It was looking very bad

We froze. The stilt having just sliced open my younger brother Rhys’ head appeared to hang in the air behind him. Rhys, head sliced and blood immediately pouring from the wound paused in mid-step, even the blood appeared to hold its flow. The very air seemed stilled. This sudden slowdown of information and apparent stopping of time, may be natures way of really focusing us on what is really important to assess. Forget thinking about your worries, your finances, favourite movies, music….and ….. focus on the critical. Then again, I have heard it argued that time doesn’t change it is simply the sudden dump of Cortisol, a naturally produced hormone from the adrenal gland sometimes called the ‘stress hormone, that floods the brain. It is thought in some people, Cortisol rewires the brain to handle the traumatic incident. There is also a train of thought that some brains, once rewired, stay that way. I think if that was the case, my brain has been rewired more times than I wish to consider (but that may explain why so many people wonder what goes on inside my brain anyway).

However, back to the story of ‘the Kite, the Stilt, and the Brother’. We stood there. Our faces horror-struck, as every one present then vocally, groscremoagased (Groaned, Screamed, Moaned and Gasped) simultaneously. It was likely that sound then caused a further time shift (or the Cortisol) The stilt fell to the ground, landing in the long grass, yet I still believe I heard it crash with the sound of a falling building. My brother folded to the same grass, a stunned look on his face (with good reason). He however, appeared to land in the grass with the gentlest of sighs. It may have been the breath escaping his body, my senses seemed to be so heightened that I was seeing in extremely vivid colours and hearing everything in every frequency.  I recall hearing someone behind me, his, or her teeth began chattering. Strange what you become aware of.

 

My brother was not moving. The blood was. The blood ran freely from the dreadful cut. His scalp was torn apart. The Skull beneath clearly visible… at least it seemed like that.

He was dead.

At least… that was my first thought.

I was dead. That was definitely my second thought!

(continued tomorrow)