1 What is Love?

Elena shifted restlessly in the seat of the beat up cadillac. Victor had just lifted the car from a diner off of West Belfort, but there was something about the way the leather squeaked and scrunched underneath her weight. It felt oddly familiar and uncomfortable. She fiddled with the heart shaped ring on her pinky. It was the only memento she had of her Mother, who had died giving birth to her 17 years ago.

After a few momments of silent reflection in an attempt to calm her nerves, Nick startled her from her thoughts by smacking her thigh. "Aye, you ready El, we finna go in, so look out. Here hit this shit." He passed her a fat blunt that was practically busting out of the rillo. She took a big drag, filling her lungs to the brim with the pungent but earthy tasting smoke. She immediately forgot whatever it was that was bothering her.

"Thanks man." she said exasperatedly. "All good." Nick said "But aye, you good. tell me if you still down with this. if not, you can go ahead home. we ain't gonna judge."

She felt her four friends eyes on her immediately. Thats when Jamie jumped in, "Yeah, you can just go on home to that nice house of yours. It's not like your short on the cash anyway."

'What a bitch.' She thought to herself. She had been as open-minded as possible these past few months. She was trying her hardest to fit in with her new friends, but a few of them weren't making it easy. "Alright ya'll" Nick carried on. "you know was sup. Victor, you got getaway duty. Jamie is the rabbit, your gonna be at TJ's Liquor 3 blocks down. Alex is the jigger, your gonna be watching from across the way low key. and me and Elena are cannon."

Alex chimed in with the dumbest of remarks as always. "So yo, what kinda sound you want me to make if i spot 12's lurking. I was thinking something like AH AWW." Alex made his best attempt of impersonating a majestic bird. "Just send me a text dumbass. i have my phone on vibrate." Nick retorted. "Aight bro, but dont blame me when the FEDS ping you in the area at the scene of the crime." Alex said. "Your smoking to much dope bruh, this is a burner, and what do they care for 4 orphans in the sytem anyhow. Now shut fuck up and get in place. We gotta do this quick." Nick snapped. Alex stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk.

"Ok tough guy" he said jokingly, waving his hands next his head to show his surrender. he reached in and plucked the blunt right out of Elena's mouth before pulling his hood up and walking briskly across the street towards the Freebirds parking lot.

"Damn, what a bitch, i was tryna hit that too." Victor said sounding dissapointed. "All good bro" Nick said holding up an ounce of dro. "There's plenty more where that came from, and when we score big here you'll be swimming in pussy, money, and weed. Not to mention, we'll be on D's good side."

Elena had heard of D before, but she had never met him. The same could be said for Jamie. Nick never let the girls get involved with the nitty gritty. All she knew was that Nick, Alex, and Victor were initiates in gang called the South Park Mafia, and that the highest ranking member in their part of the Southside, Dereck Gray, otherwise known as D wanted them to hit a lick on Diamonds Jewlery. The way Nick put it made it seem like they had it coming. If a mob boss loans you money to keep your store running, and gives you protection from rival gangs...don't try to screw around and not pay what you owe.

"Aight Vic, drop Jamie off at shamrocks and pull back round. Loke up, turn yo lights off, and sit pretty untill we get back, aight."

"I had no idea, thanks for reminding me." Victor said sarcastically. "I'm just making sure big dawg, this has gotta be flush. I already got a record. I ain't tryna get caught for no petty mistake." Nick explained. Victors answer was short and sweet. "I gotchu bro." Thats all Nick needed to hear. He trusted Victor with his life. They had grown up together and their bond was strong. They were practically brothers. Take care of my baby" Nick said. He leaned over and gave Jamie a passionate kiss that quite frankly, made Elena feel even more uncomfortable. "Lets go." Nick said. He and Elena pulled their ski-mask over their faces before getting out of the car and hurried towards the back.

Elena was happy for the cocealment considering that her hair was pure white. She would be identified on surveillance in an instant. They had planned to enter the store through the back. They knew through D's informant, that the store had no active security system installed, and that they only had CCTV coverage around the building which they only used to review any instances of theft to catch the culprit. This is why the owner needed protection on this side. 'Too late now.' Elena thought to herself. They were about to rob these fools blind. She turned back to see the Cadillac pull of silently, and turn on Gessner heading South.

This was it, they crept up not caring for the camera posted above the door with the blinking red dot, indicating that it was recording their movements. They finally reached the door. It was a standard 6 by 6 with a vertically sliding wrought iron gate that was put up to prevent burglary. It was held in place by a lock and chain that was looped through a steel bracket bolted into the cement.

"Alright Shorty." Nick started "This is why your here. Show me some skill, i don't want to have to fuck around with these bolt cutters."

Elena examined the lock. it was a Master Pad lock fitted with a 4 pin code at the bottom. it had an emergency key slot on the side in case you forgot the code. "So you got it or not" Nick said impatiently. "Are you kidding me?" Elena said with a smirk on her face. She thought that it would at least be a challenge considering that it was a jewlery store, but some people put to much faith in these sturdy looking locks. Unluckily for them, Elena had been learning to pick locks since she was 8 years old. It was something her father had taught her, and was one of the only things she was thankful to him for at that.

