New Schedules

The man who’s training me came exactly at 6am on the dot. Good thing to remember, wolves are always on time. “It helps when you have one in your head reminding you of everything, also when your Alpha commands it, you have to do it,” Star adds. We walk through the forest and my anxiety immediately perks up. “You’re going to be okay Akira, I promise,” Star comforts me. “Thank you Star, but after what happened it’s hard to believe that,” I force myself to seem strong in the presence of this man.

“So do I get to know your name or is that against the rules too?” I ask to distract myself. “Actually it is ,” he says, seemingly disinterested in holding a conversation. “Okaaaay,” I drag it out, “You look like a,” I look him over tapping my finger to my mouth, “Richard, but you know I’ll call you Dick for short because that’s a mouthful.” A dad joke, yes, but a girls gotta do something for entertainment. He gives absolutely no reaction. “No? Don’t like it? Okay fine, hmmm,” I tap my finger to my mouth again contemplating. “This will work better if you don’t talk,” he says. Wow rude.. ”Oh I got it! Jack.” He looks over to me with just his eyes as he continues to walk. He says nothing for a while before he asks “Why? I don’t get it.” I mumble underneath my breath, well aware he’d hear me with his wolfysenses, “Because you’re such an ass.” He scoffs as we walk up to a clearing that has a huge obstacle course built in it, with a pond included as well.

“Great, this looks like so much fun,” I say to Star but she’s basically wagging her tail. “You’re actually excited for this?,” I ask. “Why aren’t you? Isn’t this what you wanted Akira? This is going to help us be able to work together, be faster and smarter during a fight!” I stare at the obstacles and then start to feel the same excitement she is. She’s right, this is exactly what I want and need. A small smile breaks across my face and Jack catches it. “What?” I ask him, “No one’s ever looked excited for this before,” he looks at me questioningly. “Where do we start?” I ask. “First stretches, it helps before a work out and I can see where you’re at with flexibility,” he says like he’s ready for business, maybe a little excited himself. After the stretches I was running over hills, jumping from stump to stump, climbing walls, swinging from ropes, running over a net in water, swimming in water and climbing up trees. We were out here all day, taking three breaks only to eat and rest for 30 minutes each, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At least the food was good, but the walk back to the cabin showed how tired I was. My legs felt like jelly, wobbling with every step I took, my arms were as heavy as lead like I was holding 50lbs weights, and my lungs felt like they were going to explode. At least with all these distractions I wasn’t able to become anxious on my way back through the forest.

I was dropped off at my cabin and yelled, “Bye Jack!,” with a smile and wave, he almost smiled I swear. My mission was now to break him and make him show some type of emotion. He said nothing to me all day except yell instructions at me and tell me everything I did wrong. But, he did tell me how I can improve and challenged me on the things that came easy. When I climbed the wall too fast, he would challenge me to do it as if I had a leg injury and could only use one, then use none. The last one was extremely difficult and I couldn’t crack it, but I will. Star was in my head the whole time giving me advice as well, it was also a challenge to listen to her and Jack at the same time.

I immediately jumped in the shower, freezing cold water first, trying to replicate a cold plunge. I actually felt really good about today, I learned a lot about my new self and what I could do. “I told you,” Star was definitely smiling. I pictured her with her tongue hanging out looking so cute, I just wanted to rub her head like I would a dog, “I’m okay with that, but I am no dog,” she actually howled in my head, so I howled back and we both were laughing. I was sitting in my bed when that same girl walked in with the same scowl. Not even a knock this time. She held a stack of books in her arms and dropped them on the kitchen counter. “Read these,” she said and went to walk out but stopped and looked at me with disgust, “Did you just howl?” She asked. I nodded and said “yup” popping the ‘p’ at the end. “Freak” she mumbled as she left the cabin. So I’m hated, I’ve come to realize. I can live with that, I think. “I don’t hate you,” Star says, “Well you’re stuck with me so you have to like me,” I tell her. “Not exactly true but it does make this arrangement easier,” she states. I’m too tired to reply and once my head hit the pillow my eyes closed instantly and I was out.