Our Days Are Numbered

"Shoot it, shoot it! Are you even paying attention?!"

"I'm trying, get off my case!" I grunted angrily, waving my hand.

"Yeah, you better be trying," the focused male chuckled lightly, shaking his head, "if you die now, you're asking for a punch in the face."

I turned to face my 'team mate', who was frowning and staring at the television in front of us, hands fumbling furiously at his console controller.

You see, from the sounds of this you would think we were in a serious battle, a riot, whereas in actual fact we just really liked video games.

When other teenagers were going to parties and drinking, spending night after night in a sweaty, drug-filled oblivion, we would simply play video games, listen to loud music, read comics and just enjoy each other's company.

We enjoyed the simple things in life.

"Well Tatiana, it would help if you didn't waste ammunition by shooting the missiles at the wall-"

"Shut up. I mean it. Shut up now Alexey." I replied to the smug male.

I'm Tatiana by the way and the guy I'm playing the video game with is Alexey...my one love.

He's the male equal of me, except he's more of a pessimist and he's more confident. He was an intelligent guy and he knew it. He let people know that he knew it.

He showed no insecurity about himself towards others, and people were intimidated by him. He had a very self-righteous vibe about him… He could move through crowds of strangers, enemies, or friends with his head held high, almost like royalty.

Like me, Alexey had a tendency to get angry or annoyed over the little things, but as I laughed it off or managed to ignore my rage, he would confront the creator of his anger and settle it out in a more violent way. He got into a lot of fights. However, he was a pleasant boy, very civil and respectful. He was a great friend.

"Every time you guys play this game you end up like this. You haven't stopped swearing at each other yet. Why do you bother? You end up dying half way through anyway." Another male retorted from the other side of the room.

His eyes were glued to his notebook and he was tapping his pencil repeatedly on his leg. You could see concentration on his face as he thought, most likely trying to gather up some ideas to put on paper.

"Fun, my friend, pure fun," Alexey uttered before getting shot, his health bar fading and his character falling to the ground, "…Ah. Well, make the most of it while you're still alive," He added as his character respawned.

"…Alexey, it's a game, there's always a 'start over' option," the other boy chuckled, "well, unless you're playing with Aleksander."

I shot a glare at him as he laughed.

That was Daniil.

He was sprawled on the sofa, his sketchbook in his hand. He was the designer, the animator, always after inspiration to be creative.

He would doodle and draw constantly, only then to go on his computer and redraw it on there, animating it, displaying it online for the world to see. He liked getting the opinions, he felt proud. Him and Alexey would create weird and wonderful ideas and characters, designing strange, make-believe superhumans and would then add them to stories and animations.

They were two of the most creative individuals I'd ever witnessed. They were imaginative and positive.

Daniil kept to himself; he wouldn't really let people know that he was thinking. He was a happy kid, always willing to have a good laugh…

You just didn't want to get on his bad side. His accepting and friendly nature makes people feel welcome, except if you took him for granted. Chances were your friendship would never return to its natural state.

"Daniil, shut up," another voice chimed in, "Leave them alone. Besides, you know how entertaining it is."

Last but not least, that was Vladimir, the biggest male in our group.

He had been my friend since the first year of high school.

Vlad was like me in some ways, but completely the opposite in others. We were into the same style, the same music, and we mostly had the same opinions on certain things, but we were still really different from one another.

He was sitting in the middle of the room doing push ups. He loved his exercise.

He would always try new moves, he would really push himself.

Over the years his skill in Parkour had grown and blossomed and he had the evidence to prove it, after experimenting with everything from flips to leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

He had talent and he loved what he could do with it.

We never used to be in a four. I met Alexey and Daniil when I was fourteen, and shortly after, I introduced them to Vladimir. We got on well together. We shared the same opinions of people and the same look on the world.

We didn't see the point in arguing with each other. We were all too stubborn to listen anyway, so we just got along. I liked it that way.

We were all sleeping at Vladimir's for the weekend.

My Mum was out in Vladivostok for a weekend training course and I didn't really want to stay at home alone for that long, so Vladimir offered for me to stay at his, and then we invited Alexey and Daniil.

This was a regular occurrence as his parents worked out a lot. We were trusted in his house.

"Someone take my place on the game," I muttered, "I'm going for a walk."

"You sure you want to walk out at this time? It's after midnight…" Daniil replied.

I liked walking at night, even if it wasn't safe.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"…We live in the Moscow backblocks, does that answer your question?" he chuckled, "It's a rough area."

I ignored him and stood up to walk out of Vlad's house.

"I'll go with you, Tats." Alexey murmured.

"Alex, I'm fine."

"Just get your hoodie......"