The Academy: Ashland

Taven And I (Only Kind Of) Meet My Teammates

            The third time I woke up, someone was knocking on a door.

            “Ashland?” an unfamiliar man's voice said. “Ashland, I'm Taven, your team leader, I need you to get up.”

            I lifted my head off the pillow and groaned as I looked around the room. The walls were black and purple. There was a small closet on one wall and two doors, one was a few feet from the closet, the other was directly across from the bed. There were a few shelves on the walls that held the very small amount of things I owned. I noticed the speakers and iPod Samuel got me for my sixteenth birthday, that normally stayed at his house, on one shelf and Academy, my bear, on another. There was also a trash can and a desk with a lamp and a laptop, next to the bed.

            “Ashland?” the man, Taven, said again.

            “Hang on!” I snapped. “Let me think,” I sat up and put my head in my hands. “I hope you got aspirin in this place.”

            Taven laughed, “I've got some for you, but you've got to let me in,” he said.

            “Are you bribing me with drugs?” I asked.

            “Yes,” Taven said.

           I grinned, grabbed my beanie from the desk and pulled it on before walking over to the door. “Drugs,” I said, after I opened the door.

            Taven laughed and put a few aspirin in my outstretched hand. “Straight to the point,” he said.

            I knocked the aspirin back, dry, and grinned, “I will have a formidable comeback for that remark once the room starts spinning and the pounding in my head ceases.”

            Taven grinned and held out a bottle of apple juice, “Try this,” he said.

            I took the juice, “Thanks,” I said, leaning against the door frame.

            Taven had short blond hair and blue eyes. He was really buff and would have been intimidating, if he wasn't wearing a blue Cookie Monster shirt.

            “Nice shirt,” I said, drinking some apple juice.

            “Nice hat,” Taven said, nodding to my Batman hat. “If you feel better, we have to go.”

            I groaned, “Where?”

            “Training room. I have to evaluate your skills,” Taven said.

            “You're not gonna drug me again, are you?” I asked.

            Taven laughed, “No.”

            “Good. Do you have guns?” I asked, grinning.

            “Guns, knives, bows, and a whole bunch of other stuff I'm too lazy to name,” Taven said.

            I finished my bottle of apple juice and tossed it in the trash can, “I'm better. Let's get this over with.”

            Taven chuckled and led me down long white corridor, “I'm your team leader,” he said, again.

            “Team leader?” I asked.

            Taven nodded, “I'm going to oversee your training. You will work with your team members during your training and, eventually, during missions,” he said.