Chapter 6~

Sage remembers going to find Nick and convincing him to come back with her.

  Traveling is the best way of teaching children, in my opinion. They learn about culture, having an open-mind, and that it is okay for people to have different opinions because everyone comes from a different place. It also gives a child a sense of adventure. If a family gets lost on a road trip, then they get to experience more than they would have if they had just gone straight to their destination. While driving through the States, many weird and interesting things will happen and be seen. America has many biggest or largest “everythings”. Biggest ball of twine, Biggest cloths pin, Biggest Beagle, Biggest frying pan. America even has a Green Giant statue. The U.S. has everything that is the biggest. I could continue. I have seen them all. Then there are the really weird things. Wigwam Village Motel (which is exactly how it sounds-a small village of wigwams that people can stay in), Carhenge (looks oddly like Stonehenge, but it’s made out of cars), Gravity Hill (a car will roll uphill instead of downhill while in neutral), Extraterrestrial Highway, Lucy the Elephant, and I’ve even seen the very first Wal-Mart, originally called Walton’s. I loved discovering new places or exploring caves. Getting lost was a nice idea and I liked the idea of getting lost, unless we were lost.

  “We’re lost,” Nick said, turning off the car engine. “It’s getting dark. We have been driving for hours and we haven’t seen a sign or anything. Plus, I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen that rock three times!” He pointed at a big boulder off the side of the road in a giant field. If someone has never driven through Illinois, I would inform that driver that the whole state is farmland. What is not farmland are trees, towns, or cities, but it’s safe to say that those areas are surrounded by farmland or has farmland in the middle of it.

  I wouldn’t normally try to argue with him about this, but I was bored…really bored. “There is absolutely nothing special about that rock. It’s not round, it’s not triangular or rectangular, it is just a rock. How would you recognize a rock?” I asked, looking at the boulder he had pointed at. I looked at him.

  “How do you recognize facial expressions?” He challenged. He looked at me with a smile, but his eyes told me that he was sad. I didn’t know why. Nothing bad had ever happened to us anywhere in Illinois. Perhaps it was a look of nostalgia.

  “It’s a rock.” I pointed at it.

  “I thought it looked like Anne Hathaway! I like her!”

  I snorted and looked at him. “I hope you get the chance to tell her that too. I’m sure she would be pleased that you’re comparing her to a huge rock.” I smiled at him and he smiled back.

  Suddenly he busted into laughter. “We’re lost! I haven’t been lost in years! I told you to use my GPS.” I began to laugh too, but soon his laughter turned into panic. “Sage, we’re lost!” I wasn’t that worried about being lost, I had been lost loads of times in the passed few years. “Sage, I told you to use my GPS!” He yelled, accusingly.

  My mouth dropped open. “Really? Your phone is dead! You just doubt my map reading!”
He pointed to the rock and said, “Yes, I do!”

  I sighed. “I told you to stay on the highway back there, but no, you just had to get off of it.”

  “…And I told you that we didn’t need to even be going into Missouri to get to New Orleans!”
  “Oh,” I barked. “So now this is my fault? A second ago, you were laughing and now your accusing me of getting you lost? You’re the driver!”

  “Yes! This is you fault! You were reading the map! Now you’re not because we’re going to use my phone’s GPS!”

  “Too bad you don’t have a car charger so we can charge it.” I mumbled, reminding him that his phone was dead and in the trunk, which is why we were using my maps. He cursed and I smiled. “I win.”

  “Shut up and upgrade your phone. Let’s just camp here for the night and we’ll get directions in the morning.”

  “What? No! We can’t just ask for directions! I’ll be rested in the morning and then I will be able to read the map fine! We don’t have to ask anyone,” I stammered, allowing my pride to get in the way. Usually it was the men that have difficulties with asking for directions, but not with Nick and me. It was completely opposite for us. I had to be prideful when I was traveling solo.

  “No, Sage, don’t. We’re sleeping and then asking for directions.” I groaned, but he ignored it. “At least, we still have some gas, which should get us somewhere tomorrow. I call back seat.” I groaned again. “Nope, I’m the driver,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt. He continued talking as he opened his door and sprawled across the back seat. “You don’t get to be comfortable at night too. I’m stretching out.” Neither of us enjoyed fighting the steering wheel and stick shift. He began mumbling something about how much he had not missed camping in the car and not having three healthy meals a day. I smiled to myself and rolled down the window to give me more legroom and some air. I laid down and began thinking about the night I found Nick and brought him back.

