Saved By Carli

XV

Sage's POV

The game against South Korea was yesterday but I was exhausted so I didn't go, but the team won 6-0 with Sam scoring twice, Julie scored once, Christen scored once, Lynn scored once, and Allie scored once as well. Today Mom and I flew out to New Jersey to go to the house we will stay at in the off-season and also to meet her parents and her brother and sister which I am terrified about. I don't have good experiences with grandparents. We are now in the car on our way to Mom's parents house. I think Mom noticed I am nervous because she pulled me into her and wrapped me in her arms.

"Mom?" I say

"Yes sweetheart"

"Will they like me?"

"Of course they will Sage."

Just then we pulled up to a house and Mom gets out and I follow suit. After we get our bags from the trunk I notice four people looking at us with smiles on their faces which is a bit creepy but I will let it slide. As we approach the door my breathing increases rapidly and Mom hears this so she grabs my hand to calm me down and so as to not startle her family. Mom's sister leaves the porch first and runs at us.

"Carli" she yells and hugs Mom.

"Hey sis."

"How are you doing?"

"Great now." Mom says looking at me with a smile and I smile back at her.

The rest of Mom's family had gotten to us and they greeted Mom and they were catching up, but I could tell they wanted to meet me so I squeeze Mom's hand to give her the okay.

"Well everyone this is my daughter Sage. Sage this is my mom Pam, my dad Stephen, my brother Stephen, and my sister Ashley."

Timidly I speak up. "Hi."

Pam comes up to me and hugs me which startled me for a second, but I hug her back and then the other members of the family introduce themselves.

After the introductions and getting to know everyone I found myself sitting in Mom and I's room alone leaving me to think about today and the past couple months. Going from living in hell basically to having everything I ever wanted, a loving mother. My thoughts were interrupted when I realized two people were also in the room, my mom's sister and mother, and they are just smiling and staring at me. Please say something. Please I beg of you say something. I don't want them to see whats about to happen if they don't say something.

Well since they didn't say a fucking word they are about to get a front row seat to something I didn't want them to see. They've been in my room for god knows how long and suddenly my breathing gets really fast. I can't move, cant talk, and I barely can breath. Fuck here comes the big panic attack. The ladies in the room eyes widen and they have no clue what to do.

"CARLI!!!" one of them yelled.

Mom comes rushing into the room and sees me and runs to me and pulls me into a hug. "Hey you're safe Sage. I got you. Nobody will hurt you. It's okay. Everything will be okay. Slow your breathing down. Just listen to my heartbeat and try to slow down your breathing. In and out, in and out. There you go. Just breath baby, just breath. " After awhile I calm down a bit and Mom plays with my hair to calm me down even more.

"I'm sorry" I mumble against her chest.

"Hey Sage look at me." She says while lifting my chin to look at her. "You don't ever have to be sorry about this. Now can you tell me whats wrong?" I hesitantly look at Mom's sister and mother still in the room which Mom seems to notice so she turns around to talk to the two ladies, "Can we be alone for a minute?" They agree and leave the room.

"Okay we're alone now. Whats wrong sweetheart?"

"Your mom and sister were just standing there smiling at me and they didn't say a word a...a...and I didn't know what they were doing. I didn't know if they were gonna hurt me or not. I just got scared."

"Well thank you for telling me. Its okay they won't hurt you I promise."

"We have to tell them about why this happened don't we?" I sigh.

"We don't have to do anything that you don't want to."

"They should know. They're family now."

Mom and I stay embraced for a couple more minutes then we get up and leave the room and I intertwine our hands to keep me calm. Once we get to the living room all of Mom's family are staring at us. The ladies of the family are looking at me weirdly. Great they think I'm a fucking freak. Mom and I sit down next to each other on the couch and instinctively I cuddle up into Mom as she begins speaking to her family.

"Alright so I guess i'll explain what happened and why it happened. Sage has had a very rough past. Her previous family wasn't very nice to her and they didn't treat her well either. If Sage wants to then she can explain what happened, but basically it takes a while for her to trust people and be comfortable around them so when she saw Mom and Ashley just standing there staring at her she didn't know their intentions and got scared and had a panic attack, which is what you saw. She will get more comfortable around you guys but you just need to give it time."

After she is done talking I look at her family and the women have glossy eyes and the men are trying to suppress their emotions. I hate that they are in pain because of me.

"I'm sorry" I say shakily and all of their heads snap to look at me. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I tried to stop it but these things have a mind of their own."

Aunt Ashley speaks up, "Its okay. We were gonna say something but you looked deep in thought and we didn't want to interrupt incase it was something important."

"I was just thinking about everything that has happened the past couple of months."

"Well we are very happy to have you in our lives."

That makes me a little happy but it will still take a minute to trust them. After my little episode the family decide to turn in for the night. Laying in bed with Mom I try to sleep but knowing you caused people stress, pain, and worry screws with your head.

WHY CAN'T I BE FUCKING NORMAL?