Sunny September, part one. One hell of a night. Christopher.

  I gaze across the nightscape of Los Angeles for what may be my last time, or at least my last time as a free man. I shiver as I contemplate, the midnight wind slipping under my sweater before coiling around my body and sliding up my neck like a serpent. It whistles and hisses in my ears and I frown, knowing that I like Adam am about to bite the apple. faking my confidence I think: I can’t believe I’m going along with this. Maybe it’s not too late to turn back. A pretty boy like me won’t last long behind bars.

  The plan we had concocted seemed like it was going off smoothly a few minutes ago. Apparently that’s not the case anymore according to the storm of frustrated “fucks” and “shits” stirring up behind my back. Turning to look I see my best friend kneeling while struggling to light the fuse.

  “What a worthless piece of crap!” He hisses, snarling like a dog, his spider mask pulled to the side. “Christopher you got a lighter?”

  “I don’t smoke dumbass.”

  “Shit!”

  Tucking the lighter away in a random pocket, he stands up and raises his head, yelling at the other five that watch on from hire up the hillside. “Someone throw me a lighter!”

  From amongst them Markeiff steps forward, a bonified bitch. He takes a few steps down the hillside before throwing a lighter that Okimoto quickly catches.

  He holds it up and smiles when he sees its fluid glow in the light of the massive letters.

  “Christopher you should also light some of the fuses.” Shakira yells out before stepping forward.

  Markieff’s mouth twitches, clearly not liking how high her pitch is when she addresses me.

  The girl yelps as she slips on the steep slope, her box braids flying behind her in the air as she lands on her behind, Markieff rushing to save her.

  He grabs on to her coat, the two coming into the light of the letters as they stabilise themselves. I see the two black eyes I gave Markieff earlier through his hockey mask and smile, removing the extra large sock over my head to show my untouched face.

  I see his eyes squinting at me before darting to Shakira as she cracks a laugh at her own expense. Markieff lets out a fake chuckle of his own.

  “You’re always so clumsy,” He says, picking her up and brushing off her behind and giving it a slap and continuing to say, “You know I’ve always got you baby. Just give the lighter to me and I’ll pass it on to Okimoto.”

  I can’t see her face because she wears a sock like me, but I can tell that she’s rolling her eyes as I roll mine.

  “I said Christopher.” She corrects him.

  She then throws the lighter to me and I catch it before lighting it and moving to kneel at the foot of a letter myself.

  Before I light the fuse I look over to Okimoto and then up to the remaining three who stand watching us in silence.

  Elton, a kid from Okimoto’s school wears a joker mask, his snake like amber eyes lock with mine and I can feel him smiling under there. He’s essentially Okimoto’s right hand man and tags along whenever he’s doing something particularly stupid like this.

  Beside him Daniel dawns a Deadpool mask, he’s probably the only one with an actual reason to blow up the sign, he’s always going on and on about satanic pedophiles this and the new world order that. He fidgets and I can’t tell if he’s giddy with joy like Okimoto was earlier or contemplating like I am. His father works here as a security guard, he’s the one that told us there wouldn’t be anyone on patrol today.

  The third one’s a senior, the oldest of us all, Trevor. This joke is on another fucking planet, a smoking blunt pokes out from the mouth hole on his Hulk mask, his eyes as red as the flags waving in my mind. He shifts from side to side clearly too under the influence to have any describable emotion. It was him that discovered the dynamite left abandoned in a defunct mine while on a hiking trip with his dad in the mountains. After Okimoto gave him inspiration he drove all the way back there to get it and bring it here for us to use.

  Shakira tagged along because I (her childhood friend) am here and Markieff tagged along because I (her childhood friend and a perceived threat to his non existent relationship) am here. The two broke up a month before school even started, but he’s clearly one of ‘Those guys’.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Looking back at Okimoto, I see him squat before lighting the lighter and holding the flame to the fuse. My heart races when I see that he’s not following the safety measures we agreed upon.

  “Stop!” I yell.

  He freezes and looks over at me before rolling his eyes and retrieving a Swiss knife from his back pocket before saying, “be sharp. The fuses we’re using are all ten feet long. It takes thirty seconds for one foot of the fuse to be burnt out. Tell me, how much time does that give us?”

  “About as long as I lasted in your mom last night.” I shoot back, slipping my sock back down to cover my scowling face.

  “Look Christopher it’s okay, if the spark moves too fast I’ll cut it.” He says in a snarky tone, clearly annoyed that I had the audacity to value our lives, or at least what will be left of our lives once the deed is done and there is no going back.

