A blue cab pulled up in front a large white building that resembled a school. The walls of its fence were decorated with vivid, colorful spray paintings - the evidence of graffiti artists going about their daily business. A young girl stepped out of the cab, her brown hair flailing about in the merciless wind. She shielded her face with a magazine and ran toward the building to prevent dust from getting into her eyes.

"You're late again, Gemma!" A young man announced as she entered the lobby. The glass doors silently closed, shutting off the sound of the whistling wind outside.

"It's Bree." She corrected distastefully with an eye roll then muttered. "Dumbass."

"Listen, Gemma. . ." The young man began spitefully.

"Will, either get my name right or you shut up." She interjected, tucking the magazine into her bag then slung it across her arm. She brushed back strands of her hair that stuck up in different places.

"You are getting in it today with the boss. He is really unhappy with you sneaking off to God-knows-where on your shift yesterday."

"Name a time when Ed was ever happy. And, i am gonna dimple you if you don't start minding your business and stop stalking me." Bree growled.

"Don't say i didn't warn you." He added.

"Get lost, Will." Bree scowled and headed up the stairs.

The local library was quiet - as it should be - but the windows still shook from the wild afternoon breeze, filling the hallway with a hollow sound. Gordon's private library was the only one of its kind in town; loaded with over ten thousand books including syllabuses for the local schools. It was four storeys high with glass windows and doors, about six different study rooms, three offices and a lobby. It was open twenty four seven but had very little staff; four, to be specific - Pauline, Pepper, William and Bree herself.

The library was owned by Sir Richards Gordon, an elderly statesman who had been voted Mayor twelve years in a row. He had a strong passion for education and had opened up his own private library to support the progressive yet slow academic system in the little town of Maine. Over the years, he became much too busy to run a library and handed full control of it to Edward Luke Kitsch - the most annoying human being in Maine and the biggest bully on planet earth.

Bree mouthed a few angry words as she approached Ed's office. Taking in a deep breath, she fisted a hand to knock but the door swung open revealing Pauline, one of the few library attendants. Pauline looked like she had just escaped a nuclear bombing but had lost one arm in the process. Her blonde and brown hair was held in pigtails and she kept wiping her eyes underneath her glasses with the back of her hand.

Ed was at it again.

Bree fumed but managed to control her burning anger as she could not afford to lose her job. It was the only one she had gotten accepted in even though she had furiously prayed Ed would refuse her. Turned out that he needed one extra person to pick on whenever Sir Richards forgot to send him his paycheck.

Ed was not attractive or nice nor did he possess any characteristic that would identify him as human. He was four inches shorter than Bree with a weird mustache, a temper twice his size and a brown suit he never took off. He had a bald spot in the middle of his head with funny looking blotches on the exposed skin. Around it was graying hair cut short to frame his round face. He had two kids who recently had run away to live with their mother in Kentucky and nobody needed to be told why they made that choice.

He once bought a black Rolls-Royce and the endless amount of pride that came with it from the car store but unfortunately, he had gotten involved in a really bad accident that shattered the car to pieces leaving him with a bad hip and an even worse temper. He always wore a snarl and was a full time grouch. Everyone tried their best to ignore him at the library and in town.

"That will be the last time you. . ."

Bree barged in and Ed gave a short snarl.

"And where were you yesterday, Deckard?"

Bree folded her arms. "You know i visit my mother every Thursday, Ed."

"Your mother is comatose, Deckard and that means she is not gonna wake up anytime soon if not at all. As for now, you stay here and work for me or you don't get paid." Ed shouted and slammed his fist on the desk at the last sentence.

"You're a demon." Bree spat calmly and spun around to leave.

"You better not piss me off next time or you're fired." Ed thundered.

Bree slammed the door shut and raced down the stairs, biting back tears. Within two seconds, Edward had managed to shatter any hope she had of her mother waking up.

