Burning Sage

Chapter 9: Get It OUT

Ember stared at me and Maple in the truck bed, her nurse's gown obscuring her. The winds howled as we rode in the back of the truck, and everything was unbearable. I buried my head in my legs, trying to escape the cold. "It hurts so bad, Sage," Maple's voice shook like she was on top of a dryer. "Make it stop. It's a deep cut."

"Is it that bad?" I asked, wondering how much she was exaggerating. "I've seen a lot of stab wounds," Ember spoke from the other side. "Most of them survive, but they all scream and cry."

"It makes me want to shoot myself," Maple tore her leggings, revealing the wound. "What if it gets infected?" And then Maple let it go just as the madness was settling in. She took her arm around my shoulders, and pulled herself into me. Her straw hair opposed the dark sky and everything about it.

"Ugh, where is Hope even going?" Ember hassled while she dug through her pocketbook.

"No clue." I mused, "No clue." "I hate her, I really do; I hope she wrecks and kills herself." Maple spewed, "Then we wouldn't have to put up with this bullshit."

"Killing her would make things worse." The snow matted to my black pants, and had melted in my hair. Everything was happening so fast. I had no time to sit back and relax, and overthink about the past. All the blood from the heart was washed away, as I for once had clean skin.

Ember pulled a little piece of paper out of her purse, "Maple said you were soft."

Maple shot up - She laughed like an uncomfortable convict. I didn't know why Maple and Luke loved calling me "soft" "Only God can call me soft." I said.

"I like it when you're soft." Maple laughed, stirring my gut into a stew. "Right." Ember assured. Through the wind, she gave me and Maple a piece of paper; a little square photo, roughly the size of her hand. It was Ember, with her arms wrapped around this nice looking guy. He was blonde, a little taller than then her, and noticably older.

"He left when he found out I was pregnant." She mentioned in a blue tone, while Maple took the photo from me, "I was already shopping around for engagement rings. I thought I had something special with someone who wasn't nothing."

"Why would he do that?" I held Maple close because that felt like the right thing to do.

"Men are assholes." Ember bleated, "but there's something I need to tell you. It only feels right to you Sage." "What?" Maple looked down the empty highway, holding the picture with a loose grip.

"I was going to tell you at the hospital." Ember confessed, "But Maple's been pregnant."
My heart dropped into the abyss. My eyes dove into a sandy rock-bed of things I couldn't comprehend. Maple let go of the picture.

"Please kill me." I cried.

"Why'd you tell him?" Maple revealed, looking at my puzzled, torn face, "It was like going to be a surprise."

"You're joking?" I paused, "RIGHT?" She dug her head in my cold shoulder, and cried. "You know I'm not the one for joking." I cried too. Where was God? He wouldn't have let this happen. I've always been selfless in my prayers, but I always asked God before me and Blondy did anything, "Please don't let her get pregenant, you and her dad will kill me before I have the chance to do it myself."

The softest part of me melted back into the brooding stew. Not a loveful stew, but an anxious one that couldn't compete in a man's world. I sobered up in the name of parenthood. I didn't want a kid, and I couldn't tell Maple that. She'd kill all of us. More unnecessary drama would unravel, and my life would turn into a whole bunch of mish-mash.

Maple had been looking a little more plush before all this. Not that I cared, but she had put on a few pounds. I never would've guessed she was pregnant, just all that KFC she'd eat. And then I thought she would've told me atleast, I mean hell, that's her responsibility. You don't hide shit like that. Some secrets are worth keeping. I get that, but God-damn-it.