Page 21 of Rough Love

The thought of the house burning around them scared Sage and Mia. It amazed them how the Omens could be so cruel and do such a thing. It didn’t surprise them but they just couldn’t understand how anyone could do that to another person. Obviously, they shouldn’t be too shocked considering it was the Omens but it just wasn’t right.

“Do you think they’ll wait outside for us to die?” Mia asked Sage. Her voice was shaky when she said the word die. The gravity of it sank in almost immediately. She knew they'd die long before the flames got to them.

“We're not going to die, Mia. I promised I’d look after you and that’s what I intend to do,” Sage replied. Mia knew that he meant well but it didn’t take away from the fact that they were trapped in a burning house. He couldn't expect to be some sort of superhero all of a sudden. Not even she would expect him to be able to get out of there.

“What are we going to do?” she asked. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Her thoughts ran wild as she pictured the house crushing them as it burned to the ground. She had to admit that she had watched a lot of horror movies and TV series that had cases of houses burning with people trapped inside and it made her head hurt as all those images came to mind. She could picture paramedics arriving at the house and pulling their bones from the rubble. It almost made her sick.

Mia kept thinking about how her life hadn’t even started yet, she hadn’t even accomplished any of her dreams. She knew that when she had moved to Florida she had hoped for more and there had been a time when it seemed like that could happen but as they sat tied up in the pantry of their kitchen, Mia hated herself for not doing more. She hadn’t gotten very far with her paintings. In fact, she still hadn’t shown anyone her work and she also hadn’t managed to really have any sort of future with Sage. Her mind traveled back to the last time she had seen her parents and she realized she probably wouldn’t be able to make things right with them. All of her mistakes flashed before her as if she was watching her life from the very beginning.

Is this what it feels like to have your life flash before your eyes, she thought to herself. She couldn't stand reliving her life, even if it were just memories. She didn't want to think about all the mistakes she had made. She knew she had messed up a lot and there could be no way for her to change that and she knew that if she hadn't made those mistakes she wouldn't have found Sage.

Sage kept quiet next to her. He had no idea what they were going to do but he didn’t want Mia to lose faith. He knew he would do whatever he could to get them out of there. Although she hadn’t said much in a while, he could see that she was freaking out internally; it was written all over her face. He wanted to settle her but he didn't have much time to waste. Sooner or later the smoke would knock them out and then there would be no hope of getting out. He tried to think of ideas, anything that could work in their favor. He looked around the pantry and was disappointed when he didn't see any sort of weapon or knife they could use. He knew it was a long shot to hope for that but it was worth the thought.

Mia tried her hardest to keep calm even though words of panic tumbled out of her mouth. She didn’t want Sage to know just how scared she was. Of course, she knew he would understand but she wanted to stay strong because she had no other choice. There was no way she could be weak in that situation especially because she could smell the smoke coming through the door. They were burning her house down while they were locked in it. She thought about all her paintings. She had never gotten around to showing Sage any of them and she wished she had. He would’ve been able to see how much she loved him just by looking at her paintings of him and her heart broke at the thought of them being burnt to nothing. She really wanted to cry as the seriousness of the situation sunk in. No one could save them, no one even knew they had been attacked. Mia wanted to say goodbye to Sage, she finally wanted to tell him that she loved him. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked over at Sage who had been muttering to himself since they had been locked up in the pantry.

"Sage, I just wanted to tell you that-," she began before Sage interrupted her.

“No, Mia, there will be no goodbyes or anything like that. We're going to get out of here and still live a long and happy life," he said.

She didn't want to think about the fact that she may never get the chance to spend the rest of her life with him. Just the thought of it made her want to scream in pain. She didn't care so much about losing the house. They could always rebuild it and create new memories but her mind went to the dark side of her thoughts as she realized that they might die. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind but it was hard to think straight as the smoke had slowly started to fill the small space.

"Mia, we're going to get out of here, okay? But I need you to untie the knots from behind my back," he said. Mia looked over at Sage, he was calm and collected as he tried to give her instructions. She knew the only way for her to get out of there would be to listen to him. They were lucky with how they had been tied up because Mia could move her body more freely than Sage could as her hands had been tied in front of her instead of at her back. She did as she was told. As she moved toward Sage, the smoke filled the air and Mia started to cough. She continued to work at the knots and finally managed to free his hands and once his hands were free she brought her hands up to her face as she tried to block out some of the smoke. She watched as Sage worked at the knots around his ankles, loosening them so he could get free.

“Hold on, Mia, we’re going to get out of this, I promise,’ he said as Mia started to cough a lot more.

Mia was terrified as her breathing started to become a lot more shallow. The smoke in the air filled her lungs and she could feel herself slipping away. She could feel Sage work on her knots, working them until her hands were free.

