Broken nose and teeth on the ground. When I was seven years old, my sister was thirteen. A sunny day in the summer, the air was crisp and full of laughter. This was our favorite type of day: one where you can run outside and smell the sweet freshly cut grass after the morning dew lightly placed upon the ground. My sister and I were playing outside as kids often do. She chased me up and down our yard. I finessed my way through the winding bushes, barely missing the white picket fence. The thrill and adrenaline rush that consumed my young body was a thrill I forever miss. This chasing game we played included water guns—the neon super soaker kind. Once one person drenched the other, the roles would reverse, and the predator would become prey. We did this back and forth. A harmless game that led to tears and a hospital trip. As time progressed, we began to get exhausted, and our stomachs rumbled for our go-to snack, the uncrustable in the freezer. This hunger, added with the adrenaline of chasing each other, resulted in a hangry violence. 

Before I could comprehend it, my sister shot me with water in the eye. I had a fear of losing sight when water got in my eyes, so my body froze for a moment, as any seven-year-old would when attacked by anything. My fight had not yet activated at this age, so I did what any scared little kid would do, I ran. I found my eyes squeezing themselves shut as my legs battled against the ground to get as far away from the stinging pain I just experienced. The green grass began disintegrating in my vision, and the sunny sky was no longer lit. Everything went black. No thoughts were able to process in this moment, just pure darkness.

I later woke up to my mom patting my bloody nose with a damp cloth and my sister crying in guilt. I was confused, but my body still had the adrenaline from my flight. A burning pain arose from my lips so I put my hand to my mouth. I pulled away to see a dark red substance on the tips of my fingers. My gums were dripping with blood. I felt a tingling feeling based around the center of my face. I had never felt this kind of numbness before, so my curiosity got the better of me, and I reached for my nose. That’s when my brain went into sheer panic. I felt my nose, but it wasn’t in the same place it usually was. A crooked nose? I thought to myself. I wondered how I was supposed to show my face in public, not to mention the blood. My mom sensed my worry and comforted me that we would get it fixed as soon as possible. I felt anger bubbling inside me which resulted in me lashing out at my sister. I was only seven but I felt as though I could express myself honestly at that moment. From then on, my sister and I often had disputes. She would do something that ticked me off slightly and I would get angry and lash out on her. My younger brother attitude would make her uneasy or I would be using the bathroom for too long and she would use that against me in her arguments to our mom. 

That sunny day, with its beautiful skies and lovely-smelling flowers, altered my perspective on relationships. My sister is now successful and joyful, and I feel no hatred toward her happiness. I do, however, still remember the tingling sensation on my face and the journey of recovering my relationship with my sister. Now that we are both grown, we laugh about this story, but I will never pick up a water gun around my sister again.