THE DEVIL'S SHADOW
I. PARK
"WE'RE NOW BEST FRIENDS, NO TAKE BACKS."

➖

HELL'S KITCHEN, 1987

IT WAS a generously warm day in Hell's Kitchen, with a slight breeze flowing through the city to keep it a little less cooler as the UV rays were higher than usual on this particular day.

The local ice cream truck was open parallel to the park, where children could buy ice cream if their parents allowed. The trees were greener than ever, the sun was shining brightly, with the sky scrapers surrounding the park flickering under the sun.

Children were running around on the play ground equipment, parents hanging around in big groups chatting, people were walking or running, others were reading the newspaper, even a novel, or even feeding the common ducks that hung around the few ponds in the park.

A particular child had been walking into the park with her mother, one of pair smiling while the other was frowning. The little girl, dark skinned with a large frown, stood beside her mother in annoyance. She didn't want to be here because of the weather.

"Mum, I don't want to play today. It's too hot!" complained the little girl.

"Come on now, darl. You need to make some friends baby," replied her mother, Miriam.

Ariel frowned upon the sentence that escaped her mother's lips. She crossed her arms in annoyance, looking out to the children running around the play ground. They looked to be playing some sort of game. She didn't have any friends because she was homeschooled due to the fact that her parents weren't all that normal, and didn't want her stuck in a school with a ridiculous curriculum system.

Her mother looked around the park, finding a group of kids that were playing on the play ground. She let a smile tug at her lips, before she looked down at her daughter.

"Why don't you go play with those kids? I'm sure they'll let you join in."

Miriam pointed over to the kids she found playing on the play ground, to which Ariel looked over at. They seemed to be playing a game that Ariel had never heard or seen before.

"Fine."

Ariel walked away from her mother and over to the playground where the children were playing. One of the girls noticed Ariel making her way over, and she smiled slightly at the sight of another girl.

"Can I join?" Ariel asked.

"Jacob! Can this little girl join in?" Asked the girl.

Jacob popped out of the playground, noticing the dark skinned girl standing by herself. A little shyness to her face, which made him smile. He nodded his head.

"Sure! I'm Jacob, that's Allie, and Axel is over there."

Jacob pointed to the little boy on the other side of the playground, a blonde boy dressed in a pair of jeans and a black top, sliding down the bright yellow slide. She let out a laugh at his style of clothing.

Ariel smiled with a nod. "What are you playing?"

"Tag! Axel's it!" Jacob shouted.

Ariel had no idea what that game was as she wasn't exactly born on Earth. She figured that it'd be best to just figure out the rules of the game instead of annoying the other kids to the point that they wouldn't want to let her play anymore.

Axel came sprinting around the playground towards them, the three kids squealed, running the opposite way from him. Ariel let out a laugh, quickly climbing onto the playground to get away from the other kid.

Miriam grinned at the sight of her daughter finding friends to play with, figuring that she should find somewhere to place herself instead of standing there. She looked around, finding a bench with two others accompanying it already. A father and his son.

Miriam made her way over to the pair, a small smile on her face. The father looked up, locking eyes with hers. He smiled slightly at the woman.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Miriam asked.

The father shook his head. "It's no worries at all."

Miriam took a seat beside the young boy, who was happily licking away at his vanilla ice cream. The Xandarian looked out to the park, finding that Ariel was still running around with the children, smiling and laughing, two more kids had joined in.

After what felt like an hour, Ariel ran over to her mother. She noticed the young boy sitting beside her mother, and she smiled at him gently. The young boy smiled back at her, as she stood on the other side of her mother.

"Are you having fun?" Miriam asked.

Ariel shrugged her shoulders. "A little bit." She then whispered. "Who are they?"

Miriam let out a laugh at her daughter. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Ariel smiled slightly. She stood in front of the pair, smiling at the both of them. "Hi, I'm Ariel Waters."

The father smiled widely at her, while the little boy just smiled shyly at her. "I'm Matthew Murdock."

"It's nice to meet you! We're now best friends, no take backs." Ariel declared.

And it was the start of a friendship that would soon blossom into something much more.

EDITED: 12/11/18