Chapter 1

Silva had rarely felt that being unnoticeable was a problem. On the contrary, she found it to be very comfortable.

With her height being 1.65m tall, light brown hair, dusky blue eyes she thought herself to be the definition of average and countries average affirmed her thoughts.

In additionally she purposely wore clothes and did make-up in a way which let her blend in a crowd even more easily.

Indeed, she had gotten so good at it that at some point she had started to encounter a constant stream of minor inconveniences.

For example a couple of years back she had to convince her teachers that she had not regularly ditched their lessons. Silva was never taken into account when the teacher was planning class trips, and she was not counted as a possible participant in any of school events. There even was a time when some of her new classmates thought she was a ghost haunting their class.

It was just too easy to fade out of everyone's consciousness. Especially for her.

Of course, those events were tiring and she had to explain and argue with the teachers, but she did not do the same with her peers finding it easier if they thought what they wanted as it barely impacted her life.

In the end, Silva did not go as far as call to see those moments as problematic, and by now those events were memories she could remember and chuckle at.

As long as she could remember she had always felt much more comfortable when she was not in the spotlight. After a while, she even went as far as avoiding the attention of others.

She could go where she wanted, wander around late when her father was not at home, she could take a peek when there was a classmate secretly slipping away for a smoke and listen to latest gossip unbothered. Or take a peek when others were changing for the gym...

She did feel bad about doing it... And also about the following times she repeated the deed. After the fact anyway.

So where did the problem lie then?

At the moment Silva was trailing a couple she had found a few months ago, and while she liked to move trough more quiet routes herself, those two did not share the sentiment with her. She did have some experience tracking others, but not nearly enough to feel comfortable.

This was also the first time of her doing it in the middle of active traffic. Even if the dreaded traffic was only the pedestrians going their own way.

Dodging yet another person Silva squinted, cursing the afternoon sun for its brightness, and looked over where Mika and Steven were walking and to her relief, they were taking a turn to a quieter path.

Now that human-shaped obstacles were becoming much scarcer she finally could follow them at a comfortable distance. Quickly she closed in on them until she could hear some spare words exchanged between them.

At this point, they seemed to be arguing about some show whose main character had done one thing or another.

This wasn't quite what she wanted to hear, but then again, it was probably too hopeful for them to be speaking about the secret they shared openly in public.

Silva did not think of herself as a nosy person. At the very least she very rarely tailed someone with the sole purpose of finding out their secrets. But sometimes she did stumble on an act she was too interested in and tried to find out more about them.

And these two shared a great secret between them, and that, in turn, made Silva very interested in them. She considered how to approach and speak with them, but the thought alone made her stomach churn so she kept delaying it. Her overall social interaction skills were very rusty, to put it mildly.

Silva thought that she could pretend to be a good member of the society well enough, for example when speaking with teachers, however that involved a good amount of preparation beforehand.

She would rather not have to talk with the teachers if possible, but living in a modern society she had to bear the burden of social interactions. Luckily those kind of talks were never long or serious. Her perfect record of mediocrity safeguarded her from lectures or reprimands.

But today that would not work, as today was the day she would do something she had not done in a long time. Try and make new friends.

Silva regarded her targets with another scrutinizing look. Steven Bran – nineteen years old. He was tall, with shortly cut blond hair, had clear blue eyes and was fit and in general. According to the girls from Steven's school, he was quite the heartthrob and Silva had to agree with their assessment. Steven had a charm that made it hard for anyone to dislike him.

He was so well-liked and active around the school that Silva considered him to be a complete opposite of herself. A girl who would not put herself in stage-lights even if someone paid her.

Silva found some poetic justice in that when Steven was younger he had been held a year back, and even now if someone had to point out his weak point it would be his studies. It was nice to know that he was not perfect.

Still, he was in his final school year now, same as Mika, and in fact, they were classmates. It seemed like he also had siblings, but Silva was not clear about it as he never spoke about them those few time she was around. She had only gotten some snippets of information that they existed from Mika's passing remarks.

And speaking of Mika, she was a year younger than Steven, which made her eighteen. She was a little bit taller than Silva was, and also rounder than her in all the right places. Her dark brown hair surrounded her pretty face, she had deep green eyes and one of the softest voices Silva had ever heard.

