5-2-08

Sorry this is late. I've been reading some very large medical textbooks and they tend to drag you into thier world and not let you go until they see fit.

A Never Ending Legacy

Sleepless

Destiny appeared in her brother’s room. She glanced around. The digital clock on his side table said that it was 1:03 in the morning. Sage was an unmoving lump under his blankets, which was strange as the room was rather warm.

She sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the lump gently. He was close, very close…she could talk to him right now. But she couldn’t because she only got one shot and she didn’t want to screw up…But still…She missed him.

Destiny spent the early morning in this manner, torn between her brand-new duty and her intense desire to speak with her brother.

Sage stirred under the blankets for a moment. His head appeared and his face was turned towards the window. He sighed and turned over so he was staring at the wall.

After a few moments, he sat up, got out of bed, and switched on the lights. Destiny started at his appearance. He was pale and dark circles were under his eyes and instead of his usually cheerful smile, there was a grim line.

Destiny stared at him, dismayed, as she thought, Oh Sage! What is going on; why aren’t you taking care of yourself? She watched him shuffle around the room. He dug through his backpack, looked through his bookshelf, and went through a small wooden box. The box seemed to quiet him and hold his interest the longest. After he closed the lid, he sat down on the bed and stared at it.

“Never again.” He whispered. “Never, ever again.” He abruptly stood and threw on a jacket over his sleepwear.

Destiny glanced at the clock before following him. 5:25, was there something important about that time? Something about it felt important, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

By the time she finally caught up with him, Sage had already scribbled a note on the refrigerator door and was halfway down the block. Having walked with sage many times before, Destiny was easily able to match his pace, she examined his face; his expression was that of a person with a set goal, which made Destiny a little apprehensive of what he was going to be doing.

They reached a small park that they had passed everyday on the drive to school. Sage headed straight for the swings and sat in the one that was least illuminated by the streetlight. He swung back and forth, eyes glued to the stars.

After roughly an hour of swinging and staring, sage stood up and slowly walked home. Destiny followed him absently, lost in thought. All she really knew was that sage was taking this hard. It had only been…wait, how long had it been since she died? She frowned. She remembered it being a Monday, and seeing the funeral and that would have taken at least three days to organize…The mirror. Destiny looked at her bracelet. “Out, mirror.” The mirror popped out. “I don’t suppose you could tell me the date?”

-Certainly- Writing appeared on the mirror’s surface. –It is Tuesday the 28th of October. Anything else?-

“No thank-you.”

-Anytime dear.-

“In, Mirror.” Fifteen days. She had been dead for fifteen days…Destiny slowly walked up to Sage’s room and slipped through the door before suddenly stopping in her tracks.

Sage was writing in a journal. He hated writing in journals. He’d said as much when she’d given him the book.

--

Wrapping paper and gifts were scattered around the floor; Destiny and Sage were at the door, waving good-bye to the last of the quests. Sage went and threw himself in the middle of the mess while Destiny shut and locked the door. “Oh get up and help me clean up you lazy bum!” Destiny lobbed plastic bows at him.

“Fine, fine! I’m up, stop already!” Sage rolled over, tape and pieces of wrapping clinging to his shirt. He brushed the clinging debris off and slowly began stuffing trash into the bag Destiny had tossed at him.

Destiny watched him for a few moments before saying, “You know, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can exchange gifts.”

Sage perked up and dashed around, shoving the last of the paper into his bag. “

Done.” He told her triumphantly.

Destiny laughed pushed him into his room while she went into her own to pick up a brightly wrapped gift. She sat on Sage’s bed and offered him the gift. “Happy Birthday Sage.”

Sage took the gift and handed her a small rectangular box in exchange. “Happy Birthday Des.” He then proceeded to gleefully rip the paper into shreds.

Destiny unwrapped hers in a more careful manner. /she meticulously peeled off the tape and carefully pulled back the paper. “Sage, there are gorgeous!” Destiny exclaimed, examining one of the calligraphy pens. They were covered in a marbled pattern, one green, and the other black.

“Glad you like them; why’d you get me a blank book?” Sage held up the red bound book, eyebrows raised expectantly.

“So you don’t start forgetting thinks left and right, like Mom does.” Destiny said solemnly.

“What?” Sage spluttered. “Des! That’s not…okay well maybe it is…but anyway, why? I don’t like books.”

“It’s a journal, brother of mine, and it’s to write stuff down in. And I got it so you would spend less time exercising your thumbs and more time exercising your brain.” Destiny poked him on the nose.

