Winning Walker

~Timbre~

“Watch where you’re going, woman!” The angry voice of a taxi driver slammed against my ears, jolting out of my thoughts and throwing me into reality.

I was lost thinking about how to survive another day without food or shelter that I didn’t realize I was making my way across the road.

“Sorry!” I yelled back, immediately running off the road. Getting to the other side of the street, I caught people staring at me and even covering their noses with their hands.

It wasn’t a surprise, given that I was wearing a tattered black dress, my face and other exposed parts of my skin were covered with dirt. I couldn’t even remember the last time I washed myself.

I had always roamed the streets of Hamburg, Germany this way for more than ten years.

I lost my parents and elder brother at age seven, in a fatal accident on our way to a family picnic. I survived this accident and I hate that I did.

I went to our pack and extended families after the incident, but they all chased me away, telling me I carried bad luck with me, everywhere I went. From being the daughter of an Alpha, I became a lone wolf.

I had to fend for myself, so I mingled with other homeless kids and they taught me how to survive. I am twenty now, and I’m still on the street, starving.

As I walked down the street, my stomach grumbled, reminding me that I was yet to feed her. I dipped my hand into my pocket and drew out the last fifty cents with me.

I wasn’t sure what this small amount of money was going to do to me, but I hoped that if I approached a food seller with this amount, he or she would show remorse.

People kept keeping their distance from me as I walked into the market, but I wasn’t bothered. I was busy reminiscing with my wolf on who to approach to beg for food.

Soon, my wolf made me see a woman at my right hand side, she was selling street-made food. I had this great urge to approach her and ask for help, and I did.

At the age of eighteen, I had my first transformation and ever since then, my wolf surfaced and had always helped me survive too.

I waited for the customers that stood in front of her to leave before moving closer to her so that I wouldn’t scare them away.

When they were all gone, I took slow steps towards her, and then she looked at me. Before she could talk, I spoke up.

“Please don’t chase me away. I’m just here to ask for your help.” I mumbled, and she let out a faint smile.

“You want some food, don’t you?” She asked as politely as ever, and I nodded.

“Yes, I do. I have fifty cents and…”

“Don’t worry about the money. I’ll give you some food.” She answered as she began to prepare a plate of crispy chicken for me. She put some rice and some salad at the side and gave me the plate.

“Sit on that bench and enjoy your meal.” She added, pointing at a bench not so far from her kiosk.

“Thank you so much, Ma’am. Thank you.” Tears welled up my eyes as I stared at the food. The aroma made my stomach grumble harder and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

I rushed to the bench, sat and began to eat.

As I ate, two women approached this food seller to buy food. First, I didn’t pay attention to whatever they were saying, but immediately I heard them mention the word party, they caught my attention.

“It’s all over the internet. The ball party is to welcome the new alpha, Alpha Xavier, the son of late Alpha Fenrir Ravenshield.” One of the women said to the other.

“Really?? Alpha Xavier, I heard he is also very rich, even richer than his father.” Her friend answered.

“That is stale news, Dorothea. He isn’t only rich, he’s fearsome as well. Let me show you.”

She pulled out her phone and gave it to her friend, Dorothea. “It’s happening at the Grand Elysee Hotel! Wow! Is it strictly by invitation?” Dorothea further asked.

“No. At least, it wasn’t stated in the broadcast. I’m going to attend. He is not married, who knows, the Alpha may choose me to be his wife.” She muttered, giggling and blushing hard at the thought of it.

‘There’s going to be a party, and no doubt, there will be so much food. This is an opportunity for you, Timbre!” I thought to myself as I took the last scoop of rice and gave the woman the plate.

“Thank you so much, ma’am. I have to go now.” I hastily said and ran away, heading back to the abandoned old car on the next street, which was my home.

I opened the door to the backseat and hopped in. I grabbed my bag of clothes and turned it upside down, pouring the items in it on the car seat.

I had only two dresses apart from the one I had on. One was red, and the other was blue. The blue dress was more or less a rag, and I hardly wore it.

The red dress wasn’t torn but it was super short and small because I had gotten it about five years ago. I was going to go for the red dress either way.

After deciding on what dress to wear, I began to think of how I’d sneak into the hotel, where the food was kept and steal some without being noticed.

I had no idea how I was going to go about this, but I had a strong feeling I was going to succeed. “I’ll make sure I steal enough food to sustain me for at least two days.” I muttered, feeling excitement at the thought of it.

***

The night drew in faster than expected, and this made me so happy. I left the car before sunset and began to trudge to the hotel. It was a famous hotel, so I had no difficulties knowing where it was.

It was about an hour and thirty minutes walk from the car, but I cared less. I just wanted to be there before they started serving the guests.

I finally drew closer to the hotel, and I could see a lot of people walking into the hotel. Some pulled up in very big cars, some lingered around, chatting and laughing with their friends.

I decided to go in with people so that I wouldn’t be noticed easily. I walked swiftly to the main entrance and just at the right time, I saw some women, about four of them, walking in.

I hurriedly walked behind them, close enough for people to think we were together. Getting in, my jaw dropped as I stared at the interior design of the hotel. It was magnificent and looked so expensive.

Not only the design, but the people that were present. No doubt, I was the dirtiest thing that was present at this event. I made sure I didn’t touch anything or anyone in fear of ruining them with my wretchedness.

I stood behind the large doors of the main entrance, trying to figure out where the kitchen could be when all of a sudden, I saw some chefs, coming out of the a door and climbing up the stairs with trays in their hands.

‘That is the kitchen, I guess.’ I thought, looking around before I proceeded towards the door. The last chef that walked out of the door left the door slightly open, and I hurriedly peeped in to see what was going on inside.

Luckily for me, all the chefs had left to serve the food already. Taking one glance around, making sure everyone was minding their business and not noticing me, I crept into the kitchen, keeping my head low as much as possible.

On a very large table at the center of the kitchen were so many dishes that I had never seen in my whole life. My eyes popped wide open with the great urge to taste all of them.

Fruits were the closest to me, so I went ahead to pick about five apples. I threw them in the polythene bag I had brought with me. I took some grapes, bananas, pineapples and so many more.

I was yet to pick real dishes and my bag was almost full already. I left where the fruits were and picked a slice of bread. I squeezed all of it at once and munched on it.

I was about to dip my hand into an unfamiliar, yet enticing dish when I heard a loud noise. I jolted, looking up to see if someone had entered, but they were yet to return.

‘Where did that noise come from?’ I thought, and hastily began to pour in the food I could in fear.

The noise came again, this time it sounded like a growl. My eyes were drawn to a black door right there in the kitchen, and before I knew it, my legs began to control me.

I was supposed to run or hide, but I didn’t. Instead, I found myself reaching for the door. As I laid my hand on the doorknob, the loud growl came again, making my breath cease.

Opening the door to see what was making the noise, I froze at that moment, unable to move forward. Lying on the ground was something unexplainable and scary.

He looked at me, eyes glowing red like that of the devil, teeth bared and palms clenched… but that wasn’t even what I found scary, there was something else, something that made my heart skip… it was a battle between life and death.

Boldly, I took a step forward, he was a monster, but right now, all I saw was someone in distress.