Basehor, Kansas

2018, AD

7:10 pm

Nalani hunched over and placed her hands on her knees to catch her faltering breath. She felt her lungs reach for any small glimpse of air. She felt like her body was on fire and the rush or competition fueled her ambition. Her dark eyes met another. Both of the girls knew that her next move could make or break Nalani's entire reputation. She shifted her weight and raced across the field of overgrown grass until her foot reached the end of her family's old volleyball, that was currently being used to play soccer with, and watched as it soared towards the goal. Her sister's body strained to block the ball but it was no use. Nalani had more strength and experience to help her win.

"No!" Her sister cursed as the ball whizzed past her grasp.

"Goal!" Nalani cheered in response to her triumph, "I win! I win! I told you I'd win, Alana."

"No fair, you always win!" She lifted herself off the ground and ran to her older sister.

"That's because I refuse to let myself lose to you. It wouldn't be fun if I didn't try and you wouldn't get better at soccer," She explained. Alana mumbled a string of complaints under her breath and wrapped her lanky arms around Nalani's torso.

"Let's go inside before we get yelled at. You and I both know we're out way past weekend curfew."

"Because it's more fun to play in the dark!"

"I know, Little Sunray," Nalani said as she pulled her sister onto the sidewalk and started to walk, "I know. Now hurry up! Mama will be home from the store soon."

Alana and Nalani walked side by side, step by step like they always had when it was dark outside. Nalani watched as her sister danced in the dark trying to warm herself. On cold nights when they would sneak out to play soccer Nalani was often reminded of her old home and friends that she was forced to leave years ago in Hawaii. She could still imagine the scent of saltwater and Alana's carefree giggles as she ran around with sand falling off her dampened skin. Kansas was a big culture shock compared to Kohala. The only similarity was the sense of community.

"Ow!" Alana tripped and fell onto the scratchy sidewalk. Nalani halted and bent down next to her sister.

"Are you okay?" She asked while helping her up.

"Yes," Her sister answered, "I think I may have hurt my knee."

Nalani squinted her eyes in the dark trying to examine Alana for any injuries worth worrying about. After laborious looking Nalani was able to outline the flecks of skin that were now peeled back off of her knee. Dark red blood was oozing out of the common wound.

"It's just a scrape. I'll bandage it when we get home. Do you think you can survive until then?" She teased.

"I don't know, Dr. Manoa! I think you need to carry my wounded soul home" Alana collapsed into Nalani's arms delicately like a flower. They both giggled and Nalani hoisted the girl's frail body into her arms and cradled her like a baby. Her hand accidentally brushed against Alana's cut and winced. A sharp ache erupted in Nalani's knee. She must have bruised it while playing soccer earlier.

Alana squirmed out of Nalani's grip and brushed pieces of dirt and dust from off her pants. She found it easy to rid her skin of earth's blessings after seven years of cleaning sand off of herself. Alana then turned to her sister and wiped the remaining filth onto her shirt. Nalani had not minded.

"I'm having some friends over tomorrow," Alana stated, "Mama said that you should hang out with your friends too."

"Alana you know that I don't have many friends. And so does Mama." Nalani sighed.

"I think she wanted me to tell you as a way to pressure you to socialize with people. Other than me." She rubbed her hands up and down her arms warming herself up as a breeze ran itself through her tangled hair.

"That's not fair. I don't have time to hang out and make friends during the soccer season."

"Make friends with your teammates. You are a team after all." She suggested. Nalani pouted her lip out. She was 17 and was still considered the mysterious new girl.

"Race you home!" Nalani said trying to avoid the subject of friends. The two took off in the same direction, nudging each other trying to tip the scale in their own favor.

-----------------------

"You're such a hypocrite," Alana complained, "You let me win because of my knee.  Which, by the way, doesn't bother me anymore."

"If I did, which I didn't, you should be honored that I went against my morals for you." Nalani walked inside there house and set the somewhat deflated volleyball into her basket of soccer gear. With her back turned away from her sister a frisky smirk was released from Nalani. She totally let her sister win.

Alana was no longer in sight when she turned around, but her sister's shoes were littered across the entrance's floor. Nalani bent down onto her knee and picked up her sister's shoes. Nalani's eyes fell upon her right knee and she gasped in shock. In the same place as her sisters scratch, Nalani's knee was covered in damp blood. Blood that had come from a foreign scratch on her knee. It looked identical to Alana's injury from earlier.

Her feet carried her to the bathroom but her mind hadn't registered her own actions. While her hands roamed through drawers her mind roamed through thoughts on the possibility of the two sharing the same injury in the same place. If it hadn't been for her strange afternoon Nalani would have called it a coincidence and moved on. This didn't seem like a coincidence.