 

~One month ago~
 

  After Jimmy the werewolf had betrayed me and killed Gabe and Kim, I was angry, alone, and distraught. Jimmy had saved my life on more than one occasion. I had trusted him almost as much as I trust Nick now. I went back to Leslie and cried on her shoulder. I hadn’t cried to her since Nick left me after Mom had died. She treated me like a mother would treat her child, except for the fact that demons usually show their children love by torturing them. She kept suggesting that I go find Nick, but my pride told me no, so my health began to dwindle, mentally and physically. So after about a month of moping around the house, eating chocolate for every meal, and crying myself to sleep, she eventually snapped. “Sage Lloyd! I know you’ve been hurt and you’re alone, but you gotta go find your brother! Ya need him and I am not about ta sit here and watch you feel sorry for yourself! Don’t you make me go quotin’ no Bible verses, Sage Lloyd. You know I hate it. Maybe I’m bein’ too harsh because I have no feelings, but this is gettin’ annoyin’! Go find ya brother and then we’ll sit around a campfire telling stories and singing ‘Kum Ba Yah’ !”
  With that, she told me where Nick was teaching at and that if I didn’t go get in the Opel at that moment, she would slap me so hard, I flew there quicker than she could zap me there. I quickly took my first shower in a month, threw my belongings into a bag, and began driving to Laramie, Wyoming from Smyrna, South Carolina. It took a little over a day. I only slept for about three hours during the whole drive. I could not sleep when I was possibly going to see my brother in a day!
  When I arrived in Laramie, I could see why Nick had chosen to stop here and teach. It looked safe enough to leave the front door unlocked and have nothing stolen. I parked in the parking lot of a hotel that was close to the town’s eastern border and grabbed an ID badge out of my bag. I quickly walked in as I tried to keep most of my hair in place as the wind whipped around me. With the amount of wind here, I assumed that the sky was about to let loose a second flood, but the sky was the prettiest shade of blue I had ever seen and the sun was blinding.
  I quickly tried to make myself look less wind-beaten as I walked up to the receptionist. He looked to be about my age. He was tan, had brown eyes, and no hair anywhere on his head except for a small brown gotee. I smiled and held up my badge to him. The man’s eyes bulged as he stood up and began running into the back room. “Wait!” I shouted, then sighed and rolled my eyes. I hated when this happened. What could I do? Arrest him? Sure, and turn myself in at the same time. He was fast, but I betted that I was faster. I jumped over the short counter and began chasing him down. It was silent for a moment as I stood in a small room with two exits. I heard the sound of a metal door banging shut from the door on the left, and ran towards the noise. I crashed through the second door into the bright blue sky. The wind tried to push the door closed again, but I saw the man trying to jump over a tall white fence and I pushed harder against the door and ran at him. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the ground. I put my foot on his chest, which probably was not as threatening as it would have been with high-heels. High heels are ridiculous though, and I will never be caught dead in them unless it’s for a good cause. “I just want to know if you know who this guy is,” I said, in between breaths.  I showed him a picture of Nick that I always kept in my wallet with a fake ID.
  The receptionist, squinting from the sunlight, looked at the picture, “Yeah, that’s one of my friends. His name’s Jordan Cross.”
  “Jordan Cross,” I mulled that over. I moaned. That used to be one of Nick’s favorite names to use. “Do you know where I can find him?” I dreaded the answer. Dark factory outside of town. At a cheap motel with a prostitute. This guy obviously had recently done something wrong and he was friends with Nick? What had Nick been doing for the passed seven years with this guy? What trouble could he have gotten himself into? Why hadn’t he called me when he was arrested?
  “What day is it?” He asked. I told him it was Friday. “It’s around three? He’s at Beitel School.” Great…he’s a pedophile. “He’s probably giving his first graders a snack and getting ready to lead his kids out to the busses soon.” Oh.
  I hesitantly took my foot off him and held out my hand to help him up. I helped him brush the dust off his back. “Can you give me direction there?”
  He nodded. “I guess. Let’s go back inside first though, Sage.”
  I smiled and began to follow him, then stopped. “I never introduced myself.”  A piece of hair flew into my mouth, but I did not take it out. I did not even breathe. The wind furiously whipped around me as I stood, staring at the back of his head. He stopped and looked at the ground.
  He turned and said, “You can trust me, I promise.”
  “That’s why you ran I suppose?” I challenged. “Why did you run anyhow?”
  “You might find out and you might not, Sage. When you pull out, turn left, then go down East Grande, turn left onto 17th street, pass Rainbow Avenue and it’s at 17th and Sheridan.”
  Just before he closed the door, I began jogging towards him and called after him. I asked what his name was, to which he replied, “Adam.” I walked around the building and got into my car. He confused me. What was he running for? I barely remembered where he had said that Beitel School was, but I began driving. If I got lost, there were plenty of houses around, and I could ask someone.
