Chapter 4-Mountains

  (Sage's Point of View)

  "Sage!" Rosie shouted as she ran after me.

  I kept running and realized that I was no longer in Maco. Looking around, I saw that mountains and forests surrounded me. A gust of wind passed as I gazed at the hill that rose high into the clouds.

  After I ran into the mountains, I tripped and twisted my ankle. As I tried to get up, I noticed a cut on my leg that began to bleed. Blood ran down my leg while I searched for a place to clean it off.

  I noticed a cabin in the middle of the forest. While hopping around, I peeked through the windows to see if it was abandoned.

  I entered the cabin after realizing that it was abandoned. The cabin was fully furnished, but it looked like someone hadn't been used. I searched around the cabin for anything to help clean my wound. As I searched through the house, I heard a loud noise. I hid behind the couch as I saw the door opening.

  "Sage," Rosie said as she entered the cabin. I rose from behind the couch, startling Rosie, who jumped.

  "Hey, you nearly got hit," she said, stepping back and holding her chest.

  A moment later, Rosie started hugging me as she cried.

  "I can't believe we're sisters," she said while crying.

  "I'm a little surprised, but you have always felt like a sister to me," I said as I hugged her back.

  Rosie looked down and noticed I was bleeding; she made me sit down while she looked around to find something she could use to wipe off the blood. After finding one, she started to clean off my leg. I told her that I had also twisted my ankle. She took off my shoes and slapped my ankle.

  "What the hell, Rosie," I almost jumped up from the pain.

  "Nobody told your ass to run off on your own," she said while bandaging my leg.

  By her running track, she knows how to soothe the pain when it comes to body sprains.

  "What do you think of all this?" she asked.

  "I don't know what to make of it," I replied.

  "I wonder how long we will have to stay here,” Rosie said, sighing.

  We sat there talking, and a few minutes later, Tia walked through the door and told us that the cabin belonged to her and that we could keep it for ourselves if we wanted it. Rosie and I agreed to keep it, as we decided to make it a training ground. We talked to Tia and chose to stay with her.

  "Hey, do you think we can take her?" Rosie whispered in my ear.

  I looked at Tia as she was walking ahead of us.

  "Maybe, but she's the least of our worries," I whispered. "It's the man we have to worry about. He follows her everywhere," I said as I glanced at the man sitting next to the tree.

  "Hmm, I think we can take them," she huffed.

  "You're going to get us killed one day.", I said seriously.

  We followed her back to the house before it could get dark. She told us she went to find us because we didn't know our way around and didn't want us to get lost.

  We asked her where we were, and she said we were in Yurin, 300 miles from Maco.

  After dinner, she told us to follow her upstairs as she said she had rooms ready for both of us. We asked her why we were in the basement for a month and why she only came that once.

  She explained that she went to look for our parents, and in the process, she took all of our belongings out of the house and put them into our rooms. We wanted to know what would happen to our old homes. But only to find out that it was burned down after she had taken our things.

  Rosie and I lay in bed, talking about our parents. We were angry that they had been lying to us for years, but we were also glad that they kept us together, even if it was as best friends.

  "What else are they hiding from us?" Rosie muttered.

  A few days later, my ankle improved; Tia woke us up, telling us she was going into town with her daughter Liyah. She asked us if we needed anything.

  "I have all my stuff, but can we come with you?" I asked.

  "Sorry, but you girls would have to stay put," she said as she walked to the door.

  "Well, that sucks," Rosie grumbled under her breath.

  "I think we can still take her," she said under her breath

  "Hush," I slapped her with a pillow.

  Rosie and I decided to go to the mountains to train. I grabbed my crossbow as she grabbed her running shoes.

  "Let's jog there," she said.

  "Sure," I said as I started to warm up.

  We jogged to the entrance of the mountains, stopping to finally catch our breath. I started thinking to myself, though I could do a lot of target practicing out here.

