finding courage

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The sound of my awful alarm clock brings me back to reality.

Why haven't I changed it already. What kind of person am I to still having the same alarm clock even though it annoys me to death – since about five months.

I hit my hand on the clock and let out a loud sigh falling back into my pillow.

Ugh.

As I think about my upcoming day I know I need to get up. So I do. It's 5 o'clock on a Monday morning in London.

I get up and go to the bathroom to wash my face real quick with a bit of water. I'll take a shower afterwards. After I've done my daily exercise. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are rowing days in the Thames. The other days are running and boxing days. Sunday is rest day.

After I put on my training clothes and shoes I take my keys and go to my car to get to the rowing centre about 20 minutes from my home.

As I drive up to the street I put on the radio and pull left.

"Good morning London, it is 5.15 a.m. and weather is going to be mostly cloudy today. We expect a bit of rain around 10 a.m. and later around 5 p.m. but other than that it seems to be quite dry on this wonderful morning. This week the first ever 'boot's all aid'-festival is happening. Big names like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, 30 Seconds of Mars, and Harry Styles are on stage. Every artist is doing this for free and every penny coming from tickets sale is going into medical aid for 'doctors without boarders'. PLUS on top of that boots is going to spend a penny for every penny. We wish everyone involved a good preparation week and are excited to see what it'll bring. Next up is the wonderful song 'sweet creature' from our beloved Harry Styles."

The song starts to play and I have to admit to myself that I like the song. It's pretty.

Very nice for a morning.

The name obviously rings a bell. But not just in the sense that he is well known in the whole world but also because of said Festival. I'm the head of security for that Festival and as I listen to the song I hope the artist is well. When I talked to his manager the other week she had said that he had two broken fingers and a broken ego, other than that he was fine.

I still have to grin at the thought of how she said that. I really have to meet her when I'm there. She seems funny and funny people are welcome in my life.

Breathing in and breathing out, focusing on the task at hand – literally, and pressing in. I'm almost done with my work out for today. It's been a good training so far but today my back hurts a bit more than on other days. And the scars tell me about the weather as well.

It's definitely cloudy.

Scars on a cloudy day hurt more.

I sigh.

Hopefully it's not going to be cloudy the whole week.

That can really mess with my schedule.

Breathe in, breathe out. I'm almost there.

As I pull up the parking lot I have to show my security badge. The woman nods and lets me in.

I can tell she's realised that I'm basically her boss.

In the army she would've needed to salute but here she just nods and lets me through.

Manners outside of the army are something I still have to get used to.

Maybe one day I'll be used to it but so far I'm just always a tad irritated.

The feeling I get when I park in my own parking spot at the venue is one of pride. I have my own freaking parking spot reserved for me. Right next to the backstage entrance.