"come on, rena!" jaime chuckles as she runs around the yard.
"im gonna get you!" rena squeals, her hands raised and trying to grab at her sister.
they were at their backyard, playing tag. jaime runs over the various toys that littered the ground, trying to get as much distance as she can from rena. but her sister was persistent. for a six year old, she could run fast. jaime barely missed rena, laughing as her sister whines.
"i totally tagged you!" rena huffs, stomping her foot on the ground. she crosses her arms tightly and frowns at her sister.
jaime laughs, poking her tongue out, "pfft, no you didn't. you're not even close."
when it rained, rena was always sad. she always said it was gloomy and that she couldn't play outside. so when the clouds parted, she dashed for the door. almost flying in glee that she was able to play again. and jaime couldn't resist the pleas of her sister to play tag with her.
the sun was starting to disappear under the horizon, painting the sky with shades of oranges and blues. a cold breeze drifted across the sky, whipping the hair of the girls back. streetlights were beginning to light up, lining the streets with a soft yellow glow. and the cars that drove by started to lessen, leaving the neighborhood silent.
jaime continued to run around until she was backed into a corner. she turns around to see her little sister grinning widly, happy that she had finally caught her.
"you can't escape now, sis." rena said, walking towards jaime. the sound of wet grass scrunched with each step she took.
but jaime wasn't going to give up. she tries to run for the opening beside rena, her feet moving swiftly even in the muddy dirt. rena reaches for jaime's sleeve, but it barely escaped from her grasp. she threw her whole body to try and tag her sister, but without anything to support her, she falls down and hits her knee on a rock.
rena howls in pain, the jagged rock scraping her knee. jaime turns around to see her sister on the ground, her side covered with thick mud and clutching her leg.
jaime's feeling of victory was immediately replaced with terror. she runs over to her sister, kneeling beside rena as she lifts her to a sitting position. rena's face twisted in pain and tears started to stream down her muddy face. an ugly gash was on her knee, dirt and blood mixing around it to create a brown liquid.
"m-my knee-" she tries to say, but heaves escaped from her chest. she holds her knee closer as even more tears pricked her eyes.
jaime tries to calm rena down, "rena, please, don't cry. let's go to the house, okay?" her own voice trembled, breaking down as she watches her sister cry. but rena still continued to sob, jaime's words drowned out by her own wails.
jaime takes rena's face between her hands, forcing the younger to look at her. "hey, it's going to be fine, okay? you'll be alright, but let's go to the house."
through her tears, rena saw that jaime was trying not to cry. and she didn't like it when jaime cried, so she nods. jaime brushes the hair out of rena's face, "good girl." she smiles.
jaime lifts rena up, placing the younger's arm around her shoulders, gripping her around the torso with both arms. they arrived at the staircase when rena yelped in pain, "jaime, i c-can't lift my leg." she sniffs and points at her knee, "it's too p-painful."
"i'll set you down here and i'll go get some bandages, is that okay?" jaime asks rena, and the younger lets out a small 'yes' between her sniffles.
she helps rena sit down on the lowest step, making sure that her knee was propped up. "stay here, okay?"
before rena could answer, jaime had already turned around to enter the house, not minding that her muddy shoes left prints on the wooden floor.
