"Megan! Oh, my god, Megan!"
Rachel starts for her sister then stops. There's blood, too much blood.
Megan stands with her hands balled into fists, teeth clenched and brow set in a scowl. Her angered eyes are locked on Rachel's. In her rage, Megan doesn't notice the blood rushing from the cut on her forehead, down past her squinted eyes, and dripping from her chin onto the front of her uniform.
"Oh, Megan, I'm sorry."
Rachel's words stop time.
In an instant a million fireflies begin flashing around Megan's head. From far away an orchestra runs in reverse toward them, softly at first then building. An impossible chord racing toward crescendo inside a glittering swirl tightening on the cut in Megan's head.
Wispy tendrils pulling inward stop, reverse direction, then in a final, purposeful surge, contract into a single, blinding ray of pure white light.
When her eyes readjust, Rachel sees her younger sister smiling at her.
"Thanks, Rae."
Rachel is unsure of what just happened. Her mind can still see her sister's face covered with blood while her eyes cannot. She remembers tugging on one end of the hockey stick while Megan pulled on the other. She didn't want Megan using her stick and losing it the way she had lost her own.
"Mom said!"
"It's mine!"
Back and forth until Rachel, rather than pulling, pushed the stick at the same moment that Megan pulled. "Fine! Have it!" she yelled.
The sudden change in resistance knocked Megan off balance. As she pulled and Rachel pushed, the edge of the stick slammed into Megan's forehead opening a deep six inch gash...
...that wasn't there anymore.
Megan grabs the duffel bag on her bed and starts for the door.
"Meg... wait up. I think I'll come and watch your game tonight."
To be continued...
Why the change to present tense in this sentence: Megan grabs the duffel bag on her bed and starts for the door.
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