Girlish laughter disturbed the quiet of the warm day. Two horses ignored the noise and continued grazing in their fenced off paddock in Devries Park. It took up the the lower east side of the portioned off land. Two girls about 9 years of age ran alongside the fence in the knee high grass. The taller of the two girls had shoulder length, blonde hair hanging loose and was wearing denim shorts, a pink Care bear tank top and flip flops. The other had her red hair in braided pigtails that reached halfway down her back; she wore khaki shorts with a blue t-shirt that said 'I'm a latchkey kid' and had flip flops on as well.

They stopped at the north end of the fence and crouched down in a semblance of a running stance. They started the sound off, "One...two...BANG!" Both girls came up out of the crouch and took off down the fence line. Laughing madly they were running side by side until the blond starting pulling ahead of the smaller girl. When she was over the halfway point of the fence line, she glanced back and grinned at the red head behind her, 'Slowpoke!' and turned back to plow on ahead. Suddenly, she pitched forward and fell, tumbling a few feet before coming to a stop clutching her leg. The red head skidded to a stop beside her friend, "Carrie, what happened?"

Carrie started to sob as blood dripped down her leg, "I tripped... the fence is broken... Kat it hurts!'

Kat glanced back and spotted a lower rung of the fence that had been sticking out and was partially hidden in the grass. She gently pried her friend's hands from her leg. There was a large nail stuck in the flesh, it had had entered her leg, slid underneath her skin and poked out again in the parody of a basting needle. Luckily, it seemed there were no splinters of wood in the wound. It was bleeding heavily, making trails down the girl's pale skin.

"Carrie, I want you to keep your eyes closed, okay?" the blonde nodded, eyes screwed shut, still crying. "This is going to hurt but we can't make it better until the nail is out. Do you trust me?" Carrie raised her head and opened her eyes to look at Kat. "Yes, you're my best friend."

Kat nodded and gripped the nail as best she could, "Don't watch," and Carrie closed her eyes and turned away. The nail came out with one hard yank and a new gush of blood with it. Kat slapped her hand over the cuts to try and stop it and felt around in her pockets for the handkerchief she stashed there this morning. She was concentrating on holding the cut closed and didn't notice when her hand started feeling tingly and warm. She found the hankie and folded it neatly so she could tie it as a bandage, but when she moved her hand away she saw the blood had stopped. Carrie looked up, "Thanks Kat, it already feels much better." They both looked down at the wound and were shocked to see that instead of the two gaping holes where the nail had been, there were two small puncture marks that were already pink with new skin. They looked at each other in awe.

Carrie touched one of the scars, "You... you healed it? You made it better, Kat," she grinned at her, "just like you said you would." She hugged her friend gratefully. "Yeah," Kat said, still in shock. This had never happened before; Kat knew she was different but this... "You know I can't stand to see you cry Care-bear. " She hugged her friend back and they walked to the river to wash off the blood.

That night, she lay awake in bed thinking and wondering what would come next.