Page 9 of Sage

Was she trying to convince herself otherwise?

Yes.

Sage blazed through the kitchen, searching high and low for the keys to one of the cars that Marco kept hidden in his garage.She finally came across a set of keys in one of the drawers in the living room.

“Got it!” she yelled, grabbing one last thing before she exited the main house into the garage. She had no idea who she was yelling to or sharing her joy with, but the excitement was there for the ghosts of Christmas past to endure. She hopped in theCadillac XLR and started searching for a place to insert the key with no luck. The start button stared back at her. Sage had never seen a car like this but she pushed the button. A message on the dash alerted her to push the brake before hitting the start button.

Vroom. This baby purred like a kitten.

Living in the forest for half of her life, Sage didn't know a whole lot about cars, but she did know that this one would have all eyes on her. She needed to be extra careful on this mission to ensure that no one saw her. Sage pressed her foot to the gas pedal but it accelerated much faster than she had anticipated. In a panic, she applied more pressure than necessary to the brake, causing the car to buck. Sage drove back and forth on the dark winding road a few times until she felt comfortable enough to move on to the main road. Overall the car was easier to drive than most she had driven, once she got a handle on the road, it was nothing but smooth sailing.

Beep.

Sage quickly glanced all over the dash to see if there was something wrong.

"Welcome toSatellite Radio,would you like to listen to your most listened-toFemales of Metalstation today?"

"Yes?" She hesitated. "What the hell is this?" The words escaped her mouth quietly and she hoped that the infiltrator was unable to hear her.

A message on the dash flashed:Starting Females of Metal Radiobeforethemusic began to play and a beautiful voice came over the speakers.

"Okay, Marco, you had good taste in music at least." Sage started bobbing her head back and forth to the beat of the music. Her foot pressed down on the gas a little bit harder and soon she was zooming down the road, rolling down the windows so that she could enjoy the crisp night air.

Soon, Sage started to come up on street lights, letting her know that she was getting closer to her destination.Don't worry, just a couple more minutes,she told herself, trying to gather her composure. Pulling over to the side of the road, she gathered her hair and tucked it under the baseball cap that she had found before pulling back onto the road as soon as she was ready.

Sage’s destination was creeping up, and she was back in familiar territory. Shutting off the headlights, she pulled into the parking lot at Hans’ apartment complex. She looked up to his window to see that the bedroom light was still on.

"Fuck!" She slapped the steering wheel. "I can't believe that bastard is still awake.” Sage sat back in the seat crossing her arms, letting out a little pout.

"It's going to be okay, Gretta." Hans looked at her, a pain in his eyes she had never seen before, while he still attempted to protect her from the cage he had been locked up in across the room.

“Shush you.” Gretta’s attention was turned back toward the fireplace. "You're such a pretty girl." The old woman ran her fingers through Gretta’s hair. “If you continue behaving and doing what I say, then you can keep yourself from ending up like your little friend over there."

"Let her go!" Hans grasped the side of the cage so tightly that his knuckles turned ghostly white.

"Ah ah!" The woman wagged her bent-up finger at him. "She doesn't need you, ya know? I could just have you killed."

Gretta turned slightly to look back at Hans, reminding herself to try to be strong. She didn't want him to see the tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes... She didn't want him to worry.

Turning back around to face the fire before her, she allowed only her eyes to dart around the room to appear less suspicious. She was trying to find where the key to that cage might be. It didn’t take long before something on top of the mantel caught her eye. "There it is," she whispered.

"There what is?" The old hag looked down at her with her iced over sky blue eyes.

"The crackle of the fire. It's one of my most favorite sounds.”

"Ah. It is nice, isn't it?" For a brief second this woman showed a shred of humanity and Gretta had almost forgotten that this was someone holding them captive in the forest.

"It's gonna be okay." she heard Hans' voice fading out.

Sage exhaled slowly as she came back to her current reality.

"Fuck it. Iamgoing to be okay."

Chapter Seven

A Date with Death

As she placed one foot after the other, stepping out of the car, Sage took a deep breath. Making her way slowly over to the stairs, she hoped that the creaking while she climbed them wouldn't give her away. Each step she took told a story; she remembered the times that she had visited with Mrs. Jones, watching Hans come and go from his apartment.

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