'Sister's Pings

A heavy vibration coursing through sister's hole jolted her and stabbed at her side. She tried to shift, tried to grab the wood tight enough to break it off, but the white hot pain that speared through her made her vision gray. A man leaned into the gap, water streaming down his face and plastering a thin shirt to his shoulders. He reached out, a brown hand crossed with two tiny scars on back, and his long fingers circled the branch. Pain made her grimace. His lips moved, and she squinted against doubling vision to read them. Sorry, he said, this might hurt. The red tinged water was at her chest. An arm