She ran her hands through her hair, gripping the ends as she thought. The magazine had messed her up, as she wasn't repared to talk about it, but her mind had different plans. "When I was about seven a boy moved into the house beside me. He loved anything that breathed and was always so loving and kind." she smiled to herself. "He was two years older at the time so I sorta looked up to him, ya know? Well when he turned ten his parents bought him a horse that he rode everywhere. He raced him and they got along perfectly. Five years later he was on the track and was bumped. He flew out the side and his horse stumbled. The stallion survived with a broked leg but my friend was not so lucky... He was run over and died before they could put him in the ambulance. The stud was put to sleep because of his injury." She sniffled, reaching over him and retreiving the magazing. "This picture was after his first major race" She flipped through until she found the page.

Asher Stuart and his red roan purebred Thoroughbred stallion stood toward the camera, the stallion covered in sweat and roses, Asher perched proudly on his back with a bright smile on his face.

"He was my first real friend but when he died I shut everyone out..." Florida let out a breath, sinking against the chair "Well that's my sad story. What's yours?" she asked with a sarcastic edge to her voice

Sage sort of cocked his head slightly as the girl began to talk, watching her intently as she spoke about the incident. "I'm sorry," he finally murmured once she was done, and chuckled when she asked about his story, eyes going back to the ground as he thought. "God, I don't even know where to start," he noted with a sort of bitter chuckle. "My whole life's a shit show," he added, flopping backwards onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. He was silent for a moment before shaking his head and just...starting at the begining. "I was born in Croatia, I've told you that. But I was born into the middle of the war that was happening. That's how I grew up. When I was ten my parents shipped me off to the military, so I was thrown in the front lines by the time I was twelve," he noted, fingering the scar on his face. "My dad's always been a drinker...one night I guess it caught up to him. He was giving me the normal tossing around.....make sure I stayed in my place or whatever. Mom decided she'd have enough and snapped at him." He paused for a moment, pinching his lips together. "long story short he grabbed her and smashed her head against the tile floor of our kitchen," he whispered. "Then we moved here, and I've just been trying to keep me and my sister alive since. Dad's still terrible to be around, people treat me like shit, and if I'm not here I'm sleeping with someone dad invited over for a little extra cash." He stayed there for a moment before looking over at her, not bothering to hide how much it all upset him. "My mind is a messed up place," he murmured. "And it won't ever shut up."

Florida shook her head. "thats horrible" she whispered, keeing her eyes glued to the ground. And she thought her life was terrible. She had lost friends and family along the way, close and distant. She had learned to cope with being left. Her father was stuck in the desert, trying his best to get back to her. Her mother was either at home with some survivor or dead somewhere. Florida didn't want to even think about where her mother could be. Yes, she was cruel and mean, but that didn't mean Flo wanted harm to come to her. If she could choose, she would have left with her father, but hr mother made it sound like the father was abusive and ended up with custody of Florida in the end. Flo sighed and looked at Sage. "Your story is terrible... I'm just putting that out there. I can't imagine what you have gone through." She paused, looking down at her hands. "And here I was thiking I had it rough."

Sage sort of hummed in response to her comment, though when she started talking again he shook his head. "You've had it rough too," he noted, moving to look her in the eye. "If youre hurting, you're hurting. It doesn't matter why or how it all came about." Maybe he should have stayed quiet about his own life....he certainly didn't want her to feel like her story should be happy. That wasn't what he was trying to tell her, not at all. Hardship was hardship, no matter how terrible it may be.

(Short the dogs getting into something lol)

She stared back into his eyes. he was right. They both may be hurting, but that didn't mean anythign was worse of better. Both of them had suffered. She looked ouside as the bombs started up again. they're relentless arent they?" She shuttered as the deep rumbles shook the earth. Why did life have to fight? Couldn't life just live peacefully?

Sage just watched the girls face as she sat there. She did seem to accept that fact, which was a good sign. When she turned back to the window he followed her gaze and shook his head with a small sigh. "Yeah," he murmured. "I just hope this is quick," he added, brows pinching together. He'd grown up in a war ...they'd come here to get away from it all. So he certainly hoped it would go away quickly. He just couldn't deal with it again. He tensed up when the lights flickered, head whipping around the room. Shit....if the electricity went out, everyone here would die. They needed the machines to keep them alive. The hospital was supposed to have a generator...but he didn't know if it would work, or if it could be damaged. And it wouldn't last long.

Florida was about to speak when the lights flickered. "Oh no. That's not good" she whispered "right?" she looked over at Sage. She knew electricity was a vital part of most of the patients lives. No electricity means downed machines. Downed machines... no more patients. Florida stood quickly. "What do we need to do? Is there something to keep the power on?" She asked quickly, her head whipping back and forth between Sage and the lights

Sage just grit his teeth together and shook his head. "No. No it's not good," he noted. He forced himself to his feet, moving towards the other end of the hospital. "There's a generator that can run the place for a little while....but if it's old or damaged...," he trailed off then, shaking his head slightly. "But if we loose electricity we loose everything," he added softly. It was bad. Really bad. But he wasn't sure what he could do.

Florida hopped up and followed him, her strides shorter than his even though he was still sore. She glanced into Graces room, speeding up as it dawned on her. Grace could die. "If it's damaged then we fix it" she encouraged, forcing her stride to lenghten to keep up. "slow down. I got little legs" she joked even though what really needed to happen was them speed up. She couldn't bear the thought of her friend dying. She couldn't bear the thought of anyone dying for that matter.

Sage glanced over at her and nodded. "I'm hoping so, but we don't have many tools to fix things with," he grumbled, slowing slightly when she said to wait. He reached the closet sort of structure where the generator was kept, huffing out an annoyed breath when he found the door to be firmly locked. "Watch out," he noted before moving to set the crutch down and use his shoulder to ram into the door. It hurt, and then hurt even more when he went head over heels as the door gave way. He sat up, coughing as the room was very dusty, waving it all away from his face. "It looks ok," he noted, moving to look at it a little closer. Of course, that's when the lights went out around the hospital, and the generator started on. Of course, that's when the electricity shot him backwards, coursing around the room dangerously. He sort of crawled out of the closet, moving towards the room with Florida's friend in it. They might be able to save her....the generator was no good but she had a chance. So that's who he was going to help. he unhooked her from all the tubes, moving to start CPR again, despite the blood runnign down his forearm. He hadn't noticed when he cut himself...but he'd stitch it up later. Right now, trying to save who he could was most important.