Zachary?" I asked innocently knowing that he hated his full name. Mateo glanced nervously between Zachary and me, he knew that I'm too stubborn to back down and that Zachary probably is too.

"Yeah, I do, you've obviously been avoiding him since he hangs out with us now. Which means you obviously have a problem with my gang. We didn't do anything to you, little miss perfect so don't disrespect us. They call us Grim Reapers for a reason, back off before you break a nail princess." 

"Listen here numbskull, I'm not scared of you so stop trying to use your 5th-grade bully tactics on me. I don't care about your masculinity or your pack of dickheads, I just care about Mateo so fuck off, Princess." I retaliated getting closer to him using the same name he just called me.

"Mariangel," Mateo said to me with a clenched jaw, he looked at me with pleading eyes, I know he doesn't want to have to deal with a fight but he should have known better than to bring those goons around me. No one gets to talk to me like that anymore.

"Huh, she's got a mouth on her doesn't she, boys." Zachary smirked at me, "It'd be a real shame if someone broke it." I knew he was referring to breaking my jaw but whatever, he wouldn't dare lay a hand of me, not with this many people around.

I heard the first bell ring above us signaling it was time to be in class.

"You're not worth my breath, Zachary. See you around Mateo." I sighed and walked around the leather-clad gang, making my way into the classroom, and completely disregarding the vulgar names Zachary was calling me as I ignored him and the rest of the Reapers.