The abandoned mansion

'Are you kidding me?' that mansion? Artemis sneered at Audrey. It was a very sunny August afternoon. The air was dry and hot and blew as strongly as it could rub on their faces. The concrete wall they were sitting on was a very bad idea, as it burned their backs and their behind. The sweat dripped down their necks to the end of their spine, making the shirts stinky and sticky. It was a hard task to even blink, as they felt all the water in their body boiling into a gas.

On top of that, the street was utterly quiet and their house was very busy. Their mom was working on an appointment and their father was too busy decoding something he barely ate breakfast.

That was when she asked her big brother if they could go explore somewhere.

'Where the hell you wanna go now?' he asked, utterly annoyed that she would even suggest that because it was a tedious task carrying her around when she barely paid any attention, given her attention span shorter than a goldfish.

But she was very adventurous and couldn't even sit straight for a second, so she really wanted to go somewhere. It's better to have an ally than sneak out like an idiot. She might end up in some danger, or worse, caught by her big brother. But, it's a very dangerous gamble. Asking Artmeis is like asking a robot, you either get a one-word answer as acceptance, or a whole damn lecture if they are denied.

'I want to go to the...you know, the end of the street.' she said, trying to keep it as vague as possible, but he caught the hint.

The sweat made him even more agitated.

'The end of the street, why?'

'Because I feel like it.' she sucked in her breath, letting hot air in her mouth.

'Hmmm, I don't believe you for one bit. Just tell me where we could go, and I'll take you, but not the-'

'I wanna go to the mansion.' she blurted, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore.

'What the hell?!' he asked, nearly falling from the wall. He jumped out of it agitated, sighing because he knew she would finally come there. From the moment she laid eyes on it, and the moment she heard some kind of scary campfire story, she insisted on going there, every, single day.

Of course, his parents didn't know that, or else she couldn't even leave the house, but he wondered if they would actually care now.

'Are you kidding me? I'll take you to the park.' he signaled her to come down, she pouted her mouth and refused to get down.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, great, another great way to spend his day, trying to get his sister to come down from the wall. Why did she even agree to come here? He wondered but shrugged it off.

'I want to go to the mansion at the end of the street!' she pleaded, jumping down from the wall, and falling down from her lack of balance.

'See, you can't even climb down from a wall, but are you brave enough to go explore a potentially haunted mansion?' he asked, wondering how his sister's logic works.

She's a snowflake, he reminded himself. Last year's incident constantly reminded him of it.

'Sorry, but we're going to the park, and that's the last I want to hear of it.' he pushed her towards the park, as she struggled to come free, he just kept pushing and nudging her in the direction of the park.

'Ugh, not the stupid park!' she spat.

'I cannot take this, not only do I have to be your babysitter, but I have to deal with this crap, with your childishness and immaturity. You're thirteen, but you still haven't grown up yet, have you? God, I just wish you would act like your age!' he bellowed, not aware of his words.

She looked at him for a second, and tears started flowing down her cheeks the next. his words have stung her, and now she cried.

'You are so mean!' she ran away from there are fast as she could before Artemis could utter a word. The hot air blew on her face, laughing her out.

'No-no, wait, I-I didn't mean it!' he called her as he came to his senses.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt worse.

'Audrey, wait!' he ran after her, trying to grip her collar.

HONK!

A car screeched and came to a halt, nearly injuring Artemis. He was trying to protect himself with his hands in front of him, and luckily he was alive.

'I-I'm alive!' he exclaimed, his hands shivering from the shock.

'Hey, watch where you're going kid!' the driver shouted and cursed at him harshly for running in front of the road.

'I'm sorry, I really am!' he shouted, to both of them, whom were both unforgivable.

'Next time, I should really hit you, and then maybe you'd learn!' he shouted, and reversed his car to speed up till the next pedestrian sign. He looked like the guy who has run over multiple children and chickens before, but hey, you can never tell.

After he calmed himself, his sister was nowhere to be found. Absolutely nowhere. The whole street was an empty shell, with not a sound or a peep. In the spring, the townsfolk are always roaming the streets, filling it with laughter and vibrant colors, but now it all looked black and white, with no one outside.

Maybe he should go home, he thought. His sister might return soon.

He looked outside, longing for her to just say that it was a prank, and fight it out with him before supper, but she was long gone.

He sat down on the chair, one thought haunted him: 'What if she doesn't come back?'

'Oh, this won't do it.' he gritted his teeth and put on his cap.