THE HARSH AND UNYIELDING rays of the sun beat down on the earth, dancing on the skins of everybody that were exposed to its radiation. Smack dead in the humid and sticky season of summer, and not a cloud in the sky, just the crystal clear blue heavens stretching across the horizon for miles- endless. There was no type of wind flowing in the atmosphere to add any source of cool air. The annoying and repetitive noise of cicadas and crickets lingered in the nonexistent breeze, one just got used to them and was able to tune them out.
Underneath the feet of the two kids, there was a redundant, ear churning sound of gravel being crushed and stepped on. With every step they took the little girl grew more and more excited. Her pace quickening and her grip loosening on her older brother's hand. The young boy stared at her, his mind blank, but he also thought so much at the same time. If that was even possible. It was like his mind itself was an empty space, but his spirit and soul had a lot to say. With his right hand holding onto his sister's left hand, his free hand was in the pocket of his basketball shorts. Nestled in between his free arm and side, was his basketball.
About ten minutes before they left the house, the adolescent was told to take his baby sister to the park. She had been begging their parents, but of course that duty was always placed onto the older siblings. He didn't mind though, he had nothing else going on, plus it was summertime. He had to do something to speed time by, before it was back off to school. Gradually looking up and away from his overly joyed sister, he started to see the park come into view. Just as he guessed, it was full of children from his neighborhood and other blocks. It was a sound of pure bliss and gleefulness: the children's laughter. Nothing was better than that. He mentally and visibly grew a grimace that transpired onto his face. The boy wasn't friendly at all, he used to be, but that slowly faded away.
