Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [91]
“I can’t understand you! Slow down! Who is this?”
There was a gasp on the other end. “Is this Logan? Your mom gave me this number. I need your help.”
It was Tammi. She sounded almost hysterical.
“Tammi? What’s wrong?”
“Sage just came home. She locked herself in the bathroom.” Her words came out in a rapid, almost gibbering stream. “She won’t answer, and I can’t open the door. I think something bad happened to her tonight. I … I’m scared. My parents went to the movies and turned off their cell phones. Rob’s out of town, and I didn’t know who else to call.”
Tammi didn’t say it, and I didn’t mention it. Sage had tried to kill herself once before. Why wouldn’t she come out of the bathroom? Did this have anything to do with our breakup?
“I’ll be right there.”
After sprinting all day, I wasn’t exactly in any condition to bike all the way across Boyer, but I made it to Sage’s house in less than ten minutes. Something wasn’t right. The truck Sage drove was parked half in her yard, half in the street. And the headlights were on. I remembered from New Year’s how quickly the battery drained. Sage wouldn’t have forgotten about that unless she was really upset.
Dumping my bike in the lawn, I pounded on the door. Tammi, hyperventilating and in tears, answered.
“She’s been in there for an hour. I can’t open the door!”
My hands got clammy. “She just locked herself in the bathroom?”
Tammi shook her head. “She snuck out earlier. I … I think she went to meet some guy. I thought you two might be making up, so I didn’t try to stop her. But about an hour ago she came running in. I was in my room. When I came out, she bolted the bathroom door. And look!”
Tammi pointed to the linoleum by the front door. Little brown spots of blood dotted the floor.
Shit. I rushed to the bathroom.
“Sage! Sage, it’s Logan! What’s going on?”
There was no answer. Tammi began to cry again. I motioned her back, and with a solid kick, broke open the door.
Tammi screamed when she saw her sister, and for a horrible moment I thought Sage had slit her throat. She was hunched over the toilet, blood dripping from her face.
I rushed over to her to inspect the damage. The half-clotted blood covered her mouth and nose. She hadn’t done this to herself.
“Tammi!” I ordered. “Go get an ice pack and some clean towels. Go!” She ran off in tears.
Sage hardly seemed conscious as I inspected the damage. Her nose was obviously broken. Her lip was split, and her right eye was swelling shut. Inside her mouth, I could see the stump of a broken tooth, the remains of her braces digging into her gums.
I nearly joined her at the toilet when I realized this couldn’t have been an accident. Someone had worked her over.
“Sage? Who did this to you?” She moaned and shook her head. Blood splattered on my clothes.
Tammi stood in the doorway clutching a pile of towels, her freckles standing out darkly against her pale skin.
“Help me with her, Tammi. She needs to see a doctor.” That was one thing I could do for her.
Sage didn’t resist as we helped her to her feet.
“What happened to her, Logan?” asked Tammi. “A car accident?”
I wished I could hide the unpleasant truth. “Someone beat her up.”
Tammi let out a yelp and almost stumbled, but she didn’t let her sister fall. We helped her into the truck. I drove, and Tammi sat on the other side of Sage.
“Moberly Medical Center’s about ten miles from here,” I said as I pulled out of the subdivision.
Sage had been leaning back in the seat, pressing the ice pack to her nose. For the first time, she seemed aware of what was going on.
“No!” Her voice was nasal, yet even with her injuries, she made herself sound feminine.
“You’re hurt, Sage. You need to see a doctor.”
She shook her head. “Not Moberly.”
“It’s not that bad of a hospital.”
“Logan.”
I looked over at Tammi, and she was shaking her head at me. Of course. Moberly was a tiny hospital not far from Boyer. Sage couldn’t hide her gender from the staff, and you never