Brianna Gemma Deckard was a twenty two year old college dropout. She had finished off high school and was one of the many applicants accepted into the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She had barely gone halfway through her second year when she received the shocking news that her mother had gone into a coma as a result of a brisk heart attack. Arriving Maine, she discovered that her mom had already been hospitalized but there was absolutely no one to foot the bills since her father had passed on four years prior. Bree decided to drop out of college to get a job.

She had been lucky to speak directly with Mr Gordon's secretary - yeah the dude was quite important - who assured that her pay would be increased to accommodate her mother's hospital bills and things had gone fairly well until Edward took responsibility of the library. He would habitually cut down on everyone's wages depending on how often they showed up late or how p'd off he was.

Bree secretly searched around town for a new job but had not had any luck so far.

She plopped down on the chair at Desk 2 - her work station - and placed both hands under her chin.

Just then, Pauline walked by.

"Hey, Bree." The girl greeted.

She wore blue glasses that made her look like an animated character. Her hazel eyes were visible behind the lens and whenever she took the glasses off, her eyes seemed to reduced in size or so Bree thought. She was one of the few genuinely nice people across town and was always good to Bree even though they were not exactly friends.

"Hey." Bree greeted in a much lower tone.

"Rough day, huh?" Pauline asked, leaning against the wooden desk that stretched all around Bree, cocooning her in the middle.

"It barely even begun." She sighed.

"Did you find any openings yet?"

"Nope. There was one though but it pays lower than the library." Bree replied, unpacking the items in her bag.

"Which?" Pauline asked.

"The pet store." She answered nervously.

Pauline chuckled. "The pet store pays $48 dollars per week and Ed pays $30 dollars when he feels like it. Do the math. Are you sure it's the paycheck you're worried about or those snakes they have tucked away in the back?"

"I hate snakes. They freak me out." Bree shuddered. "Wait, how did you know how much. . .?"

"Lizzy works there. Come on, you have to take the job. Do it for your mom." Pauline encouraged, pushing her glasses back gently.

"I don't know. I can still try to get through to Mr Gordon." Bree mentioned with a shrug.

"Yeah? And how well has that worked out for the past four months? You really need the extra cash."

"I have to admit i have been thinking of taking it but I'm just so unsettled." Bree confessed.

"Tell you what, I'll ask Lizzy to make Bruno take the snakes to the shed during your shift, how's that?"

"What if they get out?" Bree inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"You run."

"Deal." Bree stated with a grin and shook Pauline's hand. "Gee, thanks a bunch."

"Come on, it is the least i could do. Unlike the Grinch up there, i actually love helping people." Pauline shrugged and gestured toward the stairway as a reference to Ed.

"I'll see you around then." Bree nodded.

"Of course, I'm going to nap until seven. I need the bed rest." Said Pauline with a grunt. Everyone at the library worked two to three jobs except for Bree.

"And um, one more favor!" Bree called as Pauline began to leave.

"I'll kick him harder this time, don't you worry." Obviously, she knew what Bree was going to ask - kick William on your way out for me please.

"You're the boss." Bree exclaimed.

She picked up a pen and began to shade Os and As inside the magazine, a habit she had picked up in the third grade. She looked up and suddenly remembered something. She had been meaning to borrow two particular books from the upstairs shelf but as soon as she thought of going up, she also thought of bumping into Ed then changed her mind.

Anything to keep away from the monster.

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed across the room and Bree did not need to look up to know it was Pepper Hicks. She walked like a robber on heels trying to tiptoe into a house with glass flooring.

"Hi, Bree." Pepper called shyly as she came into sight.

She walked with a slight hunch and had salt and pepper hair and buck teeth that nobody seemed to ever make fun of; partly because she stood at a full six feet and would pound anyone who dared into a gumball. But Pepper was also much too gentle to hurt a fly. She had a fixation for Nike and would don Nike sweatpants and shoes to work. She was the only person Ed could never point at while yelling because he looked like a footstool in her presence. She was a nice yet very introverted girl and only spoke a particular set of words so often such that everyone around her already had an idea of what she would to say next.

"Hi, Pepsi." Bree joked and Pepper visibly struggled to hide a smile.