  I did get lost. I ended up stumbling upon the school by mistake. I flashed my badge at the lady in the front office. She responded, in a scratchy smoker’s voice, that I had walked in about five minutes before the end of the school day. I asked where Jordan Cross’ room was. She began talking about how kind the boy was and that he was trustworthy. She asked me why the FBI needed to see him so urgently, to which I replied that it was because he was a witness in a local case. Hesitantly, she told me his room number. I quickly found his room and waited. The door opened and the lights went off. “You guys need to be quiet,” he said. “The older kids are still working.” He still sounded the same and it made my heart beat a little stronger. What if he didn’t want to see me? Or come back? What if he had developed a strong hate towards me in these seven years, and that is why he never called me? He had a life here. I could not think that he would ever even consider coming back. I quickly began walking away and rounded the corner. “Wait!” I heard him say. I paused and looked back around the corner at him.
  Had he seen me? No. He was talking to a student running in the opposite direction. “Zane! You know how this works. You’re going to be the last one out of the room now. Go to the back of the line.” The boy went back into the room with his head down. Nick stepped out into the hallway and looked my direction and then the other way. He still didn’t see me. His hair had grown out and his face looked happy, but his eyes were sad. That made my decision. I emerged and began walking towards his room again. I had to see him, at least. I had come all this way.
   The two last boys emerged. The boy, who was supposed to be last, walked out second to last and fist-bumped the last boy. I laughed at the fact that he thought he was hardcore for not being the last one out of the room. Finally, a young woman followed with a clipboard. She closed the door and followed the students, not even noticing that the two boys should have been in opposite order. She tried to be professional, but clearly was not. She had student teacher written all over her.
  I quickly opened the door after they disappeared around the corner. The room looked exactly like how I always pictured a first grade classroom. Alphabet posters across the front of the room above a chalkboard, fun games, desks in sets of four, and cute little drawings that the students had drawn for the teacher. I smiled as I closed the door and walked up to sit in his swivel chair. I turned around to the chalkboard and began drawing a tree.
  A few minutes later, the door opened and the lights came on. I quietly set my chalk down in the tray. I heard the student teacher’s voice say that she was leaving, then I heard him say goodbye. I heard her heels clunking down the hallway, as well as quiet ones coming up behind me, that were Nick’s. They were not as quiet as a Watcher in practice, but still careful. Right before he should have reached me, I turned in the chair and said “Hello, brother.” It took all of my being not to tackle him. He lowered the small silver knife he held above his head and blinked. He slowly put the knife back in his pocket, his eyes still on me.
  “Sage?”
  I smiled and stood up. “In the flesh.” He began taking the last few steps toward me and began raising his arms. I ran into them and we stood in the middle of his first grade classroom, hugging like we, well, hadn’t seen each other in years.
  After a few minutes, we let go of each other. “What are you doing here Sage? How did you find me?” Panic flashed across his face. “What happened?”
  “Finding you. Leslie. Long story.”
  He smiled. “Maybe we can discuss that story sometime?” For the next three hours, we sat at his desk, looking over papers as I talked about what had happened to me for the last seven years, up to this point. Jimmy, the werewolf, Gabe and Kim, all the strange monsters we had fought off, how Jimmy killed Gabe and Kim, my month of no showers, chocolate, and crying, and finally, Leslie kicking me out so I would come find him. I accidentally forgot to mention the weird guy at the hotel. After I finished my story, I asked what he had been through in the last seven years. “Well, you’re looking at it. I finished college, got some girls, taught some kids. It seems to be a lot more fun than how you spent the time.”
  I chuckled and nodded. “Up until recently, it was fun, I guess, but I miss you, Nick.”
  “Is that why you’re here?” he asked, looking at the floor.
  I looked at the ground as well, studying the white tiles with green flecks. “Nick, I’m all alone. Everyone’s dead except for Leslie, obviously, but you know how she is. You can only take her for so long before either you’re annoyed with her or she’s annoyed with you, which is why she kicked me out.” I stopped talking in hopes that he would say something, but he didn’t. He just looked at the paper that he had previously been grading. I sighed. “Please come back, Nick. I need you. I can’t do this on my own.”
  He was quiet for a moment longer and finally, he marked the last answer on the paper wrong and put it in the graded pile. “Why didn’t you and that Gabe guy settle down, Sage?” He looked at my face, possible trying to study my face as I did with everyone else’s. I refused to meet his eyes, though the surprise must have shown on my face. I hadn’t mentioned that Gabe and I had ever had anything going on. 
