She stood, frozen with fear, eyes widened in disbelief, her muscles were tense, unwilling to move.
"Sage!" His voice cried, "Sage! Help!" He tugged roughly at the branch that kept him
from moving. Waves lapped at his sides, pulling at his loosely fitted T-shirt. Rising at rapid speed, the harsh current churned past his shoulders. Fear clouded his grey-blue eyes as he cast a final helpless look at Sage. The waters slowly enveloped over his blond hair. He was gone.
Ashamed, she stood in disbelief. She turned, not daring to look back, it was overwhelming. She ran towards home, running faster than she had ever run before.
"Mom! Dad!" She shrieked, on the verge of falling apart. Tears blurred her vision, she collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. Her breath quickened she held her head in her hands, every inch of her small frame was trembling uncontrollably. She curled her hands tightly, shaking the fists at her sides. She struck the ground with her right hand, furrowing her eyebrows. Her expression melted into deep heartache. Emotions welled up inside of her, a lump rose in her throat. Tears cascaded as she wailed into the dark shadowy trees that surrounded her. She pressed her forehead to the ground, and stared into the grass beneath her. It should have been me. She thought angrily.
"It should have been me." She echoed quietly.
Her parents arrived minutes later.
She didn't know what to do. Grief crept up on her like a fox, sly, quick, and silent. "He's gone," she breathed, when her parents arrived. "He's gone." she whispered again, barely believing herself.
Sage shuddered away the memory, she couldn't let it haunt her anymore, though it was her fault. She could have done something, but she stood there, useless. If it wasn't for her, Cameron would have lived!
She slid off her bed and bolted toward the door of her home that was soon to be sold. Sage checked for the moving truck, it hadn't come quite yet. She took a glance at her watch, she had some time. She dashed away and into to the woods, dodging every fallen tree and bush. Then she slowed to a stop at the Willow tree. She loved this tree, and it had been here since before she was born. She loved the silence, and the way the wind blew in her hair when she climbed to the top. Cameron, her older brother, had introduced her to this place when she was only four. That was before the rapids, the nasty rapids that seemed to have a mind of their own. Waters rose higher and higher, Sage struggled to rid her memory of the terrible, untamed waves that had claimed her brother's life. She didn't belong here anymore. These woods held too much sorrow and grief. She had to accept that it was time to let go.
After ten minutes of soothing silence, a rumble was heard throughout the trees. Sage glanced at her watch. The moving truck had soundlessly began loading. She left, taking off running towards the rumbling, hoping to make it home before it left. She ran swift, and smooth like a racehorse, she dodged trees, and bushes. Then, she tripped, tumbling down into the bushes, her arms flailed and legs beyond control. She stopped suddenly, then yelped in pain. Sage looked up wildly to find a bush full of thorns digging into her hand and forearm. A larger cluster of thorns tore into her knees and shins.
"Ouch!" She gasped pulling away sharply, waving away the few wisps of her nut brown hair with her uninjured arm. She glanced at her wounded arm and found a number of thin bloodied lines across her forearm and palm.
Walking calmly this time, she began toward her house. A little ways away was the moving truck. She winced when a bruise appeared on her shin. When Sage got there the moving truck had just finished loading. Perfect timing.
"You're back!" Her mother called from the porch. "It's hard saying goodbye to this place isn't it?" She sighed wistfully glancing across their property.
Sage simply nodded, walking to the porch. Her mother's face changed from a smile to a frown as she examined the various bruises on Sage's legs, then the tiny scratches and cuts across her palm and forearm.
"What happened to you?" Her mom questioned worriedly.
"I fell on the way back from the tree." Sage responded cooly, slipping her gashed arm behind her back.
Her mother shook her head slowly. "Looks like you took a nasty tumble."
Sage shrugged, "yeah I guess." she answered, absentmindedly rocking back and forth on her heels. "When are we leaving?" she questioned, anxiously trying to change the subject.
"Twenty minutes," Her dad replied stepping onto the creaky porch, with Ava balanced on his hip.
"In twenty minutes we'll have to say goodbye..........." Sage trailed off to look at her surroundings. Trees, picnic table, then her gaze transferred to each of her family members; Mom, Dad, Ava, Cameron, she added silently, imagining her brother standing amongst the others.
Now she was the oldest child. All of that responsibility was assigned to her. She had always been the youngest-until Ava was born, even then she was just the middle child. Being the oldest sibling never dawned on her until now, the fact that Cameron was gone, made her the oldest child, though it never crossed her mind. His absence was all she thought about. These changes were new, different, confusing, and she didn't like them to say the least.
"I know it's hard leave," Her dad sighed, "but just think, we'll get to go to a new school, have a new home, make new friends!"
Sage sighed heavily their new house could never feel like home, not like this one.
Now she was leaving; to who knows where. The new house was kept a secret between her parents. All that was known about the mystery house was that it was somewhere in town. Sage never went to town very often. Only the two times where she tagged along grocery shopping with her mom. Even then, it wasn't very enjoyable. She couldn't stand the idea of living there! As for school, home school was her whole life. All those books about going to a regular school made the first day sound dreadful. Sage wasn't looking forward to it.
