Grab My Hand, Trust Me

Your Name

Ace looked at me finally, I'm really not sure if he saw me at first. As soon as our eyes made contact, his face flooded with relief.

"Sage, oh my god, what happened you've never missed curfew before!" He said coming around to get me off of Maverick's back.

"Careful, man she has a hurt ankle." Mave warned. I notice now that I haven't even looked at it yet.

Ace nodded his head, and all of the sudden I hear little feet pounding there way down the porch steps.

"SAGE!" I turn my head to see Olive bounding toward me. I bend down and scoop him up, he usually isn't much to show affection, but I can tell he really missed me.

"Well now I finally know your name." I roll my eyes, annoyed that every secret I have tried to keep from this stranger is pretty much pointless now.

"We should probably get inside now." I suggested limping in toward the door. I look back and see neither Ace nor Mave has followed. Ace is looking at me like I'm a mad woman, but I give him a glare and they both shrug and walk in.

When everyone is inside I deadbolt the doors and the two by four is secured. I turn around to see Ace talking to Olive and him running up the stairs.

"I need to see your foot, Sage. And you need to explain." I nod my head and take Mave's hand as he is next to me and he helps me to the couch.

"Man this place actually feels like a home. Well except for the deadbolts." He said under his breath.

"We try to keep it as normal as possible for the kids." I explain, and then remember that he hasn't met Brooke.

"Oh yeah you said you had a baby." Mave said remembering our previous conversation.

"Sage, he knows everything about us." Ace looks at me concerned.

"Listen man, I'll tell you what happened. Being that I really don't think she wants to relive it. Then if you think I'm still a threat, we can figure it out from there."

At that point, Ace started to take off my shoes gently, and Olive had come back with an emergency kit. I looked down at my foot and see that it is bruised and swollen. To me it looks horrible, but Ace doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all.

"Well?" Ace asks as he works to bandage my foot. I look up at Mave nervously but he gives me a nod. I realize that he didn't know how I got there.

"Well, there was a house, and the door was locked so I figured it hadn't been raided yet. So I looked for an opening I could get in that wouldn't make any noise. There was a window I could get to from a tree so I climbed it. But when I got to the window, I fell. Someone caught me, and dragged me in through the window, I thought the house was empty, Ace." I concluded not wanting to go further, but Mave finished the story anyway.

"At that point I heard some shuffling, I was in the basement so it took me some time to get upstairs. When I got to the room my partner was in, I saw him... well he was on top of her and she looked like she needed help." He said uncomfortably.

"What do you mean "on top of her"?" Ace said getting up extremely quick and nearly knocking Olive over who wasn't paying attention and was just staring at my injured foot.

"I mean, he was trying to... um. He was trying to rape her." He concluded as I buried my face in my hands trying to avoid any eye contact.

"And what did you do?" Ace said trying to keep calm. It was scary though because he was giving Mave death glares and I felt bad that I wasn't talking to defend him.

"Well I got him off of her. And I told her to stay put. I got him back to my camp because if he didn't come back alive, I wouldn't either. And then I couldn't help get Sage back." He tried to reason with my brother.

"Did he hurt you?" Ace looked at me, I shook my head no because in reality all he did was help me. It was clear he even put himself in some danger to do so.

"So I'm assuming you couldn't get anything for the stash?" Ace asked. He knew the conversation was making me uncomfortable so he did his best to change the subject. I was extremely grateful.

"Actually," I said as I pulled the backpack onto my lap, "I have brought quite a bit!" I said, suddenly getting excited.

I dumped all of the contents out on the couch and went through them with Olive.

He got excited when he saw the can with assorted fruits because he hasn't had anything that sweet in a while. I pulled out two cans of chili, four cans of different soups, a can of green beans,  a can of coconut water, which is nice because all we usually have is just regular water. There was also some pickled eggs, which I hated but Ace and Olive used to love them. I got two cans of pickles, and three tuna packages that somehow weren't bad yet. I also pulled out eleven containers of baby food, which would last us exactly that long as she has been reduced down to one container a day. She's not happy about it, but it is enough for her to survive until she gets some teeth in.

Ace's eyes go wide as he sees the stash I found.

"We can start feeding Brooke some of the soup too, we have enough food to last us for about two and a half weeks." Ace confirmed. I smiled because I hadn't even thought of that, but now she can have a much better diet.

Olive got up from the ground and went to Mave. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting him to give him a high five .

"Thanks for bringing our sister back, and all this food!" He said, and I smiled glad that Mave was no longer being targeted.

"What's your name, man?" Ace asked holding out a hand for a handshake.

"Maverick, but people call me Mave for short." He answered gladly shaking his hand.

"Why? Maverick is an awesome name! So much better than Oliver." Olive said giving him a toothy smile.

"Thanks, but Oliver is a cool name you know. And it fits you." He answered.

"It does?" Olive asked suddenly intrigued.

"Sure, an olive branch is a symbol of peace. It just shows that you can see the best in situations." Oliver Beamed at his name now proud that it had more of a meaning.

He looked at me and smiled, seeing that I was looking at him happily.

"Sage, it's a unique name. As a person, it represents wisdom and age. But as the herb, many tribal cultures used to think that it represented purity." I was captivated in his knowledge. It was obvious he was a deep person, and it made me smile genuinely. He definitely knew how to lift the mood.

"Hey! It's Ace's turn!" Olive said, jumping up and down, excited.

"His name can be contradictory. Ace is a lucky card, it traditionally holds a lot of value. But it also is a symbol of war." He said. It was interesting that he could find the best in these names and I wonder how he knows so much about it.

Ace looked at me and laughed at my face. It wasn't my fault that I was in a trance!

"What about Brooke?" I asked curiously.

"It's a symbol of energy, like water flowing through a brook." He stated, looking down at Oliver.

"And you?" I asked. He looked up at me
With an expressionless face.

"I'm the symbol of rebellion. The lack of conformity."