Her shift began at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and ended at 7pm. That was when Pauline would come in. Will worked the night shift but somehow never looked tired nor sleep deprived.

Come on, someone who stayed up all day everyday working at a boring library, he was expected to doze off every few seconds.

But Will never did. He was always on alert. Bree suspected he did something to himself to stay that way either in a desperate attempt to please Ed or to win employee of the month.

"Is Mr Kitsch in?" Pepper asked even though she knew he was.

"Yep. Pauline and i already got our doses but i bet that must have drained him by now. Go right up. You are four minutes early by the way." Bree said and checked her wrist watch. Ed hated latecomers.

Pepper sighed in relief and proceeded to climb up the stairs. In many ways, she was just like Bree - no friends, no dad, sick mom and no school. But the only reason Pepper did not go to school was because she was dyslexic and had solely refused to even try to learn. Nobody bothered her about it and it was  ironic that she had a job at a library when she barely ever picked up a book or even opened one.

A loud thump made Bree jerk in surprise - Pepper had slammed her forehead right into the wall again.

"Take it easy." Bree yelled suppressing a giggle.

"I know." Pepper whimpered and could only be heard because of her words that floated down the stairs in mild echoes.

Bree continued to shade letters for a few minutes then stopped and headed up the stairs. She strolled past Pepper who was already hunched over her in her work station, looking at funny videos on her phone.

"Ronny Chieng?" Bree asked as she approached a familiar shelf.

"Yep. He is hilarious." Pepper snorted then stared questioningly at Bree who was slipping out a second book. "Why do you always borrow those two?"

Bree gave her usual excuse. "Because they are the only ones that don't put me to sleep."

"They are pretty much escapist stories for kids." Pepper frowned slightly.

"There is nothing wrong with reading a kids novel, is there?"

Pepper shifted uncomfortably. "No. Absolutely not, there isn't. I just noticed that you read them all the time."

"I love them." Bree stated simply.

Pepper nodded. "That's great then. Hard to find things to love these days."

Bree stopped to glance over at Pepper whose head had lowered once more to stare at her phone. Her brows knotted as if she was trying hard to understand the joke then her lips suddenly parted in a wide smile before breaking into full on laughter. Bree ventured downstairs and made to approach her desk when the sound of multiple voices arguing attracted her. She rushed downstairs to the ground floor and could see the ruckus outside, thanks to the glass doors - a small mob of teenagers were gathered a few meters away where from the library signboard stood. Ed was there with them and Will and two policemen who obviously tried to calm the arguing parties.

Bree did not really have to go outside to know what the whole argument was about. The teens were all graffiti artists and one could easily tell from their spray painted leather jackets, worn out pants and black boots. They sported different colors of hair and looked more like hippies that took one quick dip in a paint bucket.

Edward hated them - no surprise there. He always reported their wild practices to the police but since most of them were within the ages of 13-15, there was nothing the police could do except let them off with a warning. There were no Juvenile places in town to house these delinquents as most of them did not have parents nor guardians to guide them either - nearly all of them were orphans. They just went about spray painting their thoughts on any wall they felt could use some rainbow touches.

Their leader was a twelve year old girl named Tatum Merchant. They say looks deceive and Bree thought that in Tatum's case, the saying was a hundred percent accurate.

She had the face of an angel, depending on one's idea of what an angel's face looked like. Tatum had imploringly dark grey eyes, bushy eyebrows that were somehow always neat, brown hair that had been either sprayed or dyed blue, and lips that always pouted but not in a pretty way. There was a calm look about her face and her cheeks were so puffy one would think she hid four doughnuts in them. She was the smallest in the group, literally, both in size and age but Tatum was trouble. The number one rule in her crew was - never make fun of size.

Gee, wonder why!

She was the kid who would get detention every day at school and still get detention in detention, if that was possible. She was the most delinquent twelve year old in all of Maine and was no stranger to a crime scene. Now we are not talking about a bloody murder type deal - just the usual stuff young teenagers found hilarious like dumping the contents of a venti down an officer's pants, prank calling strangers, breaking the windshield of some expensive car, riding skateboards past the speed limit, loitering around after curfew etc.