  “Because, he didn’t want that…and neither did I,” I added on the last bit. I couldn’t talk about boys with my brother! Only famous ones, and that was even awkward sometimes. Truth is, Gabe and I had discussed it and actually were looking for a small place to live. Nick smiled and began grading another paper. “Nick, please.” He dropped his pen and stared at the paper. “Please come back.” He looked at me and I looked back at him, finally meeting his eyes. Our eyes were both watery.
  “Sage…,” he sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, I finally have something going for me. Watching was always your thing. Not mine. I have these kids and six years worth of kids. I’m just not sure.” A stupid tear fell from my eye. I quickly wiped it off and made a determined face. “You get that, right? That it has nothing to do with you, just me. Okay? I missed you too, but I was just busy with everything.”
  “You were busy for seven years?” I asked. I didn’t want to start arguing with him, I just found him. He flinched. “I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t even have to be with me for very long, just until I find someone else to Watch with. I guess I’m being selfish, but I don’t know why it would be such a big deal. Not that you’re a last resort or anything, but, you could come back here right after I found someone else.”
  “I know what you mean.” He sighed. “I’ll think about it. Do you need anywhere to stay?”
  “No, I’ll find a hotel or something.”
  “I’ll think about it Sage, give me until, I don’t know. Meet me at Prairie Rose Café around one o’clock tomorrow. I’ll try to have my decision by then.”
  I smiled and nodded, “You’re not just going to leave me alone, right?” I said, trying to make a joke that I used to make with him, Gabe, Kim, and Jimmy, just out of habit, but I immediately regretted having said it because it had happened. They had all left me alone in some way. I tried to hide it with a laugh.
   He laughed back, though I think he may have picked it up as well. “Of course not, I’ll be there. I need to be getting home though,” he said, looking at his watch.
  “Do you want to get something to eat with me?” I asked hopefully.
  He thought for a moment and then said, “No, actually, I need to be getting home. It’s almost time for report cards, so I need to finish grading. Then I need to make cookie for the kids. I’m honestly not even sure that I’ll be able to eat supper tonight. I’ll probably be too busy.”
  I smiled, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow around one at Prairie Rose Café?”
  “Yep!” We smiled and hugged each other for a while. As I turned to leave, I heard the sound of metal hitting the ground. I whipped back around and automatically leaned over to pick it back up. My hand wrapped around the handle of Nick’s knife. I paused as I studied it. I knew this knife, but I thought it had been lost in the vampire’s factory. The handle was Eastern Red Cedar with little swirls carved into it. The blade was silver with blood red swirls that looked like vines wrapping around it. This was Mom’s knife. I smiled as I folded it back up, still looking at it. I quickly tossed it at Nick and he waited until the very last second to react to it, but he caught it.
  “You’re getting slow,” I pointed out.
  He smiled, “No, you’re just getting fast.” I laughed and left the building, happily. Even though I doubted that he would come back with me, I still got to see him and that was good enough for now. I drove back to the hotel with the random guy that knew my name and checked in. A normal person would probably stray away from someone that knew his or her name, but he intrigued me. I wanted to know how he knew my name, how he and my brother were friends, and why he ran from me if he knew who I was.
  Unfortunately, he was supposed to be off for a week. “Are you kidding me?!” I asked.
  The lady smiled and nodded, giving me the key. “Girls do like him a lot.” I rolled my eyes, thanked her, and went to find my room for the night.
  The next day, Nick met me at the restaurant and told me that he had decided to come with me, but only after all of his grades were in and the nine weeks were over, which would be the next Friday. He said that he could pass me off as a speaker if I wanted to come in a few days next week. Therefore, I came in to “speak” to Mr. Cross’ little midgets every few days. In other words, I sat in the corner and watched them connect four apples to four oranges because the number matched. Being in an actual first grade classroom was weird. Teachers had a way of teacher more than one thing at a time. For example, this lesson also teaches not to judge. Just because four is red and slim, does not mean that that four can be judged any differently than the fat, orange four. Maybe I’m the only one who sees this….
  The kids were extremely cute until they picked their nose, sucked their thumb, or peed everywhere. Fortunately, these lessons were for Nick and the student teacher, which allowed me to make fun of him. That week passed in no time. “I can see why you wanted to be a teacher, Jordan Cross,” I said on his last day. I helped Nick put the grades into the computer. He smiled and looked at the paper he had finished grading and handed it to me.
  “I’m really going to miss the kids.”
  “I bet. They’re really cute, unless they’re sticky or wet, then they’re just gross,” I added on.
  He laughed, “Yeah, they have their moments, but they’re my kids.” With that, we finished grading, Nick went to his house to grab some cloths and his old Watching gear, and then he met me in the parking lot of my hotel. The next day was spent tracking Jimmy down to Chicago, were we attacked and killed the werewolf.

Author's Note

Please tell me what I need to do to fix anything.