SPRat

I walked to the front door. I opened it to see Alex and the little blond girl who’s obsessed with my brother.

“Hey Alex.” I said diverting my eyes to my feet. (I’m now kinda glad I chose to get dressed.)

“Hey sprat I was wondering if you and Jake wanted to go hang out at the park today?” he asked rubbing the back of his neck. He gave me a weird smile.

“uhh sure.” I said. I mean I really didn’t have anything else to do as it was.

“ill go see if Jake is a wake.” I opened the door to they could step in. Alex grabbed the child’s hand so she couldn’t run away to find my brother.

I walked down the hall to his room. The door was still shut. He had covered the door with drawing I had given him and caution tape.

I knocked on the door then stepped in. “Jake you up?” I said flipping on the lights. His room was a cream color (we hadn’t had the chance to paint it yet.) the bare walls of and empty place. He stood up from facing the corner he was standing in.

“you ok jake?” I asked stepping closer. He nodded. “do you want to come to the park with me, alex, and Katie?” I said looking to the floor which was kinda messy. Boxes towered over to the both of us. He must have not been in the mood to unpack just yet.

“ok.” He said slipping on his hoodie. “ok then lets go.” I said grabbing his hand leading him out of the room. he slipped on a pair of blue converses and ran a comb through his hair.

“ok we can go now.” I said looking up to Alex. He turned to grab Katie but he was too late. Shed latched herself to jake and it didn’t look like she was gonna let go anytime soon.

“come on Katie let the kid breath. “ alex said looking back to her as we were walking. “I think hes fine!” she said sticking her tounge out at him.

It wasn’t a long walk to the park. Once we got there Katie dragged jake to the slides. Me and alex choose to sit on the grass in the shade.

“it’s amazing how your brother puts up with that.” Alex said looking at the two smaller children. Katie was trying to get Jake to go down the slides.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t notice her really at all.” I watched them walk over to the swings. Jaek sat in the swing and watched Katie as she pumped her legs to gain speed and height. “When is that dance that she wants him to go to?” I looked over to him.

“Next Saturday its like little kids prom and junk.” He said looking away to the trees.

“How lame.” I continued to watched the kids. There wasn’t a lot of people there. I few older folks and a few mothers and children. It was pretty early so most people wouldn’t be there till after 1 or 2. I don’t normally go to parks or even leave my house, but spending time with Alex was mainly the only reason I decided to go.

With Hennrey at work there wasn’t much to do on the weekends. I didn’t want Jake to fall back in the hole that he was in the day we moved. The poor child worked so hard to fit in at out last school. Having a loser brother who couldn’t make friends didn’t help him that much.

Plus fresh air was good for him. He sits in his room all day so why not?

It had only been a few hours before Alex got bored. Plus the heat didn’t help the matter. “we can go hang out at my house.” I suggested to him. “If you want to.” He looked over at the kids.

“sure lets go get the children.” I said standing up and brushing off my butt. We got the younger ones and headed off. When we got to my house. I kicked off my shoes. Katie pushed Jake to the couch and blabbed him to death. I walked off the kitchen with Alex walking behind me.

I grabbed to pops from the fridge and handed one to him. He opened it and took a drink.

“ so have you lived here your whole life?” I asked him. “no I lived a few towns over. But when my mother left my father we moved here.” He said looking at his shoes. I could tell this was a touchy subject for him.

“what about you?” he smiled at me. “I uhh lived in Seattle before I came here.” I looked away out the window. “but I’ve lived in many different places before then..” I added.

“what do you mean?” he asked setting his pop down on the counter.

“we should go to my room.” I said looking in to the living room to see what was up. I started off to my room.

I closed the door behind us. “so what up?” Alex said sitting on to my bed..