"Listen to me, Mia, I need you to stay awake for me, okay?” Sage said. Mia tried to open her eyes wider as she started to fade away. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay awake for. She knew that Sage could get out. He had been trained for worse things in life so she knew that if she couldn't make it at least he would. She didn't want to die but she had started to suffocate as the smoke surrounded them, almost making it hard to see and breathe.

She tried to pick herself up by pushing her arms against the ground but her limbs felt as if they had no strength in them at all. Her arms bent at her elbows as she tried again to push herself off the ground. Internally, Mia started to freak out. She was scared that she was dying. A part of her thought that she could just be weak due to the lack of oxygen.

She felt Sage pick her up and throw her over his shoulder. Her ribs crashed against his shoulder. Mia blacked out as Sage pushed the door open so they could get out of the pantry and out of their burning house.

* * *

On the way out,Sage ran passed a cookie jar. He stopped to open it and was relieved when he felt the gun he had hidden inside of it. He hadn't told Mia about the gun when he had hidden it but he was glad that they didn't keep a lot of sweet snacks in the house or else she would've wanted to use the jar for its proper purpose. He felt like he could fight back because he needed to get Mia outside and into the fresh air. He ran through the house and saw the curtains on fire as well as some of the furniture. His heart broke at the sight of his home, the home he had just gotten used to, the home he had started to build with Mia. He knew he would have to make it up to her. He would stop at nothing to make sure she had everything she wanted. He felt Mia's lifeless body twitch and he started to focus on the task at hand.

As he reached the back door he prepared himself and shifted Mia so he could make sure he could shoot. The moment he pushed himself out, he started to fire. He could barely see it was so dark but he shot in every direction. He tried to fire back into the direction he thought the Omens were, their guns gave their location away so he managed to send a few shots in their direction. His heart was pounding in his chest as he remembered the day in Afghanistan, the day he had also shot into the unknown and hoped for the best. He didn't want to think about that day though. It had been the day he had lost everything and he didn't want to think that way in this situation. He had to believe that they would make it out of there untouched.

He ran toward the woods, ducking as the bullets flew at him. He needed to get to safety, especially because of Mia. He tried to shift her around as he ran so she wouldn't get hit by the flying bullets. He was scared that she would get shot while he ran and he couldn't stand the thought of it.

He ran into the darkness with no light whatsoever but he trusted his instincts as he didn't stop to look back. He already knew there was no saving the house. It was gone and the Omens hadn't caught up to him. He shifted Mia's body so he could cradle her between his arms with her head against his chest. He placed her on the ground and put his head to her chest so he could listen to her heartbeat. He was thankful when he heard it. Even though it was soft, he was still relieved. He looked over her body and realized she hadn't been hit in the crossfire which was great news. At least he knew she hadn't been shot.

“Mia?” he said, as he gently brushed her hair out of her face. “Please wake up,” he begged.

Mia didn’t move at the sound of his voice and Sage started to get worried. He was alone and didn’t know what to do. He wasn't sure if he should do any sort of CPR on Mia considering she was still breathing and he also didn't really know CPR; he hadn't practiced it in years.

Tears started to run down his cheeks as he sat next to Mia’s body. He thought he had taken too long. It was possible that Mia could stop breathing altogether and that thought terrified him. He didn’t want to believe that she was dying. He couldn’t stand to think about it as he sat next to her crying. He hated himself for getting mixed up with the wrong people. Of course, he knew that it was possible that they would’ve gotten involved with the Omens no matter what they did if they were working with the Screaming Demons but things had just gotten a lot worse than they should’ve. He thought he should've done more to protect her, he should've tried to get her out of the house quicker or something, anything.

“Mia, you need to wake up. You see I have all these big plans for us. We can get a better house, somewhere closer to the beach and away from city life. We could get out of this mess, we could have whatever you want. I just want you to be happy and alive so I need you to open your eyes, please," Sage said. His voice caught in his throat as his emotions started to pour out of him. He begged her to wake up, he so badly wanted her to open her eyes so he could see her beautiful brown eyes.

He wrapped his hands around one of hers and lifted it to his face as he ran the back of her hand against his cheek. Her body was still warm which he knew was a good sign. He thought she may have just fainted due to the shock and smoke but he couldn't bear looking at her while she was unconscious.

He wasn't ready to say goodbye to Mia and the thought of doing so broke him. He had just gotten over losing Laura and he had finally moved on with the prospect of a new life, a life he thought he'd never get. He didn't want to think negatively but his mind kept going to the worst thoughts he could ever have - Mia dying in front of him. He could still see her chest rising and falling as she continued to breathe gently but he was scared that if he looked away for a second she would stop breathing altogether.

The more he thought about it the worse it got because when he remembered his time in Afghanistan, he had been grateful that he hadn't actually seen his team die. He could remember the bomb going off but after that, most of his memory was blank and as he looked at Mia is was almost too much for him. He would prefer to blackout. He didn't know how much time they had before the Omens would catch up to them but he also didn't want to shake Mia awake in case it scared her. He picked her up and moved further into the woods before placing her back on the ground so she could be comfortable.