text: “This is stupid.” I said in a flat tone to my sister as I stood across from her with a fake sword in her hand. I had one too and she had somehow convinced me this was one of my favorite things to do. “I promise once you try it you’ll start to enjoy it” She said excitedly. I was in an accident a while ago. And the resulting car crash and coma that I’d been stuck in had left me with a serious case of amnesia. I’m still piecing together a lot of my life. I still didnt recognize my family when they came to see me. So the doc said they should try getting me involved with some of my old favorite activities. That’s where my sister came up with this brilliant gem of an idea to hopefully jog my memory. I looked up at her skeptically and grunted “Fine, let's just get this over with.” I told her and put my sword up like she taught me how to. Pointy end at my opponent, arm extended but bent and the sword at an angle to keep as much space between me and her as possible. She nodded while smiling widely. She smacked the end of my sword lightly with hers to signify the fight was on. Then she charged me. I only have a vague idea of how to sword fight. And by that I mean I only know what I’ve seen in movies. My sister had actual practice. She came at me with a ferocity they don't portray very well on TV. She started raining down blows on me. I did my best to block with my sword but I was mostly just flailing at the oncoming assault. I managed to block her first two strikes but the third one landed solidly on my side just under my ribcage. “Jesus!” I shouted as I reeled from the blow clutching my side. My sister can hit hard and I was liking this activity less and less. “This is for your own sick amusement isn’t it?” I asked her as she was giggling uncontrollably. “No-its-not-I-swear” she managed to gasp out between laughs. I huffed out an annoyed breath letting go of my side. I wasn’t annoyed by this sport anymore. Now I was getting a little angry. And distantly I felt the desire to win. I readied myself and got into my stance. My sister eventually fought off her giggles and readied herself as well. I dug my feet into the ground a little more than last time. I don't know why, it just felt natural. We smacked swords again and then she came at me. I knew it was coming this time so I took a small step back to be just outside of her range. She swung at me and missed me by millimeters. I saw the slight look of surprise on her face as I did. She took another step forward and I stepped back again and to the side not even trying to block with my sword. She missed again but only barely. I was getting excited now. It almost felt familiar. So I tried to step forward just after her swing and tried to swing at her myself. My movement felt lazy and a little awkward. She saw and took full advantage of my stumbling. My blow glanced off of her sword and harmlessly away as she took that momentum and struck me right in the middle of the stomach a lot harder than she hit me last time. I curled over from the pain. This definitely hurt more than i expected. But the pain brought back a flash of something. Hot summer days and cold fall evenings spent swinging swords around with people that seemed familiar but whose names I couldn't remember. I gasped partly at the pain and partly at the flash of memories. I remembered the excitement I felt when fighting and I felt it surge through me again. It blocked out the pain and I felt a small smile start on the corner of my mouth. I stood up straight and looked at my sister. “Are you okay?” she asked, not giggling this time. A slight look of concern on her face. I responded by readying my sword again waiting for her to hit the end of it and get back into it. In return she readied herself as a fierce smile spread across her face “It almost seemed like you knew what you were doing that last time.” She told me. I just nodded at her. She tapped my sword and didnt immediately charge me this time. She sidestepped cautiously and I matched her. We made about a half circle doing this before we both charged in at the same time. It was like the opening steps to a dance I’ve been doing forever. I couldn’t tell you how, but it was like my body just knew how to move. I don’t remember any specific movements or anything but I matched every blow with my sister, sidestepped a few and returned a few blows of my own. After the few opening seconds of the fight she realized that this wasn’t gonna be the same. The smile vanished from her face which was now set in deep concentration. I started pushing her back with a reign of quick blows. I knew where to hit, when to pull back, and in the midst of all of this I felt that surge of excitement from earlier doubled. I was loving this. I remembered how to fight. I let out an excited little shout and stabbed at her stomach, it was feint and as soon as I had done it her sword came to swing a little wildly to push mine out of the way. I spun my sword out of the stab and used the momentum to bring it full circle and down on her shoulder. A kill shot. It landed solidly and she reeled back. She looked up at me bewildered and smiled. The fight had memories flooding back into me. For the first time since I woke up from my coma I didn't feel lost. The grip on the sword suddenly felt familiar and comforting rather than awkward and unusual. “It looks like you remembered something there.” She said “Does this mean I have my brother back finally?” In answer I flicked my sword nimbly in a quick series of movements. Something I used to do to show off. And then leveled the sword at her. “Yeah I am.” I said smiling. I realized something and frowned a bit before lowering the sword. “But first gimme back my sword” I said as I realized that she had been using my favorite sword this entire time while she had given me the shorter one with a more uncomfortable grip to practice with. She threw her head back and started laughing again and it felt good to not only hear it but to recognize it as my sister’s laugh which I had heard so many times before. It was good to be back.