Chapter 5: Run
Sage limped along the edge of the forest. Too scared to go into it and also too paranoid about being seen in the open so she stayed in between, treading by the outline. The heavy sleet bartered her like a scolding mother.
She recalled how her own mother would playfully spank her on her bum whenever she was rude in public and how it embarrassed and angered her to no end. She remembered how her mother would laugh so loud like a hyena not caring who saw. Happy to have been able to ruffle her feathers for she was not one to reach much to anything.
The short reverie brought with it, fresh tears which came pouring down her already swollen eyes. "I'm crying like a fool, mom would be proud and mom said I was emotionless," she thought bitterly. She whipped her face of all traces of tear stains and snow.
This wasn't time for tears, mother had said to survive and that was what she would do.
She heard the sound of an engine coming up behind her before noticing the front lights of a car slowly heading her way.
"They found me already?!" She panicked. Limping straight for the forest before whoever spotted her.
She was too slow.
She heard the sound of a siren ring out through the black night. She turned, it was a police car she noticed.
"Hello," officer 1 in the passenger seat called out. She turned back to the forest and ran. "Hey wait up, police" he called after her but she continued to run. She wouldn't fall for that again. She heard them begin pursuit of her, their footsteps getting closer, voices demanding her to stop but her feet had a mind of their own. She was not fast enough. Sage was pushed to the ground by brute force, her hands captured and secured at her back with handcuffs. She let out a small whimper. "Hey get up!" The cop yelled tugging her by her elbow to support her up before spinning her to face him. His other hand tugged at his flashlight turning it on directly on her face blinding her momentarily. The other policeman had caught up with them now, breathing heavily.
" hey look here Min-ho it's just a kid" officer 1 called out to his partner who Sage now knew to be Min-ho. Min-ho was a rather round man and the chase had left him exhausted. He looked up from his crouched position trying to get a better look at the runner. Officer 1 loosened his grip on her, both officers' tempers and faces softened when they took in her widened teary eyes and frightened state.
"Kid, are you okay? Are you lost" officer one tried again.
Sage just steered. Her gaze swiftly shifted between the two men. " Joon Shik she's a foreigner she won't understand Korean" Min-ho scolded the younger officer as he moved closer to the pair. He snatched the flashlight from Joon-Shik and moved it to face the ground knowing it obviously bothered the kid. He moved Joon-Shik's hand from where he secured her elbow and gently turned her to face him" we are police" he tried in broken English "what happened to you? You lost?"
Sage stayed silent. She did not respond. It did not matter that he switched to English she undertook and spoke Korean fluently too but it all did not matter anyway. She pressed her lips into a thin line to repress a whimper. If she spoke she knew the words that would fly out would be pleas for her life spared and she did not want to grovel, not like her parents did. They would kill her anyway. she thought.
Officer Min-ho took off the handcuffs and watched as Sage rubbed her already aching wrist. It was his way of trying to gain her trust.
"Come, we will protect you" Min-ho continued, tugging at her hand as they led her back to the main road. She reminded him of his own 14-year-old daughter and he already felt sorry for her parents 'they must be worried sick about losing a child in a foreign country' he thought.
"We'll save them kid" she recalled being told similar words by the paramedic on the scene of their car accident five minutes before slitting her already unconscious fathers throat and shooting her heavily pregnant mother in the head. Still caught up in her thought she didn't notice Officer Joon Shik who was leading them had stopped moving until he made choking sounds. He turned to them, wide-eyed, terrified as he could fill the life being drained from him. His hands-on his neck, trying to contain the blood gushing from it. Min-ho pulled her behind him then pulled out his gun swaying it in all directions trying to pinpoint the attacker.
Sage listened intensely, there was no sound, only that of the wind picking up and the pounding of her heart. She watched the final moments of Joon Shik then turned back to the sound of a blade cutting through flesh. Officer min- Ho's head rested by her feet and his blood bathing her as it gushed out from his headless body.
She let out a terrified scream before falling to her knees and clawing at her face and neck trying to clean him off her. She had seen more blood in one day than she had in her entire lifetime. Lightheaded, she emptied her stomach on the snow which was now covered in blood. Whoever was killing was too fast for her eyes to follow or for the touch light she now clenched tight for dear life to illuminate.