Tatum led rebellions across town but the strange thing was, no one could come to terms with the fact that she had been involved in anything at all. She belonged in a group of lucky kids that received full scholarships from Mr Gordon but Tate did not care about school. She just wanted to spend her days painting and causing chaos.

"These little brats better lay off my wall or I'm gonna teach them a lesson." Ed's angry voice came as soon as Bree pulled the doors open.

"We did nothing wrong." Someone protested from behind but her voice was not all that confident. She sounded like the kid in class who gave an answer to a math problem but was usure if she had gotten it right.

"Yeah, you little brats always play the innocent card but it will not work this time. You are all roaches and I'll deal with you in the way that roaches are dealt with."

Because Ed was nice like that.

"Mr Kitsch, please, there is absolutely no need to make threats to a bunch of children. We can always sort this out." A policeman offered.

He looked tired - genuinely tired. The kind of look you would get if you were stuck in a time loop and you had to relive history class over and over and over. He had sorted out issues like these one too many times and it was wearing him out. The poor dude did not even look angry at the situation. He probably just wanted to go home or back to his station.

"Sort it out by telling these nitwits to never ever cross the library again." Ed spat.

Tatum stood right in front, glaring at him like she was about to shove his tongue far back into his throat but she kept calm.

"Kids, please, you have to stop spray painting the library walls. It is against to law to ruin someone else's property. Mr Kitsch could get you arrested for it." The other policeman pleaded.

"But he can't get us arrested." Tatum challenged. She glared at Ed. "He'd get arrested for getting minors arrested."

"What?" A fellow teen asked, perplexed.

Bree walked further outside. She had not really seen the paintings on the wall before since she was always either too busy scowling at Will or dealing with Ed. She walked around the corner and past the fence that separated the side of the library from the rest of the street. She lifted an eyebrow in surprise as her eyes caught the multicolored paintings on the once white wall. The graphics looked nothing like what a bunch of kids could do. The details were too vivid and one side of the wall had been spray painted to look like it was fading away. In the middle section, someone had spray painted a circle that looked like an extremely large lollipop with sprinkles and charcoal. It made no sense compared to the others but was the most eye catching art she had ever come across.

On other sides of the wall, there were paintings of different sceneries; one was of a beach party held during sunset with the ocean reflecting the rays of the sun.

Bree glared at it and suddenly became overwhelmed. She could almost feel warm breeze coming off the painting which was a scary thing since the beach was just colors on the wall. There was another scene where basketball players were seen rejoicing over one particular player. He looked just like Michael Jordan. There was a scene from a popular movie, probably Star Wars and several others Bree could not comprehend.

The graffiti were like stacks of translucent, overlapping pictures with one picture blending into the one before it and the one after. It was amazing and Bree did not realize her mouth hung open the entire time she stared.

Tatum and Co literally went around town doing Banksy with spray cans.

"And stay away!" An angry voice snapped Bree back to reality.

Her eyes averted to Ed and Will and just then, Ed noticed her standing halfway in the street and on the sidewalk.

"Deckard!" He spat.

She looked at him with disdain.

"Your job is in there, not out here. Now get inside before i lose my temper." Ed shouted.

Bree glared at Will who was snickering wickedly behind Ed. He was Ed's right hand man and was a total kiss up. Will hated Ed's guts but would never try to admit it or he would lose his job and turn in his gold medal for world's best kiss-ass in the history of kiss-asses.

She sighed and made to leave when a low rumble shook the ground. She lost balance and tipped slightly but managed to grab hold of the fence.

"Whoa. Whoa."

The rumble had come from the library wall.

She tilted sideways and peeked at the paintings that now looked like someone had just splattered colors carelessly across it. A small brick came loose in the middle of the lollipop and dropped to the ground, shattering to pieces upon contact.

"DECKARD."

Bree nearly jumped out of her own skin.

"Coming." She called through gritted teeth and ran back inside.

Thankfully, the rumble had stopped.