Here is a little snippet of something I'm working on:

I hear the roar before my eyes open. It is not a familiar sound to me and it shakes through my bones like an earthquake. For a moment I feel like I am falling.

Then my eyes flutter open.

Light crashes down on me in a stark white circle. The ring of lights float above me, bright and cold, and for one quiet second I am certain it is the underside of an alien ship that is studded with artificial stars.

I try to move, the stars tilt again, and I feel sick to my stomach.

Then fade to black.

Something burns my nose. A sharp, chemical punch is sent straight through my brain and sets off fireworks behind my eyes.

I gasp and sit straight up. I’ve smelt that once before in practice. Smelling Salts.

“Easy, easy,” someone in a sports jacket says who is standing over me. But I’ve never taken anything easy, and his words tick me off. I try to get to my feet, but I feel dizzy again.

My vision wobbles into a full image if not exactly clear. The cage fence appears nearby, the diamond pattern suddenly looks comical though I don’t know why. Then my coach pops into my view and kneels in front of me, her facial expression I can’t quite figure out. I can see and recognize her nose, her eyes, but the whole face remains a mystery.

There is a red stool beside me, my corner stool.
“What happened?” I ask, my voice sounding strained.

She presses a hand to my shoulder. “Stay with me, Dar.”

An ice bag touches the back of my neck. I flinch and bat it away on instinct. Cold water escapes, a thin, traitorous river sliding down my spine and into my crack. It shocks me into an awakening and I feel more with it now.