Sois Sage

Her attempts at thought became abruptly interrupted by a sensation she never felt before. Sage’s fatigue began to dissipate as her body began to buzz with a visceral rejuvenation. It was a rush—a high even greater than the one she felt with the boy in her clutches. For a second she felt untouchable. Those flames she struggled to tread earlier were now easy to swim. She dove deeper into the fire. She was under control, bottling the fire at will; releasing it and then reeling it back in. Her chest bounced up, and down, fingers twitching as if currents of electricity cycled through her nervous system. Explosions lit her mind. She could feel the synapses firing rapidly in her brain, her thoughts compounding onto one another; each thought losing clarity, but still making sense. Alice spoke, but the meaning of her words became a blur as her sentiments got jumbled into her own stream of consciousness, unable to draw the distinction between whose thoughts were Alice’s and which were her own. The world, the universe, and more unfolded before her, unraveling like a tulip in the heart of spring. The soreness in her legs began to fade, her pupils began to dilate. Her teeth ground against top and bottom. Her lungs expanded wider than ever before as her breaths became rapid. The adrenaline had kicked in. 'I believe I located the signal on Gideon’s synchro-blades.' Alice confirmed, her words echoing in her mind. The sentences repeated to Sage a thousand times, cutting through the chaos that pillaged her psyche. Sage smiled a faint smile, aware enough to not delve too deeply in the well of newfound hope. 'Point me in the right direction.' There it was: her second wind. She released a loud yell that matched the volume of the wailing alarm system. She bounced up and down then ran faster in a large burst of energy rushing straight down the hall. The Brain Companions notoriously could give and humans could take just as notoriously. One of the most common things people asked their Brain Companions to give was adrenaline. Some became addicted to the rush, looking for the same level of stimulation in day-to-day activities which were in fact impossible to match. That was an easy vice to stumble upon. She was supercharged and hyper-aware. When she closed her eyes the map of the school appeared to her in full color, a blinking blue dot signifying the location of her brother’s new blades. To her surprise they were moving and moving fast. His location was not far from them. She did her best to approach it, trying to catch up to the traveling signal. Boosted by her adrenaline and new found resolve— she ran, able to feel the profound beating of her heart. 'Hold on Gideon!' According to the signal provided by Alice, she was extremely close to finding her brother. Gideon’s signal stopped its movement. She didn’t stop hers. She ran faster, her pursuit now seemingly coming to a close. Sage approached the still signal down the empty hall. She was calm, running past the doors with a focused scope. A calm she hadn’t felt since she woke up earlier that morning looking at her brother get dressed. She missed him. Even now she wanted to rewind the day and savor that moment of peace. Where the signal finally brought her to was none other than a door. It was a door like the others she searched. A door like the ones she had been seeing all day. The only difference being that it was dark on the other side of this particular door. The secrets of this door could be seen. The clearness of the glass displayed all that it wished to conceal. The room itself was an old classroom turned into a storage closet of a fairly decent size. The red-orange security bars of heat warmed her cheeks as she looked through the clear door to catch a glimpse inside. With her face that close to the energy bars she could hear them hissing; telling her to stay away. The room was pitch black, but in that room she saw the glow. The blue glow of Gideon’s synchro-blades. When she peered more intensely into the room in a squint, she saw Mr. Buckner hovering over Gideon with his hands clamped around her brother’s neck. His legs wiggling for freedom beneath the older and much stronger man. “Gideon!” Shouted Sage from the outside of the classroom. “Gideon!” Mister Buckner didn’t stop. Her voice was surely muffled by the soundproof glass door between them. “Gideon, hold on! I’m coming!” The adrenaline surged through her in tidal waves as her eyes took in more of the horror. She balled her tiny fist. With all her might she began punching the glass as hard as she could. The punches undoubtedly garnered the attention of Mister Buckner. For a moment he stopped and looked at Sage, attempting to hammer her way into the space. The security bars burned her fist every time she punched, calling for her to pull it back quickly after each hit. Knuckle compounded against glass-- hard. As hard, and unperfected as only a twelve year old would punch. The pressure of the impact could crumble her wrist if she didn’t adjust after each strike. Alice computed the velocity her fist should travel to avoid the burning beams the best, along with the proper amount of force for efficacy. Even though her pasty, white flesh began to sizzle beneath the heat of the beams, she continued to pound away as her eyes tried to lock onto Mister Buckner who went back to strangling her little brother. His neck would without a doubt snap, his oxygen would soon fade. She could see her brother's kicks decreasing in strength. A sight which choked her, almost bringing her to tears while ignoring her own pain. Her pain was insubstantial in comparison. In part because she couldn’t feel anymore. Her fist had long became numb to it all. The tiny shards of glass bloodied her frail knuckles, her attempts bred results. Smoke rose from her arms as the sleeves from her uniform were slowly being burnt off, the heat from the beams took their toll.. 'I need some more adrenaline, Alice!' She demanded of her Brain Companion, punching harder and harder until larger cracks began to show on the face of the door. Alice reluctantly complied, pumping the young girl full with the rawness which see sought. She filled her with as much adrenaline as she could. It was another breadth of dynamic heat, so hot that it felt cold. Her whole body went numb, surging with urgency and an abundance of natural chemicals. Sage’s punches grew stronger and stronger. Time grew weaker. Her brother’s life followed the path of time. Her fist isolated in dominant action. The cracks in the door soon grew until the door itself began to split. The blood on her knuckles splattered across the face of the door, drops of red splashing on her sweat dipped face. She ignored the progress her strength was making. Using the fire in her soul that she had stored up all day in order to librate her sibling from his torture. This explosion was the manifestation of it all. Passion was her weapon. She continued to pound. Her sleeve and hand burned severely by the beams, hands smoked to a light-pink char. She could see her brother’s movements beneath Mister Buckner’s force start to slow down to near stillness. He was losing life before her eyes. 'Harder,' she told herself, 'faster,' she told herself again. 'Harder,' Alice told her, 'faster' Alice told her. And she did so with perfect precision, guided by Alice until the glass door finally gave way, shattering the glass into smithereens before her very eyes. Glass rained down before, crystals of water sprinkled the ground. She opened her blue eyes wide, seeing the opening, a portal to the dark domain of Mister Buckner’s madness. She ran through the barred beams with reckless abandon. Her uniform’s shoulders became singed, matching her flesh when she rolled through the frame of the door.