The day had been a long one. But the reward at the end would be worth it. We had gotten home from school that day, tired and exhausted, partly because of the stress and pressure of our classes, and partly because we knew the trek we would take soon. I had collapsed onto my bed, not bothering to get under my blankets, as the afternoon was hot, and our air conditioning was useless. It used all our electricity but never cooled a thing. And living in Florida, it posed a somewhat uncomfortable problem, especially in May. The school year was almost over, but we had a few more weeks left before we were free. I fell asleep to the purring of the ineffective fan on my dresser, feeling the sweat bead on my forehead. I was woken soon by my sister, who was leaning over me, red hair with its curls cascading down to my face. It tickled my nose, and I sneezed loudly before she smiled, scrunching up her nose and helping me up. We walked out to the garage and took our bikes, calling to our parents to tell them where we were going, and taking off down the street.

The wind felt cool against my face as I raced towards my destination, trying to beat the sun as it slowly descended below the horizon. The sky was only a pale watercolor right now, but we were hoping to get to the beach in time to catch it burn, flames fading from orange to pink to purple, and the blue that was in small slivers at the top. My sister was older and faster than me, and she was far ahead, but as long as I could see her I felt secure.

She turned a corner and I followed, careful of the camera that was slung across my shoulders. Cars raced by, trying to get home as quickly as possible to beat the rush hour traffic. The wind picked up, a blessing in this weather. I welcomed its stinging gusts and pedaled faster, trying to catch up with my sister, as I was lagging behind.

We soon reached the beach and deposited our bikes on the bike rack, quickly securing them before walking down to the shore. We kicked off shoes and ran across the burning sand, grit between our bare toes. The sand turned wet and cool and soon, the water was up to our ankles, cool and refreshing, the salt stinging cuts and wounds. My camera was still around my shoulder, slung across my chest. I pulled it up and took some snapshots as the sun burned the hot horizon, fire erupting from it and blending into all the blazing colors, orange into yellow, into pink, into purple, and finally into the cool blue that rested at the top of the scene. After I had satisfied my capacity for pictures, we walked back to the edge of the water, sitting down and digging our toes into the cold sand, still wet from the tide. We stared up at the marvel before us, exchanging glances every so often before laying back and soaking in the coming of summer.