I'm not dying with you tonight

Prologue

The hardest thing to say is goodbye. Especially when the people you're saying goodbye to are the people who raised you. They're the people who taught you how to tie your shoes, and how to read, and how to ride a bike. They're the people who are basically family, even if you don't share an ounce of blood. Saying goodbye was the last thing Sage wanted to do, but when her father told her to do something, she did it.

"You're all packed? Your phones charged? You packed extra shoes right? You never know when you need another pair-"

"Yes Ray. I packed shoes." She laughed and he smiled, pulling her into a hug. She held on, memories racing through her head. Like when they would always get ice cream after school on fridays, or how they would always stay up late watching movies, even on school nights. She tried to be strong, for them, but this was harder than she thought. Her heart was telling her to stay in New York. To stay with the people who actually cared. Who actually loved her.

She told her heart to shut up.

"She'll be fine, right kid?"

Sage turned to Peter and nodded as he finished zipping up Alex's backpack. He looked at her, his eyes showing the pain the rest of his features hid. He was good at that. That's how she learned how to hide her emotions. Years of studying him. Alex turned around and hugged him, and Peter had to bend down to his level to wrap his arms around the small boy.

"You'll be okay. I promise." Peter spoke softly. That was a talent of his too, and it made Sage want to cry. Different. So different from her father. Then again, her dad was always different from her father. For one, he always listened. She didn't know if it was because he had Oscar, so he knew kids talked a lot, or if he was just genuinely that patient, but it meant a lot to her. Another thing was his smile. Her father never smiled much anymore, but Peter never stopped. He was always cracking jokes, and then laughing at them. Serious situations were rarely serious, except this one.

He stood up slowly, Sage didn't want to think it was cause of his age, and walked to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder as he clung to her like she was already gone.

"I don't know if I can do this." She whispered, so quietly you almost couldn't hear it. He could though, and he shook his head, refusing to let go.

"You can. I know you can."

"How? How do you know? How can you be so sure?" She asked, slowly and painfully pulling out of his arms. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and he gently placed his hand on her cheek.

"Because I raised you and you're my daughter." He smiled and kissed her forehead.

It was something they all liked to believe. They all pretended that Peter and Dana had adopted her when she was young, and then Alex when he was born. She wished they had. It would have been easier that way, instead of her actual parents who had been so careless with their toddler they didn't even know when she was wandering through New York City by herself. They had been so absentminded they didn't even know she was missing. Thank god she was found by Peter, and not someone else.

She nodded and pulled away, turning to Winston who had his hand on Alex's shoulder. She took a deep breath and sighed. He smiled and nodded. He wasn't much of a huger, and she knew that, so she smiled back and looked away. She looked around her, the last ten years of her life flashing before her eyes.

Three year old Sage running down the hall with Ray chasing after her. Peter showing her all the old traps and teaching her how to use them. Winston teaching her where all the petals are in the car, and what does what. Oscar showing her how to sneak out at night, even though he's almost two decades older than her. Walking down the hallway in Dana's high heels. Listening to Peter's bedtime stories about his ghostbusting days. Pretending to understand when Ray rambled about science. Racing Alex to the car after school and turning the radio all the way up. Shoving cake in Winston's face on her seventh birthday. Dana helping her get ready for her first middle school dance, and coming home crying because it was awful. Doing homework at the dinner table.

She grew up here. Her entire childhood was in this very building, the faint remembrance of the greatest years of her life made it even harder to let go. The car horn scared her out of her thoughts as she said one last goodbye. She shouldered her backpack and grabbed her little brother's hand, dragging her feet to the door and not daring to turn around. She didn't want to see the guys' haunted faces as their kids walked away. She sighed one last time before climbing into the car and leaning her head against the cold window.

The car drove off and the building disappeared. Her tears fell silently.

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word count: 890

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