“Like that’s ever gonna happen.” Sage grinned as he swatted her hand away.

“Just say you’ll think about it?” Destiny pleaded. “For me?”

“Oh fine. But I’m not making any promises.” Sage put the journal down on his desk.

“I know.” Destiny smirked at him.

--

Destiny watched Sage shut the book and set it carefully on his desk. He ambled over to his closet and began digging through his collection of clothes.

As he changed, Destiny mulled over hat she had seen that morning. Sage had woken up freakishly early. He walked to the park and stargazed. He wrote in a journal he’d despised. Oh and he looked like an accident waiting to happen.

So what was causing this? Why was he hurting himself? How was he doing it?

She heard the door open; Sage was walking down the hall, head down, backpack slung over one shoulder. Destiny crept after him, sneaking a glance at the hall clock. 6:45, time to leave for school. Sage unlocked the door of tier once-shared Honda Accord. He tossed his bag into the back and hopped into the driver’s seat. Destiny hesitated a moment, before slipping into the passenger’s seat. Sage backed out of the drive way and began the trip.

During the drive, Destiny continued her musings from earlier. He wouldn’t dare try harming himself with any substances or weaponry; Mon would kick his butt from here to Russia is she caught a whiff of that. And Dad would know as soon as he started and then proceed to tell Mom. Their parents were scary.

Sage neatly parked between a blue truck and a neon pink convertible. He snagged his bag and slammed the door shut before locking the doors and beginning the long walk to his locker. Destiny studied her twin in the scant light. He looked tired. Insomnia would cause that…

“Sage!” He turned toward the call. Tall blond and blue-eyed Rick Bradford jogged toward him. “Hey. How’re doing?” Rick questioned, looking Sage over critically.

“As well as can be expected.” Sage’s voice was tired and slightly hoarse. Evidently he hadn’t been talking as much as he used to.

“The guys and I haven’t seen you around lately and we missed you and oh crap I sound like my mother…” Rick nervously combed his fingers through his hair.

“Well, you are the captain of the soccer team, which is sort of like a parent; at least you act like it is.” Sage quipped, looking like his old for a moment.

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you as a friend, not as a captain or a parent-like person.” Rick trailed off uncertainty. “I…know things’ve got to be rough for you, losing Des like that. I remember her man. She was always around, with that smile and helping us with homework and all that stuff. Man, it’s gotta be tough, cause she-”

“Gone.” Sage butted in harshly. “
I know. I’m dealing with it.”

“Hey sorry Sage. I wasn’t trying to make you mad or anything.” Rick backed off quickly.

“I know already! People have been after me every damn day for the last two goddamn weeks! And I wish they’d let me be and leave me alone.” Sage snarled. Then he sighed, all of the fight flooding out of him. “It’s just, well, Des had always been there and well…you know, like they say, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

“I miss her too Sage.” Rick told him seriously.

“Her baking too?” Sage teased half-heartedly

“Of course. But I mostly miss her because she was a freaking amazing person and a good friend. Now,” Rick changed the tone of the conversation, “why don’t we go see if anything’s changed in the two weeks that’ve gone since they kicked out to do damage control?” He slung his arm around Sage’s shoulders and grinned.

“Sure. Maybe someone’s stolen the vending machines again.” Sage smiled slightly. It wasn’t quite up to his usual standards, but it was a good start.

--

The rest of the day passed without much incident. Destiny spent most of it sitting in on her brother’s classes, reading the rules and tips book, and writing up what she’d observed in the notebook. In his last class, when they had finished taking notes, Sage seemed like he was fighting to stay awake instead of napping the last few minutes of class.

When the last bell rang, Sage went with Rick and played a few mini-games with a few other guys from the soccer team. The other boys seemed genuinely pleased to have him back, even though he seemed to be a little sluggish.

When combined with her observations from earlier, her suspicion that Sage was dealing with insomnia was confirmed. Now all Destiny had to do was persuade Sage to get some rest and stop blaming himself. Which wasn’t going to be easy if he didn’t let himself rest. Well, it would have been if she hadn’t happened to notice the handy tip on page 176. All she had to do was wait until he returned to his bedroom.

As luck would have it, the first thing Sage did when he got home was to go up to his room and dump his books on his desk. He turned and started clearing off his bed so he would have room to work.

Destiny grinned as she saw the chance. She glanced around until she was a suitable object, then focused so she would be able to pick it up and smack Sage hard enough to knock him out.

Notes

There isn't a whole lot to say about this one. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. I'll try to be on time for the next update, which should be around the 22nd of this month.

Until next time,

Kimono3kitty