Contrary to Steven she did not seem to have a lot of friends. From what Silva understood she was not popular among other girls do to her being so close with Steven.

Silva had once witnessed a confrontation between Mika and some other girls from her school, and from the heated voices, she had learned that she was constantly under the pressure to leave Steven alone.

Much to Silva's surprise, however, Mika had not been afraid and had even challenged them. In the end, nothing had happened as Steven had managed to return right before the trouble started.

This incident had earned Mika some respect from Silva, who could not even imagine herself in Mika's place.

Silva sighed contemplating her interaction history from the past few years. Some passing greetings with classmates, a rare task by a teacher and her father. "Now that I think about it, the only person I talk to regularly is my dad." Silva thought to herself. "Not that he is home all that much! And even then, when he is we only really speak during meal times."

Thinking about her family situation always made Silva's mood turn sour.

Silva's mother, Anna, had left her and her father – Jonathan, four years ago, when she had been only thirteen years old. To this day Silva had no idea why she had left. It was so sudden! One day when Silva returned home from school she discovered that all of her mother's belongings were gone. No letters, no calls, till this day there were no signs from her.

Maybe her father knew something more, but he had never revealed anything, even when he was at his lowest. Silva knew that her father had some contacts with mothers relatives, but from his words, they too were puzzled and shocked. After they had given their sympathy all of the communication with them dried up.

Anna's disappearance had left Jonathan devastated. He had sunk into a depression, and for almost a year he was barely a functioning human, not a person who could take care of a 13-year-old daughter. It had been the toughest time of Silva's life. Her father was all that she had left, and she had tried to take care of him, but all of her efforts seemed to be futile.

One evening, when Jonathan had drunk too much, he found Silva in her room and started to rant about how he missed Anna, how similar Silva was to her. How he had wanted them to be happy. He cried, he pleaded, he got angry, he swore about the unfairness of life and then left her room to find more booze.

Silva was 14 by then, for a year already she had taken care of herself and her father, but she was still a child. This was the worst her father had been, and she was scared of him. She was scared of her own father, and the possibility of his return terrified her. She had tugged herself deeper in her blanket and waited as there was nowhere else to go. All she wished for was to disappear from this place and to be left alone.

But her wish was not be granted, her father soon returned with a bottle in his hand. He came into her room, but instead of speaking he just stood there silently, which in a way scared Silva even more. Her father looked to his right, then left, then at her again, but then, after an excruciating moment of silence, he simply left the room.

Watching her father leave her room Silva could not believe what had happened. After another moment she heard him looking for her. Calling her and soon he returned to her room, Silva could have sworn that he was once again looking at her, but then... nothing, her father left again. Not believing her luck Silva kept sitting frozen in her bed in the blankets comforting embrace. She did not know for how long she had been sitting, or for how long she would have sat there if not for a loud bang of noise waking her.

In the apartment now there was only silence. Silva mustered all of her courage and got down from her bed. Still draped in her blanket she slowly left her room to see what was the source of the noise.

Carefully she had sneaked trough the apartment until she found her father lying on the floor. In a moment of panic, she feared the worse, but a mumble from the man showed that he was only asleep. She left him there laying and went back to her room.

Back in her room, she had tried to fell asleep to no avail. For a long time, she once again sat in her bed thinking of nothing and fearing everything.

The next morning her father woke her up. She had fallen asleep at some point and when they both sat at the table, having their breakfast her father apologized to her and promised not to get drunk ever again.

They had not spoken about that evening again. Her father had pulled himself together, he found a new job, never again drank anything alcoholic, tried to teach her and listen to her. He truly tried to be a good father.

Silva appreciated him trying so hard, she truly did, but despite his best effort, it was awkward. He was a middle-aged man, while she was a teenage girl.

There was much Silva could not bring herself to talk about with him. At some point, he even had gotten an idea to have a father-daughter talk once a week and it was excruciating every time. When her father had started to talk about boy-girl relationships and sex she even had stormed out of the room.

Now she was 17 and luckily for her, in this age, the internet could give her answers she needed to questions that were too embarrassing to be asked her dad. The school's nurse was one of the other people she could remember herself talking with on a regular basis at some point. Though she had not gone to the nurse's office for a long time now.