  We heard a whimpering a few meters away from the cabin as we practiced independently. At first, Rosie didn't want to go check it out. But I forced her to go with me as I grabbed her hand; I was a little afraid to go alone.

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  We walked around the trees while listening to the sound. As the sound got closer, we heard howling noises. Rosie got scared and grabbed my hand as she tried to run back towards the cabin. I placed my bow up, putting a wooden arrow I made through my fingers. I walked closer to the noise. I noticed it was a baby wolf.

  It was injured and looked to have been abandoned. I started feeling sorry for it as I picked it up and returned to the cabin.

  "What do you have in your hand?" Rosie said as she peeked through the door.

  "It's a baby wolf," I said as I held it.

  Rosie opened the door as I began to walk in. She looked at the wolf and told me the mother was going to come after me, and she was going to run at first sight.

  "Is it a girl?" she asked.

  I laid the cub down, and I cleaned the dirt off him.

  "Nope, it's a boy," I said. "Hmm, I'm going to call him Chad."

  I decided to keep him in the cabin. As the days went by, I sneaked food to Chad every day and sometimes brought him into my room while everyone was sleeping. I looked at the ceiling as Chad lay on the floor.

  He began to walk around my room and scratched at the box. I stared at it for a moment, feeling apprehensive about opening it.

  He started to walk around my room and started scratching at the box. I stared at the box for a moment. I was a little afraid of opening it.

  I got out of bed and walked over to the box.

  I took a deep breath as I opened the box. In the box was a baby picture of Rosie and me. Next to the image was a folded piece of paper. When I opened it, I saw that it was another letter.

  "Hey, Sage, I know you are confused about what's happening. I swear I never intended to leave you behind, but a situation has come up that you and Rosie can't comprehend yet. But I promise it's for your safety. Whatever you do, don't leave Tia's side", the letter ended.

  I got angry and almost tore the letter before I could shred it. I noticed the letter was full of tear stains.

  I jumped up and ran to Rosie's room.

  "Rosie, get up." I closed the door and flopped on her bed.

  "What, whoa?" she said, jumping out of her sleep.

  I nudged her as she slowly started to doze back off.

  "Get up," I raised my voice a little.

  "Are we finally doing it?" She asked while rubbing her eyes.

  I thought to myself what?" then I realized she meant offing everyone in the house while they slept.

  I put my hand on my head, a little frustrated; seriously, she is going to get us killed one day.

  "Shut up and read," I handed her the letter.

  She took a moment and read it. She continued to show different facial expressions as she read.

  "So we can't off her," Rosie said.

  Seriously, is that the only thing she got from the letter, I mumbled.

  "No, something is going on; why would she say it was for our safety?

  Rosie shrugged her shoulders and laid back down.

  "Sounds like we're safe for now," she stated. "Whatever that is supposed to mean, ''she continued. Without a care in the world, she dozed off and went back to sleep while I was losing my mind.

  I laid down next to her and dozed off.

  The following day, I was woken up by Liyah telling me breakfast was ready. I looked around the room and saw that Rosie was already gone.

  I headed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before going downstairs.

  Walking out of my room into the hallway, Liyah stood there waiting for me.

  "Are you watching me or something?" I asked her.

  She looked at me and smiled. " No, she said. " I just wanted to get the chance to talk to you while my mom wasn't around.

  "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

  "Don't think too bad about my mom; she's not a good actor," she stated.

  I stopped walking and looked at her, confused.

  " What do you mean by not being a good actor?" I asked curiously.

  She looked at me, leaned towards my ear, and whispered.

  "My mom isn't a real kidnapper. She's a bodyguard". She said,

  " Wait, what?" "What do..." before I could finish what I was saying, she cut me off and continued.

  "She's pretending to be a kidnapper while baiting the people who are after you and Rosemary."

  I looked at her in shock and couldn't find the words; I was speechless.

  Liyah took a step forward and whispered to me again.

  "Please continue to act normal; I wasn't supposed to say anything," she said as she stepped back and continued down the stairs, leaving me behind.