She was going to die next. She was going to die today after all. She shut her eyes and waited for her turn. She heard nothing at first then later came the soft thud of footsteps. It kept at a leisure pace as it kept growing, sounding closer to her by the second. Her heart pounded so hard in her ears that she was sure she would die of a heart attack before he decided to slit her throat. Lost in her thoughts, the footsteps stopped right in front of her. She felt their breath on her face and a finger trace the outline of her face.
"Open your eyes little one, look at me" the voice purred. It took a few seconds but she complied.
"Well, aren't you a sight little one" the man cooed. The flashlight grasped tightly in her hand illuminated his profile. He was a beautiful man even as a twelve-year-old. He had warm brown eyes. Eyes that were full of concern. Eyes that made her feel safe when she looked into them.
"Seeing as you are alone here must mean you have lost your way and your parents" the beautiful man stated in perfect English. Sage noted. It was not a question but Sage nodded confirming his statement.
"Are your parents alive?" he asked. Sage looked at her hands, eyes blinking back unshed tears then shook her head from left to right for no. The man's face softened.
"You look cold little one," he commented, taking in her shaking form.
"Take my hand, I'll take you to safety," the stranger said.
Rising to his feet, he offered Sage his right hand. Sage was conflicted and scared. She had just witnessed him murder two people in less than two minutes. It was not wise to take a murderer's hand. He was a murderer, yes, but he had also saved her from those fake cops. They pretended well but so did the people that killed her parents earlier.' Indeed, he had saved me,' she thought, silencing her doubts.
'Besides if he wanted to kill me he would have already, right?' She wondered. Hell, what did she know? She might have a photographic memory and was a blossoming genius as her professors called her but she was still a child. A child who was in a foreign country and had recently just lost her parents.
" Little one," the man said, hands still outstretched.
"You already know I have no plans to hurt you so take my hand," he said "I can't promise you much but I can promise you this; if you take my hand, you will never have to cower in fear. I will make you strong," he said in a firm voice. His warm brown eyes captured hers.
She looked down to her frail hands covered in blood and snow. Her father was a proud man. He always taught her never to bare her palms up to any man. That was a right reserved for God when you prayed to him. But at that moment she felt God had failed her, the world had failed her. She raised her palms up and offered her hands to the man who offered her a chance for a new life. He took both her hands in his and pulled her to her feet. The stranger smiled a closed-lip smile which Sage thought made him more beautiful. "My name is Han, what's yours little one?"
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Sage woke to the sound of her alarm. Her hand stretched out automatically to silence it. She breathed in and slowly released it trying to gather her bearings. She had had a good night's sleep irrespective of the dream she had. It was not really a dream, more like her subconscious replaying her first encounter with Han; the man she wished she never met.
"Dreaming of Han on my Goddamn birthday, what a way to start my day" she mused aloud.
'Even in death he still haunts me' she thought bitterly.
She turned her head to the alarm, 6:02 am it read.
"Time to get up". Sage dragged herself off her bed proceeding with her daily ritual consisting of a quick showering then transforming into Mrs Judith. She didn't bother with her workout; she couldn't risk Wolf discovering her secret layer. She moved down the stairs to prepare breakfast.
Breakfast.
It wasn't something she usually indulged in at least, not beyond the occasional cereal or pancakes when she was feeling inspired. Nonetheless here she was preparing what she deemed a feast. The table was filled up with bacon, waffles, toast, fresh fruits and coffee. Sage walked to the guest room knocking twice before proceeding to enter after a gruff "you may enter" from the other side of the door.
"Good morning Sage" Wolf greeted as she strolled in her usual drab outfit.
"Breakfast is out on the table" she replied gesturing behind her.
Wolf nodded "I thank you "
"Will be going out for a bit, you know how to operate that now '' she pointed at the television "so knock yourself out and... try not to move too much so those stitches don't rip again".
Wolf reddened when he recalled their encounter two days back. Sage has walked in on him naked after his morning bath. He had panicked. Tripping over his foot in his rush to hide his man parts from view, reopening his stitches.
He did not know what made him react like a shy Virgin but it was a moment he would rather forget.
"I Thank you, I would take care" he replied with a small smile. Sage nodded "will be back by noon."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone