The summer was at its boiling point. As August was on its last breath, relations between friends came to a cease. One thing lead to another and the dominos could not be stopped.

    Beads of sweat emanate profusely from Cherry’s brow line. He towers over the contorted body cloaked by his shadow. The skin on his knuckles reduce down to the bone. His eyes were those of a savage beast locked tight on his prey.

Danny basked in the heat of the raging summer. He endured the most brutally barbaric beating of his life. His face bulged like a bloated balloon ready to burst. Bloody and bruised, spread on his back, against the deck pleading for clemency through his lacerated lip. Critically crippled he was unable to recover. His face wet from the trickle of blood originating from his collapsed nose. His determination to make a stance was shattered like the broken glass scattered amongst the disaster scene. 

The blame was only half on Danny, the other half was sobbing secluded in the background. Devastated knowing she just disassociated herself from the two she cared most. May’s face remained red from the slap she sustained as Danny departed.

A gale of wind and the heat and tension in the air was swept away.  The blistering boil of the atmosphere came to a simmer. A final curse and a last look was the last memory he would have of Cherry. Cherry turned and threw Danny a crumpled twenty dollar bill