Sometimes life gets weird. You lose hope, then you'll fall down, but then you'll get back up again. Sage did. So hang in there; it gets better, with time.
A short story.
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"Yo Sage, you got to quit staring at niggas like that man. You look 'bout evil as hell." Marion shook his head at a 23-year-old Sage, who hadn't even realized he was staring.
"You just scary." He shrugged his shoulders, turning his head to look back at the book he was reading-Soar, by T.D. Jakes.
"Nigga staring through my soul with those dark ass eyes and gone call me scary? Duh bitch. You look like the lil' hoe wit' long hair who sing through the night in that white dress." He was descriptive as hell, but Sage still didn't know who he was talking about. He didn't watch TV much.
"Sage," He said after a few seconds of silence from him, making Sage turn his head again to look at him once more-trying not to look so 'evil'.
"You ever plan on getting out of here man?" Marion laid back on his bunk, looking up at the bars that held up the bed above him.
"I don't know. One day they gone have to kick me out." He chuckled. If it was up to him, he would probably never leave the military. He did want to leave Afghanistan though, and possibly go to the Marine Corps. He heard life on the water was better than it was in constant combat.
"That's crazy. You young as hell, you shouldn't be spending yo' days doing this, every single day."
Marion was seven years older than Sage, and some people didn't understand what the two had in common that made them connect as best friends. Sage didn't care about how old he was though. A friend was a friend, whether 100 or ten-but being friends with a ten-year-old would be kind of weird.
He had always been an ear that listened whenever Sage wanted to rant about random facts or just about some past experiences of his life that he was having a hard time letting go of; and full of wisdom, Sage gave great advice and always helped Marion navigate through life.
Marion had left the U.S. military three times already, but came back time after time. Whenever he went back home, he called Sage to talk about his day and tell him unnecessary things like what he'd ordered from Burger King or that Kroger had ran out of rice flour.
He had a wife and two kids; aged 14 and 16. Yep, he started young. Life was hard on him as a kid, and what happened just happened. Some stuff he still hadn't told Sage about, so there wasn't much explaining that Sage could do. Whenever he was ready to talk though, Sage would be there to listen.
"It don't bother me much.. I wouldn't have a life if I left anyway." Sage shrugged, turning the next page of his book.
"Yeah, but you can always build one for yourself. The world is great, man. Foreal. You know I wouldn't lie to you. A nigga as smart as you, you could get yourself a nice house and a family and shit, go to parties 'cause that's what young niggas do. Take vacations and stuff.."
