1.7 Unwanted Memories

She had a pretty weird dream last night…

But that’s all it was…

Right?

Sage woke up with a start. After her heart slowed its rapid beating, she realized her phone was ringing.

Why did I think that ringing was something else? She thought hard, but the dream was already escaping her.

She let the phone ring. Whoever it was could wait; she had to get ready for work!

She made it five minutes before she’s supposed to start her shift. In front of her was a new backstage helper, Trigger Broke. If Sage kept up on the town gossip, she might be a bit worried to have a member of the Broke family working under her, what with their bad luck and all, but all she saw was a new employee. If he doesn’t perform to her standards, she could always find someone else.

Trigger looked around uncomfortably. Was somebody watching him? No, it must have been his imagination…

After a long shift, Sage changed her clothes and stepped out of the theatre. She blinked owlishly; when had it gotten so dark?

“Hey, will I see you at Nadine’s?” Walter asked.

Her eyes snapped to him, “Nadine’s?”

“Yeah…for the rehearsal?”

Even though Sage isn’t officially a musician yet, Mrs. Ivanov invited her for a formal rehearsal. She wanted to test their next potential band-mate, and also introduce Sage to the constraints of a formal performance, given her preference for classical music.

Sage found this a bit odd given that none of them actually played any classical instruments, but if this will curry favor with the boss and with her co-workers she’s more than happy to oblige.

“Put some heart into it!” Mr. Ivanov exclaimed, dismayed at Sage’s unemotionally precise playing, “Like this!”

Sage scoffed, “I don’t believe that adds much to the piece.”

What would have been a debate about how to interpret music and play compositions was cut short by Mrs. Ivanov’s mother suddenly dying.

The frail specter smiled at them; they were still so young and didn’t understand. She wished she could tell them not to cry.

The grim reaper wasted no time in collecting the old woman’s soul. The air was filled with sound of his booming chants and the sobs of the Ivanov family.

Sage didn’t know the woman, but she still felt sad nonetheless. Seeing this dredged up some memories Sage didn’t want to think about.

She quietly slipped away to let the family grieve in peace.

AN: Well, I wasn’t expecting that.

Nadine actually invited Walter and Sage for a formal party, and they were all jamming outside together and socializing when Nadine’s mother came outside and just…died.

Sage also got abducted by aliens out of nowhere. She has no space rocks or anything of the sort, so that was...weird.