CHAPTER 13 (Part 1): Road Kill

Turns out, Saturday could come sooner. Days seem to drag on when you're expecting something from tomorrow.

Even the drive back home seemed longer than it usually took. Our house was near the corner of town, which is about a 15-minute drive from school. Most people in the neighborhood couldn't afford to buy a car, so traffic is hardly a problem. But even with the car-less road and the full tank of gas, my pickup cruised at an average speed. The snow wasn't as heavy but it was still really gloomy.

It was a dull day. The only fun thing that I experienced was jamming out to the radio. Music's a real boredom killer, especially when you're listening to The 1975.

Somebody Else was just coming to an end with Matt Healy's vocal fading out when I took a turn to the left. Still no cars, but suddenly, a little girl in rollerblades came zooming across the street without looking both ways.

She was about a foot away from my car's front bumper when I honked. Her head whipped at my direction, eyes wide and mouth screaming! I was just as shocked as she was but luckily, I was able to stomp on the brakes and swerve left.

My car skidded and bumped up the sidewalk step, throwing me against the roof. If that wasn't enough, my piece-of-shit pickup decided it was the perfect moment to break down. Adding insult to injury, the engine cackled, the hood blew up smoke and the car broke down.

Brilliant.

Gritting my teeth, I kicked the door open. The little girl was sitting on the pavement. My eyes narrowed down at her, and that's when I realized it was no "little girl". The hood of her coat slid down and I realized, it was...

"Dewirth?!"

Her head whipped up in surprise. "Hey, Jettison!" Sage's upbeat voice rang.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I exclaimed, motioning to my broken down car.

"Skating," she answered innocently, standing up and trying to balance herself. That explains why she couldn't jump out of the way.

"In the middle of the street?!"

She nodded, her focus transfixed on something other than my question. She was gazing down on her feet. I followed her gaze and she took one push, but then cried in pain, falling towards me.

I caught her.

"Fuck, I think I sprained my ankle," she said, as I tried to balance her.

"Serves you right for being so reckless! I almost ran you over!"

When we finally got her to balance, she tried skating away again. And this time, she didn't fall. "Yeah, yeah," she said dismissively, as she skated away as fast as she could.

Thanks to her sprained ankle, she didn't get far away before I caught up with her again. "Aren't you even gonna apologize?"

"Why should I apologize? You're not the one with a sprained ankle."

"My car broke down because I avoided your sorry ass!"

"Oh, your car!" she exclaimed melodramatically. "I'm fine, by the way. You know. Me, a human being. I'm fiiine. Sucks about your car, though."

"Where are you going?" I questioned when she wouldn't stop rolling away in a turtle-paced speed.

"Anywhere far from here," she said hurriedly.

Getting annoyed by how she was trying to avoid confronting me, I jumped in front of her.

"Trevor, step aside," she requested.

"No."

"Tre–"

"There she is!" a guy from the end of the block yelled, an accusatory finger pointing at Sage. Another plump guy rushed beside the first one.

Sage cursed aloud, eyes wide with panic, as she frantically looked around.

This is just a wild guess but I think those guys were chasing her.

Out of nowhere, Sage skated into the nearby alley, disappearing from sight behind the brick wall. I follow her just in time to see her jump into the dumpster. She struggled to get inside 'coz of her rollerblades and height. Wow, having a dumpster beat your height must really suck for your self-esteem.

She finally managed to jump inside. That's one hell of an ingenious hiding place.

The dumpster closed. In a split second, the guys who were chasing her came to me. They were even chubbier up close, and both looked like they were trying to grow a 'stache but couldn't so they had to settle for a peach fuzz.

"Hey, buddy," one of them called. "Where'd that blonde girl go?"

So they were chasing Sage. The thought of telling them where Sage was crossed my mind. Hey! She's the reason why my car broke down! Why should I help her out?

But then I looked at the guys again. They seemed pretty enraged and even though I wouldn't be scared of them, I didn't think Sage could have taken them on, what with a sprained ankle and all.

What should I do? I didn't know what they want from Sage but, quite frankly, I don't care what happens to her.

I decided to be in Sage's favor and lie, "She passed through the alley. Maybe she went to the park."

"Thanks," the other guy said and they sprinted right by the dumpster, continuing on to the park on the other side of the street.

Once they were out of sight, I made my way to the dumpster and opened it.

"They're gone," I told her.

She was curled up, hugging her knees to her chest and surrounded by garbage. I'm having a hard time believing that she's Kaye's best friend. Kaye's always neat and ladylike. Sage is... well, Sage.

"Oh, thank God," she gasped.

I helped her out of the dumpster. She slipped a little on her rollerblades and fell on me. I balanced her. She smiled at me.

"Thanks," she murmured. "For a minute there I thought you were gonna sell me out."

"Why were you hiding from them?" I asked.

"Because they were chasing me," she said, matter-of-factly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "And why were they chasing you?"

"Oh," she said and smiled sheepishly. "They weren't really happy with our... transaction."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What did you do?"

"Well," she said, digging in to the pockets of her cargo shorts. "I ordered something online and we were meeting up for the payment transaction, when suddenly, they told me that there's a 20% markup for the price. Can you believe that?! 20%!"

"And then?" I asked, urging her to get to the punchline of the story.

"Well, I didn't have any extra cash on me!" she wailed like a child. "I skated all the way here for Pete's sake! I didn't even have money for the bus. So I snatched the stuff I bought, threw the money at their faces, and hauled ass!"

"What did you even buy?" I questioned. What could be worthy of being run over by a car for?

"This!" she chirped, pulling out a CD case from her pocket. I grabbed it. It was a music album. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that it was bootlegged since the album title was written on a piece of paper and taped on the case.

The Lost Planet. Never heard of it.

"Okay," she said, taking the CD back. "I think I'm gonna go."

"But–"

She slid past me and I could only watch in amusement and confusion as she tried to skate away with an injured foot.

"Ouch!" I heard her exclaim before toppling down.

I went over and knelt beside her. "What's the matter with you?" I asked her.

"My ankle's acting out. I don't think it's just a sprain." She laughed warily.

She took off her left rollerblade, revealing her red and swollen ankle.

"Look at that," she said, poking her ankle. She hissed in pain once her finger made impact.

"That looks bad," I commented.

She started putting her rollerblade back on.

"Hey! What are you doing? It's swollen. It'll hurt more if you wear that thing. You should leave it off," I suggested.

She didn't listen. She proceeded to strap it on already. "It doesn't hurt that much."

"Can you skate back to your house?" I asked as we both stood up.

She opened her mouth to answer but before she could, we heard someone shout, "There she is!"

Sage's hunters must have realized she wasn't really at the park. They were still far away. Four blocks away, give or take.

"Great. Now these guys are back!" she exclaimed, trying to flee, whimpering a little out of pain. I actually felt bad for her.

The hunters charged towards us. Knowing that they'd be after me too for helping Sage, I ran. I was going on a good pace until I realized Sage wasn't following. I looked back and she was balancing herself on the wall.

The grimace on her face reminded me of a lost puppy whimpering because of a broken leg.

To help or not to help? That is the question.