Silva was pulled out of her reminiscence when she noticed that she had a company. She was not the only one following the duo of friends.

Four more men had joined her in her endeavour and all four were rough-looking men in their twenties. They were dressed in simple streetwear, so Silva was simply going to pass them not as she had done with every other pedestrian before, but as she was doing it she discovered that these men were heading in the same direction and doing so in almost the same speed as she was.

Silva was so close to them that their hushed voices did not escape Silva's attention, and the more she heard the more sure she was that they were after Steven and Mika.

Her imagination immediately ran wild. There was nothing good to come from four men who were trailing teenagers. When Silva took a closer at them she noticed that their hands looked like they were freshly bruised and on closer inspection, there were some scarring traces on their faces as well.

If Silva had to guess the reason would be that most likely they dished out more abuse that they received. Mugging was not common around here, and those two, being teens, did not strike to her as worthwhile targets.

Then again, she could not really tell. Maybe Steven or Mika had something valuable on them. After all her newfound comrades in stalking recognized them both.

Phrases like "is that really them", and "be careful, they will probably turn to a quieter place soon" could be heard as they kept trailing.

As to why they thought Steven and Mika were even going to a 'quieter place" was beyond Silva. There was no reason for them to go to a place with no people around in the middle of the city. Well, maybe she could think of some reasons. After all, they were at the age where hormones were high and patience low.

Not that Silva had any reason to think they were in a relationship, but you could never know. It was not like she could follow the duo around much, as she herself still had her own duties.

And she had to admit that there was more than a few of her classmates, who changed their partners on a regular basis. Something Silva felt was completely unacceptable. Not that she had any experience in the matter herself.

Silva sighed to herself. “Truly, the new generation is rotten trough and trough.” The irony, that she herself was only seventeen and part of this 'rotten generation' was completely lost on her. As for what to do next? Silva was yet to figure it out. The fact was that she wanted to talk with the duo and warning them about the new followers could be a good start, but she could not help but think that these men would not let her go if she did something that would compromise them.

Maybe all that stopped these thugs from doing whatever dead they had in mind right now was the illusion that they were not noticed. These men would surely feel no scruples about roughing up some kids, who were getting too rowdy.

While Silva was pondering her next action she saw Steven and Mika turn into an alleyway as predicted beforehand and the men followed right behind.

Cursing to herself about her hesitation she quickly followed them. When she turned around the corner she came to see that thugs were now confronting their victims.

Steven was standing in front of Mika, both of their backs facing a wall. Unfortunately for both of them, this alleyway was a dead end.

"What do you want?" Steven demanded an answer.

Silva did not know where his confidence came from, but he looked at the four men unflinchingly and in a way that she could only take as challenging.

It seemed like Steven had noticed these men beforehand and had intentionally led them here. Silva did not know what he had planned, but she couldn't help but feel like he was being reckless, especially when he had Mika hiding behind him.

The men looked a little lost for a moment before three of them looked at the man who was leading them here. The leader was the one who was most inconspicuous of them all, with nothing really pointing that he would be harassing teenagers in his free time.

His comrades, on the other hand, all had their own distinctive characteristics. One of them had a face tattoo near his ear that depicted flames, one of them had several piercings while the last one was one of the ugliest people Silva had ever seen.

While Silva was weighing her options, the leader spoke.

“I had something to discuss with you. Regarding your father.” The leaders face twisted in what seemed like a smile that had a sinister vibe to it.

Steven's face immediately darkened. He clenched his fists as he raised them. The leader's face was now turning into a scowl.

"Hey, hey, we want no trouble, right guys?" He asked his friends who gave an affirmative grunt back. "So, why don't..."

But before the leader could finish Steven was already pouncing forward aiming for the leader, who looked a little taken aback from Steven's aggressiveness. His friends, however, did not hesitate and Piercing with Tattoo in tow rushed forward to meet Steven's advance.

Silva helplessly watched as Steven was about to collide with the larger and older men, but what came next surprised her.