  He lights his fuse and my ass unclenches when I see the spark travelling nice and slowly. I swallow before lighting my fuse and carefully lighting the others on my side.

  I hear the others all run towards the main road before I’m finished and a knot forms in my gut. Now there’s no going back, from this point onward everything has to go perfectly.

  Once all the fuses were lit I set a five minute timer on my phone. Me and Okimoto then run in the opposite direction of the rest, jumping a fence to get to Okimoto’s dirt bike that was lying in the bushes, it’s engine still crackling from being left on.

  My heart thunders, pounding away as Adrenaline empowers me to flip the two hundred and fifty pound bike upright with Okimoto’s help.

  He jumps on and revs up the engine as I quickly raise my head over the fence to check that none of the fuses have failed and burnt out. I give him a thumbs up after seeing that nothing’s wrong and hop on the bike with him.

  We speed off with only four and a half minutes to get to a vantage point. Along the way paranoia directs my gaze to every shadow that even vaguely resembles a car. According to Daniel Their shouldn’t be any law enforcement in the area but I still remain vigilant. The bike muscles its way up the hillside and onto the road as I hold on for dear life while looking back, ahead and around so quickly I start to get dizzy.

  Once the tires were on the smooth surface of the road I calm down a bit and my eyes remain focused on the Hollywood letters as they recede from view.

  When we start going down hill I see the headlights of a car emerge over the dark horizon tailing us, my soul freezing over with terror before I calm down realising it’s just Trevor and the others.

  It freezes over again when the car swerves chaotically. I pray to god for forgiveness, why didn’t I tell them not to let Trevor drive while as high as my chances of turning into road kill.

  As the car speeds towards us I scream for Okimoto to make a turn into the roadside bushes which he quickly does.

  The car barrels past us as our bodies jerk from the bike being caught in the dense vegetation. After recovering from our whiplash we both watch as the car screeches to a stop.

  Stretching to see over Okimoto, I see the driver side door swing open as Trevor is kicked out on to the road.

  Profanities echo in the night as the other doors swing open, all but Elton getting out in a haste. Shakira and Markieff pick up Trevor and throw him in the back before getting back in. Daniel shakes his head and kisses his teeth, moving over to the front passenger seat to sit next to Elton who took over the steering wheel.

  We make a strange bunch, the seven of us. We all came together and decided to throw our lives away so casually. Honestly, it’s really strange. Aside from Okimoto and Shakira I dare not call them my friends and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.

  “Get off real quick I need to move it back on to the road, “Okimoto says.

  I look him up and down from behind, my eyes tracing his single braid at the back up to the crazy mess of dyed blond hair on his head. I want to ask why, what inspired him or if he’s finally gone insane, but I don’t realising that these are questions I should be asking myself. I already knew the answer. It was simple really. This boy is just a fucking maniac and so am I in my own twisted way.

  I get off the bike before getting back on after Okimoto shuffles it back onto the road.

  Elton drives ahead with the others with us following closely behind. Okimoto tries to overtake them and I yank his collar to stop him as the memory of my near death experience lingers around my neck like a scythe.

  Further down the hill we finally reach a point where we can see the sign again and stop to look back with only thirty seconds left.

  I watch the timer on my phone, my heart beating faster and faster with each descending number. When the timer hits ten I cover my ears anticipating the sound.

  Tension fills every inch of me as time slows down. I continue to count down to zero in my mind.

  Underneath the letters a flash of amber light is followed by a sharp bang that rips through my hands and bites my ears. I’m snapped back to Santa Monica Pier two years ago and I see the image of his blood all over my hands, a glock nineteen pointing at me and my father’s belt. I snap myself back to reality and silence devours everything. Events like this that I had only seen in movies up to this point where just not something a person expects to see in reality. First, I lament the fact that explosions were much faster louder and less spectacular than in the movies. The icy serpent tightens as I look at Okimoto, and I see the devil’s grin.

  I look back at the sign where the letters all tremble before tumbling down one after another, vanishing into the gaping darkness beneath. When only one letter, the H is left standing, I hear the devil laugh beside me. It’s maniacal, bursting with glee. He was the only one laughing.

  The rest of us were silent. I realise I’ve bitten the apple and the crushing reality of what comes next punches me in the gut. Where fugitives now and we have only minutes left before the forces that be mighty converge on us like a pack of rabid wolves. I hear the car drive off immediately taking speed. What the hell are we thinking. We don’t even have a plan for escape.

  “Don’t ask me why I do the things I do.” Okimoto says, his eyes shimmering as he slips his spider mask over his face before continuing to say, “Life needs a touch of chaos and thrill to make things more fulfilling.”