Before It Ends

"Wh... what??"

My voice trembled as I stared in shock at my mother with the ring in my hands as my gaze moved to the deep red stone on it.

"Renee was wearing that ring the day we buried her, Sage... I don't know how it ended up in the basement at your grandparents house... but... I think... Honey, you need to put it back there..."

"I... I don't think I can... This ring keeps appearing on my finger, mom... it won't let me get rid of it..."

"You have to try, Sage... come on, I'll drive you there and keep them busy while you toss it into the basement... they don't need to know anything going on... okay? Renee is a very painful subject for them still..."

"Okay mom... I'll try..."

We left quickly and headed to my grandparent's house. There was a feeling of dread weighing over me as I held onto the ring, knowing that Aunt Renee had been buried with it. How did it end up in that box? How did it keep appearing on my finger? Nothing was making any sense. Then there was the nightmare I had... seeing the Shadow staring at me... being unable to move as I laid there. I could not shake the feeling of darkness following me.

We arrived at my grandparent's house and went inside as I slipped the ring into my pocket to keep it hidden while I hugged my grandparents.

"Sage! Mijita! You are back again so soon and you brought your mom! This is a treat!"

"Hi grams and gramps... Yeah... I think I dropped... uhh one of my school forms when I was here before... so mom brought me to check for it..."

I answered quickly while hugging each of my grandparents, then my mom quickly began talking to distract them while I went back towards the basement. I stepped down the stairs and reached into my pocket for the ring but it wasn't there as I desperately began to look on the floor assuming it fell out, then I saw it. It was on my finger. Again. I quickly pulled it off my finger and threw it into the basement towards the back, hearing it hitting the floor as I immediately ran upstairs and closed the basement door hard.

"It's not here, Mom... it must be at home somewhere... I'm sure it's there..."

I said nervously to hint to my mother that the ring was gone, showing her my empty hands.

"Okay, Honey. We will head back home so you can find it... Sorry we can't stay longer, Ma... Dad... We'll come back over for dinner soon..."

We got into the car and headed back to the house, hoping that being free of the ring would keep the nightmares of the Shadow and everything away from me.

"SAGE!!"

"What??!! WHAT THE HELL!!???"

I reacted as my mom screamed then I realized she was looking at my hand and the ring was on my finger again as fear filled my body.

"MOM! LOOK OUT!!"

I screamed as I saw my mom run the red light and driving straight into another car. I don't remember much beyond that moment other than feeling my body being thrown against the dashboard as my mom slammed on her breaks, and we hit the other car. I remember feeling the pain radiating through my body as I hit the hard dash, and felt the shards of shattered glass hitting against my body.

"M...mooommm..."

I looked up and saw my mother unconscious with blood covering her face. I reached for her hand but my arm was not moving. Then I saw this shadow of darkness begin to cover everything and it all went dark. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital.

"Wh... what happened... where... where am I... Momm...?"

"Shhh... be careful, don't move and just try to stay calm. You were in a car accident. But you are going to be okay... you're in the hospital."

I looked over and saw a nurse standing there next to my bed adjusting something on the IV bag hanging next to me. I looked and saw the IV connected to my arm, and looked around for my mom but she was no where in sight.

"Wh... where's my mom? Is she... okay??"

"She's in surgery right now. She was hurt pretty badly, but the doctors are taking care of her. Do you have someone I can call? Dad... Grandparents? or another relative that can come be with you?"

"Umm... I... yeah... grams and gramps..."

I said while trying to process everything that happened and wondering if my mom was going to be okay. I gave the nurse their number and she left to reach them. My entire body hurt as I tried to sit up a little, as I brought my hand up to my face, I saw the dark red stone ring still on my finger.

"This doesn't... make any sense... I... I threw it in the basement... I HEARD it hit the ground... I don't understand... why does it keep showing up on my finger??!!"

I cried and asked out loud to myself while I began to try to take the ring off of my finger. This time though, it would not come off. It felt like it was tightening around my finger the more I pulled and struggled to remove it, the tighter it got.

"What the FUCK is going on???!!!"

I screamed out loudly with tears streaming down my face as I threw my hands down hitting against the bed hard in frustration.

"Are you okay? Does something hurt? Your heart rate is spiking..."

The nurse asked as she came running into the room and checked the machines, then quickly poked her head out of the door as she called for the doctor.

"Doctor, her heart rate is spiking and erratic..."

"Sage, I'm Doctor Willis. Are you hurting anywhere? I need you to try to calm down... I can see you are in distress and the anxiety is increasing your heart rate... but I need you to relax... I'm going to give you a sedative to help..."

"No... no please... I don't want to be sedated, I don't want to fall asleep... I just need to see my mom... I need to know if she's.... okay..."

I protested while trying to get out of the bed but the sedative that the doctor put into my IV began to work quickly as I felt dizzy and my eyes began to close.

"I... need... mmm.... mommm..."

Then everything went black...

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