She didn't even need her lockpicking set for this one. She opened up the supreme pouch she had wrapped around her waist and pulled out a slim nail file about a half an inch wide and an inch and a half long. It was flexible, but sturdy. 'The M175 Bypass would work nicely on this baby.'

This referred to a simple mistake that the Master Lock manfacturers overlooked allowing criminals around the world to steel from unsuspexting customers of Master. A mistake Elena would now exploit unfortunately for them. She grasped the lock pressing firmly on the bracket connecting the chain, and with her other hand slid the file in the third hole to the right. Then lifting the file up and feeling it catch, she gently applied pressure to the left and presto. The lock released in a matter of seconds of her coming into contact with it. She looked over to Nick who had the stupidest, but kind of cute expression on his face.

"Ok shorty, i see you. I guess you really was about it huh. You gotta teach me that one." He teased pushing against her shouder.

Luckily he couldn't see her blushing underneath the mask. Her pale skin would've made it painfully obvious, and she was once again thankful for the concealing factor of the ski-mask. She had to admit, Nick was cute. Standing at just over 6"2 with a set of gorgeous light green eyes, hard jawline, and perfectly chiseled muscles. Any girl in her right mind would double take at just the sight of him. Too bad he was taken, and he would never want her any way. She was a 5"6 pale skinned, chubby albino with quite literally a sunny disposition. She was just happy to be apart of something. To feel anything other than the depression that had been plaguing her for the majority of her teenage years.

The sound of Nick rustling through his back pack caught her attention. he pulled out a crowbar and shifted it from one hand to the other. The first handle of the lock could be picked by Elena, but this was double locked from the inside which required a method leaning more towards brute force. she picked the lock on the knob easily. Kwiksetts were always a breeze for her, and Nick placed the crowbar in between the crevice of the door and the frame. Then with an incredible feat of strength, pushed firmly towards the wall with all his might. The door broke free and it was go time.

"Go, Go!" Nick snapped. "In and out. No playing around."

They rushed in after Nick handed Elena a hammer. They started busting glass case after glase case open, and grabbing as much as they could stuff in their bags. Diamond studded earings, 24 karot gold watches, tennis bracelets, chains, all worth a hefty sum. They had pretty much cleared the glass cases and were ready to go. "Hey, give me your bag and hit the register" Nick ordered. She didn't think twice. Her body was pumping blood at the speed of sound, or atleast if felt like it was because of the adrenaline.

She tossed him the bag and hurriedly jumped over the counter. she fiddled with the register drawer lock for a momment and badda bing, it was open just like that. She was pretty proud of herself for he performance under pressure. "Well?" Nick chided. "It's pretty much empty, looks like they just have enough for change. Five 20's, five 10's, and one hundred 1's. Also 3 rolls of change." Elena said nervously. Her adrenaline was starting to come down, and she was feeling the heat of the momment. "Just grab the bills and lets bounce." Nick said with urgency in his voice. Elena didn't need to be told twice. She was ready to get outta there. She stuffed the bills in her fanny pack and started heading towards the door. Just then, they heard a sound. it had come from the back door. A white light filled the room.

"Police, put your hands where i can see them!"

A Police officer had entered with his gun drawn. "I said put your hands up or i'll shoot! Do it now!" The officer bellowed.

Elena and Nick put there hands up. The officer had his firearm drawn down toward Elena who was behind the counter, but closest hence the immediate threat. The officer reached over to his sholder and radioed for back up. Just then Nick saw his chance, he dashed around the officer with the speed of an athlete and zoomed around the corner. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Elena followed suit. The Offcer was distracted with Nick. She hustled over the counter and ran towards his blind side. Thats when a single shot reverberated through the room. The officer, turning around had noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and acted hastily and on instinct. Elena's body hit the floor hard. Nick looked back "Shit!" He cursed as he fled the scene. "STOP!" The cop commanded, but it was too late. Nick had already hopped in the cadillac with Victor.

"Where's Elena?" Victor questioned. "She's dead, now shut the fuck up and drive!" Nick spat.

Elena lied there on the floor, her blood pooling around her. Life essence slowly being pulled from her body like water draining from a tub. She saw Nick leave her there, no regret in his eyes. Why should there be? She knew the risk and she was willing, but that didn't make it hurt any less. She heard the officer muttering something over the radio about EMS. She didn't care anymore. She felt warm right now, the pain was there but it didn't bother her. She was too numb to register it. Blood continued to pool around her reaching her arms, her hands, and finally her fingers. She looked over to her hand with the ring on it. "Mom." she sobbed. Tears streaming down her face. She looked at the heart shaped design of the ring, cherishing it for one final time. "What is Love?" she said weakly. Then suddenly a flash of white light and a ringing sound filled Elena's ears. 'Is this it? Am i dead?' She thought. Then she heard a chime followed by a beautiful female voice.

'<User Elena Amathusia has been registered.>'

"Huh?" Elena whispered confused.

"<Please press Start>"

A translucent panel floated in front of Elena's face. 'Well, i'm dead anyway.' She thought.

Slowly Elena lifted her left hand towards the panel to press start.