A quick right straight from Steven almost connected with Piercing's jaw who managed to barely dodge by swaying his body backwards. Still, he lost his balance and Steven used the moment to evade hit from Tattoo who had put too much force in his swing and had lost his footing which made him stagger forward.

Steven grabbed Tattoo's still extended hand and yanked it hard making him fall down, but before he could do anything else he had dodged again.

This time it was Piercing who had gone for an attack, but he had as much success as before and for his effort, he suffered a quick blow to his torso which made him visibly wince.

Steven was about to fell back but was tripped up by Tattoo who was now flailing wildly on the ground. Steven fell and with loud thud hit his head against garbage bin behind his back, but before Silva could exclaim he was already back on his feet looking none the worse for wear.

Then Steven did something Silva had seen only on film as he sent a high kick targeting Piercing's head.

Stevens kick found its target, despite Piercing attempt at blocking and hit his temple, knocking him down seemingly for good.

Silva was surprised by how well Steven was fighting. He fought ferociously and purposefully. He was clearly not afraid to trade blows and was merciless. She was startled out of her stupor when the Leader called out to Ugly (whose name turned out to be Bob) and started moving to help his comrades.

Silva truly felt helpless, she wanted to help, but involving herself into the fight seemed like a suicide to her. One stray hit and she would be knocked out by the muscle-heads. While Steven made it look easy, she was clear that every swing of their fists was enough to hospitalize her.

Silva remembered that there was another person, who was seemingly forgotten by the rest of the brawlers. Glancing around she found her standing a bit further back, just out of range of action, but she did not find any signs of panic or helplessness in her face. Instead, there was determination and Silva noticed that she was now holding something in her hand.

The next moment she lunged forward closing in on Tattoo who was now getting up and at the next moment, it was clear to Silva what she was holding.

An unsightly grunt came out of Tattoo's mouth as he was hit by a spry of something. With his last strength, Tattoo roughly pushed Mika back, making her lose her canister, as it slid under the garbage bin, but that was it for him as he collapsed back on ground trying to clear his eyes. Another of the assailants was out of the picture and now only Leader and Ugly were left.

Steven did not even glance back to see what was the screaming about and continued forward to receive the incoming attack from the Leader. Dodging under the punch he dove into Leaders embrace only to have the leader tackle him. As they both fell, to Silva's horror she noticed that the Ugly was closing in with a baton in his hand.

Panicking Silva tried to find any solutions and while frantically looking around she noticed that Mika was looking at the Ugly with widened eyes. Mika's look strengthened Silva's resolution. There was no time to plan anything and the best she could do is to use the fact that no one knew she was here.

She grabbed the closest thing to her that looked like it would hurt (which happened to be a steel rod) and swung it with all her strength. With some part of her perception, she still saw both Steven and Leader struggling on the ground and Mika whose eyes went even wider as if she had seen a ghost.

A sonorous thud resounded trough alley as the steel rod made contact with thugs skull. Silva numbly noted the way his head flung backwards and how his body collapsed on the ground as if its strings were cut. Thugs face now was made even uglier by a new scar on his forehead.

Silva continued to watch the man until she was roused from her state by a gentle touch on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Silva heard Mika asking her a question.

She shuddered and turned her head to meet a gentle gaze coming from Mika.

Steven was leaning over the Leader's body, it seemed like he was checking for something and Silva found her gaze wander back to Mika`s then again to men she had knocked out herself.

Silva felt all of the tension leave her body and a moment later Mika retracted her hand.

In Silva's head, several questions popped in each after another. Was the man alright? What if she injured him heavily. What if she had crippled him? Would police look for her? Silva did not know.

Mika crouched down to Silva's victim and seemed to check for something. Silva absent-mindedly looked over to Tattoo who was still writhing on the ground sobbing, then back at Mika who had now Steven standing next to her.

"He is going to be alright." came Steven's conclusion. He was looking down at the body. "It is only a scratch, apart from a bad headache there won't be any other complications." He assured Silva with conviction in his voice. "I am Steven. Thank you for your help," he smiled. "And she is Mika.”

Silva looked at the girl who Steven introduced and received a wave from her.

"Are you alright?" continued Steven, concern showing in his voice.

"Ah, I am, that is, my name... Silva, my name is Silva. Ah, yes, alright, I am alright."