Accidentally a Criminal

Chapter 4

2:12 pm, Xavier,Vermont, 10/7/23

That boy that was hiding out in my treehouse has been knocked out for three days now. I took pity on him, so he's currently laying on my couch. It was a hassle getting him into my home in the first place. I'm athletic, but not athletic enough to carry a six-foot-tall body, so I ended up dragging him across my lawn, as if I were hiding a body. I then treated his wounds. When he fell through the floor of my treehouse, debris came down with him and he got some nasty slashes across his entire body. I also washed his clothes too. I was hesitant about the pants, so I just kept them on.

Just out of curiosity (I swear), I rummaged through his backpack. All that was found was snacks, a pocket knife, his phone, and his wallet. I snooped through his wallet to find out that his name was Harvey Shepherd. He's from New Hampshire and his birthday was coming up (the tenth!). I'll celebrate it with him, maybe. I also checked his phone to see that it was almost dead, and he had a ton of missed calls from his parents. Now I'm sitting on my comfy recliner, waiting for him to wake up.

Up close, the boy is actually kinda cute, despite the grime and dirt caked on his face. His complexion is almost carved to perfection- he had sharp eyebrows that made him look stern, yet his face had a sense of laughter to it. He had brown, almost black hair that covered his forehead. He looked rugged and scruffy, but really cute. I was starting to get worried though, he's been asleep for three days now.

My dog, Scout, was getting impatient himself. He's a big, black Great Dane and has a huge heart. He loves everyone. So, naturally, he sat next to the couch that my patient was on and waited for him to wake up. Scout started to whine with sorrow and scratched at the couch. Then he gave a loud Bark! In frustration.

I was scared out of my wits from the abrupt noise. So was the boy named Harvey who was sleeping on my couch. It must've seemed louder to him since it was right in his ear. He sprang up from his slumber, wide-eyed and cupping his hands to his ruptured ears. He was sitting on the couch there for a while, in shock. I noticed that his eyes were deep brown, like dark chocolate which made him even cuter.

"Uh-" I began, "Hi."

Presently he caught a brief glance at me and then gave a little Yelp that sounded as though I stepped on Scout's tail. It came to my attention that I had definitely spooked him good when we met for the first time. "Um, I'm sorry for uh- you know, um... scaring you..." I tried my best to apologize, " What's your name?" I already knew his name, but I didn't want to seem like a creepy stalker to him. He lowered his eyebrows a little, as if he were annoyed.

"H-harvey."

Okay, good progress. Harvey's actually talking to me. I stretched out my hand kindly. "Hi Harvey, I'm Sage Armstrong." I said my name proudly. He hesitantly shook my hand, his hand trembling and stiff like a board. I took out a laundry basket of clothes that I washed. "I washed your uh- jackets and stuff." I smiled and set the basket down at his feet. With hesitation, he dug through the laundry to then put on his black t-shirt.

"Where's my watch?"He noticed that his left wrist was stripped of it.

"Oh, it's right here." I handed him a black digital watch that I'd left on the coffee table.

"Um... Thanks." His gratitude made me smile a bit. Although, I still had some questions to confront him about. What was he doing in my treehouse?! I decided to get friendly with him before I ask him though.

"You want some hot cocoa?" I walked over to the kitchen and started looking through the pantry. It was pouring outside, so hot cocoa seemed best for the situation.

-✩☺☺☺☺✩-

I hate this "Sage" girl already. She's treating me like a wild animal who could snap at any moment. Which I will if she keeps up this fake-friendly deal. Not only that, but she probably thinks I'm pathetic and helpless. And she could call the cops on me any moment if she wanted to.

I hate everything about her from her frizzy red hair that masks her milky brown eyes and her oval face with splashes of freckles that make her look like a porcelain doll. @&?$! I slapped myself hard in the head, which was a bad idea since I had a throbbing headache. She's pretty and I'm not even going to deny it. I hate myself and everything about this situation.

"Ok, I've got regular, caramel, and pumpkin spice."

"Huh?"

"For the hot cocoa."

"Oh."

Yikes. Pumpkin Spice. Sure pumpkin spice is good, but it reminds me too much of a bunch of "Utah Moms" pulling up to Starbucks in their minivan after picking up their daughter from gymnastics.

"Uh- I'll just take regular."

"Ok!" Sage began to get to work on the hot cocoa, " You can come sit at the table if you want." I pushed the palms of my hands against the couch, bent my knees, lifted my body up with a great force, and- my knees wobbled a bit, then I fell face first into the shag carpet. It has come to my attention that I might need to relearn how to walk. Sage came running over.

"You okay? A big piece of wood fell on top of you when you fell, so it might be hard to walk... here- let me help you up." She grabbed my arm and attempted to lift me up. I hate being treated like this. Sage became my human crutches as she then assisted me in walking over to the table. Soon after, she finished the hot cocoa and set them down on the table. Mine was handed in a blue elephant mug with the elephant's trunk as the handle. Sage's mug was a pink cat with a yellow scarf with the tail as the handle. The hot cocoa itself made my eyes water from the steam billowing out of it.

I stupidly took a sip. Within my millisecond of ignorance, my entire mouth was on fire and tears were streaming out of my eyes. My right hand was clasped to my mouth and my left hand was gripping the table. I was coughing and sputtering like an idiot, my right hand sticky with hot cocoa now. "Oh gosh-" Sage sounded concerned. I stuck out my left hand, " I'm okay." I managed to sputter. She handed me a couple of paper towels to clean up my mess. I really should've waited for it to cool down. " You can add a couple drops of milk if it's too hot for you." Sage said sympathetically. I scowled at her.

After we finished the hot cocoa I got up from my chair, my knees still wobbling, and grabbed my stuff. I didn't want to stay here long. Curious, Sage followed me to see what I was up to. "Um,"I tried to sound nice, " Thank you for the hospitality, I will be going now." I had my hand curled around the front door's handle. I gave a short bow and then quickly opened the door.

"Now hold on a second." Sage said sternly.

"Huh?"

"You didn't get my hospitality for free. You broke my treehouse and I'll let you leave when you fix it!"

"Huh?!" I repeated, I was starting to get angry. "Now you hold on a second here! You were the one who broke the treehouse! You were the one who hit the wall with your baseball bat and shook the whole place up! Besides, that thing is Civil-War age! Who cares about it?!"

"I care about it! And you're fixing it!" Sage folded her arms.

"You can't make me do anything!"

"Well the police certainly can." She pulled out her phone, her right index finger hovering dangerously over the emergency button. " I will call this number, you creepy stalker. I don't know what you were doing, sleeping in my treehouse, but 911 would love to hear about it!"

"No!-I- ugh! Fine! I'll help you fix your treehouse! Just NEVER do that again." I panicked a bit.

Her mood lightened. "Great! Now go get in the shower, you look absolutely disgusting."

I hate her with every bone in my body.